This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
A number of hockey leagues have switched from penalty minutes to hits or blocked shots as a fantasy category. Next up may be plus-minus as fancy stats grab a greater stranglehold on the fantasy community. In the present time, however, there are plenty of leagues still relying on "old faithful" plus-minus.
As such, a look at the NHL.com fantasy page reveals some interesting results.
Among the top 104 point-getters heading into Sunday's action (using 29 points as the cut-off point), 11 players have finished with a negative plus-minus rating in fewer than 10 games.
In other words, Evgeny Kuznetsov has finished with a positive plus-rating in 19 games, an even rating in 20 games and a minus rating in seven games.
Here's the list.
Evgeny Kuznetsov (19-20-7), Nicklas Backstrom (14-25-4), Alexander Ovechkin (20-18-7), Anze Kopitar (23-18-6), Michael Cammalleri (18-14-9), Henrik Sedin (14-21-9), Tyler Toffoli (25-18-4), Jeff Carter (18-17-7), Jaromir Jagr (19-17-9), Marcus Johansson (15-22-6), Duncan Keith (17-15-9).
Four out of the 11 players come from the Washington Capitals in a sign of their dominance. Backstrom typically struggles in the plus-minus category. Over the last five seasons and 331 games leading into 2015-16, he compiled a combined rating of just plus-13. This year he's already at plus-17. Guys like Backstrom, who derive a high percentage of points via the power play, usually don't impress in plus-minus but this season he's bucking that trend.
Of course, the coolest skater on the above list has to be Jagr. Words just don't do him justice, but having solid linemates have certainly helping his plus-minus.
The value of this list is especially important for fantasy players in head-to-head leagues, looking at the consistency of ratings.
Incidentally, Vancouver's Bo Horvat has compiled an NHL-worst minus-23 and I wouldn't hesitate to employ him on fantasy squads.
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Admittedly, some of the above numbers could be considered fluff. I'll let you in on one of my secrets now.
Just about every league I've ever been in uses power-play points as a category. What I like to do is skim the list for power-play point leaders with good plus-minus ratings.
Lots of times skaters with points on the man advantage are laggers in plus-minus. Looking at the top-25 power-play point leaders entering Sunday, 18 of 25 hold an overall plus-2 rating or worse (14 have negative plus-minus ratings). That's not going to help much.
There are only five skaters with a plus-10 rating or higher among the top 25 PP point-getters: Patrick Kane, Nicklas Backstrom, Joe Pavelski, Patrice Bergeron and Jamie Benn. These, my friends, are your fantasy gold members for 2015-16.
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Raise your hand if the postponed weekend games screwed your team(s) up royally. Of course, the safety of the folks affected by the east-coast blizzard supersedes anything in fantasy, but why did it have to have to hurt my team more than my opponents'?
Why me?
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check our Projected Goalies Grid
Detroit Red Wings (Petr Mrazek) at New York Islanders (Jaroslav Halak), 7:00 PM
Buffalo Sabres (Chad Johnson) at New York Rangers (Antti Raanta), 7:00 PM
Boston Bruins (Tuukka Rask) at Philadelphia Flyers (Steve Mason), 7:00 PM
Montreal Canadiens (Mike Condon) at Columbus Blue Jackets (Joonas Korpisalo), 7:00 PM
Calgary Flames (Jonas Hiller) at Dallas Stars (Antti Niemi), 8:30 PM
Arizona Coyotes (Louis Domingue) at Minnesota Wild (Devan Dubnyk), 8:30 PM
Injury News For Teams Playing Monday
Detroit Red Wings
Niklas Kronwall, D - Kronwall (knee) out Monday.(1/22/2016)
Johan Franzen, RW - Franzen (concussion) on long-term injured reserve.
Drew Miller, LW - Miller (lower body) will be out for 4-6 months after undergoing surgery to reconstruct his left ACL.
New York Islanders
Adam Pelech, D - Pelech (upper body) may be unavailable to the Islanders for the remainder of the season.
Eric Boulton, LW - Boulton (undisclosed) on injured reserve.
Johnny Boychuk, D - Boychuk (shoulder) skating before practice was last update.
Buffalo Sabres
Cody McCormick, C - McCormick (blood clots) on the injured reserve.
Josh Gorges, D - Gorges (upper body) practiced with the team Sunday and will join them on the upcoming two-game road trip, but his status remains unclear.
Tyler Ennis, LW - Ennis (upper body) is listed on injured reserved.
Nicolas Deslauriers, LW - Deslauriers (lower body) is listed on injured reserve.
Zemgus Girgensons, C - Girgensons (upper body) is expected to rejoin the lineup for Monday's game against the Rangers.
Sam Reinhart, C - Reinhart (upper body) is expected to be out "about a week."
New York Rangers
Rick Nash, LW - Nash (left leg) is expected to rejoin the lineup Monday to face the Sabres.
Boston Bruins
Chris Kelly, RW - Kelly suffered a left femur fracture and will be sidelined 6-to-8 months.
Adam McQuaid, D - McQuaid's (upper body) out Monday.
Philadelphia Flyers
Sean Couturier, C - Couturier did not play Thursday night against the Penguins due to a lower-body injury.
Logan Pyett, D - Pyett was diagnosed with sarcoma in his upper left leg Friday and is out indefinitely.
Montreal Canadiens
Carey Price, G - Price (leg) could be out for another 3-4 weeks with Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin stating that the goalie is "progressing slower than expected."
Tom Gilbert, D - Gilbert (lower body) returned to practice Friday and is now considered "day-to-day."
Paul Byron, C - Byron (lower body) was placed on injured reserve Wednesday.
Columbus Blue Jackets
David Savard, D - Savard will miss approximately three weeks with what's been deemed an oblique strain.
Sergei Bobrovsky, G - Bobrovsky (groin) was placed on injured reserve Friday, and is out indefinitely.
Paul Bittner, LW - Bittner (hip) is out indefinitely.
David Clarkson, RW - Clarkson (upper body) is on injured reserve.
Curtis McElhinney, G - McElhinney (ankle) is on injured reserve.
Calgary Flames
Micheal Ferland, LW - Ferland (upper body) was placed on injured reserve Sunday.
Jon Gillies, G - Gillies (hip) is on injured reserve.
Dallas Stars
Jordie Benn, D - Benn (lower body) is on injured reserve.
Devin Shore, C - Shore underwent shoulder surgery, and will miss the rest of the season as a result.
Arizona Coyotes
Mike Smith, G - Smith (lower body) is on injured reserve.
Nicklas Grossmann, D - Grossmann (illness) did not play Saturday against the Kings.
Joe Vitale, C - Vitale (fractured orbital bone) is on injured reserve.
Dylan Reese, D - The Coyotes said that Reese (Achilles) is on injured reserve.
Minnesota Wild
Ryan Carter, LW - Coach Mike Yeo indicated Tuesday that Carter (hand) will likely sit out through the All-Star break.
Zac Dalpe, C - Dalpe (hip) is on injured reserve.
Hot
Brad Marchand, LW, BOS – Norm from "Cheers" proclaimed the above about women, but NHL GMs likely feel the same way about Marchand. Whether he's worth the trouble to them doesn't really matter because he's a big help to fantasy owners. Shortly after returning from a three-game suspension, Marchand has reeled off a five-game point streak, including goals in four straight. A year ago he scored 24 goals in 77 games; he already has 19 in 42.
Jake Muzzin, D, LOS – Muzzin is the perfect under-the-radar type defender that helps win fantasy titles. The former Pittsburgh draft pick has settled in nicely with the Kings and strung together an eight-game point streak which ended Thursday against the Wild. After tallying a power-play assist Sunday, he has five goals and 26 points in 48 games. Muzzin scored 41 points in 76 games last year and is on a similar pace in 2015-16. He won't overpower fantasy owners like Erik Karlsson or Kris Letang but he makes for a nice secondary pickup.
Cold
Mathew Dumba, D, MIN – Let Dumba's appearance on the cold list go out as a warning to fantasy owners to keep up with their teams. Since the blueliner scored three goals and six points in 12 games, he's been blanked in his last 13. While I don't use Dumba as a regular, I'll sprinkle him in on light nights and hope for the best. Unfortunately, I've been guilty of hoping he plays well rather than taking the time to see whom else is available on the wire. That's the lazy man's approach to fantasy hockey and it isn't the way to win. Guilty as charged.
Recommended Pickup
Mattias Ekholm, D, NAS -- In eight games since the Predators traded Seth Jones to Columbus, Ekholm has scored two goals and six points. Six of those games have been on the road, too, which traditionally makes it harder for players to pick up points. Ekholm has averaged 1:57 TOI on Nashville's power play during the post-Jones era, though he's scored only one goal and one assist on the man advantage. Ekholm isn't a great secret in hockey circles, but he's only owned in five percent of Yahoo! leagues. Fantasy owners looking to fill a depth void on the blue line would do well to at least consider the 25-year-old Swede.
