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
Semyon Varlamov (COL) (8.8k): Early is the most expensive goaltender tonight, but I do like this spot for him and he’s been great. It’s a plus that he is at home too. The Blues are running a bit cold over their last 10 games where they are just 3-7 and scoring just 2.4 goals/game. It’s not easy coming into COL to play and Early has been very consistent too. He has won 5 in a row while scoring over 25 in 4 of 5 of those wins.
Braden Holtby (WSH) (8.6k): Another goalie who is going to be popular tonight and in a decent spot. He’s our top projected goalie right on our Research Station and is in a good spot with the Devils. Normally, I don’t like using him or picking on the Devils, but he’s been so consistent of late. In his last 10 games, he has a great .929% save percentage while allowing just 2.4 GA/G. He really has shown up over his last 4 starts, recording 29.6 or more fanduel points in each of those, allowing just 4 goals on 126 shots. The Devils are allowing a ton of goals of late too and Holtby will see plenty of shot volume with NJ having close to 35 shots on goal per game.
Curtis McElhinney (CAR) (7.5k): Another good spot for McElhinney here tonight. The Ducks are a very frustrating team because they don’t shoot a ton and can break through at times. The Ducks are not scoring that much, but on the road only average 23.8 SOG/game. That being said, he is cheap and in good form right now. We do have him with a 56% chance at the win tonight. He has a .931 save% and allowing just 2.1 GA/G in his last 10 starts.
GPP considerations: Linus Ullmark (BUF), John Gibson (ANH)
Centers
Nathan MacKinnon (COL) (9k): Nate is Nate and I LOVE COL1 tonight. I will have pieces of them all in my lineups tonight. A guy averaging close to 25 fd points per game over his last 10 games needs to be played.
Aleksander Barkov (FLA) (7.4k): Barkov and FLA has been on fire lately. This game could be a shootout with FLA and BUF both rolling on offense.
Jack Eichel (BUF) (7.4k): An assist machine lately. He is averaging 4.4 shots per game over his last 10 and has added 9 assists and 1 goal in that time. Love this game with FLA tonight.
Evgeny Kuznetsov (WSH) (7.3k): If Schnieder starts for the Devils tonight, I feel bad for him. The Caps are getting healthier now and Schnieder is not that good.
Anze Kopitar (LAK) (6.7k): Calgary is projected to start Mike Smith and he stinks. I love the Kings for value plays here tonight. Kopitar is starting to heat up too and thats when I want to use him. He has 6 assists and 1 goal over his last 3 games and clearly is feeling himself.
Adam Henrique (ANH) (4.6k): I do like Henrique for a value play tonight. If you are a game log watcher, he’s been doing well for his price. He’s trending up in his last 5 games and he’s been getting around 8+ fanduel points per game
Others to consider: Jeff Carter (LAK) , Sebastian Aho (CAR)
Wings
Mike Hoffman (FLA) (6.6k): He is getting up there in price now, but is our highest projected winger tonight. Good matchup with BUF too that people may over look because the Sabres have been hot. He’s averaging over 4 shots per game over his last 10 while scoring and assisting too.
Tom Wilson (WSH) (5.2k): Healthy top line with a guy on fire? Sign me up! He’s still amazing value and likely will be a staple in my cash lineups. Anytime i get a guy who has scored at least 15 fanduel points in his last 6 games will be in my lineup for this cheap. Great matchup with the Devils tonight too. Don’t overthink this one folks.
Dustin Brown (LAK) (6.1k): Still good value for Brown too at 6.1k. He’s heating up over his last 3 games and gets another favorable matchup here. His stats can be skewed a little but having a hat trick 3 games ago against EDM, but he followed that game up with a 2 point effort against Vancouver and had another goal with 5 SOG against EDM last game.
Mikko Rantanen/Gabriel Landeskog (COL) (8.4k/7.1k): I know whenever I write COL up it always includes all 3, but their top line is the best producing line in the NHL. Again, prefer Rantanen over Landeskog because he does more on offense. Both are on fire and fit them where you can. Rantanen has 5 goals, 13 assists, and 29 SOGBS over his last 10 games. Even if he isn’t shooting, he’s involved. Landeskog isn’t as hot of late, but shoots a bit more and gets assists too.
Alex Ovechkin (WSH) (8.8k): I rarely pay up for Ove in cash games, and likely won’t tonight either, but I love him for tournaments. Great matchup and he’s just amazing. He’s riding hot right now and has 4 goals, 2 assists and 28 SOGBS in his last 5 games. When he’s hot, he’s unstoppable.
Tyson Jost (COL) (4.1k): More ways to get COL into your lineups. He doesn’t play with their top line or PP line, but still has been producing. 4 of his last 5 games have produced more than 10 fanduel points too. He gets PP2 time and their 2nd line is pretty good too. I like the matchup against the Blues and he’s just 4.1k who has 24 SOGBS in his last 10 games. For his price that isn’t bad.
Ondrej Kase (ANH) (3.8k): Kase is cheap, getting points and has a decent matchup. I do like McElhinney, but he is only 3.8k and is great value. He actually is our 2nd best value on fanduel tonight from our amazing Research Station. Averaging over 11 fd points over his last 5 games and even if he scores just 8-10 it’s still great value for his price.
Jesper Bratt (NJD) (3.6k): Playing on the top line with Hall for now could spark Bratt. He’s heating up and has goals in each of his last 2 games. He also has been scoring over 10 fanduel points too. He has at least 9.6 (which is good for his price) or more in 5 of his last 6 games.
Others to consider: Sam Reinhart (BUF) (value), Taylor Hall (NJD) , Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA), Dadonov (FLA), Tarasenko (STL)
Defense
John Carlson (WSH) (6.9k): Very expensive, but love him in this game against Schneider. Now the Caps are close to full strength it just boosts Carlson.
Mark Giordano (CGY) (5.9k): One of our highest values on D tonight. Good matchup with the Kings. He’s averaging the 3rd most fantasy points on D in the last 10 games. His production comes a lot from blocks and assists.
Drew Doughty (LAK) (5.7k): I really like the Kings here and him paired with Kopitar is a nice way to get exposure to them. He’s on the incline over his last few games and he has 20 SOGBS in his last 5 games, including 3 assists and 1 goal.
Rasmus Ristolainen (BUF) (4.7k): Great value here with BUF rolling. He added another assist last night and has been more involved in their offense lately. He’s under 5k and a great value. I love that he’s shooting more and more and still getting blocked shots.
Samuel Girard (COL) (4.3k): Since moving to the first defense line, Girard has not disappointed. His last two games he’s been involved in getting assists and even scored a goal. He’s cheap and gets you access to the rest of the COL line.
Alex Pietrangelo (STL) (5.5k): Don’t love the matchup, but what he’s been doing cannot be overlooked. He’s been on fire for the Blues of late, shooting, blocking shots and getting assists. He has 54 SOGBS in his last 10 games. If not using Varly, you can use Piet here.
Others to consider: Dahlin (BUF) , Montour (ANH) , Hanifin (CGY) , Vince Dunn (STL)
