NHL Building Blocks – January 18
Good-looking slate tonight with a lot of superstars in action. Let’s dive in!
The premise of each article in this series is to feature starting spots (building blocks) for your lines. These are plays that are cash-viable as well as GPP-worthy and can be considered in all contest formats.
Starting Lineup – January 18
The Goalie: Thatcher Demko ($8400 DK / $8600 FD)
Good matchup here at home. Canucks have been dominant both offensively (first in goals per game) and defensively (second in goals allowed per game), and they’ve won 13 of their past 18 games. Demko has won four of his past five starts and is playing like one of the best goalies this season.
The Center: Connor McDavid ($9600 DK / $10500 FD)
Strong spot for him tonight; 17 points during his nine-game points streak and has moved up to sixth in the league in scoring (58 points in 38 games).
The Wing: Nikita Kucherov ($9800 DK/ $10600 FD)
Tied for the league lead in scoring with 72 points and in a plus matchup; has 11 points in his past six games.
The Defenseman: Rasmus Dahlin ($7400 DK / $8200 FD)
Great floor and good ceiling tonight; always a solid producer (in 43 games, he’s amassed 12 goals, 23 assists, 123 shots, and 83 blocks). Roster in all formats.
The Value: Juraj Slafkovsky ($3400 DK / $3800 FD)
Always viable at his price as a one-off or a value piece for a stack; scored a goal last night and continues to see time on L1/PP1.
The Stack: EDM1 (McDavid/Hyman/Nugent-Hopkins)
Should be very popular tonight as they are currently in the middle of an 11-game winning streak and are firing on all cylinders. Seattle has been decent defensively this season, but the Oilers are just too hot right now, and hockey is a game of streaks and momentum. These three correlate on L1/PP1; mix in Draisaitl and Bouchard for secondary exposure. Leverage is playing L2 (Draisaitl/Foegele/Kane/Bouchard).
The Builder: EDM/VAN ML parlay
The Edmonton Oilers’ Mattias Ekholm (14), Connor McDavid (97), Evan Bouchard (2) and Evander Kane (91) huddle during first-period NHL action against the Dallas Stars at Rogers Place in Edmonton on March 16, 2023. PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM /Postmedia
