NHL Grind Down: Monday, December 28th
The RotoGrinders NHL Grind Down article will give you an in-depth analysis into the NHL schedule. This article will break down the numbers for every single game and give you analysis on which trends you can exploit. While matchups are a major factor in daily fantasy hockey there are plenty of other factors to consider such as injuries, salaries, and more.
The analysis should point you in the right direction, but it is still up to you to decipher the information and make your own selections. Hockey is an extremely high variance sport. The best choice is not always the right choice but following the trends will win you money over time.
Remember, these writeups are done prior to lineups being released, so make sure to check our Starting Lineups page to ensure the recommended options are playing.
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Washington Capitals at Buffalo Sabres – 07:00 PM EST
| Washington Capitals | Buffalo Sabres | ||||||||
 | Braden Holtby |  | Robin Lehner | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 26-6-2 | 15-16-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.12 | 2.12 | 25.20% | 84.70% | Team Stats | 2.40 | 2.54 | 20.40% | 78.20% |
The Capitals rolled past the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday and enter tonight’s action sitting atop the Eastern Conference with a 26-6-2 record. They’ll head to Buffalo tonight for the opener of a home-and-home series against the Sabres and will likely be rather popular selections this evening around the DFS world. The Capitals have now won seven straight games and, at least on paper, are a vastly superior team than the Buffalo Sabres. Alex Ovechkin leads the entire NHL in shots on goal and, with 17 goals and 13 assists in 33 games this season, he’s the premier offensive play on the board. He’ll be joined by both Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie both at even strength and on the power-play and both of those two players have combined for 9 goals and 12 assists in 11 games during the month of December. All three players share the ice with Marcus Johansson and John Carlson on the #1 power-play unit, and the Sabres ugly 78.2% penalty kill provides a nice fantasy boost to them all.
The Buffalo Sabres picked up an impressive 6-3 victory in Boston on Saturday night and have actually played fairly well lately (7-4-2 record over their last 13 games). However, Braden Holtby owns a ridiculous 22-4-1 record with a 1.92 GAA and .932 SV% on the season and is clearly not a goalie you want to target this season. With that said, Ryan O’Reilly leads the team with 32 points in 35 games this season and was an offensive force against the Bruins his last time out. He centers Sam Reinhart and Jamie McGinn on the Sabres top forward line and there’s some GPP appeal to that grouping. Alternatively, the Eichel, Ennis, Kane second line has looked very dangerous at times throughout the season and are also compelling GPP targets. On the blue-line, Rasmus Ristolainen has racked up three goals and seven assists in 11 games during the month of December and is locked into 26+ minutes of ice-time per game. He may be a bit too risky for cash game use tonight, but the former first round pick is one of the better fantasy options on this Buffalo squad.
Elite Options
WAS: Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson
BUF: None
Secondary Options
WAS: Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Matt Niskanen
BUF: Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane, Jamie McGinn, Jack Eichel, Rasmus Ristolainen
Montreal Canadiens at Tampa Bay Lightning – 07:30 PM EST
| Montreal Canadiens | Tampa Bay Lightning | ||||||||
 | Carey Price |  | Ben Bishop | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 18-15-3 | |||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.84 | 2.46 | 19.20% | 85.10% | Team Stats | 2.53 | 2.28 | 18.10% | 78.00% |
The Canadiens’ epic free-fall is still in full decent as they were defeated by Washington 3-1 on Saturday to lose their sixth straight game and now own just a 1-10-0 record over their last 11 games. Their ugly skid has coincided directly with the injury to Brendan Gallagher and, unfortunately for Montreal fans, Gallagher is still not ready to return to action. Montreal has averaged just 1.50 goals per game in 23 games this month and it’s simply become very difficult to trust them in cash games until they appear to have turned things around. With Tampa Bay allowing the second-fewest goals against in the NHL this season (2.28 goals per game), this looks like a situation to avoid outside of GPPs. The Lightning do own a subpar 78.0% penalty kill, so targeting Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec and either P.K. Subban or Andrei Markov does have plenty of GPP appeal.
After a very mediocre start to the season, the Lightning slowly look to be gaining momentum as we approach the halfway point of the NHL season. The picked up a 5-2 victory against Columbus on Saturday night and own a 10-6-0 record over their last 16 games. They’ll be highly motivated to hang yet another loss on the struggling Montreal Canadiens that they knocked out of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season. While both Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson will both still be watching from the pressbox, Tampa’s top line of Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov still represents a very tough matchup problem for the Canadiens. While Stamkos grabs most of the headlines, it’s been Kucherov wielding a hot stick lately with points in each of the last five games and 6 goals and 7 assists over his last ten. Jonathan Marchessault has really helped fill the void left behind by Palat and Johnson as the 24 year-old joins the members of that top line on the #1 power-play unit and has now picked up at least one point in each of the last six games. On defense, both Anton Stralman and Victor Hedman soak up big minutes both at even-strength and on the power-play and possess enough offensive ability to be fine options even in this average-at-best matchup.
Elite Options
MON: None
TBL: Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman
Secondary Options
MON: Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec, David Desharnais, P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov
TBL: Jonathan Marchessault, Vladislav Namestnikov, Anton Stralman
New York Rangers at Nashville Predators – 08:00 PM EST
| New York Rangers | Nashville Predators | ||||||||
 | Henrik Lundqvist |  | Pekka Rinne | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 20-12-4 | 17-12-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.86 | 2.53 | 21.60% | 82.30% | Team Stats | 2.57 | 2.51 | 20.30% | 75.70% |
The Rangers have fallen on tough times lately, but they picked up a big win against Anaheim before the break and should be well rested after a full six days off. They’ll invade the Music City tonight to battle the Nashville Predators and this game has the makings of a nasty defensive battle. Some of the Rangers’ recent struggles can be explained by their league high 102.8 PDO simply falling back down to earth, but this is still essentially the same team that took home the President’s Trophy last season, so it’s unlikely they’ll struggle for too long. Derek Stepan is finally back to full health and is slated to join the very dangerous Rick Nash (and Jesper Fast) on the top scoring line. That leaves Nash’s old linemates Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello to play alongside Chris Krieder on the second line. However, with Nashville owning the league’s second worst penalty kill, I’ll be centering my exposure to New York around it’s #1 power-play unit where Nash still plays alongside Zuccarello and Brassard with Ryan McDonagh and Dan Boyle manning the blue-line.
The Predators put an impressive 11-5-3 home record on the line this evening against the visiting New York Rangers. Nashville dropped a tightly contested 3-2 decision to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night and were dominated by this Rangers team 3-0 in their only other meeting this season. However, this does not appear to be the same Rangers team at this point and Nashville is confident that they’ll have Mike Fisher back in the lineup this evening. When healhy, Fisher has predominately centered a very dangerous top line alongside Filip Forsberg and James Neal with Mike Riberio playing alongside both Craig Smith and Colin Wilson. While both lines can be quite dangerous, the Fisher, Neal, Forsberg line definitely has the higher upside. The Predators are stacked on the blue-line, with both Roman Josi and Shea Weber not only leading the team in scoring, but also routinely 25+ minutes of ice-time. They’re staples on the point of the #1 power-play unit and are both rock solid options for all formats tonight. Alternatively, Ryan Ellis and Seth Jones are both former first round picks that can be found at a fraction of the price.
Elite Options
NYR: Rick Nash, Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan McDonagh, Keith Yandle
NSH: Filip Forsberg, James Neal, Roman Josi, Shea Weber
Secondary Options
NYR: Chris Kreider, Jesper Fast, Dan Boyle
NSH: Mike Fisher, Mike Ribeiro, Colin Wilson, Craig Smith, Seth Jones, Ryan Ellis
Detroit Red Wings at Minnesota Wild – 08:00 PM EST
| Detroit Red Wings | Minnesota Wild | ||||||||
 | Jimmy Howard |  | Devan Dubnyk | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 18-10-7 | 18-10-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.60 | 2.54 | 18.60% | 82.00% | Team Stats | 2.71 | 2.44 | 19.60% | 77.10% |
Detroit picked up an important win in Nashville on Saturday but better grow accustomed to life on the road as eight of their next nine games will take place away from Joe Louis Arena. Detroit will head north to Minnesota tonight likely without the services of Dylan Larkin once again. With Larkin watching from the press-box, the talented Gustav Nyquist jumps onto the top line to play alongside Henrik Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader on the both the top forward line and power-play unit. This is obviously a huge boost to the fantasy value of Nyquist (with no real detriment to Zetterberg or Abdelkader) but don’t get too carried away as they’ll be faced with the very tough matchup opposite Zach Parise. However, with Minnesota uncharacteristically struggling on the penalty kill, they’re still the top options here. Pavel Datsyuk looks to be back to full health/speed and has racked up a goal and eight assists over the last ten games and teams up with the dangerous Tomas Tatar on the Deroit’s second power-play unit. They’ll likely go a bit overlooked tonight and that makes them terrific GPP targets. On defense, both Mike Green and Niklas Kronwall soak up nearly all of the playing time with the man advantage and both players are fine options where they’re reasonably priced.
The Wild have been an entirely different hockey club at the Xcel Enery Center this season and despite losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, they still own an impressive 13-5-1 home record. While Detroit won both meetings between these two teams last season, Minnesota still enters as a solid -140 favorite by Vegas standards tonight. It will be an interesting chess match between Mike Yeo and Jeff Blashill as Minnesota will likely use star forward Zach Parise to slow down Detroit’s top line which therefore will leave Pavel Datsyuk playing major minutes against the very capable second line of Thomas Vanek, Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker. All-in-all, this does not look like a fantastic matchup for anyone involved, but it’s simply too hard to completely ignore the offensive firepower found in Minnesota’s top two forward lines. On defense, Ryan Suter remains the NHL’s biggest workhorse and has posted 24 points in 34 games. He’s still way too cheap on FanDuel and, at the very least, is a rock solid cash game option on that site.
Elite Options
DET: Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abdelkader, Gustav Nyquist
MIN: Zach Parise, Jason Pominville, Ryan Suter
Secondary Options
DET: Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Tatar, Niklas Kronwall, Mike Green
MIN: Mikael Granlund, Mikko Koivu, Thomas Vanek, Jason Zucker, Jared Spurgeon
Los Angeles Kings at Vancouver Canucks – 10:00 PM EST
| Los Angeles Kings | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Jonathan Quick |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 21-11-2 | 14-14-9 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.53 | 2.29 | 18.00% | 82.10% | Team Stats | 2.46 | 2.76 | 16.90% | 79.70% |
The Kings enter play tonight sitting comfortably atop the Pacific Division and it seems unlikely that they’ll be challenged by anyone anytime soon. With that said, they’ve dropped four of their last six games and will now be missing their leading scorer Jeff Carter for a few games. With Carter watching from the press box, Darryl Sutter’s offensive options suddenly look quiet limited. Anze Kopitar will be counted on more heavily offensively and he’s slated to be joined by Milan Lucic and Tyler Toffoli on the top line. This is a bit of bad news for Marian Gaborik, but he at least still sees time alongside Kopitar on the wing of Los Angeles’ #1 power-play. With the Canucks sporting just a 79.7% penalty kill this season, both Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin see a nice fantasy boast as the point-men on that #1 power-play unit. Doughty scored a goal and added an assists against Arizona on Saturday and has now posted four goals and five assists in 11 games this month.
Vancouver has shown its age this season and will hit the ice tonight owning just a 14-14-9 record through 37 games. Despite back-to-back victories, this is a team that has clearly seen better days and is heading in the wrong direction. However, they’re still led by the very dangerous Sedin brothers and catch a break tonight in catching Los Angeles while Jeff Carter is sidelined. Los Angeles has allowed just 2.29 goals against per game this season, so digging much deeper than Henrik and Daniel Sedin feels a bit foolish for cash games. For GPP purposes, Jannik Hansen continues to play alongside the Sedins at even strength and has scored three goals and added two assists over the last four games. Sniper Radim Vrbata is in the midst of a season he’d like to forget, but he lit the lamp 31 times last season and still sees playing time on the Canucks #1 power-play unit. On the blue-line, Alex Edler has been quiet lately but still leads the team in average ice-time, quarterbacks the #1 power-play unit and has plenty of offensive upside.
Elite Options
LAK: Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli, Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin
VAN: Daniel Sedin
Secondary Options
LAK: Milan Lucic, Marian Gaborik, Tanner Pearson, Alec Martinez
VAN: Henrik Sedin, Jannik Hansen, Radim Vrbata, Alex Edler