This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
I know it's Sunday now, but that means it's still Thanksgiving weekend. In that vein, I'd like to name a few things I'm thankful for. Please note that this will by no means be an exhaustive list, as I don't think I need to mention items like "being alive" or "Game of Thrones" or "beef jerky" or "Sweet Meteor O'Death 2016."
1. My Rangers are way better than they were expected to be. It's awesome. I don't know if it's sustainable; we'd be looking at career years for half the team if so. Nonetheless, it's no small feat that the Rangers have scored 17 more goals (85) than the NHL's second-highest-scoring team, Tampa. That's a margin of more than three-quarters of a goal per game just between them and No. 2 on the list. Along with the New York skaters I'll mention later in this article, Michael Grabner deserves an enormous shout-out for the never-before-seen results he's posting. But the most incredible thing about this offense is how balanced it is – not a single Ranger is on a point-per-game pace (except for Matt Puempel, who's played one game and scored a goal in it). That's great for the team (and me as a fan), but for fantasy players making daily lineup decisions, it makes the night-to-night offensive output hard to sketch out.
2. The NHL is in a golden age of young talent. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Pretty much every franchise has its young star or stars, with precious few exceptions. Even fans of a terrible team like Vancouver can still come to the arena to see the ever-improving Bo Horvat, and that's the low end of this wave of high-end youth. At 19 years of age, Connor McDavid is leading the league in points; the two guys immediately behind him are Nikita Kucherov and Mark Scheifele, both 23 years old. An 18-year-old, Patrik Laine, is tied for second in goals. Matt Murray just came into the NHL last year, took over a starting role and won a Stanley Cup, and now (after missing time to injury at the beginning of the year) looks ready to dethrone Marc-Andre Fleury as the Penguins' No. 1 goalie. The list goes on and on.
3. You, the readers. Yes, you. The click of your mouse puts food on my table. I'm both flattered by the fact that readers seek out my opinion and humbled by the fact that there's no such thing as a 100 percent success rate in this prognostication game.
Let's get into Sunday's matchups, shall we?
Featured Matchups
Panthers (PP: 24, PK: 19) at Hurricanes (PP: 12, PK: 1), 6:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:James Reimer (3-3-1, 3.05, .897), Michael Leighton (N/A)
Key Injuries:Bryan Bickell (illness), Eddie Lack (concussion), Brock McGinn (upper body), Jonathan Huberdeau (lower body), Alex Petrovic (ankle)
Yes, that's Carolina on top of the NHL's penalty-killing leaderboard – who saw that coming? However, the 'Canes will be playing for the second straight day (as will the Panthers) and the third time in four days Sunday, and thus they project to give Leighton his first NHL start since Jan. 27, 2013. Sounds like a good time to roster some Panthers, with the recently warming Aleksander Barkov, ageless Jaromir Jagr and rising blueliner Aaron Ekblad all looking intriguing for DFS purposes. Reimer's been pretty rough himself, so don't be afraid to use some Hurricanes too, with Victor Rask and Jeff Skinner the most productive of the crew, but Elias Lindholm and Justin Faulk represent cheaper plays with plenty of upside.
Senators (PP: 29, PK: 6) at Rangers (PP: 7, PK: 5), 7:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Mike Condon (2-1-0, 1.95, .939), Henrik Lundqvist (10-6-1, 2.43, .915)
Key Injuries:Pavel Buchnevich (back), Mika Zibanejad (leg), Clarke MacArthur (concussion)
The Sens are the worst good team in the league – despite a minus-2 goal differential, they're 13-7-1 and sitting second in the Atlantic Division. Meanwhile, the Blueshirts are on the opposite side of that equation; they own the NHL's best offense and goal differential (plus-30!). Condon had great success in his first two appearances with Ottawa, but the Preds brought him back to reality 10 days ago. He's quite likely to start Sunday, the second of back-to-backs for the Sens, on the heels of Craig Anderson's Saturday victory. Condon's experience against the Rangers last year as a Canadien wasn't good, so all the factors are lining up in favor of using Lundqvist (you'll have to pay up for him, but #worthit) and finding potential multi-point Blueshirts. Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller stick out as two guys who have been generating a ton of offense lately. On the other side, Derick Brassard will be facing the Rangers for the first time since getting traded by them over the offseason, and I must admit to being a big believer in that extra motivation leading to points; they'd be most welcome for Brassard, who's currently in the midst of a disappointing campaign.
Flames (PP:30, PK: 29) at Flyers (PP:2, PK: 20), 7:30 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Chad Johnson (7-3-1, 1.98, .928), Anthony Stolarz (N/A)
Key Injuries:Lance Bouma (shoulder), Johnny Gaudreau (finger), Kris Versteeg (undisclosed), Sean Couturier (knee), Boyd Gordon (upper body), Brandon Manning (undisclosed), Michal Neuvirth (lower body)
The NHL's second-best power play meets its second-worst penalty kill, which means this is yet another evening that finds me recommending the likes of Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds; I've got a DFS lineup with all three, plus Ivan Provorov. That said, Johnson has been far more effective than Brian Elliott in the Calgary net, so we've got to take that into account. On the other end, Stolarz is making his first NHL start, and while he's been quite good in the minors, it's hard to predict how any kid will adjust to the NHL straight out of the gate. It's just hard to buy into any Calgary skaters for fantasy purposes with Gaudreau out a while longer.
Other Matchups
Lightning (PP: 4, PK: 10) at Bruins (PP: 21, PK: 4), 1:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Ben Bishop (7-7-0, 2.97, .904), Tuukka Rask (11-4-0, 1.67, .938)
Key Injuries:Noel Acciari (lower body), Zdeno Chara (lower body), Brad Marchand (knee), Frank Vatrano (foot), J.T. Brown (upper body), Steven Stamkos (knee), Anton Stralman (upper body)
Rask's stats speak for themselves, but he's actually lost three of his last four games; Bishop, meanwhile, has lost two in a row (including a five-goal outing against Columbus on Friday), and he's posted save marks of .900 or worse in four of his last five. Tyler Johnson enters on a six-game point streak for Tampa as the biggest beneficiary of Stamkos' injury.
Predators (PP: 3, PK: 11) at Jets (PP: 20, PK: 26), 1:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Pekka Rinne (9-5-3, 1.98, .935), Connor Hellebuyck (7-8-0, 2.74, .906)
Key Injuries:Ryan Ellis (upper body), James Neal (upper body), Miikka Salomaki (hand), Colton Sissons (upper body), Joel Armia (undisclosed), Toby Enstrom (personal), Bryan Little (lower body), Shawn Matthias (lower body), Tyler Myers (lower body), Mathieu Perreault (undisclosed)
The Jets' defense has been porous, but they at least have the advantage of playing at home, even if that doesn't stop Rinne from delivering fantasy value in this plus matchup. As good as Mark Scheifele has been, Winnipeg's still next-to-last in the Central Division.
Coyotes (PP: 26, PK: 25) at Oilers (PP: 14, PK: 3), 3:00 p.m.
Expected Goalies:Mike Smith (3-1-1, 2.96, .911), Cam Talbot (11-7-2, 2.47, .921)
Key Injuries:Dave Bolland (back), Laurent Dauphin (upper body), Louis Domingue (lower body), Brad Richardson (leg), Brandon Davidson (shoulder), Mark Fayne (undisclosed)
Smith's mostly been quite reliable since returning mid-month, posting three two-goal outings in four tries. However, he draws a matchup with the NHL's top scorer in McDavid (28 points). Milan Lucic's been coming along for the ride lately, with six points in the last three games, and Jordan Eberle's got four in that span.
Recommended Pickup
David Perron, RW, STL – Back in his old digs with the Blues, Perron got off to a mostly awful start to the season; aside from a hat trick (plus an assist) in Calgary on Oct. 22, he managed only one other point in his first 15 games. The light went for him all of a sudden, though, and now we find him in the midst of a seven-game point streak over which he's stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points (four of them on the power play), a plus-2 rating and 10 PIM. Perron's seeing almost as much ice time as Vladimir Tarasenko, as he's currently in a great spot on the top line with Jaden Schwartz and Paul Stastny. The ownership rate's been rising lately on the strength of this hot stretch, but it's still well short of where it ought to be.
