FanDuel NHL: January 8
By Matt Rogers
FanDuel NHL: January 8 is a daily fantasy sports column focusing on the best FanDuel NHL player and value options for your daily lineups. The salary options are based on the daily salaries set by FanDuel. We’ll check the best options in each position, and help you afford an ideal lineup for your big FanDuel NHL paydays.
Before we review the top options for each FanDuel NHL lineup position, let’s review the FanDuel NHL scoring rules:
Forwards/Defense
- Goals = 12pts
- Assists = 8pts
- Shots on Goal = 1.6pts
- Short Handed points = 2pts
- Power Play Points = 0.5pts
- Blocked Shots = 1.6pts
Goalies
- Win = 12pts
- Goals Against = -4pts
- Saves = 0.8pts
- Shutouts = 8pts
Given the FanDuel NHL scoring options, we know the top options for offense and defense are players who tend to score a goal or record an assist in most games. Also, if one of those players is often playing on the penalty kill, there’s an added benefit if they could score the unique short-handed goal. The Ottawa Senators led the NHL in the 2015-2016 season with 17 short-handed goals.
As for Goalies, you’ll want to pick a goalie on a team who has the highest winning percentage of the day. Losing the 12 point win can easily be the difference between losing money and a big pay-day. A FanDuel comparison would be picking a MLB pitcher who will most likely win.
Now that we’ve established the rules and goals for playing FanDuel NHL, let’s take a look at tonight’s best options:
Next: Top Centers
Top Centers
We’re going to use the bulk of our salary on wings today, so we’re looking for solid value in each of our center positions. David Krejci ($5,800) and Mikko Koivu ($5,700) each offer good return on our investments.
Leading the Boston Bruins 2nd regular and power play lines, Krejci is consistently inconsistent. You can’t depend on David to deliver solid FanDuel NHL points every night. However, Krejci has a noticeable ebb and flow to his results.
For example, after delivering three straight sub-ten point results in mid-December, David responded with three straight double-digit results, including two 25+ results. Tonight, Krejci is due for yet another bounce-back performance against Cam Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes.
Koivu is a more consistent performer. Mikko averaged over 20 FanDuel NHL points in his last four games. Koivu is rolling that impressive average into a favorable match-up between John Gibson and the Anaheim Ducks tonight. If Mikko continues his solid consistent performance, we can expect his salary to continue to climb. Until then, we’re taking advantage of a bargain.
Next: Top Wings
Top Wings
We’ve been plugging Mikael Granlund ($6,200) into our lineups for several weeks now. Granlund has yield impressive and consistent results for almost a month now. Unfortunately, his salary has now climbed $1,100 over the past month as well. So FanDuel has taken notice of his incredible value in the past four weeks.
However, Mikael and the Minnesota Wild are hot now. Granlund has 19+ FanDuel NHL points in four of the Wild’s last six games. Also, Granlund’s 2nd line has Mikko Koivu at center and we already like this match-up for this line. So we’re going with a dynamic Granlund/Koivu stack tonight.
Our big, and expensive, play of the day is Nikita Kucherov ($7,900). The young 23-year-old Russian star of the Tampa Bay Lightening has double-digit FanDuel points in six of his last seven games. Including a 45+ result on January 3rd against the Winnipeg Jets.
Kucherov usually does well regardless of the match-up. Tonight, the Bolts take on Marc-Andre Fluery and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The last time Kucherov and the Lightening took on the Penguins, Nikita logged 17.6 FanDuel NHL points.
Ryan Spooner ($5,100) and Carl Hagelin ($4,900) round out our winger options. We’re stacking Spooner with Krejci in a good match-up against the Hurricanes. And Hagelin is an affordable value, potentially yielding 10+ points in a decent match-up against the Lightening.
Next: Top Defense
Top Defense
Our defensive options are de ja vu from Thursday’s lineup. We’ve used Victor Hedman ($7,000) a many times recently so I won’t go into great detail again. In short, Hedman has consistently rewarded our investment with over 20 FanDuel NHL points each time. We talked about how we like Kucherov against the Penguins tonight. Hedman is the defensive star of this matchup.
Matt Dumba ($4,800) is again our value play at defense. Dumba is playing on the Minnesota Wild’s 2nd regular and 1st power play lines. Dumba will play along-side Grunland and Kuivo most of the game and should see opportunity for assists.
Next: Top Goalie
Top Goalie
Jonas Gustavsson ($7,500) hasn’t seen much action this season, with Cam Talbot taking the majority of starts in goal for the Edmonton Oilers. Gustavsson is now 1-2-1 with a respectable .893 save percentage, giving up under 3 goals-per-game.
From a fantasy perspective, Jonas certainly doesn’t jump off the stat sheet. However, from a FanDuel NHL perspective, Jonas is attractive given the right match-up. Tonight, the Oilers head in to Ottawa to take on a Mike Condon and a struggling Senators hockey team.
The Senators have lost six of their last ten games, and their last four straight. Condon hasn’t been bad lately, but the Senators have struggled to score. The Senators losing streak and struggle to score goals presents a juicy situation for Gustavsson. Jonas should delivery great value on a bargain salary. This play lets us load up on our expensive wings and Hedman at defense.
Next: FanDuel Picks & Pivots January 8
Always check NHL lineups throughout the day when playing FanDuel NHL. As a fan, you likely know the league isn’t overly forthcoming with injury news, and players are often scratched at the last-minute with little information. Also, goaltenders are never a sure-thing. Good Luck today Fanduelers!