Daily Fantasy Hockey Update – December 6

I will mention that I generally do not pick two players playing against each other in the same game for a daily lineup. The same applies for a goalie and a player from opposite teams. You might see two players among the “value picks” from opposite teams, but that doesn’t mean you should take them both. No matter the value, you’re also likely cannibalizing points, so any gains made below a certain price point – the point where production and cost intersect – can be lost if production declines overall as well.

There are many things that determine value: The player’s history (both short and long-term), the price, recent production, opponent, line matching at even-strength, power play time and injuries are just some of the factors to consider. The “Top Value” doesn’t necessarily mean the cheapest player, either.

Finally, as far as goalies go, it’s the one position I’ll pay through the nose for if I really like the match-up. The same applies for back-ups with good match-ups. In a given night, with a full slate of games, I won’t have more than three different goalies across all my lineups, usually two. I’ll name the goalies I like specifically in the match-ups they appear in.

Here is today’s slate of games (and DraftDay values). Reminder: check Left Wing Lock for up-to-the-minute information on starting goalies.

Games are color-coded as follows:

Green means load up. Yellow means grab a couple of players. Red means value plays only.

Detroit Red Wings at New Jersey Devils

Detroit is coming off a third period collapse that saw them choke away a 3-1 lead in the second half of their game against Philadelphia. Not only that, but the Wings will still be without their two best players in Henrik Zetterberg (back) and Pavel Datsyuk (head) and that’s a bad thing for any team.

This doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of hope here. The Devils themselves are a bit of an older bunch as well and this will be five games in eight days for them.

At the best of times, New Jersey has trouble scoring goals and Detroit are missing their snipers. I do see Detroit taking this game, but it very well could be a 2-1 game. That means the best play here is probably goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, and I would stay away from most skaters.

San Jose Sharks at Carolina Hurricanes

Both of these teams are playing their second game in a back-to-back, but had somewhat different results last night. The Sharks got waxed last night in Pittsburgh 5-1, while Carolina brought the hammer with them to Nashville and pounded the Predators 5-2.

Carolina has been on a mini hot streak of late, going 4-2 in their last six games, outscoring their opponents 21-15 over those games. A lot of that has to do with their top line of Ruutu/E.Staal/Skinner, which has put away nine of those 21 goals.

Justin Faulk has also re-emerged for Carolina of late as well, putting up eight points in those last six games, cracking 24 minutes of ice time in five of those six contests.

Carolina has been playing well, but so has San Jose. The hiccup last night in Pittsburgh cost them their six-game winning streak, marking only the third time in 28 games the Sharks have been held to one goal (and still haven’t been shutout). On paper, the Sharks match up well against Carolina. However, the back-to-back nights on the road isn’t easy for any team. Be wary of both sides.

Minnesota Wild at Columbus Blue Jackets

Minnesota is playing their second game in two nights, coming off a hard-fought 4-3 win at home against Chicago last night. Columbus has been off since Tuesday, which was a 1-0 snoozefest against Tampa Bay.

I won’t get into too much detail about this game because it’s screaming “no goals”; over their last four games combined, the Wild and Blue Jackets are averaging fewer than 20 shots on goal for/game and combined for eight goals.

If I’m taking a side, it’s probably Minnesota with the news that Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky likely out for a month. That doesn’t mean this will be a high-scoring game, though.

Anaheim Ducks at Chicago Blackhawks

Anaheim is just 1-1-2 over their last four games but have managed at least two goals in each of those games, scoring 13 goals in total. Those aren’t against slouches, either, as they lost in Dallas, in San Jose in a shootout and at home to Los Angeles in a shootout. They also have eight power play goals in their last nine games and have killed off 23 straight penalties.

The Blackhawks have to feel somewhat demoralized. They have lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time this year, outshooting their opponents 69-41 over those two games. Goaltender Corey Crawford has now “blown up” back to back games for the Blackhawks, so I would assume Antti Raanta gets the nod tonight (not confirmed, and I also thought he’d get the start last night).

In short, the Blackhawks could very well out play Anaheim tonight and get bombed out 5-1 because their goaltending is shaky right now. Anaheim’s solid power play of late, combined with Chicago’s 60-percent penalty killing over their last three games means I like the Ducks tonight. But there could be a lot of goals.

Colorado Avalanche at Calgary Flames

I don’t normally believe in teams getting embarrassed on the road being a motivating factor for them. However, anyone that watched that Colorado game last night saw a team get absolutely embarrassed. I can pretty much guarantee a coach like Patrick Roy will not let that happen again to his team (or, at the very least, he’ll completely lose his mind trying).

Despite what the score said last night, Colorado played a strong game, they were just due for a major regression (especially in net). They’re not exactly playing a world-beater tonight, so I might be looking to stack some Avalanche players.

Calgary is really, really dancing with fire as far as wins and losses go. They have played six straight games while tallying fewer than 25 shots, but have managed 14 goals over those six contests. Eventually, the luck has to run out, and Colorado’s confirmed starter Jean-Sébastien Giguere has given up more than two goals in just one of his seven games so far this year. Calgary has been scoring enough that I don’t necessarily like Giguere as a guaranteed-win, and he’s too expensive to bet on it.

Phoenix Coyotes at Vancouver Canucks

These two teams faced off early in November, which resulted in a 3-2 shootout win for Vancouver in Phoenix, in a pretty tightly-checked contest (final shot attempt tally in that game was 49-47 for Phoenix).

The Coyotes have allowed a power play goal in each of their last three games, while the Canucks have scored at least one power play goal in six straight games. When you have a decided edge like that early on, it’s tough to go in the other direction.

There’s no doubt that Vancouver is top-heavy now, lacking the depth they had in previous years. Of their last 22 goals scored, half of them belong to Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin or Ryan Kesler. If you’re going to take Canucks, you’ll want to grab the guys on their first unit power play.

I’m not a fan of either goalie tonight, and don’t particularly like the Coyotes players. For me, it’s high-priced Canucks or I stay away entirely.

Good luck with today’s games!

Michael Clifford

Michael Clifford was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and is a graduate of the Unviersity of New Brunswick. He writes about fantasy hockey and baseball for XNSports and FantasyTrade411.com. He can be reached on Twitter @SlimCliffy for any fantasy hockey questions. Follow @SlimCliffy !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

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