NHL Building Blocks – January 27
Great slate tonight with 10 games in all. 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 27
The Goalie: Thatcher Demko ($8500 DK / $8800 FD)
Will be popular and for good reason; the Canucks’ defense is solid and the Blue Jackets’ offense (and team as a whole) are not. Vancouver has the second-best goals allowed average (2.54) in all of hockey (to go along with the second-best goals scored average), and Demko (25-8-1 / 2.40 / .922) is playing well, especially recently as he’s won his past seven starts.
The Center: JT Miller ($7800 DK/ $ 9100 FD)
Fifth in the league in scoring (21 goals and 43 assists in 43 games) and should have ample opportunities against a bad Columbus team. Strong correlation with the rest of the big boys (and a salary saver over Pettersson).
The Wing: Nikita Kucherov ($10000 DK/ $10700 FD)
League leader in points with 83 and facing a below-average defense while backed by a strong offense. 14 points (four goals on 23 shots) in his past six games. Expensive, but worth it.
The Defenseman: Noah Dobson ($7300 DK / $8500 FD)
Continues to have one of the floors in all of hockey (45 points, 110 blocks, and 109 shots in 48 games) and will be needed tonight against a very high-upside and high-volume Panther offense.
The Value: Ivan Barbashev ($3400 DK / $4500 FD)
10 points (three goals) in his past five games seeing increased ice time with Eichel and Karlsson out. Lovely price for a player on a hot streak, and in a decent matchup against a average-at-best defense. Stack or one-off.
The Stack: VAN1 (Pettersson-Miller-Boeser-Hughes)
Should have a nice time of things tonight. The Canucks, currently on an 8-2 run, are the class of the West and their offense is elite all around, and Columbus just can’t get anything going (giving up the second highest goals per game in the league at 3.70). These four are all together on L1/PP1, and three of them (Miller, Pettersson, and Hughes) are in the top 11 in scoring in the league (and Boeser is eighth in goals).
The Builder: VAN/CGY ML parlay
Vancouver Canucks left wing Andrei Kuzmenko celebrates with centre Elias Pettersson and right wing Brock Boeser during the first period against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center at San Jose. The Canucks won 10-1 on Nov. 2, 2023.
STAN SZETO/REUTERS
