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!
Check out Flynn’s article that describes how we start our process of creating lineups – Beginning NHL Strategy.
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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!
First, here are some of our recent big wins! Remember to sign up with code, DFSMATT to get 10% off!
Goalies
Frederik Andersen (9k): The most expensive goalie on the slate and definitely the best one here. Tougher matchup with the Sharks, but the Sharks are on the back end of a back to back where they just lost to the Sabres. His projection from our Research Station is much higher than any other goalie. Over his last 10 starts he has the best Sv% on this slate at .944% and he’s allowing the least amount of goals. The Sharks shoot a ton and Andersen should have plenty of opportunities for saves tonight.
David Rittich (7.5k): LOVE LOVE LOVE him tonight against the Stars. They are coming off a B2B and come into Calgary against a goalie who is on fire. Rittich comes into this game with an 8-2 record, a 2.04 GAA, and .930% SV%. Aside from his last game, he had 4 straight over 20 fanduel points. On the season, he has 8 of his 10 starts with over 20 fanduel points. Some of the games he entered late this year too. The Stars are scoring just 2.2 goals/game on the road over their last 10 games. This matchup is very good for him tonight and the Flames are allowing only about 25.6 SOGA and 2.2 GA in their last 10 games
Jimmy Howard (8.6k): Unpopular opinion here, but I love Howard. I have a soft spot for him mainly because he’s done me well lately. He blew up last start which will keep his ownership very low. He’s rather expensive and in cash I’d rather just pay the $400 more for Andersen. Howard is very close to Andersen in terms of last 10 games. He has a .932% save percentage while allowing just 2.20 goals/game. He ranks right behind Howard in FD average with 22.6 in his last 10.
John Gibson (8.3k): GPP only for me tonight. Gibson should see a bunch of shots against Florida. He also can give up a ton of goals, which keeps him GPP only for me. He’s been pretty good over his last 10, but FLA has been one of the hottest teams in the NHL of late. He has allowed just 2.6 goals/game in his last 10, which is not the worst on this slate, but his .910 sv% is a bit concerning. Again, keep for tournaments one tonight.
Centers
Nathan MacKinnon (9k): Man I hate paying up this much for a skater, but Nate is on fire along with his whole line. It’s going to be hard to use him with both his line mates tonight, but if you can fit them go for it. Highest projected center on the RS tonight too. He blows out any other center in terms of FD averages of late.
Aleksander Barkov (7.3k): I’m going to try my best to use MacK and Barkov in my lineups tonight. It will be hard though. Barkov and FLA has been on fire lately. He does have 6 goals, 4 assists and 40 SOGBS in his last 10 games and FLA1 is rolling right now. He’s trending a bit upwards in his last 5 games too.
Sean Monahan (7.8k): I love the Flames tonight in this matchup. Monahan has been great lately too with 7 goals, 3 assists, and 36 SOGBS in his last 10 and has been heating up more in his last 5.
Joe Pavelski (7.5k): GPP only for me against Andersen, but he’s been really good for the Sharks lately. He’s the 2nd hottest player in terms of FD scoring over the last 10 games.
John Tavares (7.8k): Love him tonight and he’ll likely be lower owned. SJ just played last night and TOR is rested and getting Matthews back. I’m not on Matthews yet, but Tavares is definitely in play. He’s involved in 31.82% of their scoring and has 7 goals and 4 assists in his last 10 games.
Ryan O’Reilly (7.1k): I’m not huge on STL tonight, but ROR has been firing. I do like Howard a lot, so ROR won’t make my cash builds, but STL is good for tournaments. DET is still allowing SOG, but Howard has been a beast stopping them.
Others to consider: Dylan Larkin, J.T. Compher (value), Sidney Crosby
Wings
Mike Hoffman (6.3k): I don’t really care that he’s facing ANH tonight. He’s our top projected winger, has a value grade over 3 and has been scoring 20 points consistently for the Panthers.
Jonathan Huberdeau (6k): Look, another FLA player. He’ll likely be over-looked tonight but I like him. He’s 1k cheaper than Dadonov and is averaging almost 4 more FD points than Dadonov.
Matthew Tkachuk (6.5k): Lovely spot with Bow in nets for DAL. He’s been on fire in his last 10 scoring 7 goals with 3 assists and a 30.43% SH. His shooting percentage won’t stay that high, but it’s always good to ride hot streaks. I wish he was a little cheaper, but he’s still a great play tonight.
Anthony Mantha (4.6k): I have interest in DET tonight and it starts with Mantha as great value. He’s been doing a lot of scoring for the Red Wings and has 9 points in his last 10 games with 35 SOG. For this cheap price, he’s doing plenty.
Jake Guentzel (6.7k) Little steep price for me, but his production is there and it gives you access to Crosby on L1. He has 5 goals in his last 5 games and is averaging 21.3 FD points per game in that span.
Alexander Radulov (6.6k): Been amazing lately and great floor. I love him more if Smith is in the nets for CGY tonight. He’s one of our better values tonight too and brings a high floor. He has 43 SOGBS in his last 10 games and averaging 16.5 FD points per game.
Others to consider: Landeskog/Rantanen (if you can fit them, prefer Rantanen), Mitchell Marner, Andreas Athanasiou, Timo Meier, Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, Vladimir Tarasenko, FRANK VATRANO (VALUE), Kasperi Kapanen (VALUE)
Defense
Tonight, guys like Kris Letang, Morgan Rielly, Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns are in play if you can afford to pay for them. I don’t think I’ll be able to, especially in cash, so I will list other lower priced options I like tonight too!
Mark Giordano (5.9k): I love using him in my CGY stacks, This matchup with DAL is good with Landon Bow in the net. He’s a great value according to our RS tonight too.
Mike Green (4.7k): As long as he’s cheap, he brings a solid floor for the Wings. In his last 5 games, he has 2 goals, 6 assists, and 35 SOGBS, averaging over 12 FD points. Cheap and likely won’t kill your lineup.
Brandon Montour (4.3k): Been heating up over his last 5 and he was already doing good in his last 10 games too. In his last 5, he’s averaging 5 SOGBS per game while he’s assisting on goals too. FLA is a decent matchup tonight who gives up some goals. Montour is cheap too and him and Green could be my two cash defensemen tonight.
Noah Hanifin (4k): 3rd highest FD scorer in the last 5 gams. He’s getting assists on both even strength and on the power play too. At 4k, we want about 8-10 points from him as a floor, which he’s had, especially if CGY is scoring.
Others to consider: Alex Pietrangelo, Dennis Cholowski, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle, Mike Matheson
