Ryan Johansen Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

The Chicago Blackhawks have surrendered the most even strength HDCA/60 (14.15) over the past month. To make things worse, their goaltender Corey Crawford was taken out of last night’s game due to a groin injury. The Nashville Predators are one of the teams fighting for playoff seeding tonight, as a win would secure the top spot in their division. It all starts with Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Johansen. Look for them to convert on the plethora of scoring chances Chicago allows, and enter the playoffs on a high note.

There’s a log jam at the top of the Central Division which will see either the Nashville Predators, Winnipeg Jets or the St Louis Blues win the division and either play Colorado or Dallas on home ice in the first round of the play-offs. All Nashville has to do is win and they will win the division. The home ice advantage should help here especially against a Chicago team that beat the Dallas Stars on home ice last night. Viktor Arvidsson is the choice here as he has grabbed a team leading 33 goals while playing in just 57 games. Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg skate with him on the top line which should make this a very popular and productive line this evening.

Nashville is still fighting for playoff seeding and they could not ask for a better matchup tonight than the Buffalo Sabres, a team which has been the worst defensive team in the second half of the season (3.93 GA/G). Johansen is not one to shoot the puck much, but he could easily pay off his salary with a couple apples as his wingers Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson seem certain to take advantage of Buffalo's many defensive shortcomings. Johansen's price really stands out on DraftKings ($4,600) as Nashville's top line seems a bit underpriced.

Viktor Arvidsson has been scoring on an incredible rate this season with 31 goals in 52 games. While the Nashville Predators haven't been a high-scoring team this season — just the 17th most goals in the NHL — but they have two of the more efficient scorers in the NHL this season. The other is Arvidsson's opposing winger with Filip Forsberg scoring 26 goals in 58 games. Their centre Ryan Johansen rounds out the top line and there is just so much talent on here that they should have more success than they have had. The Nashville Predators visits the Minnesota Wild tonight and the struggling Devan Dubnyk will be between the pipes.

Viktor Arvidsson has 26 goals in 42 games which is pretty incredible. Now, his shooting percentage is higher than normal at 18.4 percent this season compared to his 12.0 percent career average. Arvidsson also only has 9 assists so this goal to assist ratio is pretty crazy that is unlikely to continue in the upcoming seasons. However, that doesn't discount just how dominant he has been this season. He's played most of the season with Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg on the Nashville Predators and will continue to do so tonight. The upside in this line stack is that they all play on the same power play unit which gives them full-game correlation and elite upside.

There are a few decent plays if you are looking for a late hammer to put you over the top in the wee hours of the morning. Elias Pettersen and Brock Boeser could be in play on the road against San Jose or maybe you think that the Boston top line will do some damage in Los Angeles after coming up empty in a 3-0 win in Anaheim last night. Either line of thinking is fine here but I think the best bet lies within the top line of the Nashville Predators. Viktor Arvidsson skates with Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg skate on that top line that has seen Arvidsson score a team leading 26 goals in just 36 games. Normally we’d like to stay away from anyone playing in Vegas but the Golden Knights haven’t been playing well in front of the home crowd as they have dropped five straight when playing in the desert.

Despite playing in just 30 games, Viktor Arvidsson leads the Nashville Predators with 21 goals. Linemate Filip Forsberg has also been limited to just 37 games this season but he is second on the team with 18 goals in 37 games. They'll be centered by team-leading Ryan Johansen who has 44 points. The Predators are stacking their top line as this has been a line with a ton of success in the past. The trio play on the top power play unit together which gives them full-game correlation and elite upside against an Arizona Coyotes team that is on the tail-end of a back to back.

Injuries have shortened his season so far, but when he’s been healthy Viktor Arvidsson has been a beast. He’s played in just 24 games this season, but with 17 goals and 24 points, he’s been arguably the Nashville Predators best player. Obviously that goal total is inflated a bit with an unsustainable 21.5 percent shooting percentage considering his career average is 11.8 percent. However, he should still be able to dominate the scoresheet playing on the top line with Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg as usual. Tonight, the Predators host the Winnipeg Jets — a team that has turned to Laurent Brossoit a bit more lately with Connor Hellebuyck struggling. While as of now there is no confirmation on the goaltending, it is still a premium matchup for a Nashville team that has a 62.21 CF/60 since the Christmas break — 5th best in the NHL.

While NSH1 isn't regarded in the same light as Colorado's, Calgary's, Boston's, or other dominant first lines, their underlying numbers suggest they aren't too far off. The difference is that Nashville's line of Forsberg, Johansen, and Arvidsson hasn't been able to stay healthy for extended periods of time. Since Forsberg returned in a full capacity, this line has combined for 11 points in their last three games, including four goals from Forsberg. I expect them to dissect the Capitals with relative ease tonight, who will be on the second of a back-to-back.

Although it is a very small sample size of just four games, Filip Forsberg has scored four goals in those games and has been re-united with his usual linemates in Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Johansen. The Nashville Predators have been solid at generating shot attempts at even strength since the Christmas break, doing so with a 62.51 CF/60 which ranks fifth in that time frame. On the flip side, the Washington Capitals have been allowing the fourth most CA/60 at a 61.18 rate. This poses a large mismatch and should allow the Predators to get plenty of opportunities on home ice.