This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
There is ceding Christmas to the NBA, and then there is what the NHL is doing. The league is shutting down shop after Tuesday's games and is not reconvening until Saturday. That's three days off for the holiday, which feels very Canadian, in a way, even if the league is playing games on Boxing Day. As such, your fantasy teams will lie dormant for a little while, and I don't have any games to preview. So, in lieu of that, here is something I have been pondering.
When it comes to the NFL, which has little, if anything, to do with the NHL but bear with me, I don't believe it makes sense to invest in a backup quarterback. If you are spending any sort of real money on your backup, you are wasting your time. With a finite amount of money to spend, why spend money on a player, who ideally, won't ever play? If they do play, the drop off, even with one of the best backups, will be fairly significant. If it's only for, say, one game, it's not a big deal either way. However, if your starter goes down, over the course of a limited 16 games season you likely won't overcome it. It'll be a sunk cost. You might as well write the season off. A backup can't save you. Or, at the very least, a veteran backup won't help you much more than a rookie you just picked up in, say, the third round.
The NHL equivalent of a backup quarterback is a backup goalie, and, this season seems to be making the argument that you should very much invest in your backup. Now, you don't necessarily have to do this financially. You can do it by drafting and developing goalies. However, you need to always make sure you have a backup plan you can rely on.
This is, in part, because the NHL has an 82 game season. Something happening to your starter is not a death knell, but if you don't have a good backup, it can certainly hurt your team. Take, for example, the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price is great, but the Canadiens didn't have a worthwhile contingency plan, and their hot start has decidedly cooled down. There's also the simple fact that goalies can be fickle, and goalies will have bad stretches, and sometimes even bad seasons. If that happens, and you don't have a good backup, you're season is shot, and it doesn't have to be.
Additionally, some teams are turning to more of a two-goalie system, as opposed to your traditional starter/backup scenario. As a Detroit Red Wings fan, I've seen that this season, with Petr Mrazek and Jimmy Howard, and it's worked well for them. The Dallas Stars, while they are primarily an offensive force, have turned to two goalies, and they are perhaps the best team in the NHL.
In short, if you don't have a Plan B in net, you are really rolling the dice, and you might blow your season up.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
NONE.
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News For Teams Playing Wednesday
NO INJURIES ON ACCOUNT OF CHRISTMAS.
Hot
Patrick Sharp, LW, DAL – Sharp heads into the break on a three-game point streak. That's not much, but he had a goal and an assist in two of those games, giving him five points over his last three games. He has 12 goals and 27 points in 35 games, which is solid for a secondary scoring option. Dallas' red-hot offense certainly doesn't hurt Sharp's potential going forward.
Cold
Tomas Plekanec, C, MTL – Plekanec has three assists in his last 10 games, and 20 overall, but he has zero goals in that time. On top of that, none of those points have come in his last five games, and he is a minus-7 in those five contests as well. He heads into the Christmas break ice cold. Perhaps the time off will do him well, because something needs to happen.
Recommended Pickup
Ryan Ellis, D, NAS – There are already a few Predators defensemen on your radar. Shea Weber. Roman Josi. Maybe even Seth Jones. Don't overlook Ellis, though. Even though he is competing for playing time he is averaging almost 20 minutes a game of ice time. He has 14 points, three goals, and 11 assists, and he's a plus-7 with 18 PIM. Also, he's taken 63 shots on goal, which is a good number for a defenseman. You keep putting shots on net like that, and points will follow. They have for Ellis so far.
