FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: November 24 Main

Welcome back to the FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column for Friday, November 24th.  We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.

The NHL schedule starts early on Friday, November 24th.  The Bruins host the Penguins on NBC at 1pm ET.  However, that game only fits into the FanDuel NHL ‘All Day’ slate, which has limited tournament and cash options.

There are three games starting at 4pm ET, followed by the Ducks hosting the Jets in Anaheim at 5pm ET and the Capitals hosting the Lightening at 6pm ET.  So FanDuel is providing an ‘Early Only’ slate including the 4-6pm ET games and an ‘Afternoon Only’ slate including on the 5pm and 6pm games.

Several of these games are great match ups, but for the purpose of this article, we’re going to focus on the Main Slate only, as FanDuel provides the most tournament and cash options for htat slate.

Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Friday, November 24th:

Oilers at Sabres (7pm ET)

Canucks at Devils (7pm ET)

Red Wings at Rangers (7pm ET)

Senators at Blue Jackets (7pm ET)

Maple Leafs at Hurricanes (7:30pm ET)

Predators at Blues (8pm ET)

Flames at Stars (9pm ET)

Kings at Coyotes (9pm ET)

With plenty of great match ups, targeting a stack or focusing on the right picks for your lineup today is going to be overwhelming.  However, a couple of games stick out.  The Coyotes are giving up 3.67 goals per game, the most in the NHL.  So the Kings are a great offense to target tonight.

Sergei Bobrovsky is likely in goal tonight, so we’re going to fade all Maple Leafs skaters, even through they have a dynamic offense.  While the Oilers offense has struggled this season, Connor McDavid is still 6th in the NHL with points (10 goals, 18 assists) and the Oilers are another great stacking target in Buffalo.  We’ll also investigate some other non-stack picks as fillers in the lineup.

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 NHL DFS optimal lineup by looking at the top centers for this slate…

Top FanDuel NHL Centers: Nov 24th Main

With Robin Lehner is goal for the Sabres tonight, we love the Oilers and it’s worth paying up for Connor McDavid ($9,200).  McDavid is one of the most dynamic offensive players in the NFL, and has nearly 18 FanDuel NHL points-per-game so far this season.  I usually try to save salary to pay for someone like Auston Matthews ($8,200), but between the two of them, McDavid is undeniably the better pick tonight.

If you’re looking for a cheaper option on the Oilers, there’s quite a drop-off in productivity from McDavid to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($5,500).  However, you’re paying nearly $4K less for the Oilers second line exposure to one of the worst performing goalies on the ice today.  Hugent-Hopkins had two goals against the Golden Knights in the middle of November, but he’s mostly an assists guy, but also gets shots on goal and isn’t afraid to block some shots.  He’s a decent 10-15 FanDuel NHL point play today.

We begin our other stack of the day with a re-emerging Anze Kopitar ($6,400).  We’ve focused on Kopitar a few times, already, this season.  Anze was hampered by injuries last year, and was a consistent FanDuel NHL fade.  But Kopitar started this season hot and hasn’t cooled off.  With 15 assists and nine goals, Anze is 16th in the NHL with 24 points and is averaging 15.6 FanDuel NHL points-per-game.

With Jeff Carter on the IR, Adrian Kempe ($4,300) is a great value pick leading the Kings second line tonight, and getting nearly 15 minutes of ice time each game lately.  Kempe has two assists in the last three games, but also logs blocked shots.

Like the Oilers stack, there’s a clear drop-off in production from Kopitar to Kempe.  So for cash games, you want to stack McDavid and Kopitar and find value in other positions.  Even in Tournaments, you want at least one of these guys in your line.

Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…

Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Nov 24th Main

We’re going to put our stack on pause to focus on our top pick at wing tonight.  Jacob Markstrom is having a solid season in net for the Canucks.  Markstrom is only giving up 2.59 goals per game.  So far the most part, we’re avoiding the Devils tonight.  However, Taylor Hall ($7,300) has been hot lately, and is very productive on the ice even when not scoring.

Hall currently has six goals and 15 assists, for a total of 21 points.  But Taylor is peppering goalies with five to seven shots a game lately.  Also, Hall has piled up blocked shots, including four against the Blackhawks a few weeks ago.  So even when not scoring, or handing out helpers, Hall is one of the most productive FanDuel NHL players on the ice tonight.

Back to our stacks, if you can afford them, Leon Draisaitl ($7,300) and Patrick Maroon ($5,600) are the top-two players on the Oilers second line.  Between the two, Leon is typically the more productive, but Maroon is nearly as effective and almost $2K cheaper.  We like Maroon more tonight.

While McDavid tends to hog all of the Oilers FanDuel NHL points on the top line, Milan Lucic $4,900) and Drake Caggiula ($3,600) have incredible value tonight.  Neither plays on any of the power play lines for the Oilers, but they’re still getting roughly 15 minutes of ice time with one of the best players in the NHL, and you’re spending under $5K for each.

Dustin Brown ($5,700) is our favorite King stacked with Kopitar on the top line.  Brown can be as productive, if not more, than Kopitar with 13.52 FanDuel NHL points-per-game.  Dustin also plays with Anze on the top power play line.  Another great Kings pick is Tanner Pearson ($4,900).  Tanner plays with Kempe on the Kings second regular and power play lines, but typically provides more of the offense.

Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Nov 24th Main

There’s a plethora of great defensive picks.  We like Erik Karlsson ($7,100), Roman Josi ($6,200), and Alex Pietrangelo ($6,100) the most, of all of the top options.  Regardless of the match ups, each of these three defenders are on the ice for the majority of the game, and even when not involved in scoring, are piling up shots and blocking shots for a near lock of ten FanDuel NHL points-per-game.

But the problem with any of those three picks, they limit your ability to grab a good goalie or a top offensive option like McDavid.  If we look back at our stacking focus, we have more value available.  Oscar Klefbom ($5,400) is a popular pick on defense for the Oilers.  But we think Klefbom is over-priced tonight.  Instead, I’d rather dig further in the list and grab someone like Darnell Nurse ($3,900).

The 22-year-old Canadian doesn’t typically man the power play lines, but he’s still getting 20-25 minutes of time on the ice, and has two goals and an assist over the last three games.  The Oilers appear to want to ramp up Darnell’s impact on the top line, and he has tremendous value tonight.

To continue with the Kings stack, we have to grab top defender Drew Doughty ($5,300).  Doughty’s price is amazing.  Drew is going to log 25 to 30 minutes per game, will pile up blocked shots, offer a help per game, and is a decent bet for a goal with the match up tonight.

Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Nov 24th Main

If you can afford him tonight, pay up for Sergei Bobrovsky ($9,000).  In his last five starts, Sergei has five wins and only gave up a total of four games, for an average of less than one goal per game.  While the Blue Jackets are playing great defense, they’re still letting Bob pile up nearly 30 saves per game.  Sergie is your top cash lineup play at goalie tonight.

Pekka Rinne ($8,800) and Jake Allen ($8,800) are equally great picks when on the ice, but with them facing off against each other, fade them.  In fact, most of the match ups are risky tonight.  Instead, you’re better off grabbing Cam Talbot ($8,000) who’s struggled lately but is nearly a lock for the 12 FanDuel NHL point win.

But another great pick tonight, or any night he’s on the ice, is Frederik Andersen ($8,300).  He isn’t even a top-ten goalie this season, but the Maple Leafs are allowing so many shots on goal that Andersen is leading the NHL in saves, 619 in 20 games, making him a very valuable FanDuel NHL goalie.  With a win, it’s actually possible to get 40 to 50 points from Andersen tonight.

So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for November 24th’s Main FanDuel NHL late:

C    McDavid (EDM $9,200)

C    Kopitar (LA $6,400)

W   Hall (NJ $7,300)

W   Brown (LA $5,700)

W   Pearson (LA $4,900)

W   Caggiula (EDM $3,600)

D    Nurse (EDM $3,900)

D    Doughty (LA $5,300)

G    Andersen (TOR $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!