NHL Grind Down: Friday, October 30th - Page Two

by John Britt (jmbwngfn) Last Updated 2015-10-30 19:39:09

Ottawa Senators at Detroit Red Wings – 07:30 PM EDT

Ottawa Senators					Detroit Red Wings
			Craig Anderson					Jimmy Howard
			Record					Record
			43-26					43-25
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.83	2.54	16.80%	82.90%	Team Stats	2.82	2.57	23.80%	80.90%

The Senators broke out of a four-game losing streak on Wednesday as they defeated Calgary 5-4 in a shootout. They’ll head to Detroit with hopes of adding to Detroit’s recent struggles. While Mike Hoffman absence from the lineup hurts a bit, both Mark Stone and Kyle Turris have continued the red-hot pace that they finished last season with. Both players have already picked up 10 points through the first nine games and appear to be poised for career best seasons. With Pavel Datsyuk not around to try to contain them, they’ll likely create plenty of scoring chances in this one. While that’s the line that definitely has my attention, it’s not wise to sleep on Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan on their second line. Erik Karlsson is the games most dangerous offensive defenseman and has already racked up seven assists in four road games this year. He racked up two goals and two assists in four meetings with Detroit last season and can make them pay for any defensive lapses in a hurry. He won’t come cheap, but he pays off his asking price more often than not.

Detroit shot out of the gates quickly this season, but it’s been a bit of a struggle for them since their 3-0-0 start. They’ve dropped five of their last six games and will have their hands full in the first half of this home-and-home series against the improving Ottawa Senators. The Wings are a bit banged up and their inexperience without Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen on the ice has been on full display lately. They’ve rated out as the second worst team by Corsi Standards to start this season and been routinely outshot by their opponents. With all of that said, there’s not that much different from a personal level about this Detroit team than the one that owned the league’s 3rd best CF% last year (53.5%) and leaving Joe Louis Arena with two points won’t be a cake walk for opposing teams this season. The Wings have a nice mix young skill players mixed in with chiseled veterans and Henrik Zetterberg is still capable of keeping Detroit afloat while they await reinforcements. Zetterberg posted has been hot to start the season and posted 11 goals and 31 assists in 41 home games last year, making him the premier play from Detroit. On his wing are two chronically underpriced options in Justin Abdelkader and Dylan Larkin who both also see a healthy dose of playing time on the top power-play unit. Gustav Nyquist also thrived at the Joe Louis Arena last year, scoring 19 of his 27 goals on home ice and sees plenty of run on the wing of the top power-play unit. On the blue-line, Mike Green absence hurts this team quite a bit, but it also opens the door for Niklas Kronwall to play huge minutes and see a bigger role offensively.

Elite Plays

OTT: Mark Stone, Kyle Turris, Erik Karlsson
DET: Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abdelkader, Gustav Nyquist

Secondary Play

OTT: Bobby Ryan, Mika Zibanejad, Milan Michalek
DET: Dylan Larkin, Tomas Tatar, Teemu Pulkkinen, Niklas Kronwall, Danny DeKeyser

Chicago Blackhawks at Minnesota Wild – 08:00 PM EDT

Chicago Blackhawks					Minnesota Wild
			Corey Crawford					Devan Dubnyk
			Record					Record
			48-28					46-28
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.68	2.27	17.60%	83.40%	Team Stats	2.77	2.41	15.80%	86.30%

The Blackhawks may have lost in their last game, but overall they certainly don’t look like they’re going to make it easy for anyone to take away their title as Stanley Cup Champions this season. After opening the season facing all Eastern Conference foes, their tour of Western Conference rivals began on Monday. The Hawks lost several key members from last season Cup winning team, and are no without star Duncan Keith for the next month… so they’re at least somewhat vulnerable temporarily. With that said, this team features two dynamic scoring lines and it’s nearly impossible to slow down both. With Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews likely locking horns with Zach Parise all evening, the second line featuring Patrick Kane along with Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin looks to have the better matchup. That line has been red-hot to start the season as they’ve combined for nine goals and 15 assists through the first 10 games. It’s also worth noting that both Anisimov and Panarin still find themselves drastically underpriced on several sites. The Duncan Keith injury is a big blow for this team, but it’s also opened the door for both Brent Seabrook and Trevor Daley to grab some extra playing time and pick up the lions share of the minutes as the point-man on Chicago’s very dangerous power-play.

While the Blackhawks were busy battling the Jets last night and then traveling to Minnesota, the Wild were resting up to battle their Central Division rival. Chicago steamrolled this Minnesota team in the Western Conference semi-finals last season leaving a very sour taste in the mouths of the Wild players. Zach Parise in undoubtedly the heart of this Minnesota offense, and while the outcome of this game is likely dependent on his battle with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa, the tough matchup also puts a dent into his fantasy value. Tomas Vanek and Mikko Koivu have put up impressive offense numbers both to start this season and throughout their careers in general, and getting some production from them in this game may be critical. Ryan Suter remains a workhorse on the blue-line and is one of the games best passers, making him a fine option despite the difficult matchup. This is a game I’ll be glued to watching, but i’m expecting a “playoff feel” here and not expecting this to be the most fantasy friendly game on the board.

Elite Plays

CHI: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Artemi Panarin, Brent Seabrook
MIN: Zach Parise, Ryan Suter

Secondary Plays

CHI: Artem Anisimov, Marian Hossa, Teuvo Teravainen, Trevor Daley
MIN: Jason Pominville, Mikael Granlund, Mikko Koivu, Thomas Vanek

Montreal Canadiens at Calgary Flames – 09:00 PM EDT

Montreal Canadiens					Calgary Flames
			Mike Condon					Jonas Hiller
			Record					Record
			50-22					45-30
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.61	2.24	16.50%	83.70%	Team Stats	2.89	2.60	18.80%	80.60%

The Canadiens finally saw their perfect record blemished in Vancouver on Tuesday, and after jumping all over Edmonton to take a 3-0 lead after one period last night, they completely fell apart and allowed Edmonton to storm all the way back and walk away with a 4-3 win. Despite the two game skid, they’re clearly one of the best teams in the NHL this season and a real threat to bring Lord Stanley back to Canada this spring. Calgary better tighten up their chin straps tonight as this team will hit the ice very angry. Max Pacioretty is the leader of this offense, and he and his linemates Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Plekanec have combined for (Blank). Aside from having stud blue-liners P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov both posting double-digit points already this season, those three forwards are easily carrying the offensive load for the Habs. While the Pacioretty line is the headliner here, one of the Canadiens greatest strengths is their forward depth. Guys like Alex Galchenyuk, Tomas Fleischmann and David Desharnais have all proven to be quality scoring options at some point in the past and make this team very tough to gameplan for.

UPDATE: The Flames have changed up their lines. Check out our Starting Lineups page for more!

Calgary has lost three straight games and now own just a 2-7-1 record after 10 games. They’ve dropped seven of their last eight games and will now host the Montreal Canadiens tonight. Don’t overthink this one; this just isn’t the time to trust Calgary players in your cash game rosters. The Flames get nearly all of their offense from the Hudler/Monahan/Gaudreau line, and while they’re certainly worth GPP consideration, the matchup just doesn’t get much less appealing that facing the Canadiens and Carey Price. In general they have one of the most fantasy friendly defensive cores in the league, but even Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton and Dennis Wideman are less than stellar options in this brutal matchup. With nine games on tonight’s slate, it’s safe to bypass Calgary tonight other than as an ultra-contrarian GPP move.

Elite Plays

MON: Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Plekanec, P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov
CGY: None

Secondary Plays

MON: Alex Galchenyuk, David Desharnais, Tomas Fleischmann, Lars Eller, Jeff Petry
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau, Jiri Hudler, Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton

Vancouver Canucks at Arizona Coyotes – 10:00 PM EDT

Vancouver Canucks					Arizona Coyotes
			Ryan Miller					Mike Smith
			Record					Record
			48-29					24-50
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.88	2.68	19.30%	85.70%	Team Stats	2.01	3.26	20.00%	76.70%

Vancouver will look to extend their record to 4-0-0 on the road this season when they head to the desert to take on the rebuilding Coyotes. On paper, this looks like a very nice matchup for the Canucks, but I’m at the very least just slightly concerned about their energy level after a grueling OT loss in Dallas last night. With that said, i’m quite high on the recently reunited Sedin/Sedin/Vrbata line as they’ve been an offensive force since the day they were matched up together. With that line responsible for such a large proportion of this team’s offense, that’s pretty much as deep as i’m willing to dig regarding the Vancouver forwards. On the blue-line, Alex Edler is the biggest threat an occupies most of the minutes on the point of the power-play, making him a very fine option against the Coyotes subpar penalty kill.

They Coyotes were one of the early season’s biggest surprises as they jumped out to a 3-0-0 start, but things have quickly turned the way many expected. They’ve gone just 2-4-1 in seven games since and have surrendered 26 goals in the process. While this team does have some intriguing young talent to build around, they just simply aren’t a substantially different team than the 2014-15 version that finished the season with the worst record in the Western Conference. They should be excited to hit the ice in front of their home fans tonight after a five game road trip, but there’s just not much to like about the Coyotes from a fantasy standpoint. To make matters worse for them, one of their leading scorers this season (Martin Hanzal) as well as Antoine Vermette are both questionable to play tonight. Youngsters Max Domi and Anthony Duclair have put up nice numbers to start the season and are intriguing GPP options, as is the very talented Oliver Ekmann-Larson on defense. However, on a nine game slate, I’ll be looking elsewhere in cash games.

Elite Plays

VAN: Daniel Sedin, Radim Vrbata, Henrik Sedin, Alexander Edler
ARI: None

Secondary Plays

VAN: Brandon Sutter, Alexandre Burrows, Yannick Weber
ARI: Max Domi, Anthony Duclair, Mikkel Boedker, Oliver Ekman-Larsson

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