NHL Grind Down: Wednesday, November 4th
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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Winnipeg Jets at Toronto Maple Leafs – 07:00 PM EST
| Winnipeg Jets | Toronto Maple Leafs | ||||||||
 | Ondrej Pavelec |  | Jonathan Bernier | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 7-4 | 2-7 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 3.00 | 2.75 | 22.90% | 84.80% | Team Stats | 2.18 | 3.09 | 12.50% | 75.00% |
The Jets were embarrassed in Montreal on Sunday, but will look to get things turned around against the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs this evening in Toronto. For the last several years, the Jets have been carried along by the impressive forward line of Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler, and while that’s still the case to some degree, they’ve finally found some consistent secondary scoring as well. Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers, both former first round picks, have joined forces with Mathieu Perreault and now combined for nine goals and 16 assists through the first 12 games. With Toronto allowing 3.09 goals against per game thus far this season and sporting an ugly 75.0% penalty kill, all six players are terrific options this evening. On the blue-line, Dustin Byfuglien continues to be an offensive force and with six points and 34 SOG already this season, he’s an elite option if you can afford him.
The Maple Leafs finally snapped an ugly six game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Monday, but their 2-7-2 start to the season is clearly not how Mike Babcock hoped to begin his career in Toronto. With Phil Kessel no longer in the picture, Toronto’s offense has sputtered and only managed to score 2.18 goals per game through 12 games. With that said, they finally look to be at full health and there are some offensive weapons sprinkled throughout their lineup. While trusting any of their forwards in cash games is till a bit too risky for my liking, guys like Joffrey Lupul, Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, Brad Boyes and Tyler Bozak all have some nice GPP appeal against this Jets team that’s allowing the fourth most shots on goal against so far in the 2015-16 season (32 SA/G). Dion Phaneuf remains a true workhorse for this team defensively, but it’s been former 5th overall draft pick Morgan Rielly, who leads the team in points (8) as well as average ice-time (22:32). He’s still flying a bit under the radar by fantasy standards and is a fine option on the sites where his asking price is still very reasonable.
Elite Plays
WPG: Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little, Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele, Dustin Byfuglien
TOR: Morgan Rielly
Secondary Plays
WPG: Andrew Ladd, Mathieu Perreault, Tyler Myers
TOR: Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Leo Komarov, Dion Phaneuf
St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks – 08:00 PM EST
| St. Louis Blues | Chicago Blackhawks | ||||||||
 |  | Corey Crawford | |||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 8-2 | 7-5 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.73 | 2.09 | 10.50% | 83.30% | Team Stats | 2.33 | 2.17 | 19.50% | 84.40% |
The second half of tough back-to-back’s while visiting Chicago is simply not the recipe for fantasy success, but the St. Louis Blues have earned your fantasy attention regardless of their matchup. There’s no doubt that it’ll be tough sledding for the Blues tonight, but they’ll at least catch a break with Marian Hossa watching tonight’s from the press-box. St. Louis has terrific forward depth, but it’s not a secret that the bulk of their scoring comes from the 2015 version of the “STL Line” as Alex Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko and Jori Lehtera have developed quite the chemistry. Jonathan Toews will likely shadow them all over the ice tonight, but they’re the top options regardless and really the only three forwards for St. Louis on my cash game radar in this matchup. Kent Hitchcock has hinted that Kevin Shattenkirk may finally be ready to suit up tonight, so monitor that news for two reasons; 1) When dressed, Shattenkirk is top blue-line option for St. Louis and holds the reigns as the quarterback of the top power-play unit, and 2) His return would be a small dent in the fantasy outlook of both Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko.
The Blackhawks defeated the Kings on Monday night, and while they were home resting in Chicago, the St. Louis Blues were taking on those same Kings last night in St. Louis. These two Central Division rivals went through some wars last season, with St. Louis ultimately winning three of the five meetings. Facing the Blues is definitely not ideal, but the United Center is one of the toughest buildings in the league to escape with two points and St. Louis will likely be a rather worn out after the grueling 3-0 loss to the Kings less than 24 hours ago. The Marian Hossa injury forced Joel Quenneville to shuffle up his forward lines prior to Monday Night’s game, but Hawks are still very capable of rolling with two dangerous scoring lines. The impressive KHL defector Artemi Panarin moved up to play alongside Jonathan Toews (along with Ryan Garbutt) and the highly touted Teuvo Teravainen joined Artem Anisimov and Patrick Kane on the “second” line. Kane and Toews are obviously the top options, but the other four players mentioned offer tremendous value. Duncan Keith is another major injury facing the Hawks right now, but Brent Seabrook’s excellent play has certainly softened the blow a bit. Seabrook has now scored a pair of goals and dished out six assists during his current six game scoring streak and has inherited Keith’s spot on the point of the #1 power-play unit.
Elite Plays
STL: Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen, Kevin Shattenkirk (if healthy)
CHI: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook
Secondary Play
STL: David Backes, Jori Lehtera, Troy Brouwer, Colton Parayko, Alex Pietrangelo
CHI: Artemi Panarin, Artem Anisimov, Teuvo Teravainen, Trevor Daley
Pittsburgh Penguins at Vancouver Canucks – 10:00 PM EST
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Marc-Andre Fleury |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 7-4 | 6-2 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.18 | 1.82 | 11.40% | 88.60% | Team Stats | 2.92 | 2.17 | 19.40% | 90.60% |
The well rested Penguins will continue their tour of Canada as they head to the West Coast to battle the Vancouver Canucks. Pittsburgh got the road trip off on the right foot with a 4-0 victory over the Maple Leafs in Phil Kessel return to Toronto and have now won seven of their last eight games. The Penguins continue to shuffle their forwards lines up a bit, but regardless of the combinations, one thing is for certain; this team is loaded with offensive firepower. While the Canucks have only allowed 2.17 goals per game this season and actually shut out this Pittsburgh team in both meetings last season, it’s tough to envision Pittsburgh not generating plenty of scoring chances tonight. Sidney Crosby is slated to be joined by Patric Hornqvist and Pascal Dupuis on the top line, with Evgeni Malkin flanked by Phil Kessel and David Perron on line #2. Pittsburgh started the season just 2 for 31 on the power-play, but with power-play goals in back-to-back games they look to be coming alive. It’s been a slow start to the season for the entire team (except for maybe Malkin) which has lowered their asking prices on many sites, so enjoy the discount while it lasts.
This is a big game for the Canucks as they’ll look to extend their winning streak to three games before heading off on a grueling seven game road trip. With Pittsburgh obviously preferring to push the pace (112.7 CP60), the Canucks will do their best to clog up the neutral zone and slow this game down a bit. With that said, it’s not like the Canucks are absent of firepower as Willie Desjardins finally did the DFS world a favor and reunited the Sedin Twins with sniper Radim Vrbata. With the Penguins have actually allowed the least goals against in the NHL this season, those three forwards are about as far as I’m willing to dig for cash game use tonight. All three are still fairly reasonably priced and have proven to be somewhat matchup proof when lined up together since Vrbata put on a Canucks sweater. On the blue-line, Alexander Edler is the top option as he’s averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice-time per game and sees a healthy dose of playing time on the point of the #1 power-play unit.
Elite Plays
PIT: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist, Kris Letang
VAN: Daniel Sedin, Radim Vrbata, Henrik Sedin
Secondary Plays
PIT: Pascal Dupuis, David Perron
VAN: Brandon Sutter, Alexandre Burrows, Alexander Edler
Florida Panthers at Anaheim Ducks – 10:30 PM EST
| Florida Panthers | Anaheim Ducks | ||||||||
 | Roberto Luongo |  | Frederik Andersen | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 5-4 | 2-7 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.91 | 2.09 | 23.80% | 77.30% | Team Stats | 1.27 | 2.55 | 9.40% | 89.70% |
The Panthers have struggled to get much momentum going this season, but as they prepare for a mini West Coast road trip that starts tonight, they’ve at least stayed afloat with a 5-4-2 record. The ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr just continues to put up solid offensive numbers and leads the Panthers with 10 points in nine games and is hoping to be back in the lineup tonight after missing two games with a lower body injury. His presence would immediately give the Panthers back two very threatening forward lines that has provided Gerard Gallant with a balanced scoring attack this season, which is important considering Ryan Kesler still looms as a very disrupting defender. While a road game in Anaheim is historically a very difficult matchup, the combination of a short slate and the Ducks’ recent struggles makes it rather difficult to ignore the Panthers here. Both of their top two scoring lines are fine options (especially if Jagr suits up) and Aaron Ekblad and Brian Campbell are both capable of nice offensive numbers on a nightly basis.
It’s been a flat-out nightmare-ish start to the season for the Ducks, but they finally snapped their five game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Predators on Sunday. This team has already been shutout five times this season and their 1.27 goals per game is easily the worst in the National Hockey League. The big news to monitor as game-time approaches is the status of Ryan Getzlaf as his availability drastically changes the outlook of this game. Assuming he’s out, Ryan Kesler would be slated to center the top line alongside Corey Perry and that’s obviously a huge boost to the former stars fantasy value. However, if Getzlaf’s back in action, Kesler would return to the second line and likely take on much more of a defensive role. Carl Hagelin is likely the third wheel on that top line regardless of Getzlaf’s status, and he a fine play where he’s still cheap. It’s only a matter of time before the Ducks get back on track, but keep your fantasy expectations in check as no one on this team has posted more than four points through the first 11 games.
Elite Plays
FLA: Jaromir Jagr (if healthy), Nick Bjugstad, Aaron Ekblad
ANA: Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf (if healthy)
Secondary Play
FLA: Vincent Trocheck, Jonathan Huberdeau, Brian Campbell
ANA: Carl Hagelin, Jakob Silfverberg, Ryan Kesler, Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler