After a busy Tuesday night, the pool is a lot more shallow tonight for your starting six. We have hit the mid-week lull in action with the Wednesday Night Rivalry schedule. With three games and six teams going tonight, let’s take a look at the top contenders for your NHL daily fantasy team:
C- Pavel Datsyuk, DET
Pavel Datsyuk turned back the clock for Red Wings’ fans by weaving magic with linemate Henrik Zetterberg against Florida Monday night. At 37, Datsyuk has unfortunately struggled to be on the ice at the same time as his fellow aging star. Zetterberg himself is 35 and both have encountered plenty of health issues these past few years. Datsyuk has elevated his play lately, with back-to-back multi-point nights. He netted two against the Florida Panthers with assists from Zetterberg on both, and had two assists against the New York Islanders. With the Red Wings hosting the Ottawa Senators tonight, Datsyuk will be looking to capitalize on the fact that new top defenseman Dion Phaneuf is likely not wholly used to the new system. Put him in your daily fantasy lineup.
LW- Carl Hagelin, PIT
Murphy’s Law is a very powerful thing. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I grew up watching the New York Rangers and have observed that former players sure do have a propensity to score against them. In this season alone, Lee Stempniak has amassed two goals and an assist in three games against the Rangers, and Emerson Etem notched an assist. Carl Hagelin was held off the scoresheet in his first game back at Madison Square Garden as a member of the Ducks, but in fairness, both he and the Ducks were in a significantly worse place as far as scoring is concerned. Hagelin grabbed his first goal as a Penguin against, sure enough, the Ducks on Monday. He has five primary assists in a Pittsburgh uniform as well. Hagelin will cause fits for the Rangers as he did against Pittsburgh for years. This will be the first of four games remaining between the Pens and Rangers.
RW- Patric Hornqvist, PIT
Another Pittsburgh Penguin cracks the lineup. Patric Hornqvist has a goal and four assists in his last five games. In that stretch he is also an incredible +10 with 17 shots on goal. Hornqvist’s switch to right wing has worked beautifully for the Pens. He has helped along Sidney Crosby plenty as well as Crosby looks to extend his goal-scoring streak to eight games. Elliotte Friedman did a great breakdown of Crosby’s scoring streak. The Penguins are heating up and they are taking back the pace of games. They’re doing so without Evgeni Malkin, which is actually pretty scary to think about. In Malkin’s absence, the top line has been picking up the slack. Patric Hornqvist should be a top candidate for your daily fantasy lineup.
D- Erik Karlsson, OTT
Erik Karlsson has been moving the puck brilliantly this season. He does so every season, but he’s been especially hot lately, picking up eight assists in his last five games. He collected four assists against Toronto earlier in the week. Much like Hornqvist, Karlsson has been great in peripheral fantasy categories as well. He is a +7 in his last five games with 19 shots on goal. Most importantly, Karlsson will be cycling the puck with a new defensive partner tonight in Dion Phaneuf. Phaneuf has three goals and 21 assists on the year, and a positive Corsi rating for the first time in years. Couple that with Karlsson’s 11 goals and 48 assists, and the Sens might actually have a pretty lethal top pairing. Tonight will be an exciting game for Ottawa as they take on the Red Wings in the Joe. Keep an eye on Phaneuf, but mostly watch for the chemistry he develops with Karlsson tonight.
D- Kevin Klein, NYR
Kevin Klein is the sleeper pick of the day. With Ryan McDonagh out of the lineup, there has been a revolving door of replacements for him on the top pairing of the powerplay unit. Keith Yandle seems to have been the winner, logging over eight minutes of powerplay time against the New Jersey Devils. However, Alain Vigneault seems opposed to having Yandle and Dan Boyle on the powerplay at the same time. My guess is he does not want to have his only two offensive-minded defensemen on the same unit leaving the second unit to be quarterback-less. Enter Kevin Klein. Klein wins out over Dan Girardi in the “right-handed shot who deserves to be on the powerplay” and it really is not all that close. Klein scored from the left circle against the Devils last game. The hope is that while Kevin Klein may not be stellar at 5-on-5 being paired with Marc Staal against a much swifter Pittsburgh team, he will get on the scoresheet with the powerplay. After all, he did have two game-winning goals against the Penguins last season. Take a chance on Klein.
G- Ryan Miller, VAN
There’s a very tough draw tonight for starting goaltenders. The bigger names tonight are most likely going to be either locked into high scoring battles (ie. Fleury/Lundqvist) or not guaranteed a win because of an energized opponent (Mrazek/Anderson). The lowest scoring game of the night is most likely going to be Vancouver-Arizona. In my daily breakdown of today’s predictions, I noted that the 5.5 mark for today’s game is a stone-cold under play. So, the fantasy start should go to the eventual winning goaltender for tonight in that game. This will be Ryan Miller. Miller, though he has had a rough year on a mediocre Canucks team, is not really entirely to blame for the team’s struggles. He certainly cannot be blamed for their inability to provide goal support. He is 0-3-2 in his last five games with 12 goals allowed in that stretch, which is not all that much considering four came in one game. His most impressive game of the group came just before the All-Star break, where he made 46 saves in an overtime loss to the Rangers. Miller deserves a chance against the Coyotes tonight. Give him the start between the pipes.
