FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: November 17
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays for Friday, November 17th. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
Thursday night is typically one of the bigger hockey nights of each week, and there was plenty of action last night. But the difficult part about FanDuel NHL on Thursday nights is competition. With so many high scoring games, and so many player combinations yielding large amounts of points, a 143 FanDuel NHL point night, like I had last night, was only winning us a few cash games.
For that reason, nights like tonight’s small FanDuel NHL slate are underrated. We have a limited amount of scoring options, and only four goalies to target for that position. Also, both games start before 8pm ET.
Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Friday, November 17th:
Rangers at Blue Jackets (7pm ET)
Sabres at Red Wings (7:30pm ET)
These match ups give us plenty of offensive options, but also highlight stacks to avoid. Three of the four goalies in minding the net tonight are top 15 this season. So we know we’ll stack at least one of these offenses, but highlighting a second will be difficult. Also, we need to decide, of those three top goalies, who’s the best to plug into our lineup for a win.
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: Nov 17th
Jack Eichel ($7,400) is the most expensive center tonight, but he’s facing the Red Wing’s Jimmy Howard in goal. Howard is only giving up 2.32 goals per game, 8th best in the NHL. That doesn’t bode well for Eichel and the Sabres in Detriot. Also, while Eichel is one of the best young talents in the NHL at the center position, there are plenty of better options tonight.
Mike Zibanejad ($7,100) is a better pick than Eichel, and $300 cheaper. The Rangers ran up four goals against Bobrovsky the last time they faced the Blue Jackets. But, Sergei is still only giving up 2.16 goals per game this season, 3rd best among all goalies, and is likely to perform better in Columbus tonight. The Rangers are a solid offensive team, but likely won’t put many in net tonight.
With those immediate conclusions, I’m fading Zibanejad and Eichel and target Red Wings and Blue Jackets for stacks, starting at center. The young Dylan Larkin ($6,000) is the sexier pick, averaging over 13 FanDuel NHL points per game. But we’re going to target veteran Henrik Zetterberg ($5,800) leading the Red Wings top line against the Sabres tonight. Still, either is a good pick tonight.
With the Blue Jackets top-line leader Alexander Wennberg out with an upper body injury, the options from Columbus are cheap and thin. Brandon Dubinsky ($4,500) is only averaging, just over, seven FanDuel NHL points-per-game so far this season. But Dubinsky was remarkable, at times, last season and is the best center option from Columbus. If you’re looking for the top-line leader, you’ll need to move to the wing spot. Foligno is filling in for Wennberg, which we’ll get to shortly.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Nov 17th
Evander Kane ($6,800) is a dominating player each tie he’s on the ice. Kane is averaging around 19 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and for only $6.8K he’s very cheap tonight. Part of the reason Kane is cheap is the same reason we’re avoiding a Sabres stack, Howard is hot in goal.
But Evander is one of the few players on the ice who will very likely provide double-digit points regardless of his match up. Kane peppers shots on goal every game, isn’t afraid to block a shot, and averages a goal or assist in each of his 18 games played so far this season. Kane is a must-play in cash games, and great anchor for GPP plays.
Getting back to our stacks, we already have two Red Wings at the center position. That allows only two more spots for Red Wings. We’re going to fill them up with Anthony Mantha ($5,800) from the top line and Andreas Athanasiou ($4,500) from the second line. Each player is underrated and very cheap tonight.
Mantha averages just under 15 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and is the top scorer on the Red Wings first line. Anthony is a great stack with Henrik. Athanasiou averages around 14 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and is the perfect complement to Larkin. With these four in our lineup, we should cover a bulk of the NHL scoring tonight.
We mentioned possibly stacking Blue Jackets tonight, but we didn’t have many great options at center, besides Dubinsky. But we also mentioned how Nick Foligno ($5,300) is leading the Blue Jackets top line tonight. FanDuel NHL has Foligno in the wing spot, where is also often plays, and at a very reasonable salary.
The Blue Jackets have a tough match up with Lundqvist tonight, but Henrik has been giving up over three goals per game, and Nick could finally break his ten game scoreless streak with over 20 minutes of ice-time tonight.
If you’re nervous about Foligno’s lack of scoring lately, Boone Jenner ($5,000) has been more active from the Blue Jackets second line, and is $300 cheaper. Or if you can afford him, Artemi Panarin ($6,500) is averaging over 11 FanDuel NHL points-per-game for the Jackets, and is one of the best young wings on the ice tonight.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Nov 17th
Like Kane, Kevin Shattenkirk ($6,300) is one of the rare tremendous talents who you can plug into your lineup each time they’re on the ice, regardless of the match up. Shattenkirk has cooled off a little bit, lately, after an incredible start. But Kevin is still averaging around 14 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, a great average for a defender and landing Kevin clearly at the top of the list among all defenders tonight.
The Blue Jackets provide two great defenders on their top line, young second-year player Zach Werenski ($5,200) and Seth Jones ($5,100). Zach and Seth each average around 13 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and they’re over $1K cheaper than Shattenkirk. Werenski and Jones often mirror each others results because they both take many shots on goal and block several shots with around 25 minutes of regular and man-advantage ice time.
For more offense, with the defensive pick, or to finish a Red Wings stack, Mike Green ($4,700) is the most impactful from the Red Wings for FanDuel NHL. Over the last three games, Green has four assists, including three on Wednesday against the Flames. Mike should be involved in the Red Wings scoring again tonight.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Nov 17th
Robin Lehner ($7,200) is starting for the Buffalo Sabres tonight, in Detroit. Lehner is actually one of the primary reasons we’re stacking Red Wings. Of the four goalies tonight, Robin is a clear worst. The frustrating think about Lehner is that he does have great outings every once in a while, like his one-goal win against the Caps on November 7th. So if you’re looking for a GPP odd-ball pick, he’s your guy. Otherwise, he’s your offensive target.
Among the three remaining goalies, we oddly like Henrik Lundqvist ($8,900) the least. Yes, Lundy is a proven veteran who is often like a wall in front of the net. But Henrik is struggling this season, giving up over three goals per game, well beyond Bobrovsky or Howard.
That leads us to focus on our top two goalies tonight, Sergei Bobrovsky ($8,800) and Jimmy Howard ($8,000). Between the two, you can pick either. Howard is a great goalie who was plagued with injuries last year. But this year, Jimmy is only giving up 2.32 goals per game, in 14 starts.
The Sabres have been rattling lately, which makes Jimmy a risky play, but Bobrovsky also has a tough offensive match up to face. I prefer ‘Bob’ over Jimmy, only because Sergei was incredible last year, and seems to be continuing that through this season as well. But Howard is a great pick as well, and more affordable. You can go with either and have a great night tonight.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Nov 17th FanDuel NHL:
C Zetterberg (DET ($5,800)
C Dubinsky (CLS $4,500)
W Mantha (DET $5,800)
W Kane (BUF $6,800)
W Nyquist (DET $5,400)
W Panarin (CLS ($6,500)
D Werenski (CLS $5,200)
D Shattenkirk (NYR $6,300)
G Howard (DET $8,000)
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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