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!
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All Stats are over the Last 10 games unless noticed otherwise! Let’s dive in!
Goalies
Carey Price (MTL) (8.6k FD) (8.2k DK): With the news on OEL being out for Arizona, the Habs have seen a big increase in money line favorite. Price has also been amazing lately, averaging 24.2 FD points with a 1.7 GA/game and .946%. Price is my cash goalie and will be in a couple of my tournament lines too. The upside he has for a Win and SO is very high here. ALL FORMATS
Frederik Andersen (TOR) (8.8k FD) (7.5k DK): Andersen has a great matchup here tonight with the Capitals. Yes, they scored 6 last night and still found a way to lose. TOR has been pretty bad lately too, but Andersen is rested while the Caps played last night. He’s been shaky in his L10, but this is still a good spot for him. Even more, if Ove does not start for WSH. LEAN GPP, ALL FORMATS IF OVE IS OUT
Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK) (9.1k FD) (8k DK): Fleury is the highest priced goalie on FD tonight and he is in a decent spot. These two teams are both great on defense and Fleury has been playing pretty good lately. He is the highest projected goalie from our Research Station tonight and has a good history vs NSH. Over his last 10 games, he has 7 wins, a 2 GA/G, and averaging 20.2 FD points. He’s expensive but in a good spot. GPP
Jacob Markstrom (VAN) (8.3k FD) (7.6k DK): Markstrom has had a few struggles lately, but tonight he gets a home game against Carolina who is coming off a game last night at Calgary and now are going to Vancouver tonight. Vancouver has been very good defensively too and not allowing many goals. ALL FORMATS
John Gibson (ANH) (7.6k FD) (7.5k DK): I love him in tournaments as people won’t think he can get the win. Gibson has been amazing in his last 2 starts and still plays well a lot. The Blues can fall flat and Gibson has been great at home this year. He can put up a 25+ point game at any time. I doubt many people will use him, but he does have upside. GPP ONLY
Centers
John Tavares (TOR) (8.1k FD) (7.2k DK): I like Tavares a bit more than Matthews tonight as he’s been better lately. Both have been pretty bad lately, but this matchup against Washington should be able to get them out of their funk.
Bo Horvat (VAN) (5.7k FD) (6.2k DK): Horvat has been playing well along with the rest of VAN and they get a good matchup against CAR. I expect them to be a tad chalky with their value, but I still love them. He’s starting to pick it up lately too and Carolina doesn’t play much defense allowing 3.6 goals/game in last 10.
Ryan O’Reilly (STL) (6.9k FD) (6.6k DK): ROR has been on a tear lately, but this matchup with Gibson is tricky. I like the Blues, but I also don’t mind Gibson. ROR is averaging 24 FD points in his last 5 games along with 2 goals, 5 assists, and 21 shots. I love his floor lately as he has been shooting a bit more.
Elias Pettersson (VAN) (6.2k FD) (6.9k DK): Pettersson didn’t seem to miss a beat missing a few games. He’s an amazing young talent and is the center of the Canucks. Like I said about Horvat, Carolina has been pretty bad lately and could be tired tonight too.
Carl Soderberg (COL) (5.1k FD) (5.6k DK): COL has been rather cold lately, but Soderberg has been a bright spot. In his last 5 games, he has 30 SOGBS and is averaging over 20 FD points. He’s good value tonight and is the guy running the hottest for COL of late.
Others to consider: Auston Matthews, Nate MacKinnon, Max Domi (in MTL stacks),
Wings
Mitch Marner (TOR) (8.4k FD) (7.2k DK): Marner is back paired with Matthews and Marleau tonight on TOR2. He’s still expensive, but he’s in a great spot against Washington. Marner gets PP time and using him and Tavares is good if you want to get TOR1, TOR2 and PP1 exposure.
Jonathan Marchessault (VGK) (7.6k FD) (6.5k DK): We know Rinne has been struggling lately, and March is a guy from VGK with an amazing floor lately. He has 27 shots in his last 5 games alone with 3 goals and 1 assist. His floor is there with the SOG and he could sneak one in. I don’t expect another Hat Trick, but I do like him a lot tonight.
Brock Boeser (VAN) (6.3k FD) (6.7k DK): Pair him with Pettersson, Horvat or anyone he will see ice time with tonight. CAR is horrible and Boeser has been picking it up of late. He has 40 SOGBS in his last 10 games with 3 goals and 6 assists. Vancouver is playing very well right now and the matchup is great.
Brandon Pirri (VGK) (4.1k FD) (6.4k DK): Pirri is still amazing value on fanduel as they won’t raise his price. Him, paired with March is solid for VGK stacks. He plays on their PowerPlay too. Nashville has been amazing on D, but Rinne has been shaky lately.
Kasperi Kapanen (TOR) (4.4k FD) (4.7k DK): You can use him and Pirri in your cash lineups for value here tonight. He plays on the top line with Tavares here and will see top PP time too. Against Washington who is bleeding goals, I love this play. He and Pirri will allow you to get up to Tavares and others tonight.
Brendan Gallagher (MTL) (6.2k FD) (5.9k DK): Gallagher is in a good spot with OEL out for ARI and ARI just played last night. He has 36 shots in his last 10 games and 18 in his last 5! I don’t mind him in cash, but he will be in my Montreal stacks tonight.
Others to consider: Zach Parise, Alex Ovechkin, Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog
Defense
Roman Josi (NSH) (6.6k FD) (6.4k DK): The highest guy I will play on D tonight. Josi has shown a wonderful floor lately and has 26 SOGBS in his last 5 games and averaging 15.5 FD points.
Alexander Edler (VAN) (4.3k FD) (6.2k DK): Edler is struggling lately, but he has upside and Fanduel has not priced him up enough. I’m going to be locking him into lineups as long as he’s this cheap. On DK, he’s not worth it. The matchup tonight against CAR is a good one.
Jeff Petry (MTL) (5.1k FD) (5k DK): Petry isn’t too expensive and in a good spot with ARI coming of a b2b and missing their top D-Man tonight. Petry can score a goal in this matchup too.
Shea Weber (MTL) (5k FD) (5.5k DK): Weber is normally a shot machine when healthy, but he’s been pretty bad lately. His L5 do look a lot better than his L10. He should be able to shoot a ton tonight and could have his blow up game.
Jakob Chychrun (ARI) (3.8k FD) (4.7k DK): Although Price is my top goalie, Chychrun is great value especially on fanduel today. He was able to play 22 min last night and showed he was healthy. With OEL out, he should see more minutes and more opportunities. He has a floor of about 3 SOG and if he can grab a few more shots and possibly an assist tonight he will crush value.
Others to consider: Alex Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko, Ryan Ellis, Jared Spurgeon, Jordan Oesterle, Morgan Rielly (in TOR stacks)
Stacks
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