This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
Brent Burns is the foremost goal scoring defenseman in the NHL. His offensive skills are so strong, and his defensive skills so iffy, that he's been moved to forward at times. However, despite the fact he is currently 30 years old, Burns is in line for his best goal scoring season even, and perhaps the best in many years.
Burns has 18 goals so far, which puts him on pace for 34 goals. While he may not reach that level, there is a good chance he becomes the first blueliner to hit the 30-goal mark since Mike Green did it in the 2008-2009 season. Even if he can't cross the 30-goal plateau, as long as he scores over 23 goals he will be the most prolific goal scorer since the aforementioned Green.
Of course, there is more to being a defenseman than scoring goals, and Burns does not excel in all those areas. However, when you can get a blueliner who can notch 30 goals in a year, that's impressive, and also very helpful to your fantasy team… even if he is a minus-10 on the season.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Blues (Brian Elliott) at Red Wings (Petr Mrazek), 8:00 PM
Sabres (Robin Lehner) at Avalanche (Semyon Varlamov), 10:00 PM
Wild (Devan Dubnyk) at Ducks (John Gibson), 10:30 PM
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News For Teams Playing Wednesday
Blues
Jake Allen, G (lower-body) – Week-to-week
Robert Bortuzzo, D (lower-body) – Did not play Monday
Carl Gunnarsson, D (upper-body) – On injured reserve
Steve Ott, C (hamstring) – Out three months
Magnus Paajarvi, LW (upper-body) – Week-to-week
Jaden Schwartz, LW (ankle) – Returning after All-Star break
Red Wings
Johan Franzen, RW (concussion) – On long-term injured reserve
Drew Miller, LW (lower-body) – Will miss at least a month
Sabres
Nicolas Deslauriers, LW (lower-body) – On injured reserve
Tyler Ennis, LW (upper-body) – On injured reserve
Zemgus Girgensons, C (upper-body) – Will not play Wednesday
Josh Gorges, D (upper-body) – Day-to-day
Cody McCormick, C (blood clots) – No timetable to return
Avalanche
Reto Berra, G (ankle) – On injured reserve
Erik Johnson, D (lower-body) – On injured reserve
Ben Street, C (chest) – On injured reserve
Brad Stuart, D (back) – No timetable for return
Jesse Winchester, LW (concussion) – On injured reserve
Wild
Ryan Carter, LW (hand) – On injured reserve
Ducks
Frederik Andersen, G (upper-body) – Day-to-day
Simon Despres, D (concussion) – In minors for conditioning
Cam Fowler, D (knee) – Out 3-5 weeks
Clayton Stoner, D (hip) – On injured reserve
Hot
Justin Williams, RW, WAS – Williams may be 34, and while he's always been a possession driver he hasn't always been a big time scorer, but that's changed this season. Chalk that up to playing on this potent offense. Williams had two assists Tuesday, to go with a hat trick in his last game, giving him five points in his last two games. Let's go beyond that, though, to note he has nine points in his last six games. While he will never be the lead dog for the Capitals, there's plenty of offense to go around, and Williams will be there to contribute.
Nikita Kucherov, RW, TAM – With the Lightning heating up, perhaps we can spend less time speculating on Steven Stamkos' future, and more time talking about what's going right. One of the things going right? The play of once and future Triplet Kucherov. He notched a goal and added an assist Tuesday, giving him multiple points in back-to-back games. Also, he has at least one point in his last six games. Under the radar, he's on pace to do about what he did last year, and if he keeps playing this week, he could surpass those numbers.
Cold
Alex Galchenyuk, C, MTL – Earlier this year, it looked like the former third overall pick was ready to take that next step to being a real contributor for the Canadiens. That has not looked like the case recently. He's been held without a point in his last six games, and he's a minus-8 in those games. He's been getting moved to the wing recently to try and get something going. It hasn't worked yet. Until something works, you can't trust Galchenyuk.
Kyle Turris, C, OTT – Turris has 13 goals this season, which, all in all, is pretty good. He has zero goals in his last 10 contests, though, which is not good, especially since he only has two assists. He's also a minus-10 in his last 10 games, which makes him a minus-11 on the season. Clearly, before this extended slump, he was playing reasonably well. Now, though, we're all waiting for him to find the back of the net.
Recommended Pickup
Tomas Hertl, C, SAN – Hertl impressed as a rookie, before his season was truncated due to injury, and then he had the proverbial "sophomore slump" during his second year. This year, he didn't start off too strongly, either, but he's picked it up recently. He has seven points, and is a plus-8, over his last seven games, and overall he has 22 points and 111 shots on goal. Hertl has skill, and he's only 22, so if he has finally rekindled that promise from his rookie year, he could be in for a strong second half of the season.
