NHL Grind Down: Saturday, October 15th

by Tom Woollam (elctrceye) Last Updated 2016-10-16 00:53:47

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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.

Note: As always, if you want to try a new DFS site, be sure to click through a RotoGrinders link and use our DraftKings promo code and FanDuel promo code to receive the best perks in the industry.

NOTE: Listed team records/statistics are from 2015/16 season.

Anaheim Ducks at Pittsburgh Penguins

Anaheim Ducks					Pittsburgh Penguins
			Jonathan Bernier					Marc-Andre Fleury
			Record					Record
			46-25-11					48-26-8
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.62	4.00	23.10%	87.20%	Team Stats	2.94	2.00	18.40%	84.40%

The Ducks had a tough task the other night as they went into Dallas and lost 4-2 and tonight is no better as they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Stanley Cup Champion Penguins. It’s true that Sidney Crosby is out for a few games, maybe more, but that didn’t stop them from picking up the 3-2 shootout victory over division rival Washington Capitals two days ago. Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf are joined by Nick Ritchie on both the top line and top power play line so look for Pittsburgh to try and shut them down the best they can. The second line has some GPP value here as Ryan Kesler centers Jakob Silfverberg an Andrew Cogliano all saw north of power play time as well with Cogliano netting both Anaheim goals while Cogs and Kess picked up an assist each. Defenseman Sami Vatanen, Cam Fowler and Kevin Bieksa all see good power play minutes but it is Vatanen who is probably the best offensive defenseman they have. Pittsburgh is tough at home while Anaheim finds ways to win on the road as their 21 wins away from home last year can attest to.

The Penguins raised their Stanley Cup banner in grand style Thursday night and then went on to defeat the Capitals as mentioned above. It’s the same story every time Sidnet Crosby gets hurt, Evgeni Malkin turns into superman as he not only had a goal on Thursday but an assist as well. You could go and take his line mates Chris Kunitz and Scott Wilson to get a piece of him but you are better off served by taking the top power play unit in this one. Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist, Nick Bonino and defenseman Kris Letang make up the rest of that unit and that is literally all you need to know. The skating should be a little more fluid tonight against the Ducks than it was against Washington so I expect these guys to be higher owned tonight.

Elite Plays

ANA: Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry
PIT: Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang

Secondary Plays

ANA: Jakob Silfverberg, Ryan Kesler, Andrew Cogliano, Sami Vatanen
PIT: Patric Hornqvist, Nick Bonino, Phil Kessel

Detroit Red Wings at Florida Panthers

Detroit Red Wings					Florida Panthers
			Petr Mrazek					Roberto Luongo
			Record					Record
			41-30-11					47-26-9
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.55	6.00	18.80%	81.50%	Team Stats	2.83	1.00	16.90%	79.50%

The Red Wings will look to bounce back after a 6-4 loss in Tampa on Thursday night. The good thing is that they didn’t have to travel far as they take on the Panthers in Florida tonight. Thomas Vanek has once again risen from the dead to find his way on another team’s top power play unit. Vanek netted half of the Red Wings goals the other night and could easily be considered as a one-off for tonight’s action as he does skate on the third line. Florida will try to contain the top line of Henrik Zetterberg, Frans Nielsen and Andres Athanasiou as they, along with defenseman Mike Green as everyone but Athanasiou find themselves on the team’s top power play unit. It may be a bit risky tonight to dip to the second line of Riley Sheahan, Dylan Larkin and Tomas Tatar as the Panthers usually play a decent defensive brand of hockey on home ice. With 13 games tonight, it may be best to look elsewhere for your cash game options.

As mentioned above, the Devils didn’t do that great of job managing their team’s ice time against the Panthers in their 2-1 loss, but Florida did score enough goals to win, albeit in over time. Aleksander Barkov netted the game winner as well as assisted on the other goal by Jonathan Marchessault. They are both joined by the ‘ageless wonder’ Jaromir Jagr on not only the top line but are featured on the team’s top power play unit as well. I’d think they would be in play tonight that gave up six goals in their first game. You could dip down to the second line for some GPP action that is comprised of Jussi Jokinen, Vincent Trocheck and Reilly Smith, but that would be about it. Keith Yandle and Aaron Ekblad could be the best defensive power play pairing in the league and both are in play tonight.

Elite Plays

DET: None
FLA: Aleksander Barkov

Secondary Plays

DET: Henrik Zetterberg, Frans Nielsen, Dylan Larkin, Thomas Vanek, Mike Green
FLA: Jaromir Jagr, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle, Jonathan Marchessault

Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs

Boston Bruins					Toronto Maple Leafs
			Tuukka Rask					Frederik Andersen
			Record					Record
			42-31-9					29-42-11
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.88	3.00	20.50%	82.20%	Team Stats	2.34	5.00	15.40%	81.60%

The Bruins line of David Pastrnak, David Backes and Brad Marchand basically took the Columbus Blue Jackets to the woodshed on Thursday night as each tallied two goals apiece in the Beaneaters 6- 3 road victory. This line should be in play again tonight as they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Head coach Claude Julien stuck to his guns though as he had Backes, David Krejci, Ryan Spooner, Austin Czarnik and defenseman Torey Krug hit the ice first with the man advantage. You can pair Krejci and Spooner as they skate on the team’s second line and use Czarnik as a one-off if you so desire. I doubt you’d want to go grab defenseman Zdeno Chara and although he did have five shots on goal, his best years are clearly behind him. Toronto has improved slightly but still give up a ton of shots and that can only be good for the road team tonight.

After his four goal debut on Wednesday night it’s going to be awfully hard not to roster Auston Matthews. Both of his line mates were able to get an assist or two as well with William Nylander snagging two and Zach Hyman chipping in one. Matthews led all forwards in ice time and head coach Mike Babcock will no doubt have the budding superstar on the ice for a lot of the time again tonight. It would be ludicrous to think that the other lines won’t score so maybe tonight is a good night to pick on one of the other lines, namely Mitch Marner, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk. If you watched Wednesday’s game it was Marner who was all over the ice while playing second fiddle to the emergence of Matthews. This line also saw a ton of power play time so playing them at home here against the Bruins makes sense. On defense, rookie Nikita Zaitsev and Jake Gardiner each saw decent power play minutes as the Leafs appear to go be going with four forwards and one defenseman when they have the man advantage.

Elite Plays

BOS: None
TOR: None

Secondary Plays

BOS: David Krejci, Brad Marchand, David Backes, David Pastrnak, Torey Krug, Ryan Spooner
TOR: Auston Matthews, James van Riemsdyk, Mitch Marner, Leo Komarov, Nikita Zaitsev, Jake Gardiner

San Jose Sharks at Columbus Blue Jackets

San Jose Sharks					Columbus Blue Jackets
			Martin Jones					Sergei Bobrovsky
			Record					Record
			46-30-6					34-40-8
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.89	1.00	22.50%	80.50%	Team Stats	2.60	6.00	17.30%	81.00%

After a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings, the Sharks head to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. You should know the drill by now, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski play on the team’s top line while Logan Couture centers the second line and Patrick Marleau plays the wing on the third line. Add defenseman Brent Burns to this mix and you have the deadliest power play in the league. It also doesn’t hurt that they get almost two thirds of the ice time when the team has a man advantage. If you are looking to deviate a little I’d look at rostering Couture with either Mikkel Boedker or Joonas Donskoi as they are his line mates and could see quite a bit of room on the ice while the Blue Jackets are busy trying to stop Thornton and Pavelski.

Columbus couldn’t pull the rabbit out of the hat Thursday night as Boston scored six times en route to a three goal Blue Jacket loss. The only thing in favor of the Blue jackets tonight is the fact they are on home ice. That’s still not enough to sell me on them for cash games, but here goes. It looks like Columbus is finally starting stray away from that ‘who is on the power play tonight’ mentality and get down to giving what they think as their top offensive guys the majority of the ice time. They still however try to use players from the top three lines to make their top power play unit. With opportunity comes reward, which is exactly what happened to defenseman Zachary Werenski as he tallied his first NHL point Thursday night. Cam Atkinson makes a decent one-off play here as he skates on both the top power play unit while playing on the top line with Boone Jenner and Brandon Dubinsky. Third liners Alexander Wennberg and Oliver Bjorkstrand join Atkinson, Werenski and second liner Nick Foligno to comprise the top power play unit. In all this mess defenseman Seth Jones had a goal and assist, which could possibly push Werenski off the top power play unit. It still looks to me like the Blue Jackets are in disarray so maybe Atkinson and Werenski are the better plays until things start to shake out a bit.

Elite Plays

SJ: Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski
CBJ: None

Secondary Plays

SJ: Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau
CBJ: Cam Atkinson, Zachary Werenski, Alexander Wennberg, Seth Jones

Winnipeg Jets at Minnesota Wild

Winnipeg Jets					Minnesota Wild
			Michael Hutchinson					Devan Dubnyk
			Record					Record
			35-39-8					38-33-11
Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%	Stats	GF/GP	GA/GP	PP%	PK%
Team Stats	2.59	4.00	14.80%	78.40%	Team Stats	2.60	3.00	18.50%	77.90%

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After a suspect start on Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes the jets came all the way back from a 4-1 third period deficit to win 5-4 in overtime. It was Mark Scheifele potting the game winner but it took Blake Wheeler and his short-handed goal to get the Jets moving. Wheeler and Scheifele skate on the top line with Nikolaj Ehlers and while that may be good on home ice, I’d probably deviate away from them tonight in Minnesota. Your one-off here could be could be the second overall pick in this year’s draft, Patrik Laine as he not only demonstrated speed but tallied two points while playing on the third line. Defenseman Dustin Byuflglien logged over 28 minutes of ice time, six of them on the power play, but was only able to muster one shot to go along with a blocked shot, much to the chagrin of his owners on Thursday night.

Minnesota is basically a one line team and with Zach Parise back full strength, that can only bode well for tonight’s home contest against the Jets. Winnipeg is not that solid defensively and struggled against Carolina by giving them four goals, two of which came while being in the box. This is why Parise, Eric Stall and Charlie Coyle make a pretty decent play tonight. They are both the top line and top power play unit for the Wild. They are joined by defenseman Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter, who are also in play tonight. For GPP’s you could to second liners Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville but in my eyes Koivu is a one-off at best tonight.

Elite Plays

WIN: None
MIN: Zach Parise

Secondary Plays

WIN: Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, Patrik Laine
MIN: Charlie Coyle, Eric Staal, Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Suter

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