FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: October 23
By Matt Rogers
We’re back with another FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column, for Monday October 23rd. This is a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
It’s a short night, but these smaller slates can be the most fun to play, with limited, and more targeted, options for your lineups. Tonight, the NHL schedule is narrowed down to only two games. Each game is on the east cost, so the start times are at 7pm ET, making for a quick night in the NHL on Monday.
Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Monday, October 23rd:
Kings at Maple Leafs (7pm ET)
Sharks at Rangers (7pm ET)
The top goalies are in net for each of the four teams tonight. Quick is off to a fantastic start for the Kings, averaging only 1.99 goal against in six starts. Jonathan is 5-0-1 and is a big reason the Kings are a dangerous team to play this season. However, Quick and the Kings are also facing the NHL’s top offense, so far, this season. The Maple Leafs are averaging an amazing 4.63 goals scored per game, making Quick a risky play. But who wins here? Something has to ‘give.’
The Sharks are typically good at home, but they’ve struggled out of the game, playing most of their games in San Jose. But tonight, the Sharks travel to New York, to take on a Rangers team who’s also struggling. The Sharks are giving up three goals a game, but the Rangers are giving up 3.44. This could be a high-scoring affair, except that both teams are averaging below three goals a game in offensive production.
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 23rd
While FanDuel NHL has Auston Matthews ($8,100) listed as the most expensive option tonight, he’s playing at home but facing one of the hottest goaltenders in the NHL tonight, Jonathan Quick. Matthews has been essentially a lock, and is typically a great play in cash games, all season, but the one time he was shut down this year, was against the Capitals’ Holtby, also one of the best goaltenders on the ice this season.
I think paying up for Matthews, in all formats, tonight is a mistake, and I’m fading him. I’d rather have Anze Kopitar ($6,700). The Kings captain is re-emerging this season, after struggling last season with injuries and play on the ice. But this year, Kopitar looks like the star everyone was expecting to see last year.
Anze has three games, among his seven so far, where he landed below ten FanDuel NHL points. However, he’s also had three points (goals or assists) in three of his seven games, and has at least two points in four of seven. And tonight, Kopitar and the Kings offense is facing a Leafs goalie who has struggled with consistency since last season. So we’re getting a decent shot at 25+ FanDuel NHL points, on a very reasonable $6.7K salary.
With Lundqvist struggling in net to star the season, pairing veteran Joe Thornton ($5,600) could be a great option. Thornton only has one goal this year, but has four assists, and it’s likely the Sharks put several in net tonight.
However, there’s always risk with the aging Thornton, so paying up for Logan Couture ($6,500) is a viable option tonight. The 28-year-old veteran is on fire right now, scoring five goals in the Sharks last three games, including a hat trick in New York against the Islanders on Saturday.
A cheaper and sneaker option, one I’d keen on for GPP plays, is Nick Shore ($3,200). Leading the Kings second line, Shore is off to a slow start on a hot team. But Shore is getting 15-20 minutes of ice time, and the Kings have a decent match up tonight, if Andersen is on the down-side of his streaky play again tonight.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Oct 23rd
Weather you’re going with Couture or Thornton at center, if you’re planning to stack the Sharks against the Rangers, you should strongly consider Joe Pavelski ($7,700). Against the Islanders on Saturday, Pavelski was fairly quite, only generating 3.2 FanDuel NHL points on one shot on goal, in 19 minutes of ice time.
But in New Jersey, on Friday, Joe netted a goal, and piled up 21.6 FanDuel NHL points. Also, at home earlier in the week, Pavelski had a goal and assist on four shots on goal, and two blocked shots. Joe piled up 30.1 FanDuel NHL points, in a similar situation tonight, on the road in New York.
There is plenty of expensive options coming from the top-scoring Maple Leafs tonight. But they’re facing Quick, and we don’t like the match up. Also, there is a plethora of value options on the board for wings. My favorite value is Dustin Brown ($4,700) stacked with Kopitar. Brown has been absolutely on fire to star the season, currently averaging over 22 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. In Columbus, on Saturday Brown netted one goal, and added three assists, for an amazing 45.6 FanDuel NHL points. That’s a great return on only $4.7K of salary.
Completing a first-line Kings stack, 23-year-old Alex Iafallo ($3,200) is playing with Kopitar and Brown on the top line tonight. Iafallo is averaging over seven FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and had two assists over the weekend. Getting Alex on such a productive line for only $3.2K seems like a bargain.
While I don’t love the match up, and most of the value from the Maple Leafs, there are some solid options to continue to balance out our lineup, or to hedge our stacks. Zach Hyman ($3,500) has consistently played on the Leafs top line, and is averaging just under eleven FanDuel NHL points-per-game. Leo Komarov ($4,200) and Connor Brown ($4,000) has greater historical upside, and also man very productive second and third lines for the Leafs.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Oct 23rd
Brent Burns ($7,300) isn’t off to as hot a start as we’re used to from the uber productive defensive-man. Burns typically averages well over 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, but is currently sitting just above 15 points.
However, over the last four games, and especially in the east coast over the last two games, Burns has been heating up, and is now averaging over 20 points-per-game in the last week. Tonight, the Sharks have a favorable match up again a Rangers team really struggling out the gate. Even at home, facing a re-surging Sharks team isn’t what the Rangers are looking for right now. And tonight, affordability isn’t an issue with expensive defensive options.
Speaking of affordability, the L.A. Kings top-line defender, Drew Doughty ($5,700) is averaging over 17 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, more than Burns. Doughty has double-digit FanDuel NHL points in each of his last five games, and has a solid match-up tonight in Toronto. If you need better value, look no further than Jake Muzzin ($4,900), whose also averaging well over 17 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. The pair are also a great Kings stack, if you have room, instead of pairing with Burns.
If you’re fading the the Kings, and you’re looking for a top Leafs defender, Nikita Zaitsev ($4,800) should be your best option tonight. Nikita gets a ton of time on ice with the second line, and power play. Zaitsev also has four blocked shots in each of four of the Leafs last five games. So even if Toronto has a rough game, Nikita still probably piles up six-plus points.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Oct 23rd
With only four games in this slate, the goalie options are simple. Jonathan Quick ($9,200) is easily the best goalie on the ice tonight. But Quick and the Kings are also playing the top scoring Maple Leafs. The Leafs currently lead the NHL in goals-per-game. That’s a lot of risk for a $9.2K salary, regardless of the goal.
Frederik Andersen ($8,500) can be a top NHL DFS play in goal each time the Leafs play. Andersen typically sees around 30 shots on goal, each game, and piles up points even if the Leafs lose. But Federik has been inconsistent this season, shutting out the Capitals last week, but giving up five goals to the Senators over the weekend, and six goals to the Devils a week earlier, neither game totaling more than four FanDuel NHL points. And oh by the way, the Kings offense is surging. Hard fade!
Typically I like Henrik Lundqvist ($8,200). The 35-year-old start goalie for the Rangers is usually rock-solid. But Henrik gave up ten goals in his last three starts, and only has one win in his last five starts. And the Sharks offense is also re-surging, even on the road.
So that leads up to a fairly obvious choice, Martin Jones ($8,900). Even when the Sharks struggled in their first couple of game of the season, Jones was solid in goal with over 50 saves in the first two games. Over his last three starts, Martin only gave up four goals, and has three wins, including a shutout of the hot Devils in New Jersey on Friday. Tonight, the Sharks are visiting a Rangers team who’s scoring under 2.5 goals-per-game. Unless a light-bulb goes on for the Rangers offense tonight, Jones is a lock in most FanDuel NHL formats for top goalie.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Oct 23rd FanDuel NHL:
C Kopitar (LA $6,700)
C Couture (SJ $6,500)
W Pavelski (SJ $7,700)
W D Brown (LA $4,700)
W Iafallo (LA $3,200)
W C Brown (TOR $4,000)
D Burns (SJ $7,300)
D Doughty ($5,700)
G Jones (SJ $8,900)
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!