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! REMEMBER THIS IS EXPRESS SLATE ONLY! LOCK IS AT 7:30 pm EST!
Goalies
Jordan Binnington (7.8k FD) (7.9k DK): My top play on the main slate and my top play on the express slate. An amazing matchup with the Devils and he’s at home. He is 8-1-1 in his last 10 games with a .933 sv% and 1.70 GA/G. He’s the top play here and will likely be chalky. CORE
Anders Nilsson (8.1k FD) (7.3k DK): Not sure why he’s more than Binnington, but I like him quite a bit here too. My favorite GPP goalie on the main slate and for this slate too. He will see a couple weeks of starts with Anderson going down and he needs to play well here. He’s allowed just 2.3 goals per game in his last 10 and gets a positive matchup against the Hurricanes who shoot a ton. GPP
Anthony Stolarz (7.4k FD) (7.3k DK): Love using Stolarz on express in tournaments. The matchup on the road is tougher as the Wild have been playing a little better lately but the Flyers are playing great defense right now. They have allowed just 2.2 goals/game in the last month. I think Stolarz has upside because although the Flyers are not allowing goals, they are allowing the 2nd most shots per game in the last month on this slate. GPP
Connor Hellebuyck (8.5k FD) (8.1k DK): The highest I’ll pay up for on express today. I don’t love the matchup, but the Jets have been playing better lately and Helle has been rounding back into form. Aside from his 5 GA game the other day he’s been pretty good. In his last 10 games, he’s averaging 21.8 FD points with a .919 sv%. He’s been seeing a ton of shots per game and that helps his fantasy output. He’s worth it as a flyer on this smaller slate. Large-field GPP
Centers
Dylan Larkin (7.2k FD) (6.8k DK): He’ll garner more ownership here than on main slate, but he’s in a good spot especially if Rinne starts. He has at least 18 points in 3 of his last 4 games and is picking up his play lately.
Mika Zibanejad (7.5k FD) (6.5k DK): I like him more on this express slate than the main slate. He’s been playing well and his shots sit around 4-5 per game. The matchup against the Jets is pretty good too.
Sean Couturier (7k FD) (6.9k DK): Philly is on fire of late and the spot with the Wild doesn’t scare me that much. He’s been on a tear averaging 26.2 FD points over his last 10 games and is averaging 28.6 in his last 5! Keep riding the hot hand.
Matt Duchene (7.1k FD) (6.3k DK): Too cheap on DK especially. He is playing really well for OTT lately and this matchup with Carolina is a good one. Carolina is allowing 33.5 sog/game in the last month and Duchene is rolling rather hot of late with goals in each of his last 3 games. I don’t think many people will own him.
Ryan O’Reilly (6.7k FD) (7.1k DK): Love ROR in this spot here. His whole top line is in play for me against the Devils. They will likely be very chalky on this express slate.
Ryan Johansen (6.3k FD) (5.9k DK): Decent value on this express slate. Good spot for NSH at home too. Johansen doesn’t have much of a floor but has a 20ish point ceiling. Getting assists is what he does.
Kevin Hayes (5.1k FD) (4.9k DK): Good value here on the express slate. I’m not that big on him for main, but he is projecting at one of the better values on FD for this slat at C. WPG can be leaky and I don’t mind the NYR2 stack in GPPs
Wings
Vladimir Tarasenko (8.3k FD) (6.7k DK): One of my core wings tonight especially on this express slate. Such a good matchup to pass on. I’m not chasing that hat trick, because he’s been heating up of late. 14 point floor and 30+ point ceiling. Lock and Load baby!
Filip Forsberg (7.6k FD) (6.8k DK): I do really like a NSH stack here tonight and Forsberg has been really good of late. He has 2 goals and 7 assists in his last 10 games and has 20 SOG in his last 5 games alone.
Jakub Voracek (7.5k FD) (6.2k DK): Too cheap for what he’s been doing for the Flyers. He’s shown a floor of about 14 points and has at least 20 fd points in 4 of his last 6 games.
Viktor Arvidsson (7.4k FD) (7.3k DK): On DK, I’ll likely go to Forsberg over Arvi, but both are in play on FD. He has a bit lower of a floor but high upside.
Mark Stone (6.8k FD) (5.7k DK): The one OTT2 guy I really like. Stone has been great and is playing well in his last 2 games at home. 12 SOG, 3 goals, and an assist in his last 2 games. Plus matchup with CAR at home again tonight.
Mats Zuccarello (6.1k FD) (5.7k DK): Him and Zib play well together and this matchup is decent for them. Helle can give up goals and he’s still really cheap.
Zach Parise (6.7k FD) (6.6k DK): Sometimes he does shoot a lot, and if tonight is going to be one of his 5+ shots, he could get one through against Stolarz. Philly allows a ton of shots and Parise should be taking a ton too.
You can play guys like Kucherov and Gaudreau on this slate too, I just prefer others tonight.
Others to consider: Jason Zucker, Ryan Dzingel, Brayden Schenn, Matthew Tkachuk
Defensemen
Roman Josi (6.9k FD) (6.5k DK): If I don’t get much of Josi on main, I definitely will have him on express. The matchup is just too good for a guy with around a 14 point floor.
Thomas Chabot (5.3k FD) (6.2k DK): Love using him with Duchene in a little 2-man stack. He’s starting to heat up against and is our 2nd highest projected D man on this slate from the RS.
Alex Pietrangelo (4.9k FD) (5.1k DK): LOVE Piet here tonight. He’s starting to heat up with 16 blocks in his last 4 games to go along with 8 shots and a goal. The blocks give him a solid floor and he should be able to get something going offensively against the Devils.
Colton Parayko (4.4k FD) (4.8k DK): Love the ceiling for Parayko agianst the Devils. I wish he tested his ceiling more, but he has a fire shot when he uses it. Immense upside here tonight.
Travis Sanheim (4.2k FD) (4k FD): I totally forgot to mention him on the podcast today and he needs to be in consideration tonight. He’s brought a decent floor to the table for the Flyers and has upside too. He blocks shots, shoots and gets assists too. Very cheap and good value.
Andy Green (3.7k FD) (4.8k DK): Not in play on DK, but on FD he’s cheap enough in a bad matchup. I’ll have Binnington everywhere, so likely won’t play much of Green, but he does have a floor of around 8 points.
Others to Consider: Vince Dunn, Mike Green, Jared Spurgeon, PK Subban, TJ Brodie, Cody Ceci
Favorite Stacks
STL1
NSH1
PHI2 and PP1
OTT1 and OTT2
NYR PP1