NHL Grind Down: Monday, January 11th
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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Boston Bruins at New York Rangers – 07:00 PM EST
| Boston Bruins | New York Rangers | ||||||||
 | Tuukka Rask |  | Henrik Lundqvist | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 21-14-5 | 22-14-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.03 | 2.68 | 28.30% | 82.60% | Team Stats | 2.93 | 2.61 | 18.80% | 80.10% |
The Bruins fell in overtime against the Senators on Saturday and have now gone just 2-5-1 over their last eight games. They’ll continue a grueling five game road trip tonight at Madison Square Garden with the hopes of a repeat performance of their 4-3 victory over the Rangers in their only other meeting this season. They saw Brad Marchand return to the lineup after his three game suspension on Saturday and his presence solidifies their two pronged offensive attack. Marchand will join Bergeron and David Pastrnak on the teams top forward line, and while they’re often more praised for their defensive efforts, they did produce the only goal against Ottawa on Saturday and Bergeron leads this team with 38 points in 40 games this season. David Krejci will not return to the lineup tonight, but the second line of Ryan Spooner, Matt Beleskey and Loui Eriksson has shown plenty of offensive upside and all three guys also see a healthy dose of playing time on the power-play. On defense, both Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara man the point of the NHL’s best power-play and are fine options tonight as the Rangers have posted a very mediocre 80.1% penalty kill.
While the Rangers have been wildly inconsistent this season and own just a 6-11-3 record over their last 20 games, they’ve posted an impressive 15-5-2 record at Madison Square Garden and still find themselves in second place of the Metropolitan Division. While Rick Nash has had a forgettable first half of the 2015-16 season, he’s lit the lamp 42 times last season and remains the most dangerous goal scorer on this Rangers team. He’s slated to join Derek Stepan and Jayson Megna at even strength but, as expected, Claude Julien shadowed Nash with both Bergeron and Marchand in that first meeting and that’s definitely a major blow to his fantasy outlook tonight. With that said, both Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello actually lead this team in scoring this season and (along with JT Miller) look to have the much more fantasy friendly matchup on tap. The Bruins look to have solved their penalty killing problems from early this season, but Keth Yandle and Ryan McDonagh (and to some degree Dan Boyle) both have plenty of offensive upside to be considered in all formats.
Elite Options
BOS: Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Torey Krug
NYR: Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello, Keith Yandle
Secondary Options
BOS: Loui Eriksson, Ryan Spooner, David Pastrnak, Matt Beleskey, Zdeno Chara
NYR: Rick Nash, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Ryan McDonagh, Dan Boyle
San Jose Sharks at Calgary Flames – 09:00 PM EST
| San Jose Sharks | Calgary Flames | ||||||||
 | Martin Jones |  | Jonas Hiller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 19-18-2 | 19-19-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.77 | 2.77 | 20.60% | 81.80% | Team Stats | 2.60 | 3.08 | 12.70% | 74.20% |
After destroying the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night (7-0), San Jose will put their impressive 13-6-2 road record on the line tonight as they kick off a short two-game road trip tonight in Calgary. The seven goal offensive onslaught was a site for soar eyes among Sharks fans over the weekend and brings along plenty of reasons for optimism tonight against a Flames team that has allowed an ugly 3.08 goals against per game this season. While Logan Couture return has added some much needed depth to the Sharks forward unit, it’s still the duo of Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski (along with Tomas Hertl) that have been the most reliable fantasy contributors this season. Pavelski leads the charge with 21 goals and 19 assists in 39 games and has picked up a pair of assists in two meetings against Calgary already this season. On the blue-line, Brent Burns picked up a goal and an assist against Toronto on Saturday and his 37 points this season is the third highest among all NHL defensemen. Burns brings a six game point streak into tonight’s contest and has tallied seven goals and seven assists over the last nine games. With the Flames owning the NHL’s worst penalty kill, he’s the premier play of the evening on the blue-line.
If you haven’t picked up on some of the drastic home vs road splits from this Calgary team this season, you’ll want to start tonight. The Flames have posted a very solid 13-8-0 record at the Scotiabank Saddledome (versus just 6-11-2 on the road) and are averaging 2.86 goals per game on home ice. While they’ll be without the services of Jiri Hudler tonight, they dynamic duo of Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are still top tier offensive options. Gaudreau leads the team with 40 points on the young season, but has thrived on home ice as he’s posted 16 goals and 14 assists in 21 home games. Gaudreau and Monahan are slated to be joined by Michael Ferland on the top line with Joe Colburne getting the nod on the #1 power-play unit. Calgary is loaded with play-making defensemen on the blue-line and their defensive depth is one of the teams biggest strengths. Mark Giordano is the most appealing option, but T.J. Brodie, Dennis Wideman and Dougie Hamilton all also see a healthy dose of playing time with the man advantage and are fine options in all formats.
Elite Options
SAN: Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Brent Burns
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano
Secondary Options
SAN: Tomas Hertl, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, Joel Ward
CGY: Michael Ferland, Joe Colborne, Dennis Wideman, T.J. Brodie, Dougie Hamilton
Florida Panthers at Vancouver Canucks – 10:00 PM EST
| Florida Panthers | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Roberto Luongo |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 25-12-4 | 16-16-10 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.66 | 2.12 | 16.80% | 82.00% | Team Stats | 2.36 | 2.76 | 17.10% | 79.40% |
The Florida Panthers picked up their 12th straight victory last night and now find themselves sitting atop the Atlantic Division with a 26-12-4 record. They’ve allowed just 1.25 goals against per game during their current winning streak and are now statistically the top defensive team in the NHL this season. Offensively, the ageless Jaromir Jagr continues to put up impressive offensive numbers and is thriving on the top line alongside the talented tandem of Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov. Jagr brings a four game points streak into tonight’s game and scored a goal and added an assist the only other time he faced this Vancouver team this season. On defense, last year’s Calder Trophy winning Aaron Ekblad is clearly an NHL star in the making. He already owns nine goals and ten assists on the young season and lit the lamp against Vancouver in their first meeting. He’s a staple on the point of the #1 power-play unit and looks like a terrific option against the Canucks middling 79.4% penalty kill.
Vancouver will wrap up a rather disappointing seven game homestand against the streaking Florida Panthers tonight before embarking an a daunting six game road trip. While they’re still somehow alive in the abysmal Pacific Division the Canucks are likely destined for a total rebuild this offseason and tonight’s matchup against a Florida team owning the best defense in the NHL makes them somewhat easy for me to fade in cash games. The Sedin brothers continue to put up very impressive offensive numbers and are easily the top options here. They’ll once again be joined by former linemate Alexandre Burrows both on the top line and #1 power-play unit with Radim Vrbata also joining them with the man-advantage. Bo Horvat has somewhat quietly scored goals in three straight games and his growing rapport with Sven Baertschi and Radim Vrbata on the second line makes all three somewhat intriguing GPP options.
Elite Options
FLA: Jaromir Jagr, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad
VAN: Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin
Secondary Options
FLA: Jussi Jokinen, Vincent Trocheck, Brian Campbell
VAN: Radim Vrbata, Bo Horvat, Alexandre Burrows, Alex Edler
Detroit Red Wings at Los Angeles Kings – 10:30 PM EST
| Detroit Red Wings | Los Angeles Kings | ||||||||
 | Jimmy Howard |  | Jonathan Quick | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 21-13-7 | 26-12-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.49 | 2.56 | 17.80% | 79.80% | Team Stats | 2.59 | 2.15 | 19.20% | 81.80% |
Detroit was battled last night up the road in Anaheim, but will head to the Staples Center riding a four game win streak after sneaking past the Ducks 2-1 in last night’s game. They’ll certainly have their work cut out for them once again tonight as they battle a Pacific Division leading Kings team that has allowed just 2.15 goals against per game this season. Jeff Blashill has been shuffling his forward lines around quite a bit this season, but it’s clear his main goal is finding a balanced scoring attack. While that approach has led Detroit to a solid 22-13-7 record through 42 games, it’s also a bit of a headache for fantasy players. Henrik Zetterberg leads the team with 30 points in 41 games and headlines the top forward line between Gustav Nyquist and Justin Abdelkader. That leaves the very skilled Pavel Datsyuk to center Darren Helm and Tomas Tatar on the second line with the Calder Trophy contending Dylan Larkin now falling all the way down to the third line. All three lines have shown enough offensive upside to deserve a look for GPPs, but the matchup is far from ideal and tired legs are definitely a concern. On defense, both Mike Green and Niklas Kronwall soak up all of the available minutes on the point of the power-play and are the only two options I’m considering on the blue-line.
The Kings were edged out by the St. Louis Blues in a shootout on Saturday, but they allowed just 16 SOG in that game and are still the best puck possession team in the NHL by Corsi standards. While Detroit defeated them in their only previous meeting, they’ll draw the Wings on the second half of back-to-back games and are distinct favorites according to our friends in Vegas (-200). With Jeff Carter back in action, Darryl Sutter once again has two very dangerous forward lines at his disposal. While squaring off against Pavel Datsyuk is not ideal for which ever line Jeff Blashill decides to deploy “the Magician” against, both lines look like fine options. Anze Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli enter tonight’s action tied for the team lead with 31 points on the season and are joined by Milan Lucic on the top line. That leaves Jeff Carter to center Tanner Pearson and Marian Gaborik on the “second line”. Kopitar scored the teams only goal against St. Louis and has caught fire lately with two goals and nine assists over his last eight games. With Detroit owning an uninspiring 79.8% penalty kill, Drew Doughty is solidified as a top tier option on the blue-line with both Jake Muzzin and Alec Martinez looking like great play dollar-for-dollar options.
Elite Options
DET: None
LAK: Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli, Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty
Secondary Options
DET: Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Justin Abdelkader, Gustav Nyquist, Mike Green
LAK: Marian Gaborik, Milan Lucic, Jake Muzzin, Alec Martinez