This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
Hockey should have more fans.
I've been saying this a lot lately, as it seems we're in a golden era in terms of talent around the league. Darn near every team has a budding young star, and quite a few have several of 'em. It's also worth giving props to the NHL and NBA alike for not playing on Thanksgiving, offering a little bit of humanity in what is too often a world of faceless corporate greed. The NFL certainly won't have its money-making machine interrupted by national holidays or chronic head injuries. I suspect if baseball was still going on, they'd be playing on Thanksgiving too. So hats off to the professional hockey and basketball leagues for making a holiday a holiday. May the people of America see the beauty of a league that's just as physical and rough-and-tumble as football, yet more concerned with the humans who play it.
Anyway, as a result, we've got a weird Tuesday on the schedule this time around, with just two games going off; Monday and Wednesday are (or were) the big action days this week. Let's jump right in.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Senators (Craig Anderson) at Stars (Antti Niemi), 8:30 PM
Flames (Karri Ramo) at Ducks (Frederik Andersen), 10:00 PM
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News for Teams Playing Tuesday
Ottawa Senators
Clarke MacArthur, LW (concussion) – Remains out indefinitely
Patrick Wiercioch, D (upper body) – Didn't go Saturday
Chris Phillips, D (back) – Remains without timeline
Andrew Hammond, G (head) – Placed on IR Saturday
Dallas Stars
Travis Moen, LW (upper body) – Off IR, but still day-to-day
Jason Demers, D (lower body) – Didn't practice Monday; Tuesday status unclear
Jordie Benn, D (illness) – Resumed skating Monday; could play Tuesday
Calgary Flames
Jiri Hudler, RW (illness) – Partial practice Monday; Tuesday status uncertain
Kris Russell, D (upper body) – Expected to play Tuesday
Jonas Hiller, G (hip) – A few days away from being cleared for action
Lance Bouma, C (leg) – Out another couple months yet
Anaheim Ducks
Simon Despres, D (concussion) – Remains out with no distinct timeline
Hampus Lindholm, D (upper body) – Practiced Monday; questionable for Tuesday
Jiri Sekac, RW (ankle) – Off his crutches
Nate Thompson, C (shoulder) – Taking contact, but not ready to return yet
Hot
Boone Jenner, LW, CLM – Like most of the Jackets, Jenner had a tough start to the season, managing only eight points in the first 15 games. However, he's found his stride over the last two weeks, racking up three multi-point efforts en route to four goals and eight points in seven games to forcibly yank his season numbers up to respectability. The Jackets may still be in last place, but that doesn't mean there isn't more upside to be found here.
Justin Faulk, D, CAR – Thanks to the misfortune of being probably the best player on a team that's in contention for last place in the NHL, Faulk owns a minus-12 rating, which ranks among the worst in the league. He's also acquired a lot of that recently -- in the Canes' last seven games, he's gone minus-9. However, Faulk is also on a six-game point streak and has tallied nine points in his last eight games overall – that's massive production from the blue line. He also leads the entire NHL in power-play goals with a stunning eight, which is as many as Evgeni Malkin and Daniel Sedin put together. This is one of those situations where you take the good with the bad.
Cold
The Nashville Predators – After starting the season with a shiny 11-3-3 record, this team has started sleepwalking. Over the last three games, the Preds have had 11 goals scored on them without managing a single one of their own. That's right – the team's been shut out three times in a row, with star goalie Pekka Rinne posting save marks of .824, .852 and .842 in those contests despite facing fewer than 20 shots both Friday and Monday. Filip Forsberg had a 63-point breakout last year, but has just 11 points in 20 games this season (none in the last four games) and hasn't scored a goal since Oct. 15. Shea Weber, too, is experiencing a downtick in scoring, with a modest 10 points in 20 games; he's also gone minus-4 over the last three, putting only four shots on goal in that span. James Neal had an early surge, but has since settled into inconsistency, with two three-game slumps bookending his recent four-game point streak. He failed to put a shot on goal in Saturday's loss to Minnesota.
Recommended Pickup
Cody McLeod, LW, COL – "What?" is probably your response to seeing this name here. After all, McLeod's just a fourth-line grinder. But he's the sort of fourth-line grinder who can really round out your fantasy stats in formats that are suited to his playing style. The 31-year-old winger has scored goals in consecutive games and generally looked better on the offensive end than he ever has before, but that's just part of the package. In 10 November games so far, McLeod's scored five goals, adding an assist, a plus-4 rating, 33 PIM and 48 hits. It's been a night-and-day difference from the October version of McLeod, who was shooting less and hitting less thanks to ice time that was often in the single digits. Well, he hasn't been under 10 minutes since the calendar turned to this month, and he actually skated 16:43 and 15:16 in the Avs' last two games. There's value to be found here.
