Hello folks and welcome to my NHL Game 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 aa 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!
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Today I will be breaking down each game since its a small 3 games FD main slate! Let’s Dive In!
Winnipeg Jets @ Columbus Blue Jackets (-130) o/u 6.5u
Goalies
As of right now, the CBJ goalie situation is a mess. Bobrovsky stunk last night and got pulled out. I can see Korpisalo or Kinkaid starting. Will UPDATE!
Connor Hellebuyck: He practiced yesterday and is expected to start for the Jets tonight. I don’t hate him and we need to roster a goalie obviously. He’s been really bad lately and CBJ just added more guys who can score. This is a pass for me.
Offense:
Jets: Who knows who will start for the Jackets tonight, but the Jets have been on fire of late. I love their top line of Laine (W), Wheeler (W), and Scheifele (C). This line has totaled 7 goals, 11 assists and 76.08 FD points in their last 5 games combined. Laine has been heating up with 4 goals in his last 5 games and has been shooting a ton! He would be my preferred 1-off in this line. The Jets 2nd line of Kevin Hayes (C), Kyle Connor (W) and Nikolaj Ehlers (W) will be lower owned and have just as much upside. Hayes has centered himself between some good wings and WPG2 looks to be gaining chemistry.
Blue Jackets: Both top lines are firmly in play here tonight. If you want the lower-priced line, use the CBJ2 line in Ryan Dzingel (W), Matt Duchene (C), and Oliver Bjorkstrand (W). Dzingel and Duchene obviously have chemistry already and Bjork will just benefit from these two great players. In the last 10 games they have a combined 78 SOGBS. I think the upside is here for them tonight. CBJ1 of Cam Atkinson (W), Artemi Panarin (W) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (C) are the top projected line tonight from our Research Station. In the last 10 games, these guys have 11 goals. I prefer using Atkinson out of them all as he has the best floor of the three.
Defense
None of these defenders in this game are really popping off the page to me. Jacob Trouba has been playing well for the Jets and is fairly cheap. Ben Chiarot is firmly in play as a value defender tonight and has the most SOGBS in this game in his last 5 and 10 games. Two guys like Zach Werenski and Seth Jones will be in play too but there are better options in that price range.
Nashville Predators (-140) @ Minnesota Wild o/u 5.5u
Goalies
Pekka Rinne (NSH): I think Rinne is the guy on this slate tonight. He faces the Wild who played last night in a good and late game against Calgary. Rinne hasn’t been the best in his last 3 games or so, but the matchup is the best on paper and the only guy I remotely like.
Alex Stalock (MIN): No thanks.
Offense:
Nashville: I love the Preds here tonight against a backup and a team on a b2b. Nashville has been shooting a ton lately (35.19 SOG/game in last 10). The Wild have actually been playing pretty good, but Nashville is too good to fold here. NSH1, Filip Forsberg (W), Ryan Johansen (C), and Viktor Arvidsson (W) is one of my favorite lines on this slate tonight and could be overlooked with the late game tonight. If I was leaving one guy off the stack it would be Johansen. I like Mikael Granlund as a one-off from the Preds. He gets top PP time so he can correlate with Forsberg too. He was playing really well for the Wild before being dealt. This is a little revenge narrative if you’re into those things.
Minnesota: I like Rinne a lot, so I won’t have too much Wild exposure tonight. I do absolutely love Jason Zucker here tonight as he just keeps producing for the Wild and still is 4.3k on Fanduel. In his last 4 games, he has 17 SOG and has scored over 14.4 FD points in each of those games. Ryan Donato is another guy who is on fire since being traded. He gets top PP time and I do like the Wild PP1 tonight. Lastly, Eric Staal has been heating up too. He’s on the top line with Zucker and the top PP with Donato. He has scored at least 14 FD points in 4 of his last 5 games. No one is going to own the Wild tonight, so a Zucker, Donato, Staal stack would cost you only $14,000 on Fanduel and will be low owned.
Defense
Roman Josi: He’s the top D man here on this slate. I love him in this matchup to finally break away. He’s been struggling of late though.
P.K. Subban: For $900 savings, Subban has been the better D for NSH lately. He will be lower owned too and in as good of a spot.
Ryan Ellis: He’s in play too but likely won’t do as much as the top two guys. He still gives you savings from both though.
Jared Spurgeon: The only Wild D man I would be excited to roster. He will have tons of block shot upside in this game as I expect the Preds to shoot a ton. He has 19 blocks in his last 10 games and has the best floor and upside for Wild D men.
Chicago Blackhawks @ San Jose Sharks (-240) o/u 6.5o
Goalies
I’ll save you some time. NOPE! This game could be a shootout and I’ll just roll my Rinne play and live or die by it tonight.
Offense:
Chicago: Love everything about Chicago here. Jones may get wins, but he still allows 3-4 goals nearly every game he starts. The Blackhawks have the most goals in the last 10 games (41) and the Sharks have allowed 31 goals in their last 10. Literally, all of their players are in play on this slate. Pick and choose who you want to use really.
But DFSARMY VIPs will get my favorite ones, I can’t give everything away for free! So….Sign up before the slate locks and get my preference order of plays!
San Jose: First off, I absolutely LOVE the Sharks powerplay tonight. The Hawks have the worst PK% over the last 10 games at 66% and the Sharks have a 28% PP% in that time span. It looks like Evander Kane is going to miss this game, so that is a big hit for the Sharks, but they still have guys in play. I like SJ1 the best of Timo Meier (W), Logan Couture (C), and Joe Pavelski (W). This line is the 2nd highest projected line on this main slate and has a great chance to score tonight. Possibly 2 or even 3 times.
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Defense
Brent Burns: He’s a stud on the slate. WATCH HIS STATUS!!! He’s dealing with the flu and could miss this game. If he does miss, then the Hawks are in a MUCH better spot as both their top D-men would be out tonight.
Erik Gustafsson: He’s been balling out of late and if the Sharks have both top D-men out it will give the Hawks more chances to score tonight. He has 12 assists in his last 10 games and gets powerplay time as well.
Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are both in play tonight too and are MUCH cheaper than Gustafsson. They both have decent floors with upside too.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic: He may be up on the top line tonight if Burns misses. He will have to really step up on the defensive end and should be able to get more blocks too. Keep an eye out for the news which we may not get because they play so late tonight.