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!
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!
All Stats are over the Last 10 games unless noticed otherwise!
Goalies
Kevin Boyle: Our top projected goalie right now on this main slate and for good reason. He’s facing the Oilers without Connor McDavid. Draisitl has been on fire lately, but he’s the only one that would scare me. The Ducks defense have been pretty bad, but EDM’s offense doesn’t really scare me today. He’s also very cheap on Fanduel at just 7.2k. All Formats
Robin Lehner: I’m seeing Lehner projected everywhere for NYI tonight if this changes I like Greiss too. Lehner did start last game and gave up 4 goals against EDM. Over his last 10 starts, Lehner has a .932% with a 2 GAA. The Islanders fell off last game allowing more goals than usual, I think they get back to it tonight and play better defense. All Formats (for both goalies, whoever starts)
Jacob Markstrom: The other guy in that NYI/VAN game. Markstrom Has gone a bit cold lately, but the Islanders are a weird team to play. They don’t normally score much and I think this is a slow paced game that could end 1-0 or 2-1. I prefer Lehner for cash games, and you can use Markstrom in tournaments. GPP
Centers
Sydney Crosby: If this game plays, I LOVE Crosby. He loves to play against the Flyers and shouldn’t slow down tonight. In 65 career games against them, he has 97 points (40 G and 57 A). He takes about 3.5 shots per game against them and is scoring a ton. Don’t over think this, it’s going to be a shootout and Crosby could put up 30+ FD points tonight.
Auston Matthews: I think this is going to be a face-paced game and Matthews will be involved in the scoring. He’s averaging 30.4 FD points in his last 5 games and just keeps playing well.
Evgeni Malkin: First game back against the Flyers since he got tossed last time. He’s playing well right now with an average of 28.1 FD points per game. This game could be 7-6 as the final with tons of scoring and shots from both sides.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: Without McDavid, the two centers are Draisaitl and RNH. Both of their linemates on the 1st and 2nd lines are #notgood. He will be looked upon to score and shoot a ton. GPP play only though.
Max Domi: Heating up for MTL of late and last time he faced the Leafs he had 2 assists and 4 shots, good for 22.9 FD points. He’s too inconsistent to use in cash games, but he’s got the upside for tournaments.
Others to consider: Bo Horvat, Elias Pettersson, Sean Couturier
Wings
Leon Draisaitl: No McDavid, let Draisaitl take over the game. They will need him at home to do work against the Ducks tonight. In his last 5 games, he has 20 SOG with 4 goals and 3 assists. If the Oilers win this game, look for Draisaitl to score 1 maybe 2 goals.
Jakub Voracek: He went nuts against PIT last time and is still playing well. His last 3 games have been pretty bad, but before that, he was rolling. Look for him to keep it going here tonight if they play that is.
Brendan Gallagher: Gallagher has been on fire for the Habs of late. Yes, he scored 3 last games and no I’m not chasing it. He’s been hot as balls lately and shooting a bunch. He’s averaging over 4 SOG per game and those are going to turn into goals. Last time against Toronto he had a PP goal with 5 SOG.
Tomas Tatar: Can you tell I love this game? Tatar is heating up too. Goals in two straight and since the last time he played TOR, he has put up fewer than 19 FD points just 1 time (6 games). He has 20 SOG in his last 5 games and will look to keep it rolling tonight.
Kasperi Kapanen: Pair him up with Matthews on TOR2 tonight. They will see MTL1 likely and he should be able to do damage. He had 7 SOG last time he faced them and loves playing in fast-paced games.
Jakob Silfverberg: Why not keep rolling with someone who is hot? The ducks have been bad, but he’s heating up. Over his last 5 games, he has 3 games with more than 15 fd points. He’s cheap and should return value.
Others to consider: Mitch Marner, Brock Boeser, Anders Lee, Corey Perry, Paul Byron, Zach Aston-Reese (likely will be chalk)
Defensemen
Shea Weber: I really like this game here and think that it could be pretty high scoring. Both teams are playing great lately and it should be fast paced. Weber is projected as one of our highest value D man tonight.
Oscar Klefbom: With no McDavid, Klef is going to need to pick up the offense. In the last 5 games, he has 24 SOGBS and has been playing very well. He’s cheap on FD and they could surprise us and come out firing because their star is out.
Shayne Gostisbehere: Weather in this game could scare people off them. I LOVE a game stack if it’s going to be low owned. These two teams HATE each other and if it plays, Gost could be apart of some scoring for the Flyers.
Ryan Pulock: He’s been the brighter spot for the Islanders lately. He’s a block shot machine and has gotten himself 2 assists and a goal in the last 5 games. He’s hit or miss usually, but if you want a cheap D man he should get you some points. I prefer Klefbom though.
Hampus Lindholm: Defense is kind of weird tonight. Lindholm has been picking it up over his last 3 games after being horrible before that. He has 10 blocks and 8 shots in his last 3 games with a goal and assist. Koskinen has been shaky for the Oilers lately and Lindholm is dirt cheap.
Alex Biega: Nowhere near my radar until I sorted the RS by L5 SOGBS. He has the 3rd most SOGBS in the last 5 games and has been picking up his play. He’s min price and if he can keep up his pace of blocking shots with a couple SOG he will return value.
Others to Consider: Kris Letang, Morgan Rielly, Travis Sanheim
Favorite Stacks
TOR2
MTL1
PIT1
ANH3
PHI2
