Joel Dorcas | October 12th, 2019
Saturday night is usually a big night in NHL and tonight is no different as we have 11 games to choose from on the main slate. Tonight the focus will be Boston hosting the Devils, the Jets and Blackhawks in Chicago, the surging Carolina Hurricanes looking to stay undefeated versus the Blue Jackets and the Maple Leafs looking to rebound at Detroit. Let’s drop the puck and make some Ice Picks.
CORE MUST-HAVES ⭐
Sebastian Aho C CAR $5,900
The Canes have reeled off five straight victories to open the season and have scored at least four goals in four of the five games. To no one’s surprise, the Blue Jackets are struggling, they have given up 16 goals in four games ranking them 24th in the league. Aho is a no-brainer for me here. The Canes should skate circles around the new-look Jackets. Aho has just a single point in five games but he is shooting the puck at a torrid pace with a team-leading 23. Give me the cost-savings of Aho, his upside matches anyone on the slate.
Patrice Bergeron C BOS $6,600
The Bruins have a nice home matchup against a Devils squad that is tied for 25th in goals against per game at 4.5. The early season start seems to be a continuation of last year’s defensive numbers as they ranked toward the bottom with a 3.30 mark(26th). Boston won two of three games against Jersey last season notching 8 goals. Bergeron who centers arguably the best line in hockey recorded five points in three games versus New Jersey last season.
Blake Wheeler W WPG $6,800
The Jets and Hawks could very well be the best game to target for high event outcomes. The Jets are allowing 3.4 goals per game(20th), while the Blackhawks 4.5 mark ranks them at the bottom as well. Chicago’s defense is the leakier of the two as last season they held the second-worst goals allowed per game of 3.55. The line of Laine-Wheeler-Schiefele rivals any in the league, they chimed in on three of Winnipeg’s five goals Thursday. Laine is running hot right now, but Wheeler offers a discount of $1K making him very appealing. Wheeler, who is known more as a distributor of the puck than a sniper, is actually tied for second on the team in shots on goal.
VALUE PLAYS
Charlie McAvoy D BOS $3,700
McAvoy starting the season at $4.5K and has dipped considerably to just $3.7K. We will gladly take the discount. Despite just registering 1 helper in four games, McAvoy is the Bruins leader in ice time at just over 22 minutes per game.
Dominik Kubalik W CHI $3,100
Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton had high praise for the young forward in his last game calling him dynamic and rewarding him with first-line minutes albeit, for just a portion of the game. Kubalik has made the most of his minutes as he leads the team in shots on goal through two games with 9.
Trevor Moore W TOR $3,600
If the Maple Leafs can tighten things up finally they will be in a good spot versus a Red Wings squad that surrendered 16 goals in their four head-to-head meetings last season. If Toronto takes control of the game Coach Mike Babcock will likely give all lines more ice time as opposed to leaning on the first two lines if they are desperate for offense which will bode well for Moore. Moore has modest totals of 10 shots on goal and seven blocks in the early going to start the season. He also gets small doses of power-play time as he is listed on the second unit.
STACK ‘EM
- Carolina Hurricanes-Aho(C), Niederreiter(W), Teravainen(W), Svechnikov(W)
- Winnipeg Jets-Laine(W), Scheifele(C), Wheeler(W), Morrisey(D)
- Boston Bruins-Bergeron(C), Pastrnak(W), Marchand(W), McAvoy(D)
Good luck to everyone tonight, keep grinding out those lineups!
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