Today is a tough day in the NHL. There aren’t very many great or exploitable matchups, because the ones that may seem nice, smell kind of “trappy”. Most importantly however, Draft Kings doesn’t dole out much money at all for NHL tournaments on Sunday’s because of the popularity of the NFL.

The will of the people has made me decide to write a very short, sweet, small, free lineup advice article for today.

Thoughts and Musings:

A+ Confidence Picks:

Jason Pominville | Right Wing | Minnesota Wild | $5,500 | vs. NYI: The Minnesota Wild are finally getting their number one goaltender in Josh Harding back after he missed four starts due to injury. Qualitative factors can often be overstated by analysts who use them as their “go-to” explanation, but when a team has confidence in their starting goaltender they can play a free and easier style of offense. While the Wild play less than “free and easy” on offense on a regular basis, they did score four goals for Niklas Backstrom in their tussle against the Winnipeg Jets the last time out. The only player with a multi-point night for the Wild was none other than Jason Pominville. With Zach Parise now on injured reserve, the onus falls on Pominville (the team’s leading scorer with 17 goals) to carry the offensive torch even more. Barring a shake-up by head coach Mike Yeo, the 31-year-old Pominville, who hails from Quebec, will skate once again with Swiss-born youngster Nino Niederreiter, and Finnish product Mikael Granlund. This means a matchup against Frans Nielsen‘s line (most likely), and Nielsen has lost both his normal wingers Josh Bailey and Michael Grabner to injury for this game. Expect the goals to come from Minnesota’s secondary lines, which means Pominville.

Vladimir Tarasenko | Right Wing | St. Louis Blues | $3,200 | @ DAL: After the 6-5 shootout thriller victory for the St. Louis Blues last night over the Chicago Blackhawks, everything about this game smells like a trap. While the travel from St. Louis to Dallas is certainly not a point to accentuate, the emotional factors make this game not so easy to predict. Remember, this is coming from the same writer who said yesterday that the Ottawa Senators were likely to beat the Boston Bruins despite losing 5-0 to them in Boston the night before. The Senators won yesterday 4-3. Hockey can be funny sometimes like that. Anyways, if there is one problem that Dallas has, more than anything else, it is poor defensive forwards, especially on their secondary scoring lines — starting with seemingly 75-year-old Erik Cole. The actually 35-year-old Cole has the second worst plus/minus on the team with a minus-6. The worst mark comes from Alex Chiasson (another secondary scoring line winger), who sports a minus-10. Since being bumped up to the second line with Patrik Berglund, the 22-year-old Russian has four points in his last two games. Tarasenko is perfect for the price he’s being offered at.

Matt Duchene | Center | Colorado Avalanche | $7,400 | vs. WPG: After rolling over and playing dead against the Blackhawks on Friday night, the Avalanche are surely going to be ready for a Winnipeg team that has struggled defensively all season, as well as on the penalty-kill. With defensive-minded defenseman Zach Bogosian questionable for tonight’s tilt, the Jets defense will once again be left bleeding in the moonlight. Confirmed goalie Al Montoya has been unquestionably better than Ondrej Pavelec (who let in three goals on six shots Friday night, before being yanked), but nevertheless, he doesn’t cure all that ails the former team from Atlanta. If you are having reservations still, consider this: the Winnipeg Jets at (4-11-2), have the worst “vs. own division” record in the National Hockey League. Their 11 losses against their fellow Central Division mates, is worse than the Buffalo Sabres (5-10-2) record against their own division, the Atlantic.

Ryan Johansen | Center/Utility | Columbus Blue Jackets | $5,400 | vs. PIT: The Blue Jackets offense has been rolling lately, and the blossoming 21-year-old from Port Moody, British Columbia has been at the center of it all. Johansen has five goals in his past seven games, and before that an assist streak that lasted four games (five total assists). Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz and James Neal were all double shifted significantly in their most recent game — a 4-3 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. In an attempt to increase their offensive depth, Pittsburgh recently called up everyone’s favorite triple-word score scrabble word Harry Zolnierczyk. With home ice on their side, expect Columbus to find favorable matchups that exploit the 26-year-old Toronto, Ontario native.

Chris Kreider | Left Wing | New York Rangers | $4,200 | @ TB: This one pains me to admit, because I’m going to this game, but with Anders Lindback starting in net for the Tampa Bay Lightning, things look good for at least a couple goals from the Rangers. Making matters worse is the fact that scheduled referees for this game are Ghislain Hebert and Brian Pochmara. Both of these characters are in the top five for most minor penalties called per game. Hebert was one of the refs involved in yesterday’s “hooking call frenzy” between the Detroit Red Wings and the Florida Panthers. 

The Rest:

Goalie- Philipp Grubauer | Washington Capitals | $8,800 | @ BUF: Confidence A+

Defense- Victor Hedman | Tampa Bay Lightning | $4,800 | vs. NYR: Confidence B+

Defense- Ryan McDonagh | New York Rangers | $4,800 | @ TB: Confidence A-minus

Center- Mikael Granlund | Minnesota Wild | $3,500 | vs. NYI: Confidence B+

Right Wing- Martin St. Louis | Tampa Bay Lightning | $7,200 | vs. NYR: Confidence A-minus

Left Wing- Jaden Schwartz | St. Louis Blues | $6,100 | @ DAL: Confidence A

Official Lineup:

C- Ryan Johansen

LW- Chris Kreider

RW- Martin St. Louis

D- Ryan McDonagh

D- Victor Hedman

G- Philipp Grabauer

U- Jason Pominville

U- Vladimir Tarasenko

U- Jaden Schwartz