This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
A good friend of mine recently relayed to me the disappointment he felt with how his fantasy hockey playoffs played out. He said he watched the Penguins play and a young forward named Conor Sheary caught his eye. Sheary scored a pair of goals against the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist so he decided to pick him up. He started Sheary for the next week. Pittsburgh played four games, including three at home. No matter, just as soon as Sheary appeared on the scene he then disappeared.
My friend lost in the playoffs by a score of 82 to 80, in a league where goals count as two points, assists as 1.75 points.
What really hurt was that my friend had the likes of Paul Stastny and Cody Eakin on the bench. He told me that had he played either of those guys (or a couple others) he likely would have won his matchup and advanced to the next round.
The lesson?
I told him that it took guts to go with an unproven rookie over Stastny, but he would've been better off with the St. Louis forward. Duh.
Better luck next year, I told myself.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check our Projected Goalies Grid
Winnipeg Jets (Michael Hutchinson) at Philadelphia Flyers (Steve Mason), 7:00 PM
Columbus Blue Jackets (Sergei Bobrovsky) at Washington Capitals (Braden Holtby), 7:00 PM
Buffalo Sabres (Chad Johnson) at Detroit Red Wings (Petr Mrazek), 7:30 PM
Toronto Maple Leafs (Garret Sparks) at Tampa Bay Lightning (Ben Bishop), 7:30 PM
Colorado Avalanche (Semyon Varlamov) at Nashville Predators (Pekka Rinne), 8:00 PM
Anaheim Ducks (John Gibson) at Edmonton Oilers (Cam Talbot), 9:00 PM
Calgary Flames (Joni Ortio) at Arizona Coyotes (Mike Smith), 10:00 PM
Los Angeles Kings (Jonathan Quick) at San Jose Sharks (Martin Jones), 10:00 PM
Injury News For Teams Playing Monday
Winnipeg Jets
Toby Enstrom, D - (knee) out Monday.
Mathieu Perreault, C - (concussion) out Monday.
Tyler Myers, D - (hip/knee) out rest of season.
Anthony Peluso, RW - (shoulder) out Monday.
J.C. Lipon, RW - (upper body) missed Tuesday.
Bryan Little, C - (head) out rest of season.
Philadelphia Flyers
Michal Neuvirth, G - (knee) out rest of season.
Michael Del Zotto, D - (wrist) out Monday.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Fedor Tyutin, D - (undisclosed) likely out Monday.
Jack Johnson, D - (shoulder) out rest of season.
David Clarkson, RW - (lower body) missed Tuesday.
Curtis McElhinney, G - (knee) out rest of season.
Jared Boll, RW - (suspension) out Monday.
Washington Capitals
T.J. Oshie, RW - (illness) missed Saturday, questionable Monday.
Buffalo Sabres
Cody Franson, D - (concussion) out Monday.
Tyler Ennis, LW - (concussion) practicing after concussion.
Robin Lehner, G - (ankle) hurt Saturday, questionable Monday.
Detroit Red Wings
Drew Miller, LW - (lower body) out rest of season.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Raffi Torres, LW - (knee) out rest of year.
Joffrey Lupul, LW - (abdomen) out rest of season.
Matt Hunwick, D - (hernia) out rest of year.
James van Riemsdyk, LW - (foot) rest of season.
Leo Komarov, LW - (lower body) out Monday.
Viktor Loov, D - (undisclosed) questionable for Monday.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Nikita Kucherov, RW - (lower body) day-to-day.
Valtteri Filppula, C - (upper body) missed Friday.
Ryan Callahan, RW - (lower body) missed Saturday.
Anton Stralman, D - (fibula) out rest of regular season.
Mattias Ohlund, D - (knee) on IR.
Colorado Avalanche
Brad Stuart, D - (back) on IR.
Matt Duchene, C - (knee) out Monday.
Eric Gelinas, D - (elbow) out Monday.
Nathan MacKinnon, C - (knee) out Monday.
Nashville Predators
Anthony Bitetto, D - (lower body) missed Thursday.
Paul Gaustad, C - (upper body) questionable Monday.
Anaheim Ducks
Ryan Kesler, C - (personal) expected back Monday.
Simon Despres, D - (undisclosed) missed Thursday.
Sami Vatanen, D - (head) missed weekend.
Kevin Bieksa, D - (upper body) questionable Monday.
David Perron, LW - (shoulder) questionable Monday.
Edmonton Oilers
Adam Pardy, D - (hand) questionable Monday.
Brandon Davidson, D - (lower body) out Monday.
Eric Gryba, D - (knee) out Monday.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, C - (concussion) likely out Monday.
Oscar Klefbom, D - (infection) out Monday.
Benoit Pouliot, LW - (shoulder) likely out rest of season.
Andrew Ference, D - (hip) out rest of season.
Calgary Flames
Ladislav Smid, D - (upper body) on IR.
Karri Ramo, G - (knee) on IR.
Dennis Wideman, D - (triceps) out rest of season.
Josh Jooris, C - (lower body) questionable Monday.
Arizona Coyotes
Michael Stone, D - (lower body) questionable Monday.
Joe Vitale, C - (concussion) out rest of season.
Anders Lindback, G - (Achilles) out Monday.
Jarred Tinordi, D - (suspended) out Monday.
Shane Doan, RW - (undisclosed) questionable Monday.
Los Angeles Kings
Marian Gaborik, RW - (knee) unlikely Monday.
Kris Versteeg, RW - (foot) out Monday.
Matt Greene, D - (shoulder) out rest of season.
Jordan Nolan, RW - (back) out Monday.
San Jose Sharks
Matt Tennyson, D - (concussion) unlikely for Monday.
Joonas Donskoi, RW - (lower body) unlikely for Monday.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, D - (lower body) questionable Monday.
Matthew Nieto, LW - (hand) out Monday.
Hot
Phil Kessel, RW, PIT – Pick a player, any player. Well, any player on the Penguins' second line. Kessel, along with Carl Hagelin and to a lesser extent, Nick Bonino, are lighting up the fantasy sheets big time. The trio combined for 12 points Saturday and was at it again Sunday night. For his part, Kessel is playing like his life depends upon it – which is saying something for the right winger. Whether it's blowing past a defender along the boards or forechecking (yes, forechecking), he's getting the job done. Will it last? Who knows, but watching Penguins hockey is a lot more fun when Kessel is engaged and giving an honest effort. Fantasy owners have to like it, too.
Nikita Kucherov, RW, TAM – Let's preface this ranking with a note that the forward is day-to-day with a lower-body injury (though it's not thought to be serious). That said, who would have been surprised if he'd gone through a slump in his second full NHL season? It happens to the best of them, some recent Colorado skaters come to mind. But Kucherov is arguably doing better this time around. An NHL-best plus-38 rating in 2014-15 has fallen to a plus-6 rating, but the 22-year-old has increased his point per game production from 0.79 PPG to 0.86 PPG, respectively. He entered Sunday tied with Steven Stamkos and Claude Giroux for 18th in the league with 62 points (in 68 games). Prior to missing Tampa Bay's last game, Kucherov had scored goals in four straight, along with three assists.
Cold
Thomas Vanek, LW, MIN – Vanek served as a healthy scratch for three games before returning for the last two. The winger has been held without a goal in his last 12 games and has only four scores in the last 29. Vanek has registered four shots on goal in each of his last two games – something he hadn't done since February – but the Wild has scored 16 goals in its last four games and Vanek hasn't recorded a single point. Fantasy owners using the Austrian over the last month have likely seen their teams fall in the standings.
Recommended Pickup
Radko Gudas, D, PHI -- John Carlson seemed like a great pickup until I saw that he's owned in 87 percent of Yahoo! Leagues – make sure he's active. Gudas has scored three goals and four points in his last six games. He might not score again in Week 25, but if your league counts penalty minutes then Gudas is likely your ace in the hole. The Flyers play four times, including three at home. The road game is at Pittsburgh and there's no way Gudas doesn't land in the sin bin at least once. The penalty minutes category is a quick way to make up fantasy ground in a hurry. Twelve penalty minutes is the difference between a third place finish and a championship for me in one of my leagues. I've already picked up Tom Wilson, Gudas is next.
