NHL Grind Down: Saturday, January 2nd
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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Detroit Red Wings at Buffalo Sabres – 01:00 PM EST
| Detroit Red Wings | Buffalo Sabres | ||||||||
 | Jimmy Howard |  | Robin Lehner | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 18-13-7 | 15-19-4 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.50 | 2.66 | 17.70% | 79.80% | Team Stats | 2.29 | 2.58 | 19.30% | 77.40% |
Detroit is trying to hold on for dear life in the Atlantic division as their 18-13-7 record has them at 43 points and are currently sitting tied for sixth in the Eastern conference. They have only scored four goals in their last three games and to no one’s surprise, have no wins to show for it. The Sabres have given up three power play goals in their last 12 penalty kills, which encompasses their last five games, so depending on how you construct your line ups would depend on who you roster. Pavel Datsyuk would be the first choice as he not only skates on the top power play unit, he centers the second line with Darren Helm and Brad Richards. With the Wings not scoring much it’s been Datsyuk leading the way with three goals and four assists in his last eight games. The top line has sputtered of late as Henrik Zetterberg has one assist in his last four games while Justin Abdelkader has a goal and assist in his last five games. Things may start to turn around though as Dylan Larkin was placed back on the top line and promptly set up Abdelkader’s goal in the 5-2 loss to Pittsburgh on home ice last Thursday night. Niklas Kronwall is the selection on defense as he has three assists in his last five games, including one in each of the last two.
Buffalo is in the same boat as Detroit in terms of losing their last three games and outside of the six goals they scored against Boston, they have not scored over three goals in any other game in their last 12. The Sabres have scored just one power play goal in their last seven games so it looks like we will have to stick to the straight lines tonight if we want to take some Buffalo players. Ryan O’Reilly is the team’s steadiest performer and would make a decent choice tonight as he has five goals and an assist in his last five games. That’s not too shabby considering the Sabres have only scored 11 goals in those five games. Sam Reinhart or Jamie McGinn skate with O’Reilly, but it’s really just a tossup as to who to take as neither player has done much of late. Jack Eichel makes an intriguing play as he has made some adjustments of late and is back on track by scoring two goals and seven assists in his last six games. Rasmus Ristolainen broke his four game drought with his assist against the New York Islanders last Thursday night.
Elite Plays
DET: Pavel Datsyuk
BUF: Ryan O’Reilly
Secondary Plays
DET: Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abdelkader, Dylan Larkin, Niklas Kronwall
BUF: Jack Eichel, Rasmus Ristolainen
Philadelphia Flyers at Los Angeles Kings – 04:00 PM EST
| Philadelphia Flyers | Los Angeles Kings | ||||||||
 | Steve Mason |  | Jonathan Quick | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 15-14-7 | 24-11-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.14 | 2.69 | 16.00% | 77.60% | Team Stats | 2.70 | 2.19 | 19.80% | 83.50% |
The Flyers finish up their three game west coast road swing with a visit to the ‘City of Angels’ to take on the Kings. The Flyers have dropped games to both Anaheim and San Jose by identical scores of 4-2. Four of the eight goals have come while being a man down so before we have any thoughts of the Flyers pulling this one out, they have to clean that up a bit first. Team leader Claude Giroux finally broke a five game scoring drought by netting a goal against San Jose while Jakub Voracek saw his five game scoring streak snapped in the same game. Voracek had scored three goals to go along with six assists over the previous five games. Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and Shayne Gostisbehere round out the top power play unit but if you take any Flyers tonight it would be my recommendation to do so in GPP’s only. It doesn’t make any sense taking them on the road against the best defensive team in the league for cash games.
The Kings ripped through their four game road trip by going a perfect 4-0 on the western Canadian swing. They come home to face the Flyers who have had a bit of trouble scoring of late. According to @lakinginsider Jeff Carter will sit yet another game with his upper body injury. It makes sense to insure Carter is 100% healthy as they have been doing fine without him and it’s not like second place Arizona can make up 11 points overnight. Tyler Toffoli is the play here as he has picked up the slack in the last five games by scoring six goals and two assist over that timeframe. Anze Kopitar makes the cut today as well as he has one goal to go along with six assists in his last four games while skating with Toffoli on both the top line and top power play unit. Milan Lucic rounds out the top trio and should be a notch down on your projection sheet as he has never been considered a prolific scorer. This is evident as while his line mates have been scoring in bunches he has managed just a goal and assist each in his last six games. Drew Doughty is the choice on the point as he has racked up four points in his last four games. For GPP’s I wouldn’t stay away from second liners Marian Gaborik and Tanner Pearson as they can provide a little production from time to time.
Elite Plays
PHI: None
LAK: Tyler Toffoli
Secondary Plays
PHI: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Shayne Gostisbehere
LAK: Anze Kopitar, Milan Lucic, Drew Doughty
Arizona Coyotes at Edmonton Oilers – 04:00 PM EST
| Arizona Coyotes | Edmonton Oilers | ||||||||
 | Mike Smith |  | Ben Scrivens | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 18-16-3 | 15-21-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.81 | 3.19 | 17.10% | 79.10% | Team Stats | 2.44 | 3.05 | 16.20% | 79.30% |
It’s back to the Pacific divison we go tonight as the second place Arizona Coyotes take on the last place Edmonton Oilers. Arizona has scored 14 goals in their last four games with half of them coming via the power play. Shane Doan has been on an absolute tear of late as he has lit the lamp seven times and assisted on another in his last five games. Doan’s efforts have not gone unnoticed as he has been placed on the top power play unit and with Edmonton giving up four goals while a man down, he would seem to be in play tonight. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson should be in the mix as well as he has three goals and three assists in his last four games. Mikkel Boedker continues to get on the scoresheet as he has a four game point streak going in the midst of collecting one goal and six assists in those games. It’s amazing the numbers that crop up when your team scores a few goals. Tobias Rieder and Antoine Vermette round out the top power play unit but we can’t overlook defenseman Michael Stone as he has a goal and four assists in his last four games.
Edmonton has fallen on the other side of the ledger in recent weeks as they are 1-6-1 in their last eight games. As with all teams that only score three goals in regulation just two times during an eight game span, it’s a wonder they won one game during that stretch. The good news is that Arizona has given up eight power play goals in their last five games and with Edmonton being on home ice Taylor Hall would be a good starting point tonight. This is more a leap of faith than anything as the line of Hall, Teddy Purcell and Leon Draisaitl has only produced one goal in their last four games. Make no mistake, Arizona is not a good team and when two bad teams get together anything can happen and usually does. Taking the second line is a strong GPP option as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Benoit Pouliot and Jordan Eberle all have three points each in their last three games. As I said on Thursday night, the Edmonton defense is quite awful which makes it very tough to roster any of them, even in GPP’s.
Elite Plays
ARZ: None
EDM: Taylor Hall
Secondary Plays
ARZ: Shane Doan, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Antoine Vermette, Mikkel Boedker, Michael Stone
EDM: Leon Draisaitl, Teddy Purcell, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Benoit Pouliot
Dallas Stars at New Jersey Devils – 07:00 PM EST
| Dallas Stars | New Jersey Devils | ||||||||
 | Kari Lehtonen |  | Cory Schneider | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 28-8-3 | 19-14-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.49 | 2.46 | 23.40% | 80.90% | Team Stats | 2.32 | 2.32 | 19.80% | 82.80% |
Dallas comes in as the best team in the league in not only the standings, but in goals scored as well. 137 goals in 39 games is quite impressive especially when factor in that the next closest team is the Washington Capitals as they have scored 117 goals in 37 games. We already know that Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn have been scoring at more than a point a game pace this season by virtue of being second and third in the league in scoring. With that said, the Stars have record on the road is 2-3-3 in their last eight games. This shouldn’t be too much of a concern, but it is worth watching. Patrick Sharp rounds out the top line and be considered as he is in the midst of a nice seven game scoring streak. Jason Spezza and defenseman John Klingberg round out the top five on the power play and like I have mentioned before, they are the only players worth taking. Cody Eakin is sixth on the team with 19 points in 39 games which doesn’t even average out to a half of a point per game. Case closed.
New Jersey comes into this one with a 19-14-5 record which is good for fourth place in the Metropolitan division. Goaltender Cory Schneider has a lot to do with this as he has a goals against average of just 2.10 to go along with a save percentage of .927. I mention these statistics because the Devils do not have any real prolific scorers outside of Mike Cammalleri and possibly Kyle Palmieri. Both are on the top line and get the majority of the power play minutes as well. The second line consists of Jiri Tlusty, Adam Henrique and Tyler Kennedy who have only one assist between them in the last seven games. Kennedy is the joke here as he hasn’t scored a goal in his last 27 NHL games. Enough said.
Elite Plays
DAL: Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn
NJ: None
Secondary Plays
DAL: Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp, John Klingberg
NJ: Kyle Palmieri, Mike Cammalleri, Travis Zajac
Nashville Predators at Carolina Hurricanes – 07:00 PM EST
| Nashville Predators | Carolina Hurricanes | ||||||||
 | Pekka Rinne |  | Cam Ward | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 18-13-7 | 16-17-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.61 | 2.63 | 21.00% | 76.80% | Team Stats | 2.39 | 2.82 | 17.10% | 77.90% |
The road has not been too kind to the Nashville Predators this season especially of late as they find themselves 1-3-3 in their last seven road games. However, by evidence of the three overtime losses, they do play competitive hockey and that’s what we should be looking at here. Carolina has done an excellent job of staying out of the penalty box as they have only taken just 16 penalties in the last ten games., so let’s take a look at the Predators even strength lines for some guidance tonight. The second line of Colin Wilson, Mike Fisher and Viktor Arvidsson is the intriguing play here as Fisher has been inserted on the top power play line between Philip Forsberg and James Neal. Fisher is just three games back from almost a month long injury so it may take him a few games to get back up to speed. With Fisher back, I would look for Neal to be moved up to the second line sometime in the near future as Arvidsson has just five points in the twenty games he has played. It doesn’t matter if Neal plays on the second or third line tonight as he should be considered in play, especially since he is the team leader in goals with 15. Roman Josi has the hot hand back on the point as he not only has two goals and seven assists in his last seven games, he leads the team in scoring as well. Defensive partner Shea Weber is second on the team in scoring as he has compiled 11 goals to go along with 15 assists in his 38 games played. Usually when teams have two defenseman leading their team in scoring it spells for bad news, this is only true on the road for the Predators who are very good at shutting down a team’s top line.
After an impressive 4-2 home win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, the Hurricanes stayed at home over the holiday for their meeting with the Nashville Predators tonight. Carolina has reeled off six wins in their last ten games and by virtue of staying out of the penalty box, have been able to play some solid hockey over the last two weeks. Look for the top line of Eric Staal, Kris Versteeg and Elias Lindholm to get on the board tonight as Staal has caught fire of late as he has three goals and three assists in his last five games. Carolina has the same problem that Nashville has with defenseman Justin Faulk leading the team in scoring. Faulk has 14 goals to go along with 16 assists so far this season but the biggest number that jumps off the page is his 12 power play goals. This is an astronomical number not for a defenseman but also from a team standpoint as the Hurricanes only have 20 goals on the power play and the next closest player, which is Jeff Skinner, has just two. This game could be a bit low scoring so I’d use a little caution here before diving head first into the deep end.
Elite Plays
NAS: Roman Josi
CAR: None
Secondary Plays
NSH: James Neal, Shea Weber, Filip Forsberg, Mike Ribeiro
CAR: Eric Staal, Kris Versteeg, Justin Faulk, Victor Rask