This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
Do you like playoff races? Then the Eastern Conference is not for you! While there are still about 30 games left to be played for everybody in the NHL this season, the eight playoff teams in the East are already all but decided. There is only one, maybe two, teams still clinging to an outside shot of stealing a playoff spot. Other than those pipedreams, it's all been decided.
The Boston Bruins are currently in the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. They have 61 points in 50 games. The Florida Panthers, the team in ninth, have 54 points in 49 games. They also have a minus-18 goal differential and are 3-8-1 in their last 10 games, while the Bruins are 8-1-1. Also, one of those teams is the Bruins, and the other is the Panthers.
So congratulations to the eight teams currently holding onto a playoff spot. They are all but guaranteed to keep it. Fans of those teams are surely happy to only have to worry about some seeding jostling. Everybody else might as well turn their attention to the West. At least there things still seem interesting.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Bruins (Tuukka Rask) at Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist*) 8:00
Penguins (Marc-Andre Fleury) at Oilers (Viktor Fasth) 8:00
Sharks (Antti Niemi) at Flames (Jonas Hiller*) 10:00
*Confirmed Starters
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News For Teams Playing Wednesday
Bruins
Loui Eriksson, RW (neck) – Practiced Tuesday, expected to play.
Milan Lucic, LW (illness) – May play Wednesday.
Rangers
None
Penguins
Blake Comeau, LW (wrist) – Practiced Tuesday, unlikely to play Wednesday.
Pascal Dupuis, RW (blood clot) – Out long term.
Christian Ehrhoff, D (concussion) – Out indefinitely.
Olli Maatta, D (shoulder) – Out for season.
Evgeni Malkin, C (lower-body) – Expected to play Wednesday.
Oilers
Taylor Hall, LW (foot) – Injured foot Monday, day-to-day.
Nikita Nikitin, D (shoulder) – Out 4-6 weeks.
Tyler Pitlick, LW (spleen) – Out for season.
Benoit Pouliot, LW (foot) – Day-to-day, status unknown.
Sharks
Justin Braun, D (finger) – Out 4-6 weeks.
Mike Brown, RW (leg) – Not close to return.
Tye McGinn, LW (undisclosed) – On injured reserve.
Raffi Torres, LW (knee) – Out indefinitely.
Tommy Wingels, RW (finger) – Out 3-4 weeks.
Flames
Mikael Backlund, C (illness) – Day-to-day.
Curtis Glencross, LW (lower-body) – Return day unknown, but could be soon.
Ladislav Smid, D (undisclosed) – Status unknown.
David Wolf, LW (leg) – On injured reserve.
Hot
Braden Holtby, G, WAS – After years of a goaltending carousel, Holtby has given the Capitals some stability this year. Of course, even he has had his issues, and he struggled a bit not that long ago, but he has turned it around. After blanking the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, he has let in one goal in his last three starts. That goal came in a loss, but it was an overtime loss. He's also started almost every game for Washington, so he's delivering plenty of bang for your buck.
Keith Yandle, D, ARI – Yandle's name is often bandied about in trade discussion, and nothing he's been doing recently is going to cool down potential interest. After pitching up two more assists on Tuesday, he has a four game point streak going on. Those points are all assists, but he has six of them, giving him 32 on the season. Now, his plus/minus is awful, but if he gets away from Arizona, that could change, and suddenly Yandle's stock will be even higher.
Cold
Nick Bonino, C, VAN – Earlier in the year, Bonino was running hot and equaling the play of Ryan Kesler, the guy he was traded for. However, since then Bonino has cooled down considerably. He has one point, a goal, in his last six games, and he is a minus-4 in those games as well. He's not contributing much on offense, as he rarely has more than two shots on net in a game. Bonino's offensive impact has been minimal, and offense is what drives fantasy impact.
Michael Frolik, RW, WPG – Frolik's story is quite similar to Bonino's, without the being traded for Ryan Kesler part. He has one point in his last six games, but his is an assist. He's also a minus-4 in those six contests. While he generally shoots more than Bonino, that has been less the case recently. Maybe he will start shooting more, and his scoring will pick up, but that hasn't been happening for a little while.
Recommended Pickup
Brandon Pirri, C, FLA – Pirri has only played in a smattering of games this season, and his overall numbers are not that impressive. However, after years of being considered a promising young player who couldn't crack an extremely deep Chicago Blackhawks lineup, he's finally getting an opportunity with the less deep Panthers. Recently, he's made the most of it. In his last six games, he has six points, five goals and one assist. He was only held scoreless in one of those games, and he is taking plenty of shots and seeing power-play time. Picking him up would be buying in on Pirri hoping what he's done recently is legit, but he has the pedigree to make him worth rolling the dice on.
