Hello folks and welcome to my NHL Positional Breakdown for Fanduel!
For those of you who are new to the DFS Army, new to NHL DFS, or just like to read different articles, my name is Matt Dell’Agnese and I’m an MLB and NHL coach and writer for the DFS Army. Hit me for a follow on twitter at mdellagnese14. If you are a DFS Army VIP member you will know that I’m fairly active in our NHL rooms and around to help coach for the amazing sport of Hockey. I was brought to the DFS Army in January and I wrote Painting the Black for baseball, analyzing pitching picks for the slates. If you’ve played MLB, NHL is very similar. The sports are both volatile and players can put up a 0 or low score at any time. Don’t get discouraged if you get cold, just keep with your process and the players will come around. For cash games, you want to correlate players who skate on the same line or same Power play line, in GPPs stack up the full lines. Thankfully, Chop has asked me to help out with our NHL content articles!
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I will be breaking down each position with the players who I like with my reasonings for liking them on the slate! I am a Fanduel player, so these articles will include Fanduel pricing and scoring references! Remember to always check for confirmation of goalies and lines! Let’s dive into this big Wednesday Slate!
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Goalies
Frederik Andersen (8.9k): Yet again, Andersen is the highest price goalie on this slate tonight. He’s also the highest projected according to our Research Station. Andersen has been simply amazing over his last 10 starts, allowing just 1.9 goals/game and has a .943% save percentage. His last game against the Blue Jackets was his worst since way back on November 1st. Boston is without Bergeron for the time being and they just are not the same team. I don’t see them putting up much of a fight in Toronto tonight.
Jimmy Howard (8.5k): When will people understand that Howard is #good? Fanduel has noticed since he’s finally up in price but he’s always low owned. This matchup with Columbus is not the best one, but the way he’s been playing it’s hard not to like him. CBJ is shooting 32.5 shots/game over their last 10, but DET has allowed just 2.3 goals/game in that same span. Their defense and goaltender (mainly Howard) have been playing really good of late. Over the last 10 games, Howard has been identical to Bob on the other side of this game. He has a .939 save % along with allowing just 2.1 goals/game.
Sergei Bobrovsky (8.8k): Today is a pay up spot for a goalie as the rest are in tougher spots. Bob started off this year absolutely horrible but has really bounced back over his last 10 starts. Like I said above, he and Howard have been nearly identical in stat lines. Bob has a .931 save % with a 2.1 GAA over his last 10. DET doesn’t shoot as much as the Blue Jackets do, so I do believe Howard has a higher ceiling tonight because he’ll see way more shots, but Bob has the chance to save and not all many.
Braden Holtby (8.6k): Again, I really don’t like writing him up but we cannot deny his success of late. Washington is playing really good defense and allowing just 2.4 goals per game over the last 10. His last 3 he has been absolutely amazing, allowing just 3 goals with 90 saves on 93 shots. The Islander have been doing pretty good, but I don’t think Greiss is all that good for them. Holtby has a great chance at a win tonight and I’m not sure many people will use him. GPP only though for me.
Centers
Matt Duchene (6.6k): Is fanduel going to price this kid up? 6.6k still seems cheap for his production lately. He’s been hot over his last 10 games, but even hotter over his last 5! He has 4 goals, 6 assists and 19 SOGBS (which is shots+blocks). He’s bringing a high floor and his ceiling right now is very high too. Duchene has averaged 25 fanduel points over his last 5 games! Not to mention this matchup with the Rangers is a great one too.
John Tavares (8.5k): Very expensive, but I think we can afford to pay up at center tonight. This matchup with BOS is better than it looks too. I don’t see TOR losing this game and Tavares has been a workhorse. He’s involved in 32.14% of TOR’s scoring and has a wonderful floor. He and Duchene are my favorite pairs for cash games tonight if you are paying up at both Center spots.
Pierre-Luc Dubois (6k): If you are not using Howard, I do love Dubois tonight. This CBJ1 line has been on fire lately, scoring 8 goals over their last 10 games. I do love Howard, but we can’t ignore how this line has been playing. Dubois is getting involved in scoring goals instead of just assisting on them too. He has cooled off his last 2 games, but that can cause lower ownership too.
Kevin Hayes (5.3k): A lot will be on Zib, but Hayes is the better value play tonight. He’s almost 2k cheaper than Zib and has had better production of late. He has been averaging 11.4 FD points per game over his last 5 and 14.5 points over his last 10.
Others to consider: Barkov (7.2k), Larkin (6.2k), Nelson (5.7k), Jenner (4.8k)
Wings
Mike Hoffman (6.2k): In a game I love tonight, and the 2nd highest scoring Wing over the last 10 games, it’s hard not to just plug him in. He has at least 20 fanduel points in 4 of his last 5 games too. In his last 10 games, he has 5 goals, 8 assists, and 38 SOGBS. Great floor and upside for just 6.2k.
Cam Atkinson (7.2k): Is there anyone hotter than Atkinson of late? I’ll answer that for you, NOPE. He’s been the hottest winger over the last 10 games on this slate. If you look at our Research Station he has 9 goals, 4 assists, and 42 SOGBS over his last 10 games. I don’t like the matchup much against Howard, but he’s been on fire and is someone who goes on hot streaks.
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Andreas Athanasiou (5.1k): What value for AA tonight. A decent matchup, but he’s got such a great floor. He makes for a very good one-off and has 43 SOGBS over his last 10 games. When he shoots, he always has a chance to score. In his last 5 games, he does have 3 of them with more than 5 SOG.
Chris Kreider (6.5k) NYR is going to be popular tonight, and Kreider has looked good lately. He had 6 SOG last game and this matchup with OTT is perfect. OTT allows almost 40 SOG per game while allowing 4.5 goals/game! Kreider has 30 SOG in his last 10 games along with 6 goals and 5 assists.
Taylor Hall (7.9k): He’s reaching that 8k threshold for me, but technically he’s still under it! The matchup with the Panthers I believe is going to be sneaky good. Hall rarely scores under 10 fanduel points and, even with the little cold spell he had is still averaging 17 fd points in his last 10 games. Florida is allowing 3.7 goals per game along with 33.6 shots per game. Love this matchup for Hall if I can pay up to him! Kyle Palmieri is in play too but has significantly cooled off of late. In GPPs, stack up their whole first line though.
Tom Wilson (5k): He’s been brilliant since returning this year. He has 4 goals, 5 assists, and 19 SOGBS in 7 games thus far. He’s just 5k tonight and is great value against the Islanders. I prefer him over Ove in cash games, but stack up the first line in GPPs with Ove, Wilson, Backstrom, and Carlson if you can.
Frank Vatrano (3.2k): What….3.2k, I get it, he’s not like super good, but he’s playing on the 2nd line of a Florida team scoring 3.5 goals/game in their last 10 games! Amazing value in a game that I can see being sneaky. I wish he played more minutes, but he has been producing in those minutes. He has 43 SOGBS in his last 10 games and has a few games with 3+ shots. He really only needs 8-9 points for us at this price to be solid. Great value here.
Drake Batherson (3.5k): Basically min price on fanduel in a great matchup against NYR?! Yes, please! He has the best value projection for wingers tonight and has averaged 13.6 fanduel points per game since being called up.
Other Wings to consider: Alex Ovechkin (always in play for GPPs), Brady Tkachuk (value), Filip Chytil, Evengii Dadonov, Mark Stone
Defense
Morgan Rielly (6.6k): He seems to always be the pay up guy on D. Always a great play as he scores, shoots, and gets assists. He’s involved in 32.14% of the Leafs scoring and he has one of the best floors. He’s cooled off lately so it’s hard for me to pay up to him with all the great value here. I do like him in a stack with Tavares though.
Thomas Chabot (5.3k): Still too cheap, especially in a game I see shooting out. His floor is amazing and his ceiling is high. He’s our 3rd highest projected defenseman on the slate tonight and represents the highest value at 3.24. Over his last 3 games, he has 1 goal, 3 assists, and 9 SOGBS. I’d like to see him shooting more like he was last week, and I’m sure he will. He’s a staple in my cash games tonight.
John Carlson (6.9k): I love using Carlson in tournaments tonight stacked with Ove and Wilson. Carlson is a bit expensive for cash games unless there is a ton of value that opens on the wing. He does bring a solid floor though as he blocks a ton of shots, gets a ton of assists and shoots a bunch.
Mike Green (4.8k): Averages over 20 min on the ice with 3.5 SOGBS floor for under 5k! This matchup against the Blue Jackets is no the best, but he should have plenty of opportunities to block shots.
Neal Poink (4.6k): All the savings on D tonight if you want. Pionk is our 2nd best value right now at 2.93 tonight. He isn’t the most satisfying play and likely won’t 20+, but he can give you over 10 almost any night which is fine for his price. If he gets a goal or an assist, it just works out better.
Mike Matheson (4k): Matheson has been great of late. He has 41 SOGBS over his last 10 games and 26 over his last 5, thats even better when you average it out! At just 4k in a game that could have some fireworks, he brings a solid floor of late. He’s been assisting on a ton too. What I like here is he’s blocking 2 shots per game while shooting 2 shots per game over his last 10.
