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
Goalies
Matt Murray (PIT) (8.8k FD) (8.3k DK): Murray is likely the safest goalie tonight and he’s been on fire. Over his last 10 games, he has allowed the lowest goals per game (1.7) and has a .945 save percentage. ALL FORMATS
Laurent Brossoit (WPG) (8.4k FD) (7.9k DK): Brossoit is likely going to be chalky, but I don’t see too much upside in this matchup with DET. There are other options who will face more shots, thus making him more of a cash play. He has not played since Dec 22nd and could be a tad rusty. ALL FORMATS
Curtis McElhinney (CAR) (7.4k FD) (7k DK): McElhinney has been pretty solid this year and he’s our top projected goalie on our Research Station. Over his last 10 starts, he has allowed the 2nd lowest GA/G (2.1) and has the 3rd best SV% at .932%. With Buffalo getting healthier and getting Eichel back, their offense can score, but they should shoot plenty and if McElhinney can allow fewer than 3 goals he could get a win at home tonight. GPP
Centers
Sean Monahan (CGY) (8k FD) (7.4k DK): Him, along with CGY1 are one of my favorite plays tonight. He is playing better over his last 5 games too. 20 SOGBS in 5 games represents a solid floor and CGY1 is the hottest team on the slate.
Sidney Crosby (PIT) (8.8k FD) (7.9k DK): Sid the Kid has 20 SOGBS in his last 5 games averaging 22.5 FD points. He has 3 goals and 4 assists too in the last 5 games. I like Sid along with PIT PP1 tonight.
Jack Eichel (BUF) (7.7k FD) (7.2k DK): Coming off an injury, I don’t fully trust him in cash, but I LOVE their Power Play unit. Carolina is averaging 3.5 penalties per game in their last 10 games and their PK% is the 2nd lowest on the slate. Stack him with BUF PP1 or BUF1
Mark Scheifele (WPG) (7.6k FD) (7.3k DK): Scheifele has been picking up lately and racking up the assists. WPG1 is in a good spot against the Red Wings. Tournament play only paired with WPG1.
Bryan Little (WPG) (4.7k FD) (3.8k DK): He has virtually no floor, but Little has been getting PP time of late and DET’s PK% is the lowest on the slate at 78%. You can stack him with Laine on WPG2, or stack with PP2 line.
Other to consider: Mikael Backlund (CGY)
Wings
Johnny Gaudreau (CGY) (8.9k FD) (8k DK): Johnny G and CGY is on absolute fire. He’s the highest scoring Center in the last 10 games and has 40 SOGBS in those 10 games. He also is scoring and assisting too with 5 goals and 6 assists in his last 5 games. He isn’t slowing down at all.
Elish Lindholm (CGY) (7.1k FD) (7k DK): Stack with CGY1
Jeff Skinner (BUF) (7.1k FD) (6.5k DK): A narrative game here. Skinner just got selected to the All-Star game, gets his linemate back. I love it. A tad pricey for cash games, so GPP for me only.
Kyle Connor (WPG) (4.9k FD) (5.5k DK): Way too cheap for his production of late. He has 18 SOGBS in his last 5 games, along with 2 goals and 1 assist. He also gets PP time.
Justin Williams (CAR) (4.7k FD) (4.7k DK): Williams is on a heater right now. He has over 16 fanduel points in each of his last 5 games. In that span, he has 21 SOGBS with 4 goals and 2 assists. Amazing cash game value here and stack him up with his linemates for GPPs.
Matthew Tkachuk (CGY) (6.8k FD) (6.2k): I love Tkachuk here, but the issue with him, he doesn’t have much of a floor. He does have multi-point upside though.
Gustav Nyquist (DET) (6k FD) (5.1k DK): DET1 could be a sneaky tournament play tonight. Nyquist has an assist in each of his last 4 games and has scored double digit FD points in 5 of his last 6 games.
Others to consider: Bryan Rust, Andreas Athanasiou, Frank Vatrano, Blake Wheeler, Tanner Pearson, Tage Thompson
Defense
Kris Letang (PIT) (7.1k FD) (6.3k DK): 26 SOGBS in his last 5 games, averaging 21.3 FD points. I love PIT tonight. Pair him up with Crosby and you have a solid floor
Mark Giordano (CGY) (6.4k FD) (6.4k DK): Gio is on fire just like all of CGY. He is getting a ton of assists lately.
Dougie Hamilton (CGY) (4.9k FD) (5.1k DK): Hamilton still doesn’t like the 3rd line clearly. He’s been playing very well and is very cheap still. He has 3 goals, 3 assists, and 18 SOGBS in his last 5 games
Josh Morrissey (WPG) (4.7k FD) (5.5k DK): 24 SOGBS over his last 5 games is a solid floor and he’s been getting assists too. I love that he plays on a Power-Play line too and he normally leads the team in PP ice time. BETTER FD VALUE
Others to consider: Cam Fowler, Travis Hamonic