NHL Grind Down: Wednesday, December 7th
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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Minnesota Wild at Toronto Maple Leafs
| Minnesota Wild | Toronto Maple Leafs | ||||||||
 | Devan Dubnyk |  | Frederik Andersen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 12-8-4 | 10-9-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.75 | 2.04 | 17.10% | 83.30% | Team Stats | 3.00 | 3.08 | 19.40% | 85.30% |
There’s a lot of questions I have surrounding these two teams. Where the Wild are concerned my question would be ‘Has Zach Parise seen his better days?’ The 30 year-old continues to get dinged up and hasn’t played the full schedule of games since the 48-game strike year in 2013. A lot of teams have been shuffling up their line which now finds Parise down on the third line with Erik Haula and Jason Pominville. This was the line he skated with when he came back from injury back on November 15th. Since that time has scored two goals and assisted on another in the nine games he has played. With all of that said he does make for a nice one-off play here as it looks like he will skate with the team’s top power play line. He will join the team’s scoring leader in Eric Staal and his line mate in Charlie Coyle to round out the top line with the man advantage. Nino Niederreiter is the lucky recipient to move up to the top line so essentially the Wild just flip-flopped Parise for Niederreiter. The second line that features Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker is your GPP play duo as they each have garnered four points over the last four games. Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon are your choices on the blue line with Suter getting the nod here as he is third on the team scoring chart with 16 points so far this season.
OK, the question I have for the Toronto Maple Leafs is simple. Is there such a thing as having too many offensive players on your team? It sound ridiculous, but is it really? The thought process is that with all of these offensive forwards, who can actually shut down the opposing team’s top line beside Nazem Kadri? Even he has 17 points in 24 games while leading the team with 53 penalty minutes. Kadri centers Leo Komarov and Nikita Soshnikov while William Nylander is stuck on the fourth line but does get the extra minutes on the top power play line. Nylander could easily play on the top two lines for most teams in the league. The top line of James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Mitchell Marner lead the team with a combined 56 points so far this season. Only Auston Matthews stands in the way from the top line occupying the top three spots on the season scoring chart. Matthews plays on the top power play line and has six of his 19 points with the man advantage. He also leads the team with 89 shots so far this season. Zach Hyman has seen his production rise a bit skating next to Matthews as his has registered three of his eight points over the last four games. Defenseman Jake Gardiner continues to be afforded the extra ice time on the power play but he is just not delivering. Morgan Rielly is actually a better choice here as he has 13 points so far this season. In an attempt to answer my own question from above, I think that you will find that in the next coming years that most teams will have a lot of talent on at least three lines across the board. Now whether or not that equates to winning Stanley Cups remains to be seen as although the Maple Leafs are very young, they have given up 77 goals so far this season.
Elite Plays
MIN: None
TOR: Auston Matthews
Secondary Plays
MIN: Eric Staal, Charlie Coyle, Mikko Koivu, Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, Jason Zucker
TOR: Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, Mitchell Marner, Nazem Kadri
Boston Bruins at Washington Capitals
| Boston Bruins | Washington Capitals | ||||||||
 | Tuukka Rask |  | Braden Holtby | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 15-10-1 | 14-7-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.35 | 2.19 | 13.80% | 86.40% | Team Stats | 2.54 | 2.21 | 15.20% | 83.10% |
The Boston Bruins have strung together three wins for the third time this season and if they can push the envelope they will have won four games in a row for the first time this year. The top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak features the team leaders in both goals and assists. Pastrnak has 15 goals while Marchand has the same number on the assist side of the ledger. Tim Schaller was moved up to the second line and found the back of the net for the fourth time this season. That’s what will happen when you skate alongside of guys like David Krejci and David Backes as they are two of the players in the league who actually make guys better by playing on their line. If you like going with the 2-2-2 system you can either use Pastrnak and Marchand or pair Backes with Krejci. All four players occupy the top four spots on the Bruins season scoring list and have tallied at least four points over the last five games. You can add defenseman Torey Krug to that list as is fifth in the team in scoring while registering 11 points on 78 shots through the first 26 games. The only other consideration would be Ryan Spooner as he skates on the third line but gets to see time on the top power play unit. Spooner like a lot of younger guys this season has been a disappointment so far this season by scoring just three goals in 26 games. He does have six assists but that’s not nearly the production the Bruins were expecting this season.
T.J. Oshie returns to the Capital line up and will immediately go back on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson. What this does is get that full line back on the top power play unit along with Alexander Ovechkin and defenseman John Carlson. Ovechkin leads the team in goals with 12 and will skate with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Justin Williams. Washington has only scored six goals in the last four games so the return of Oshie could be exactly what they needed as they have slipped to fourth place in the Metropolitan division. Johansson and Backstrom are responsible for five of those goals while fourth line Jay beagle netted the other. You can easily use the Backstrom line in your cash games tonight or flip the tables and try to fit Ovechkin and his high salary onto your roster tonight. If you wanted to deviate a little on the blue line you could take a look at Matt Niskanen but even he is underachieving with just nine assists in 24 games. Stick with the top five here in your cash games tonight.
Elite Plays
BOS: David Pastrnak
WSH: Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom
Secondary Plays
BOS: Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, David Backes, Torey Krug
WSH: T.J. Oshie, Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, John Carlson
Carolina Hurricanes at Anaheim Ducks
| Carolina Hurricanes | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Cam Ward |  | John Gibson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 10-10-5 | 12-9-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.28 | 2.52 | 18.70% | 91.30% | Team Stats | 2.58 | 2.54 | 22.90% | 80.90% |
If it wasn’t for goaltender Cam Ward, this team would be in a lot worse shape than they already are. The last game Ward gave up three goals or more was back on November 10th against Anaheim and that was 11 starts ago. He has easily been the hottest goalie in the league. The problem occurs when you realize that the Hurricanes have only scored 11 goals over the last seven games. That doesn’t bode well when you are trying to fill out your roster on a four game that is presented to us tonight. Jeff Skinner and Victor Rask are the usual go to guys as they lead the team in scoring with 20 and 18 points respectively. After that it’s the whole second line of Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Lee Stempniak that sit 3-4-5 on the Hurricanes scoring chart. Aho has 11 points while his line mates each have ten. While these numbers seem dismal there are four other teams that either have 58 goals or less so far this season. The defense is just as much an offensive mess as the front lines are with Justin Faulk, Noah Hanifin and Jaccob Slavin being your choices on the back line. Faulk ranks third on the team in shots and gets some extra time on the power play. This is probably about the best you will get here.
After getting boat raced at home against Calgary the other night the Ducks will look to get back on track against the Carolina Hurricanes. They will probably face a hot goalie as mentioned above so it’s going to take a lot of pressure to come away with a win here, let alone score more than three goals. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry will be the ones with the high ownership tonight as they lead the team in scoring along with second liner Ryan Kesler. Speaking of Kesler, he makes for a nice one-off play here as he has three goals and three assists in the last five games while skating on the top power play unit. Defenseman Cam Fowler and Sami Vatanen join the team leaders on the top power play unit and should be considered in play tonight. Fowler continues to pile up the points as he now has 17 through 26 games with nine of them coming with the man advantage. The only thing we need to look out for here is the return of Rickard Rakell. He missed the game against Calgary with an upper-body injury but skated in practice yesterday. This at least gives us some hope of him joining the top line with Perry and Getzlaf. If he can’t go, look for Nick Ritchie to skate on the left wing. If you want a little variance you can pair Kesler with either Jakob Silfverberg or Andrew Cogliano for tournament play tonight.
Elite Plays
CAR: Jeff Skinner
ANA: Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf
Secondary Plays
CAR: Victor Rask, Sebastian Aho, Justin Faulk
ANA: Cam Fowler, Ryan Kesler, Sami Vatanen
Ottawa Senators at San Jose Sharks
| Ottawa Senators | San Jose Sharks | ||||||||
 | Mike Condon |  | Martin Jones | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 15-9-2 | 15-9-1 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.35 | 2.58 | 16.30% | 85.40% | Team Stats | 2.40 | 2.04 | 18.70% | 83.60% |
Ottawa continues to impress as they currently sit in second place in the Atlantic division with 32 points. Of course most insiders will tell you it’s all been done with smoke and mirrors and maybe they are right. Craig Anderson has been keeping this team afloat but maybe the cracks are starting to show as the Senators have given up 13 goals in his last two starts. The top line of Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard and Mark Stone has been the most productive over the last six games and will surely draw the Sharks top defensive line. Hoffman has five goals and eight points while Stone is right behind him with three goals and four assists in the six-game span. Erik Karlsson leads the team in points with 24 as he has found the net twice while assisting on six other goals in the last six games. If all of these guys are considered to be on the chalkier side on a four game slate then Kyle Turris is certainly worth a look as a one-off play tonight. Turris is usually joined by Bobby Ryan but he has been placed on the injured reserve list with a broken finger. This leaves Ryan Dzingel and Tom Pyatt to flank Turris with Dzingel being the better choice if you are looking for a GPP duo. Dzingel has registered four of his 14 points in the last six games. While Erik Karlsson is the chalk defensive play tonight Dion Phaneuf could be used as change-of-pace kind of play. Phaneuf has been put on the top power play line and has four of his last five points with the man advantage.
Thanks to six wins in their last seven games the San Jose Sharks have pulled into a first place tie with the Edmonton before last night’s games. The top line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski should see a lot of ownership in your cash games. Pavelski leads the team in points with 23 in 25 games while defenseman Brent Burns is right behind him with 22 points. Logan Couture did not skate yesterday and may need to skip this game because of getting a screw removed from his foot from a previous injury. This presents a problem as if Couture does not play then Chris Tierney looks to be the one to center the second line with Joel Ward and Kevin Labanc. This will leave Mikkel Boedker and Joonas Donskoi hung out to dry, not that they have been doing anything anyway. It does look like Couture skated this morning and is ready to go according to beat reporter Paul Gackle. Couture makes for a nice one-off play tonight.
Elite Plays
OTT: Erik Karlsson
SJ: Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns
Secondary Plays
OTT: Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Derick Brassard, Kyle Turris
SJ: Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau