This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
One of the big stories in the NHL last night had very little to do with the NHL. At least, not this season. Connor McDavid and his Eerie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) invaded Buffalo's First Niagara Center to take on the Niagara IceDogs. You have to think that the Sabres fans who have really stuck with the team through these lean, lean times may have been paying more attention to the Otters beating the IceDogs 8-4 rather than the Ducks beating the Sabres 4-1 on the back of a Corey Perry hat trick out in Anaheim. (Though, that game was closer than it looks in the boxscore.)
As writer Corey Pronman noted on Twitter, even Sabres GM Tim Murray decided to watch the Otters instead of the Sabres.
You'll be shocked to hear this, but Tim Murray is in the building.
— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) October 22, 2014McDavid didn't disappoint either. He led the Otters with a four-point night (1-3-4), cementing himself atop the OHL scoring leader list with nine goals and 20 assists through the season first ten games. Not bad. Second in scoring is teammate Dylan Strome, whose brother we're going to get to in a bit. (It's like a Seinfeld episode in here. Everything comes back around.)
Elsewhere, the Flyers took the Penguins out after a three-goal third period explosion. The Oilers won their second in a row despite being really terrible when they have the lead. (Here are their possession numbers from last night, echoing that linked article.) Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got the game-winning goal last night, just like he did Monday against the Lightning.
And of course, you've no doubt heard that the Toronto at Ottawa game scheduled for last night was postponed due to a shooting of an unarmed solider in the parliament building in the nation's capital. It's truly a terrible event and the NHL did some touching tributes in Pittsburgh and Anaheim, as both stadiums sang the Canadian national anthem before the game.
Ok. Let's talk fantasy.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check our Projected Goalies Grid
New York Islanders (Chad Johnson) at Boston Bruins (Tuukka Rask), 7:00 PM
Pittsburgh Penguins (Thomas Greiss) at Detroit Red Wings (Jimmy Howard*), 7:30 PM
Vancouver Canucks (Ryan Miller) at St. Louis Blues (Jake Allen*), 8:00 PM
Chicago Blackhawks (Corey Crawford) at Nashville Predators (Pekka Rinne), 8:00 PM
Arizona Coyotes (Mike Smith*) at Minnesota Wild (Darcy Kuemper*), 8:00 PM
Carolina Hurricanes (Cam Ward) at Calgary Flames (Jonas Hiller), 9:00 PM
Buffalo Sabres (Jhonas Enroth) at Los Angeles Kings (Jonathan Quick), 10:30 PM
Columbus Blue Jackets (Sergei Bobrovsky) at San Jose Sharks (Alex Stalock), 10:30 PM
Injury News For Teams Playing Thursday
New York Islanders
Lubomir Visnovsky, D (back) -- Could be in in the roster on Thursday.
Matt Carkner, D (upper body) -- Is on IR.
Michael Grabner, RW (sports hernia) -- Remains out.
Mikhail Grabovski, C (concussion) -- Was placed on IR.
Thomas Hickey, D (face) -- Left Tuesday's game with a cut to the face.
Boston Bruins
Kevan Miller, D (shoulder) -- Is out indefinitely.
Marc Savard, C (concussion) -- Is on long-term IR (LTIR).
Pittsburgh Penguins
Beau Bennett, RW (leg) -- Isn't close to returning.
Robert Bortuzzo, D (upper body) -- Wasn't in the lineup on Wednesday.
Detroit Red Wings
Johan Franzen, RW (leg) -- Was placed on IR Monday.
Vancouver Canucks
Ryan Stanton, D (lower body) -- Is on IR.
Bo Horvat, C (shoulder) -- Has been sent to the AHL on a conditioning assignment.
St. Louis Blues
Alexander Steen, LW (illness) -- Missed practice Wednesday, but hasn't been ruled out of Thursday's game.
Paul Stastny, C (shoulder) -- Is considered week-to-week.
Carl Gunnarsson , D (hip) -- Remains out.
Chicago Blackhawks
Corey Crawford, G (upper body) -- will not join the team for the upcoming road trip.
Nashville Predators
Matt Cullen, C (lower body) -- Is close to a return.
Mike Fisher, C (Achilles) -- Returned to practice on Tuesday, but doesn't appear to be ready for game action.
Arizona Coyotes
Martin Hanzal, C (lower body) -- Won't be available for Thursday's tilt.
Brendan Perlini, LW (hand) -- Is out indefinitely.
Minnesota Wild
Josh Harding, G (foot) -- Is recovering from a broken foot.
Carolina Hurricanes
John-Michael Liles, D (upper-body) -- Has been cleared for contact again.
Eric Staal, C (upper body) -- Is on IR, but could return soon.
Nathan Gerbe, LW (lower body) -- Didn't play Tuesday.
Jordan Staal, C (broken leg) -- Remain quite a ways from returning to game action.
Patrick Dwyer, RW (lower body) -- Has been on IR since mid-month.
Calgary Flames
David Jones, RW (lower body) -- Is on IR.
Corey Potter, D (shoulder) -- Is still out.
Sam Bennett, LW (shoulder) -- Underwent surgery and will miss significant time.
Buffalo Sabres
Patrick Kaleta, RW -- Isn't ready for game action, but has returned to practice.
Matt Hackett, G (knee) -- Is still on IR.
Los Angeles Kings
Slava Voynov, D (legal issues resulting in suspension) -- Has been suspended indefinitely pending the result of charges of domestic violence against him.
Andrew Bodnarchuk, D (knee) -- Is on IR.
Marian Gaborik, RW (undisclosed) -- Missed practice Wednesday.
Trevor Lewis, C (upper body) -- Has skated on his own, but hasn't returned to team practice.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Nathan Horton, RW (back) -- Is reported to be out for the remainder of the season.
Brandon Dubinsky, C (abdomen) -- Will miss up to five weeks following surgery.
Curtis McElhinney, G (head, neck) -- Is making progress and should rejoin the team this week.
Boone Jenner, LW (hand) -- Is still out of the lineup.
Ryan Murray, D (knee) -- Is out.
Marko Dano, C (undisclosed) -- Missed games over the weekend and could be out Thursday.
San Jose Sharks
Tyler Kennedy, LW (upper body) -- Remains out and hasn't played this season.
Raffi Torres, LW (knee) -- Won't undergo surgery, but remains out long-term.
Mike Brown, RW (hand) -- Is on IR.
Hot
Claude Giroux, C, PHI -- The slow start of last season is far, far in the rearview mirror for Giroux. He added two assists, three shots, and 21:39 of ice time to his season totals in the aforementioned win over Pittsburgh last night. That gives him two goals and seven assists through seven games, as well as a league-leading 33 shots. He also leads all NHL forwards with an average of 21:21 of ice time per game. Giroux's slow start last season might have had some owners balking on him at the draft, but those who believed are seeing big dividends.
Brent Burns, D, SJS -- It was said around these parts a number of times in the preseason: Burns won't take a huge offensive step forward from last year's stats because of the move to defense, but he's still going to be a major asset in fantasy. Well, that's playing out exactly as described. Burns has a goal and seven assists through the season's first seven games. Those eight points lead NHL defensemen. He's also got 19 shots (seventh among defensemen) and an average ice time of 23:16. There are a lot of reasons to like Burns right now, even though he doesn't collect lizards or look like a caveman anymore.
Cold
Ryan Miller, G, VAN -- Miller should be fine in the long run, but Miller's start on Tuesday was a disaster. An absolute disaster. Like Waterworld-level disaster. Miller was ultimately pulled from the game, but not until after he allowed five goals on 13 shots. With the small amount of time he saw in Tuesday's game that gave him a GAA of 14.10. In terms of real hockey, it's a bit of an irrelevant statistic that's inflated because he only played part of the game. In fantasy hockey, it's a GAA of 14.10. That's humongous bad. (Feeling pretty smug about sitting him in favor of not having a goalie in net in my rotisserie league against some fellow writers.) Miller should be fine, but he's been hot and cold. The game before the 14.10 GAA he had a shutout, stopping all 28 shots he faced. The game before that? He allowed four goals on 29 shots for a save percentage of .862. It's hard to know what you're going to get from him right now. He's the definition of a Jeckyll and Hyde player.
Matt Moulson, LW, BUF -- Through the season's opening seven games Matt Moulson has tallied just two assists (one last night) and a minus-4 rating. Sure, he's got 15 shots, but that's the best you can say about his fantasy production at the moment. It's been a rough start to the season and his new contract in Buffalo. But you can't just blame Moulson for that, this team is not good. Very not good. And they're going to have very not good fantasy production this year. It's nothing against Moulson. I like Moulson. But it's hard to really want a player on a team that's 1-6-0 and has a -17 goal differential through so few games. I'm not buying low on Moulson.
Recommended Pickup
Ryan Strome, C, NYI -- Ryan Strome, whose brother plays with McDavid and is the second leading scorer in the OHL (ohhhhhhhh, yeah, full circle), has posted some modest to good numbers this season. No goals, six assists, a plus-3 rating, six penalty minutes, and 14 shots through six games. It's no one you're dropping a slumping player who will turn around for, but things are really going alright for the young center. Things could be getting better soon too, as grumblings about Cory Conacher's first line role with John Tavares (with a NHL-leading 10 points this season) and Kyle Okposo are starting up. It's hard to not produce on a line with those two, but Conacher has just one goal and no assists. Strome's an ok pick-up right now, but if you've got a spot to stash a hail mary, Strome could be that stash. If he finds his way onto the top line, as some are speculating he will, he could turn into a home run. As it stands now, he's not a bad pick-up playing on the second line with the very hot Brock Nelson and Nikolay Kumelin.
