This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
When you look atop the NHL's scoring leaders, you will find Sidney Crosby tied for the lead in points. That is a surprise to nobody. However, the person who he is currently tied with may raise an eyebrow or two; Jakub Voracek. Voracek and Crosby both have 29 points, and that's cool for now, but things will likely change as we move forward. That is to say, Crosby will stay high on the leaderboard, and Voracek will come back to reality.
That's a shame, because we never get to see surprise scoring leaders. Outliers will sustain for a little while, but in the end the guys who win the hardware are almost always the big stars. That makes sense, as larger sample sizes yield more expected results, but it'd be nice to see something unusual happen for once. It'd be nice to see Voracek win the Art Ross. There has never really been a surprise winner, save for perhaps Martin St. Louis' first win, although history has made that less of a surprise. At least we'll always have Jonathan Cheechoo's Maurice Richard Trophy win.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Jets (Ondrej Pavelec) at Sabres (Jhonas Enroth*) 7:00
Capitals (Braden Holtby) at Islanders (Jaroslav Halak) 7:00
Maple Leafs (Jonathan Bernier) at Penguins (Marc-Andre Fleury) 7:30
Flyers (Steve Mason) at Red Wings (Jimmy Howard*) 7:30
Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist) at Lightning (Ben Bishop) 7:30
Hurricanes (Cam Ward) at Panthers (Roberto Luongo) 7:30
Kings (Jonathan Quick) at Wild (Darcy Kuemper) 8:00
Blackhawks (Corey Crawford*) at Avalanche (Reto Berra) 9:00
Flames (Karri Ramo*) at Sharks (Antti Niemi) 10:30
*Confirmed Starters
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News For Teams Playing Wednesday
Jets
Tobias Enstrom, D (lower-body) – Did not play Tuesday, day-to-day.
Sabres
Josh Gorges, D (knee) – Practiced Tuesday, not likely to play Wednesday.
Matt Hackett, G (knee) – Likely to return in December.
Cody McCormick, C (head) – Undergoing concussion protocol.
Torey Mitchell, RW (foot) – Practiced Tuesday, day-to-day
Michal Neuvirth, G (lower-body) – Practiced Monday, but Enroth is confirmed to start.
Capitals
John Erskine, D (neck) – Underwent surgery in October, return date unknown.
Mike Green, D (upper-body) – Did not practice Monday.
Brooks Laich, C (shoulder) – May play Wednesday.
Liam O'Brien, C (lower-body) – Practiced Monday, likely to play Wednesday.
Dmitry Orlov, D (wrist) – Has been practicing, return date unknown.
Alex Ovechkin, LW (upper-body) – Questionable for Wednesday.
Aaron Volpatti, LW (neck) – May return soon, be sent to AHL for conditioning.
Islanders
Eric Boulton, LW (undisclosed) – Placed on IR.
Matt Carkner, D (back) – Expected to miss rest of the season.
Michael Grabner, LW (hernia) – Unlikely to play before Thanksgiving.
Thomas Hickey, D (illness) – Likely to play Wednesday.
Maple Leafs
Carter Ashton, RW (suspension) – Still suspended.
David Booth, LW (foot) – Likely to return Wednesday.
Brandon Kozun, RW (ankle) – Not likely to play until December.
Joffrey Lupul, LW (hand) – Will play Wednesday.
Roman Polak, D (knee) – Out four weeks.
Penguins
Beau Bennett, LW (lower-body) – Did not practice Tuesday.
Pascal Dupuis, RW (blood clot) – Out six months.
Flyers
Michael Raffl, LW (ankle) – May return Friday.
Chris VandeVelde, C (lower-body) – Day-to-day.
Ryan White, RW (chest) – Out until late December at least.
Red Wings
Pavel Datsyuk, C (groin) – Game-time decision.
Jonas Gustavsson, G (shoulder) – Out about another month.
Brendan Smith, D (hand) – Practiced Tuesday, could return Wednesday.
Rangers
Ryan McDonagh, D (shoulder) – Practiced Tuesday, unlikely to play Wednesday.
Lightning
Victor Hedman, D (hand) – Could return Saturday.
Hurricanes
Brent Bellemore, D (lower-body) – On injured reserve.
Jordan Staal, C (leg) – On injured reserve.
Panthers
Dave Bolland, C (groin) – Skating, but on injured reserve.
Derek MacKenzie, C (illness) – Missed Tuesday's practice with the flu.
Scottie Upshall, LW (lower-body) – Missed practice Tuesday, wore walking boot.
Kings
Alec Martinez, D (finger) – Practiced Tuesday, return date unknown.
Slava Voynov, D (suspension) – Suspended indefinitely.
Wild
Jonas Brodin, D (illness) – Out with the mumps.
Matt Cooke, LW (hip) – May begin skating soon.
Blackhawks
Patrick Sharp, LW (leg) – Likely to return next week.
Trevor van Riemsdyk, D (knee) – Out several months.
Avalanche
Patrick Bordeleau, LW (back) – On injured reserve.
Dennis Everberg, RW (shoulder) – On injured reserve.
Erik Johnson, D (head) – Was knocked out of Tuesday's game, but is expected to play Wednesday.
Jamie McGinn, LW (back) – On injured reserve.
John Mitchell, C (leg) – Did not play Tuesday.
Brad Stuart, D (hamstring) – Day-to-day.
Alex Tanguay, LW (jaw) – Missed Tuesday's game, even though he was expected to return.
Semyon Varlamov, G (groin) – Did not travel for Tuesday's game.
Ryan Wilson, D (shoulder) – Out for season.
Jesse Winchester, LW (head) – Out with concussion.
Flames
Mikael Backlund, C (abdomen) – Week-to-week.
Joe Colborne, C (wrist) – Skating, but return date unknown.
David Jones, RW (upper-body) – Expected to play Wednesday.
Mason Raymond, LW (upper-body) – On injured reserve.
Matt Stajan, C (knee) – A couple weeks away from returning.
Sharks
Mike Brown, RW (hand) – On injured reserve.
Alex Stalock, G (knee) – Skating, should return in the next couple weeks.
Raffi Torres, LW (knee) – Likely to begin skating next week.
Hot
Evander Kane, LW, WPG – Kane notched two goals, both power-play tallies, on six shots on goal Tuesday against the Blue Jackets, and he has four points in his last five games. Just as notably, he has 10 penalty minutes in those games as well. Kane may always be trade fodder seemingly, but that's in part because he is young and talented. If he keeps this pace up, he'll either help the Jets, or improve his trade prospects.
Gabriel Landeskog, LW, COL – The Avalanche have been a disappointment so far, and Landeskog has had his troubles as well, but they very well may be over. He notched two goals on Tuesday, and he has a four game point streak going on, with six points in those games. He's also a plus-5 in his last three contests, which is helpful after his slow start to the season. Landeskog is still only 22, and the talent is still there. An improvement was likely, and it is coming to fruition now.
Cold
Henrik Zetterberg, LW, DET – Good old Hank has been a mainstay in Detroit for many years, and he has 18 points on the season, but those points haven't really arrived recently. He has one point, an assist, in his last five games, and he is a minus-5 in those games. The young talent has bolstered the Wings while Pavel Datsyuk has been hurt and Zetterberg has struggled, but they probably need Z to turn it around to really make a splash this year.
Scott Hartnell, LW, CLM – Hartnell had two games where he had two goals apiece, but since then he's been a big zero for the Blue Jackets. He has no points in seven straight games, and he is a minus-4 in those games. The hope was that Hartnell would be able to provide some scoring punch for Columbus when they traded for him, but so far he's been just another dark cloud in this disappointing year.
Recommended Pickup
Jake Muzzin, D, LOS – Muzzin did not notch a point against Nashville on Tuesday, even though he played over 24 minutes. However, that ended a four game point scoring streak, and he has at least one point in seven of his last nine games. Granted, these 10 points are all the points he has this season, but he's also a plus-4 in his last three games too, and is playing plenty of minutes due to missing pieces from this defense. He's not Drew Doughty, but that doesn't mean he can't help your fantasy team.
