NHL Grind Down: Sunday, January 14th


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 Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Red Wings Chicago Blackhawks
Article Image Petr Mrazek Article Image Jeff Glass
Record Record
17-18-7 22-16-6
Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK% Stats GF/GP GA/GP PP% PK%
Team Stats 2.66 3.05 19.84 81.40 Team Stats 3.09 2.68 15.76 82.86

I have a feeling that over the second half of the season we may see the Red Wings start to use a bunch of different line combinations to try to figure out what they have moving forward. Tyler Bertuzzi was ripped off the first line midway through yesterday’s 4-1 loss in Pittsburgh as Anthony Mantha moved up to the top line. Mantha should actually be up in the top six anyway as Detroit is another delusional team that has tried to make three scoring lines in the past. Mantha will now skate with Gustav Nyquist and Henrik Zetterberg on the top line while Andreas Athanasiou, Tomas Tatar and Dylan Larkin make up the teams second line. Nyquist and Mantha lead the team with 14 goals while Larkin’s 34 points is tops on the team. All six play a part in the Detroit power play scheme as the red Wings run two equal lines when they have the extra attacker. Justin Abdelkader and Martin Frk come up from the bottom six to join the power play units. Defensemen Nicklas Kronwall and Mike Green are the anchors of those two power play units with Green being the stronger play based on his 24-10 point lead over Kronwall so far this season. Detroit has only won seven games on the road this season and will need both lines to score today if they want to come home with the ‘W’.

Chicago is in a precarious spot where the playoffs are concerned as they 22-16-6 record has them in seventh place in the Central Division. The good news is that they are only one point away from the last playoff spot in the Western Conference so any form of a winning streak would drastically improve their chances of playing well into the month of April. Chicago has elected to keep their lines the same for this game which means Jonathan Toews will center Brandon Saad and Vinnie Hinostroza while Patrick Kane, Nick Schmaltz and Ryan Hartman make up the team’s second scoring line. Kane’s 18 goals and 27 assists lead the team while Schmaltz and his 32 points are second behind the leader. That’s a 13 point spread between first and second on the team and that could be a concern here as the Blackhawks have only scored three goals in the first two games of their current six-game home stand. Kane and Schmaltz were joined by Toews and defenseman Jordan Oesterle to log quite a bit of ice time when Chicago had the extra attacker on Friday night but the problem is that outside of the four goals that were scored against Ottawa, they have had no other power play goals in their previous six games. Oesterle was a pretty good kept secret until recently as he has found the score sheet six times in the last seven games. Duncan Keith and his 22 assists has him registering a half a point a game from the back line. Keith is yet to find the back of the net this season which makes Oesterle even a bit more lucrative in comparison. Chicago should find a way to win this one in front of the home crowd this evening.

Top Plays

DET: Dylan Larkin
CHI: Patrick Kane

Secondary Plays

DET: Anthony Mantha, Gustav Nyquist, Henrik Zetterberg, Andreas Athanasiou, Mike Green
CHI: Jonathan Toews, Nick Schmaltz, Brandon Saad, Jordan Oesterle

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About the Author

elctrceye
Tom Woollam (elctrceye)

Tom Woollam is a freelance DFS writer and has been a member here at RotoGrinders.com since December 2011. He has played Fantasy Sports for the last 30 years and has been in the daily fantasy sports game for the last four. You can find him on twitter @elctrceye.