FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: October 4
By Matt Rogers
Welcome to the 2017 inaugural edition of FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays for October 4th, opening night of the NHL season. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
The NHL starts on Wednesday, October 4th. Each NHL season, Wednesday is typically rivalry night. But to start this season, the NHL is presenting us with unique match ups. We have a total of four games, with plenty of star-power and intriguing match ups to consider for our lineups. Here’s a look at the opening night NHL schedule:
Maple Leafs at Jets (7pm ET)
Blues at Penguins (8pm ET – NBCSN)
Flames at Oilers (10pm ET)
Flyers at Sharks (10:30pm ET – NBCSN)
After piling up draft picks, the Toronto Maple Leafs were a surprise offensive super-power last season, lead mostly by the young Auston Matthews, who started the season with four goals in his first NHL game.
However, the Leafs struggled on defense, resulting in a lot of shootouts. On Wednesday, the Leafs open up the NHL season in Winnipeg, playing a young Jets team in a similar situation. The Jets were hot and cold last year, but have some tremendous offensive talent, and this opening NHL match up is a great way to start the season for hockey fans. We’ll likely grab some of these players for our lineup.
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The defending Stanley Cup champions will welcome the Blues (the hockey team from Saint Louis) into PPG Paints Area, in Pittsburgh. The Penguins made a lot of roster moves during the off-season, and it’ll be interesting to see how some of the lower lines gel. But, the core of the Penguins super-power is still intact, and they should be able to handle the Blues on Wednesday.
The night ends with two intriguing battles in the later time zones. The Flames are looking to continue their surprise success from last season in Edmonton against another very good young team. Each team presents some great FanDuel NHL options tonight.
The Flyers continued to make moves during the off-season and reloaded, again, with additional young talent from the draft. It will be interesting to see if they Flyers are approaching the same level the Leafs and Jets reach last season, or if they’ll fall short again. Meanwhile, the Sharks are hosting the Flyers in San Jose, and the talented Sharks veteran group is a clear favorite.
As always, we’ll look to update our picks and final lineups prior to lock on our twitter account @FantasyCPR so make sure to give us a follow for all the late breaking lineup news.
Now let’s start building our lineups by looking at the top centers for this slate…
Top FanDuel NHL Centers: Oct 4th
With 30 goals and 70 assists, Connor McDavid ($8,700) had 100 points last season, eleven greater than any other skater in the NHL. Sidney Crosby ($8,600) had a higher FanDuel NHL points-per-game average than McDavid, 18.02, but McDavid played a full 82 games and was consistently dominate, 16.90 points, for FanDuel NHL players.
On Wednesday night, the Oilers and McDavid are facing veteran Mike Smith for the Flames. Smith was traded to the Flames in June, and it’s exciting to see what Mike is capable of minding a net for a more talented team. Still, even though Mike had a worse set of defenders in front of him in Arizona, he gave up 2.92 goals per game for 43rd in the NHL. However, Smith had a .914 save percentage, tied for 25th in the NHL. So we know Smith is better than his 3 goals a game.
But we’re likely to have to wait to see how great Smith can be, because the Oilers averaged 29.5 shots per game last season, 9th in the NHL, and 2.96 goals per game, 8th in the NHL. McDavid’s line was a huge reason for that. Connor and the Oilers first line are going to get a lot of shots on Smith and should see some man advantage time as well. McDavid is a great play on Wednesday night, even against a vet like Smith.
We already mentioned how great Crosby was last season, and along with Evgeni Malkin ($8,100) the Penguins top line-leaders are always a solid play. But with Jake Allen in goal, I don’t like the Penguins as much as I like Mark Scheifele ($7,400).
While the Maples Leafs offense was on point last season, their defense and goal tending was not. Ferderik Andersen could ultimately develop into a solid net-minder, but Andersen gave up 2.67 goals per game last season, 30th in the NHL. And the Jets were 8th in scoring. This match up doesn’t bode well for the Leafs, and stacking Jets should be a priority for opening night of FanDuel NHL hockey. Scheifele is a great play for the Jets first line, as is Bryan Little ($5,300) on the second line.
Speaking of great match ups. The Maple Leafs have Steve Mason in the opposing net, and Auston Matthews ($7,600) is a great play, along with Nazem Kadri ($5,700), who averaged just under 13 FanDuel NHL points per game.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Oct 4th
Before we go into my favorite stack of the night, I’m going to get in on the Penguins offensive action with my favorite value pick from last season, Jake Guentzel ($6,400). Due mostly to injury issues throughout the middle part of the season, the Penguins began to toy with the idea of Jake and Sidney playing on the same line, and it was a success.
For a long period, Guentzel continued to fly under the radar and had a low salary with good FanDuel NHL point returns each game. This season, FanDuel has Guentzel tagged with a more appropriate salary, but he’s still a great play at $6.4K alongside one of the best players in the NHL, and the top line for the Stanley Cup champs.
Now for some stacking options. If you can afford him, the experienced Blake Wheeler ($6,900) is a great stack with Schiefele. But the more affordable stacking option from the Jets front line is Mathieu Perreault ($4,400), who’s likely to start with Schiefele and Wheeler on the Jets top line, creating a big value option with only $4.4K salary.
On the second line, and playing alongside Little and potential superstar Patrik Laine ($7,300) is another great value stacking option from Nikolaj Ehlers ($5,100). Ehlers is likely to see more time in the man advantage for the Jets, and averaged over 12 FanDuel NHL points-per-game and is a fairly cheap $5.1K.
Leon Draisaitl ($7,200) had a fantastic season last year, averaging over 13 FanDuel NHL points-per-game on McDavid’s line. Draisaitl and Patrick Maroon ($5,100) are a great stacking option from the Oilers top line, especially if you can’t afford McDavid. For Wednesday, my favorite of the two is Maroon, who was hot ending last season’s playoffs averaging double-digit FanDuel NHL points in five of his last seven games.
Before we jump into the defenders, we’re back to a final stacking option with Crosby and Guentzel. While I think Jake is a great solo play, 25-year-old Conor Sheary ($4,500) is a tremendous value playing on the top line with Sidney and Jake on Wednesday night.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Oct 4th
If you’re new to FanDuel NHL, one big thing you need to pick up from your research is that Brent Burns ($7,200) is always a lock for cash games. Burns is the rare type of defender who could easily swap into a wing spot and perform just as well. But Brent is such a great shot-blocker, he’s playing mostly near the blue line for the Sharks. Burns averaged over 18 FanDuel NHL points-per-game last season, a jaw-dropping number for a defender. If you’re playing in cash games, play Brent. If you’re playing GPP, Burns may also be a solid anchor.
If you’re fading Burns, for some reason, Kris Letang ($6,900) is your best bet. Letang was having a great season last year, but hasn’t been on the ice since February 21st and missed the Stanley Cup playoffs. Kris is most effective in the man advantage and is eager to get back into heavy action for the Penguins.
Against Talbot, I’m fading the Flames top defenders, making Dustin Byfuglien ($5,600) our next favorite option on defense. But if we’re already stacking four Jets on offense, this play may be difficult. ‘Buf’ is another rare defensive talent with offensive skills on a very offensive-minded team. Dustin averaged over 13 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and had similar success pushing the puck like Letang last year.
If you’re considering the Oilers stack, save room for Oscar Klefbom ($4,900), who’s a great pairing with Burns. Oscar is the top scoring defender on the top line with McDavid for the Oilers. Klefbom probably should have a higher salary, so it will be interesting to track his salary movement over the next couple of weeks, if Kelfbom continues his offensive and shot-blocked success from last season.
If you’re looking for cheaper defenders to pair with Burns or Letang and afford your pricey centers and wings, Penguins’ Justin Schultz ($4,400) and 20-year-old Flyers defender Ivan Provorov ($4,300) are great honorable mentions for value.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Oct 4th
Evaluating the top options on offense, and offensive options on defense, for our FanDuel NHL lineups on October 4th is difficult because of the great goaltenders in net on Wednesday. Matthew Murray ($9,100) is a young goaltender for the Penguins, who shared time with Fluery last season as Pittsburgh marched tow the Stanley Cup.
Murray was often on fire last year, averaging over 21 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. Matt is likely the best goaltender in next on Wednesday night, but he’s facing more offensive fire-power than some of the other net-minders.
Martin Jones ($8,600) had another great season last year, and is facing a very young and developing Flyers offense. But like the Maple Leafs last year, the Flyers offensive could finally hit that next gear and give Jones fits. The risk is not worth the $8.6K salary.
Jake Allen ($8,500) was great last year, but is facing the Stanley Cup champions, and Frederik Andersen ($8,200) has the offensive juggernaut Jets to stop. That leaves us with Cam Talbot ($8,300).
Cam has a touch match up against the Flames, but of all the net minders, he has the best match up. Talbot only gave up 2.39 goals per game last season, and carried a .919 save percentage, 14th in the NHL. The Flames averaged 2.71 goals-per-game, one of the worst returning offenses we’ll see on Wednesday night. We have several great options for goalie on Wednesday night, but Talbot seems to be the best option, and value.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for the Oct 4th FanDuel NHL slate:
C Scheifele $7,400
C Little $5,300
W Ehlers $5,100
W Guentzel $6,400
W Sheary $4,500
W Maroon $5,100
D Burns $7,200
D Byfuglien $5,600
G Talbot $8,300
Note: This is a recommended lineup after discussing our top options for the week. You should use this as a guide, and provide your own input when building FanDuel NHL lineups. We are not telling you, or selling you, to use this lineup.
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Best of luck in your FanDuel NHL contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across NHL, NBA, EPL, and NFL this fall!