FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: November 30

Welcome back for another FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column, focused on Thursday, November 30th.  We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.

Last night, our top two goalies, Jake Allen and Connor Hellebyuck, were disappointing.  The Blues lost to the Ducks and the Jets lost in overtime to the Avalanche.  Hellebyuck only had 23 saves in one of his worst performances this season.  Jake only had 27 saves, for a total of 9.6 FanDuel NHL points.

As it turned out, John Gibson, who has been struggling with injuries lately, piled up over 33 points and was the top goalie of the night.  So the Blues offensive stack didn’t work out very well either.  Still, with defensive plays using Erik Johnson (19.2 FanDuel NHL points) and Tyson Barrie (14.9), you were able to build some winning lineups.  Paired with Bryan Little, one of our top center picks, and the Bruins top lines, you won your cash games and most tournaments.  So we take what we learned, and move forward to Thursday.

Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Thursday, November 30th:

Kings at Capitals (7pm ET)

Canadiens at Red Wings (7:30pm ET)

Canucks at Predators (8pm ET)

Golden Knights at Wild (8pm ET)

Stars at Blackhawks (8:30pm ET)

Coyotes at Flames (9pm ET)

Maple Leafs at Oilers (9pm ET)

While Alex Ovechkin, the leagues top goal scorer, is on the ice tonight, he has a tough match up hosting the Kings with Jonathan Quick in net.  And while the Kings have been scoring well lately, Braden Holtby has also been re-emerging as a top goalie this season.

There’s a plethora of great goalie options on the board tonight, with Core Crawford ($8,400), Pekka Rinne ($9,000), and Mike Smith ($8,000) in addition to Quick and Holtby minding the net.  But there’s also plenty of scoring opportunities with Carey Price likely taking the night off and a struggled Scott Wedgewood in the crease for the Coyotes.  So we’ll investigate a stack with Red Wings and Flames.

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 30th

Connor McDavid ($9,100) and Auston Matthews ($7,800) are facing off in Edmonton tonight.  Two of the top young centers in the game will be exciting to watch, and you can play either of them in your FanDuel NHL lineups.

McDavid has ten goals and 20 assists, and is sixth in the NHL with a total of 30 points.  Matthews has 24 points, with 12 of both goals and assists.  Between the two, Auston scores more goals, and Matthews has the better goalie match up, so we suggest you save $1,300 and go with Matthews over McDavid.  You can’t afford both!

We mentioned it earlier, the Flames have a great match up in goal tonight.  In eight starts, Scott Wedgewood is 2-3-2 giving up around three goals per game and low .901 save percentage.  So we’re looking to stack some players on home ice in Calgary, starting with Sean Monahan ($7,600).

Given the options on the board, Monahan is a subtle pick.  But Sean is manning the Flames top line with one of the games top wings, who we’ll get to later.  While Monahan has been quiet over the last two games, only one assist, he has six goals and four assists in the Flames last six games.  In three of his last six games, Sean had 30+ points, including a 53.5 FanDuel NHL point result in Philly.  If you need a cheaper Flames pick with Matthews or McDavid, go with Mikael Backlund ($5,200).

Another stacking target we like are the Red Wings with Antti Niemi in goal for the Canadiens.  Antti has yet to win a game this season, and has a .845 save percentage, 70th in the NHL.  Niemi is giving up nearly four goals per game, a great set up for Red Wings offense in Detroit.

The top two centers from the Red Wings are Henrik Zetterberg ($5,400) and Dylan Larkin ($5,600).  Zetterberg leads the Wings top regular and power play lines, and when Henrik is hot, the entire Detroit team is on fire.  Henrik is the clear leader of the team.

However, the younger Larkin is emerging as a leader too.  Dylan leads the Red Wings second regular line and plays a wing on the second power play line.  With four goals and 17 assists, Larkin has been the more productive offensive player, and likely hands out a few helpers tonight.

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

Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Nov 30th

Before we continue on with our stacks, Alex Ovechkin ($8,700), the leading goal-scorer in the NHL, is on the ice for the Caps tonight.  Yes, we do not like the match up, but that is no reason to fade Ovechkin.  Alex is a dominating player and may score a goal on any net minder int he NHL.  So even with Quick in net, Ovi is a top pick and must-play for cash games.

Not quite as dominating but very hot right now, Patrick Kane ($8,300) is a must-have tonight if you’re fading Ovechkin.  Yes, these are the top-two priced wings tonight, but FanDuel did a great job with salaries for this slate.

Kane is on fire lately, with three goals and seven assists over his last eight games.  In one game, Patrick had neither a goal or assist, but still had six shots on goal for 9.6 FanDuel NHL points.  So Kane is going to give you points regardless of how productive the Hawks offense is tonight.

The Predators have a great match up tonight, and Filip Forsberg ($7,800) and Viktor Arvidsson ($6,600) are the two best wings on the Preds offense.  The Canucks Jacob Markstrom is having a solid year in goal, but the Predators offense has been hard to stop, especially on home ice in Nashville.  Forsberg is more likely to put a puck in net, but Arvidsson is consistently productive and a better value.

The Vegas Golden Knights are quite a surprise this season.  After 23 games in their inaugural season, the Knights are averaging 3.52 goals per game, third best in the NHL.  Two big reasons they’re so productive are James Neal ($7,300) and Jonathan Marchessault ($6,600).  Neal started the season scoring at an incredible pace, but cooled off a bit toward the end of October.  Meanwhile, Marchessault has been on fire, and is the better value tonight in Minnesota.

Getting back to our stacks, Johnny Gaudreau ($8,000) is a big reason we like Monahan at center, and stacking the two is expensive, but feasible tonight.  Gaudreau has eleven goals and 23 assists, piling up 34 total points, third best in the NHL.

Tonight, the Flames have a great match up on home ice, so you can not fade Gaudreau and the Flames.  To complete a full top-line Flames stack, add Michael Ferland ($4,700), whose averaging almost 11 FanDuel NHL points-per-game thanks to his first-line counterparts.

Looking back to the Red Wings, stacking a hot Anthony Mantha ($5,100) with Larkin on both the regular and power play second lines is a great way to get a lot of time on ice against the likely worst goalie on ice tonight.  And Mantha and Larkin are both a great value.

While Justin Abdelkader ($4,100) is listed as a third line wing, he also plays on the Red Wings top power play line.  Abdelkader struggled with injuries last season, but Justin appears to be rebounding nicely this year, and he’s one of the few skaters on the ice tonight falling under FanDuel’s radar for salary increase needs.

Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Nov 30th

If you want to complete your Red Wings stack on defense, your best met is goal-scoring Mike Green ($4,400).  However, the Red Wings defenders have been generally unproductive this season, and Green can be inconsistent.

We think we’re all better of sticking with the Flames at defense, if you haven’t already used all four Calgary spots in your lineup.  Mark Giordano ($5,600) is not only the leader of the Flames defense, but he’s also a team captain.  Mark typically sees around 25 minutes of ice time, and consistently gets several shots on goal and blocked shots, providing right around ten FanDuel NHL points each game.  With a goal or assist, Mark very commonly lands around 15 points.

Equally as productive is Dougie Hamilton ($5,200), Mark’s counterpart on the Flames top line.  The sharp-shooter is more likely to put a goal in net, but also sees around 20 minutes of ice time and gets plenty of shots and blocked shots each game.  But the best Flames defensive value is T.J. Brodie ($4,300).  Brodie plays on the second regular line, but typically plays with Gaudreau on Calgary’s top power play unit, significantly inflating his point potential.

If you run out of spots on defense to complete a Red Wings or Flames stack, the Predators great goalie match up makes Roman Josi ($6,100) and P.K. Subban ($5,600) top plays on defense.  Josi is now averaging over 15 FanDuel NHL points and has been on fire lately.  Subban hasn’t been as offensively productive, but is a dominating force on the ice, often involved in most of the defensive of goal scoring set-up plays.

Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Nov 30th

Braden Holtby ($9,300) had been struggling in October, but over the last couple of weeks he’s re-emerging as on of the best goalies in the NHL.  Holtby gave up four goals to the Flames and six to the Preadators in two of his last six games.  But he still had 35 saves against the Flames, and won four of his last six, giving up less than two goals per game in his wins.

Jonathan Quick ($8,500) had been on a down-side in performance two weeks ago, but Quick is re-gaining his footing at the crease again, and has only given up four goals in his last three starts.  So, while it’s tempting to take either of these top five goalies tonight, it’s a dice-roll with each pick.  You’re gambling on the 12-point FanDuel NHL win, and there are better options.

We’ve reviewed some suggestions that Pekka Rinne ($9,000) is a hard fade tonight.  However, we respectfully disagree.  Rinne is on fire right now, giving up only around two goals per game in his last six starts.  Also in that time, Pekka is averaging around 30 saves per game, and is consistently landing between 25 and 35 FanDuel NHL points-per-game lately.  Pekka and the Predators host a Canucks offense who’s in the bottom-ten of scoring in the NHL.  Rinne is a great start tonight.

Two other solid picks tonight is Frederik Andersen ($8,200) and Jimmy Howard ($7,700).  Andersen takes a ton of shots each night, and leads the NHL in saves.  Howard doesn’t pile up as many saves, but has a very good shot at taking the win, for a 12 point start tonight.  But our favorite pick at goalie tonight is Mike Smith ($8,000).

Smith is facing his old Coyotes team for the first time this season.  The Flames obtained Smith in a trade with the Coyotes in Mid-June.  Mike has always performed well in Arizona, often leading the NHL in saves.  But he was net-minding for one of the worst teams in the NHL for years.

Now in Calgary, Smith is emerging as a top-ten goalie.  After 21 starts, Smith has 685 saves, third in the NHL, and eleven wins.  Tonight, Mike and the Flames have a favorable match up, and Smith is likely to pile up nearly 30 FanDuel NHL points.

So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Thursday, November 30th:

C    Monahan (CGY $7,600)

C    Larkin (DET $5,600)

W   Gaudreau (CGY $8,000)

W   Mantha (DET $5,100)

W   Ferland (CGY $4,700)

W   Abdelkader (DET $4,100)

D    Josi (NSH $6,100)

D    Subban (NSH $5,600)

G    Smith (CGY $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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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!