Players to target: Andreas Athanasiou, Dylan Larkin, and Mike Green
Athanasiou and Larkin have been a joy to watch while skating together at even strength. They are two of the fastest players in the league and have been creating scoring chance after scoring chance.
The advanced stats agree with that narrative, as Athanasiou, Larkin, and Justin Abdelkader have notched 62.4 Corsi For per 60 minutes and 13.9 Scoring Chances For per 60 minutes. Athanasiou and Larkin are listed on the second power play unit with Mike Green, who has a goal and three assists in his last four games and is starting to look like Mike Green again.
The Detroit Red Wings' matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning is not favorable in general, but at home, they will get to put Larkin's line against Vladislav Namestnikov's and Yanni Gourde's lines where they should use speed to their advantage. Namestnikov's line is allowing 54 Corsi Against per 60 minutes in his limited time with Jonathan Drouin and the Lightning are on the second half of a back-to-back.
This cheap trio could pay big dividends in tournaments as they should see sub-10, possibly sub-5 percent ownership.