FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: October 5
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back for the second night of FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays for October 5th of the 2017 season. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
Tonight is a second night of NHL action, after last night’s opening. Yesterday’s game will packed with goal-scoring, three of the four games had seven to nine total goals. But the Edmonton Oilers shut out the Flames leading to a three-goal event.
Tonight, we have a more robust eight games, doubling our match ups from yesterday, again with tons of star-powered games, including the Stanley Cup champs for a second night. Here’s a look at the opening night NHL schedule:
Predators at Bruins (7pm ET)
Canadiens at Sabres (7pm ET)
Avalanche at Rangers (7pm ET)
Capitals at Senators (7:30pm ET)
Wild at Red Wings (7:30pm ET NBC SN)
Penguins at Blackhawks (8:30pm ET)
Coyotes at Ducks (10pm ET)
Flyers at Kings (10pm ET NBC SN)
We loved Cam Talbot yesterday, and that paid off with his shutout of the Flames. We also talked about fading all of the Flames, anticipating a strong game from Talbot, and if you played any of the Calgary skaters, you were likely very disappointed.
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We were high on several of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but failed to mention James van Riemsdyk, who turned out to be one of the top FanDuel NHL point scorers of the night. Also, while we were high on the Oilers and Penguins offense, they weren’t as potent as the Blues and Flyers.
The Flyers actually pulled off a pretty big upset against a very good Sharks team in San Jose. Wayne Simmonds ended the game with a hat-trick, helping my late-night lineups, but hurting all of my earlier plays. We’ll pick up what we learned from yesterday, and press forward for another fun night of FanDuel NHL hockey.
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 5th
Arguably one of the greatest goaltenders in the last couple of decades, Carey Price is minding the net tonight for the Canadiens in Buffalo. Typically I’d fade the Sabres offense in this situation. However, 20-year-old Jack Eichel ($7,300) emerged as an elite talent last season, and getting Eichel for only $7,300 feels like a great value opportunity. There’s risk here, but Jack averaged almost 17 FanDuel NHL points-per-game last season and is going to on the ice for around 20 minutes. With a goal, and/or assist, Jack could have over 20 points.
Both Sidney Crosby ($8,600) and Evgeni Malkin ($8,100) started off the season well last night, each scoring over 20 FanDuel NHL points against the Blues tough goaltender Jake Allen. But tonight the Penguins are in Chicago against a tougher defense, and while Crosby and Malkin are solid plays in cash games, they’re still risky and not ideal for GPP. There are too many other great values available.
Evgeny Kuznetsov ($5,600) had a cold start to the season last year, but rapidly emerged as an offensive talent in the second half of the season. During the off-season, the Capitals toyed with the idea of throwing Kuznetsov into the first line with Ovechkin, and it looks like that’s how the game will start tonight. For only $5.6K, this is a great opportunity to be involved in a typically very productive line, during the regular season at least.
Two other really great values at center tonight are Rickard Rakell ($5,700) and Ryan Spooner ($4,300). Spooner has the tougher goalie match up, but is leading one of the most productive first lines in the NHL last season. Rakell will have a great opportunity to stay productive against a historically struggling Coyotes defense.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Oct 5th
Several of the wing-stacks are going to be expensive. But playing Kuznetsov at such a cheap price, allows us to afford Alex Ovechkin ($7,700). Ovi is notorious for struggling during the playoffs, which is an overrated assumption, but he’s fantastic during the regular season. Even in Ottawa against a solid net-minder, Alex could have a few goals tonight with 18-20 minutes on the ice.
With Spooner, you can now afford one of the most productive offensive weapons in hockey last season, Brad Marchand ($7,700). Marchand is on the ice for over 20 minutes, sometimes more, and is active in most of the Bruins goal scoring, peppers the opponents with shots on goal, and isn’t afraid to get a blocked shot or two.
Evander Kane ($5,200) and Jason Pominville ($4,600) are very cheap options to get additional exposure to Eichel tonight. They’re each priced low because of the match up with Carey, and Pominville is a 34-year-old veteran.
We loved Jake Guentzel ($6,400) last night, and he rewarded us with 16.5 FanDuel NHL points. Guentzel was on the ice for 22 minutes, and had two assists in the Penguins loss. The Pengs have a tougher match up tonight, but Guentzel will still get a lot of ice time with one of the greatest hockey players in the league. This is still an affordable way to get exposure to that top Stanley Cup winning line.
Also, with Guentzel, we love the value Connor Sheary ($4,500) brings to the lineup, continuing to get exposure to the Penguins top line. I played Sheary yesterady, and he rewarded me with 16.8 FanDuel NHL points with a goal after 17 minutes on the ice.
After last night’s hat-trick performance, it’s worth finding a way to afford Wayne Simmonds ($6,400) in a cash lineup. But keep in mind, Simmonds is likely very chalky tonight, against a very good net-minder in goal for the Kings, Jonathan Quick.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Oct 5th
The Avalanche have Semyon Varlamov in net tonight. Varly has played well in the past, but struggled lately. The Rangers were one of the higher scoring teams in the NHL for most of the season last year, and now have one of the more underrated defenders in DFS, Kevin Shattenkirk ($5,600). Most of Shattenkirk’s success came when on the ice with the Blues, but Kevin is in an ideal situation tonight.
Roman Josi ($6,400) didn’t finish the season as a top five FanDuel NHL defender, but Josi and the Predators emerged during the middle of the season and never looked back. Roman gets 24-28 minutes on the ice each game, and is often involved in scoring plays. He’s a big pricey and has a tough goalie match up, but worth a play in cash games.
Similar to Josi, Shea Weber ($5,900) had a better second half of the season last year, although Weber is a better known veteran in the league. Tonight, Shea has a decent match up in goal, and is has a decent salary. Weber is another strong cash play.
Earlier, we talked about how we’re concerned about the Sabres ability to score with Price in net, but Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,500) is a 22-year-old defender who emerged as a top talent last season. If you’re going with a Sabres stack tonight, he’s your best defensive pick to be involved in scoring.
The Flyers looked good last night, but they still gave up three goals. Tonight, the Flyers are putting streaky Michal Neuvirth in net, and it’s likely he’s going to be pressing for the starting job. Getting exposure to some of the Kings offense is a smart play, and Jake Muzzin ($4,600) is an affordable way to do that on defense.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Oct 5th
There’s a plethora of incredible talent at goalie tonight, but many of the pricing caps your ability to generate a great offensive lineup. Also, some of the match ups aren’t ideal. Carey Price ($9,200) is an elite goalie, but he has some of the NHL’s best young talent on the ice, shooting at him tonight.
Braden Holtby ($9,200) has one of the better match ups, but his price-tag is at the elite status. Jonathan Quick ($8,600) is more affordable, but we just saw the Flyers pile up five goals on the road against one of the NHL’s other good goalies.
So after evaluating all of the top options, we landed on John Gibson ($8,400). It feels like Gibson has been in the NHL for a long time, and is an older veteran, but he’s only 24-years-old. Tonight, John is minding the net against a Coyotes team who only averaged a pathetic 2.33 goals per game, one of the worst in the NHL. The only worry here is, will he get enough shots to pile up the save points, but a nearly sure win for $8.4K is hard to pass up.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for the Oct 5th FanDuel NHL slate:
C Rakell $5,700
C Spooner $4,300
W Marchand $7,700
W Ovechkin $7,700
W Sheary $4,500
W Simmonds $6,400
D Shattenkirk $5,600
D Muzzin $4,600
G Gibson $8,400
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.
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!