December 9th Edition:

What do you get?

• Game Breakdowns of
  • CHI/NJ
  • PHI/CBJ
  • WPG/DAL
  • CGY/TOR
  • WSH/TB
• Positional, Price Adjusted Cash Game Rankings
  • Seven centers
  • Seven wingers
  • Five defensemen
  • Three goalies
• GPP Stack Rankings
  • 10 different stacks

All for just $1 !

Game Breakdowns:

Chicago Blackhawks @ New Jersey Devils – Start Time – 7:00 PM, O/U: 5.0, Chicago -181

The Hawks are currently on a six game winning streak during which they are outscoring the opposition by a robust 22-9 margin, while the Devils are 3-7 in their last 10 games. In fairness to New Jersey, they’ve played a tough schedule as of late, having eight road games and just two home games in this span. This one game at home and back on the road nonsense will continue for them too, as this is their only home game before embarking on yet another road trip — this time a three game trip against the Flyers, Stars and Islanders. Their 2-1 overtime victory over the Hurricanes was huge last night because Cory Schneider turned away 39 of 40 shot attempts in the win. The fact though that Schneider suited up last night and faced as many shots as he did, doesn’t bode well for his performance tonight against the streaking Hawks. Obviously if Scott Clemmensen suits up, things will get incredibly ugly for New Jersey, but in this tough part of their schedule they may just roll with him since this will be a very tough game to win even with Schneider in net. For now, I’m going to operate as if Clemmensen will get the start, and if Schneider starts, lower your expectations for the Hawks just a bit but not significantly.

The Blackhawks road power-play comes into the game tonight operating at 22.2% efficiency, much better than their mark of 14.4% at home. On the other side, the Devils penalty-kill is ranked 29th overall, and 30th if we are just looking at home penalty-kill percentages — which is a putrid 67.7%. Kris Versteeg ( $5,200 ) is a nice, versatile cash game option because he gives us exposure to the Blackhawks top power-play and the #2 forward line without breaking the bank. Unfortunately, Patrick Sharp is not included in the player pool — which is obviously strange. This puts a bit of a wrench into the idea of stacking Hawks since we are missing key exposure links. Nevertheless, Jonathan Toews ( $5,700 ) is still obviously a good cash game option, as is Patrick Kane ( $8,400 ) although he is more expensive — but if Clemmensen starts, it’s 100% worth it.

All Games: Kris Versteeg – W, Patrick Kane – W, Jonathan Toews – W, Duncan Keith – D, 

GPP Only:  Brandon Saad – W (best if paired with Toews and/or Marian Hossa ), Brad Richards – C ( best if paired with Kane and/or Versteeg.

Philadelphia Flyers @ Columbus Blue Jackets – Start Time 7:00 PM – O/U 5.5, Columbus -120

This is only the Blue Jackets third time being favored since November 4th, and this time it’s well deserved. The Jackets are on a three game winning streak  — all against Florida based teams, having defeated the Panthers twice and the Lightning once. The question is though, can Sergei Bobrovsky ( $7,900 ) continue to play like this? The Jackets were out-shot 55-20 in their game in Sunrise, Florida against the Panthers, and were out-shot 34-20 against the Lightning at Amalie Arena in Tampa in their past two games. Well, he may not have to, since Brandon Dubinsky (not in player pool) makes his season debut tonight for the Blue Jackets. Dubinsky led all Columbus centers in On-Ice-Corsi and Corsi-Relative last year, which will go a long way in helping prevent the ridiculous number of shots the Jackets have been facing.

Despite not having a key component in a potential stack, I am incredibly interested in Blue Jackets tonight for GPPs and cash — though i understand if you are personally hesitant to trust them. Dubinsky’s return should be a massive treat for Cam Atkinson   ( $5,100 ) as he scored 23 of his 26 points while skating with Dubi last season. Joining Atkinson and Dubinsky on the second line is Matt Calvert ( $2,800 ) who actually is a pretty decent player when he’s paired with good talent around him. Calvert and Atkinson are a nice GPP mini-stack. Ryan Johansen ( $5,300 ) is one of, if not my favorite play of the night. Not only is Johansen incredibly talented, but Dubinsky’s return will take off a ton of pressure defensively for Ryan, which will allow him to focus more on scoring. Boone Jenner ( $4,800 ) is a smart pairing with Johansen in GPPs, although I am a bit saddened by the fact that they are split up on the power-play. Tim Erixon ( $2,500 ) is a min-price GPP candidate defenseman that plays on the top power-play unit for Columbus. He must be paired with other Blue Jackets, obviously for him to be of best use.

James Wisniewski ( $3,900 ) is also a good GPP play, and Jack Johnson ( $4,100 ) is a great cash game play — he doesn’t have a ton of upside so that’s why i prefer “Wiz” over him.

On the other side, the Flyers have a pathetic 2.1 goals per game on the road, so they are GPP only. The bad ranking for Columbus against forwards needs to be ignored/adjusted going forward with Dubinsky’s return.

Cash Only: Jack Johnson

All Games: Ryan Johansen – C, Cam Atkinson – W, Sergei Bobrovsky – G

GPP Only: James Wisniewski – D, Tim Erixon – D, Boone Jenner (with RyJo) – C, Matt Calvert – W (with Atkinson ),

Winnipeg Jets @ Dallas Stars – Start Time – 8:30, O/U: 5.5, Dallas -130

Winnipeg comes into this game without one of their top forwards, Evander Kane who was suspended two games for his hit on Anaheim defenseman Clayton Stoner. This leaves Winnipeg incredibly thin on the front lines, but the talented Andrew Ladd – Bryan Little – Blake Wheeler line will remain intact. They are a GPP candidate line because while the idea that the Stars and their league worst defense might be turning the corner is a possibility,  I can’t give up on targeting them in GPPs yet.

All Games: Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, 

GPP Only: Ladd/Little/Wheeler (stack), Jacob Trouba 

Calgary Flames @ Toronto Maple Leafs – Start Time – 7:30, O/U: 5.5, Toronto -131

The Flames have been struggling against depth lines, a fact that makes Nazem Kadri / Mike Santorelli and Joffrey Lupul very intriguing. The Leafs reminded me against Vancouver why they are hard to trust in cash games, but outside of the Blue Jackets, this is one of my favorite cheaper stacks of the night for GPPs. In fact, if I were to rank them they would come in at number two behind the Jackets — with both Blackhawks line stacks bringing up the rear (again, its harder to stack Hawks since Sharp isn’t in the player pool).

Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk are always in play, but I’m just not feeling it in this matchup tonight. If I had five lineups though, I’d start to consider using them around that point. Jake Gardiner ( $4,200 ) is an intriguing GPP defenseman.

On the other side, Leafs games have had a total of seven goals scored in them in each of their past five games. While the Leafs have done a good majority of the scoring in these games, it details that the Leafs still play a wide open style of hockey. To that point, I’m not ready to give up on targeting Toronto in GPPs. The Leafs still collapse a lot on point shots, as opposed to bringing their forwards up to challenge, which is a dangerous proposition against a team with Mark Giordano, Dennis Wideman, T.J. Brodie, and Kris Russell. I’d be willing to use any of these four in a GPP, but my preference is Wideman who is $5,800.

Finally, I’m interested to see what the return of Mason Raymond does for the Flames. Amusingly, he’s returning against his former team and will face some pretty slow competition in the form of David Clarkson on the third line. Sadly, he’s not in the player pool, but earlier in the season when Markus Granlund ( $2,900 ) was skating with Jiri Hudler, Granlund was productive. Granlund now welcomes Raymond into his company on the third line, which makes Granlund a shot in the dark GPP value play.

All Games; Nazem Kadri – C,

GPP Only: Mike Santorelli/ Joffrey Lupul (stack together or with/and Kadri), Phil Kessel – W, James van Riemsdyk, Any of the 4 listed Flames defenseman (Wideman is my favorite), Markus Granlund, Sean Monahan (though if this means you aren’t using Ryan Johansen, don’t use him)

Washington Capitals @ Tampa Bay Lightning – Start Time – 7:30 PM, O/U 5.5, Tampa -175

Referees in this one are notable, as Graham Skilliter and Francois St. Laurent come into this one with the 6th and 11th most power-plays per game doled out. This is obviously significant because the Capitals have a power-play operating at 28.2% efficiency (2nd best in the NHL) and a road power-play of 33.3% (best in the NHL) while the Lightning have a power-play percent of 22.7% (5th best) and a home power-play percentage of 27.2% (3rd best).

PP Units are as follows;

TB: Brett Connolly / Valtteri Filppula / Ryan Callahan / Victor Hedman / Steven Stamkos

WSH: Marcus Johanssen / Nicklas Backstrom / Troy Brouwer / Alex Ovechkin / Matt Niskanen

All Games: Victor Hedman – D, Alex Ovechkin – W, Steven Stamkos – C

GPP Only: Any of the above power-play stacks (I’d pick two forwards and a defenseman in each stack)

Price-Adjusted Cash Game Rankings:

Center:

1. Ryan Johansen
2. Logan Couture
3. Tyler Seguin
4. Steven Stamkos
5. Jonathan Toews
6. Nazem Kadri
7. Mike Ribeiro

Winger:

1. Patrick Kane
2. Taylor Hall
3. Filip Forsberg or James Neal ( pick 1)
4. Zach Parise
5. Patrick Marleau
6. Cam Atkinson (note I really want to put him higher, but I am worried about being too bold. Just know I love the Jackets tonight)
7. Alex Ovechkin

Defense:

1. Brent Burns
2. Duncan Keith
3. Shea Weber
4. Victor Hedman
5. Jack Johnson

Goalie:

1. Sergei Bobrovsky
2. Scott Darling
3. Jonathan Quick

Price-Adjusted GPP Stack Rankings:

1. Ryan Johansen / Boone Jenner
2. Tyler Seguin / Jamie Benn
3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins / Taylor Hall / Jordan Eberle (Pick 2 or use all 3)
4. Nazem Kadri and, Mike Santorelli or Joffrey Lupul (Kadri+ Pick one)
5. Patrick Kane / Kris Versteeg / Duncan Keith / Jonathan Toews
6. Mike Ribeiro / James Neal / Filip Forsberg (Pick 2 or use all 3)
7. Max Pacioretty / P.K. Subban
8. Steven Stamkos
9. Alex Ovechkin
10. Zach Parise