NHL Grind Down: Friday, December 4th - Page Two
Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers – 09:00 PM EST
| Dallas Stars | Edmonton Oilers | ||||||||
 | Kari Lehtonen |  | Ben Scrivens | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 19-5-1 | 9-15-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.48 | 2.60 | 26.30% | 81.60% | Team Stats | 2.42 | 3.04 | 18.40% | 79.50% |
In what should be one of the most up-tempo games on tonight’s slate, the Dallas Stars will make the short trip from Vancouver to Edmonton to battle the Oilers at the Rexall Place. Dallas steamrolled this Oilers team in their only previous meeting; cruising to an easy 4-2 win while outshooting Edmonton 52-28 in the process. Playing in back-to-back nights is a slight concern, but Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are simply the most dynamic duo in the NHL right now and this is a excellent matchup for them both (and Patrick Sharp). Seguin and Benn are two of the top options on the board and should be well worth their lofty asking prices. Jason Spezza joins the top three on the #1 power-play unit and tallied a hat trick in the first meeting between these two teams. John Klingberg just keeps on putting up huge offensive numbers from the blue-line and his production has outpaced his rising salaries on most sites.
Edmonton enters play tonight with the worst record in the NHL and almost guaranteed to miss out of the Stanley Cup playoffs once again. I’m not at all expecting two points out of them tonight against the Stars, but I’m also not willing to write them off altogether by fantasy standards. The Stars are the fastest paced team in the NHL this season which suits Edmonton’s strengths just fine. Taylor Hall has been an offensive force this season and with 25 points in 26 games, he’s a top tier option on the wing. With Jordan Eberle set to join him and rookie Leon Draisaitl on the top line, it looks like Todd McClellan is prepared to fight firepower with firepower. That move is definitely a blow to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as he’s left playing alongside Teddy Purcell and Liro Pakarinen on the second line.
Elite Options
DAL: Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Patrick Sharp, John Klingberg
EDM: Taylor Hall, Leon Draisaitl, Jordan Eberle
Secondary Options
DAL: Jason Spezza, Patrick Eaves, Cody Eakin, Alex Goligoski
EDM: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Oscar Klefbom, Justin Schultz
San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks – 10:00 PM EST
| San Jose Sharks | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Martin Jones |  | Frederik Andersen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 14-10-0 | 9-12-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.75 | 2.63 | 17.10% | 80.00% | Team Stats | 1.96 | 2.54 | 18.70% | 87.00% |
This will be the third meeting between these two Pacific Division rivals, with each team alternating shutout victories in two games at the Shark Tank. The Sharks sport an impressive 7-2-0 record over their last nine games and have posted an NHL best 10-3-0 road record. Joel Ward’s offensive emergence has helped take some of the sting out of the Logan Couture injury and stabilized Peter DeBoer’s desire for two balanced scoring lines. Ward has picked up points in five straight games alongside Patrick Marleau on the Shark’s second line, but it’s Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton (with Melker Karlsson) that will likely prove to be the Ducks biggest concern. Brent Burns is one of the league’s most offensively aggressive defensemen in the NHL and can be fantasy relevant based on shot volume alone. However, with Anaheim playing much more defensively sound in recent games and sporting the league’s best penalty kill, I’ll be limiting my exposure to San Jose tonight.
As for Anaheim, they’ve recovered from a disasterous start and are likely very thankful to be playing in the lackluster Pacific Division. They’re 8-5-3 over their last 16 games but haven’t won back-to-back games since November 7th. It doesn’t take much analysis to get a pretty clear picture of where to focus your attention on this Ducks squad, as Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf have pretty supplied all of the offense thus far. Rickard Rackell joins them on both the top forward line and #1 power-play unit and he’s a fine value option as he’s posted five goals and five assists over the last 13 games. The Ducks are in desperate need of Ryan Kesler to break out offensively, and while he’s shown some life lately, his inconsistencies make him tough to roster in cash games. Sami Vatanen, Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm are low-ceiling cash game options, but with Martin Jones owning a rock solid 2.23 GAA on the young season, this doesn’t look to be the most fantasy friendly game on the board.
Elite Options
SAN: Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns
ANA: Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf
Secondary Options
SAN: Patrick Marleau, Joel Ward, Melker Karlsson, Tomas Hertl, Joonas Donskoi
ANA: Rickard Rakell, Ryan Kesler, Jakob Silfverberg, Cam Fowler, Sami Vatanen