FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: December 15
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to the FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column. This edition is for Friday, December 15th. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
After a long Disney-trip and work-related hyatius, we’re back to focusing on your NHL DFS optimal lineup options for FanDuel NHL on Friday night. Tonight’s slate provides a limited number of only five games, one of our favorite nights to play FanDuel NHL lineups.
Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Friday, December 15th:
Hurricanes at Sabres (7pm ET)
Stars at Devils (7pm ET)
Kings at Rangers (7pm ET)
Maple Leafs at Red Wings (7:30pm ET)
Sharks at Canucks (10pm ET)
The schedule may seem like a random group of teams, who do not face each other often. That makes analyzing the picks challenging. Also, with several games already played this week, several teams will have to go with their back up, or third-string, goalies. But these match ups will oppose some great offensive opportunities, and limit the top goalie picks tonight, making for an exciting night of FanDuel NHL plays.
With Ben Bishop, Frederik Andersen, Corey Schneider, and Aaron Dell all taking the night off, our top goalies are narrowed down to Jonathan Quick, Henrik Lundqvist, and Martin Jones. Jones may be the starting goalie for the Sharks, but his backup, Dell, is currently the top performing goalie in the NHL. And while Quick and Lundavist are both on the ice tonight, they’re facing each other making for a challenging pick between the two.
However, there are several other backup goalies who have historically performed well in these scenarios, and provide great value at goalie tonight. Keith Kinkaid is filling in for Schneider, and Curtis McElhinney is filling in for Andersen, for example. So who should we pick at goalie? And who are the top offensive plays with so much risk at goalie Friday night? We’ll begin our review now.
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: Dec 15th
FanDuel has Tyler Seguin ($7,900) listed as a third string center, but Seguin is the Stars top center and spends around 20-25 minutes of each game on the ice. Tyler is averaging almost 16.5 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and has the ability to pile up two points, goal and/or assist, along with five to seven shots on goal, and at times a blocked shot. In New Jersey tonight, facing a struggling Kinkaid, Seguin is one of the top options on the ice.
Anze Kopitar ($7,300) has the tough task of trying to score on Lundqvist friday night in New York. But Henrik is giving up 2.7 goals per game this season, 21st in the NHL. Lundqvist only has a .916 save percentage this season, a solid result for most goalies but low for Henrik.
Meanwhile, Kopitar is having on of his best season in his career, after a rough year in 2016. With 32 games under his belt, Anze now has 38 points, 16 goals and 22 assists. Kopitar is sixth in the NHL in scoring goals, tenth in the NHL in assists, and fight in the NHL in total points, goals plus assists. So for $600 cheaper, we can get a better Kopitar facing a struggling Lundqvist. It’s not immediately obvious, but Anze is the best center option on the ice tonight.
If you’re looking for value tonight, there’s plenty of it, including at the center position. Nico Hischier ($5,600) likely leads the Devils top line tonight on a very cheap salary. Nico is only 18 years old, but he’s already averaging over 18 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. Also, Dylan Larkin ($5,700) may be listed as a second line leader for the Red Wings, but he’s Detroit’s most productive center.
While the value is attractive at center tonight, we’re going to find value across the entire lineup. So I prefer to jump back up the salary list and grab 21-year-old Sabres phenom Jack Eichel ($7,200). Jack was slow to start the season and quiet on Thursday against the Flyers, but in his last six games he has one goal and four assists. Eichel also has the ability to pepper goalies with shots, and has a great match up in Buffalo against the Hurricanes tonight. We can afford Eichel and Kopitar tonight!
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Dec 15th
We love Jamie Benn ($7,600) for two types of lineup options tonight. If you go with Tyler Seguin, Benn is a great stack. But if you’re fading Tyler tonight, Jamie is still great to have in your lineup to get the most exposure to the Stars top line, without paying up for Seguin. Benn is averaging over 15 FanDuel NHL points-per-game this year, and has two goals and three assists in the Stars last three games. He’s hot!
Another stacking or great exposure option, but for the Sabres, is Evander Kane ($7,100). He may be logging time with the Sabres third line right now, but Evander is one of the most, and often only, dynamic hockey players on the Sabres offense. Kane will see at or above 20 minutes of ice time tonight, and with the match up at home against a struggling Canes team, Kane’s value is one of the top three for wings.
After Kane, salaries plummet at wing on Friday night, and while Joe Pavelski ($6,800) is an attractive veteran, the Sharks offense isn’t’ scoring well this season, only 2.7 goals per game or 23rd in the NHL.
The Sharks are in Vancouver tonight, facing a poor Canucks offense. But Brock Boeser ($6,500) has been a pleasant surprise for the Vancouver fans this season. The 20-year-old rookie is averaging over 15.5 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and has five goals and two assists in the Canucks last seven games. For only $6.5K, you’re paying for the risk of grabbing a rookie, but the return has been fantastic this season.
If Boeser seems a little pricey, consider paying down for Teuvo Teravainen ($4,900). The Hurricanes were a common ‘sleeper’ team heading into the 2017-2018 season, but they’ve struggled to back up the NHL analysts talk. Still, the Canes, and especially Teravainen, have a tendency to over-perform when they have a favorable match up. With a likely goal and/or assist, Teuvo’s value potential tonight is high.
The fall 2017 NHL season has been littered with rising young stars, and Tyler Pitlick ($3,100) may be the latest, for the Stars. The 26-year-old Minnesota native has three goals over the last three games, and is now averaging over six FanDuel NHL points-per-game. The Stars have been shuffling their lineup around, with Tyler typically on the third line. He could play on the top line tonight, but regardless he’s now getting around 15 minutes of ice time, fairly high for someone with a low $3.1K salary. This is a sneaky value pick tonight!
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Dec 15th
Last year, Brent Burns ($7,100) was consistently our favorite pick on defense. This season, we’ve barely touched Burns in our lineups, and that continues tonight. The Sharks do have a favorable match up, but as we mentioned earlier, their offense is failing to produce this season, and Brent is only yielding 14.55 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. At that average, a $7.1K is a rip-off!
With too much low-scoring risk in the Rangers and Kings match up, we’re also likely fading Kevin Shattenkirk ($6,200) and Drew Doughty ($6,000). That makes John Klingberg ($5,600) immediately the most valuable defensive-man on the board tonight. Klingberg typically sees 20 to 30 minutes of ice time each game, and tonight will be no exception. also, with a 13.18 FanDuel NHL point-per-game average, we’re paying about $400+ for roughly the same average with John. Also, we’re already in the process of stacking the Stars, and Klingberg is the best they have on defense.
Sticking with the stacking theme, we look over to the Sabres lineup and immediately love Rasmus Ristolainen ($4,700). As we mentioned earlier, the Sabres are struggling to score this season, but have a great home match up tonight. Rasmus was in the running for a Calder Trophy last year, but has been off to a rough start this season. But with nearly 30 minutes of ice time in a favorable match up, Ristolainen is likely to exceed his average tonight, for a great value play.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Dec 15th
We already started to pick apart the goalies earlier in this article, so we can summarize briefly and get right to our top picks. Between the top-two goalies tonight, Jonathan Quick ($8,800) is the better option, even on the road. Henrik Lundqvist ($8,600) has been disappointing and less consistent this season, but is a great GPP play.
However, while they’re your top two goalies, there is a plethora of value at goalie on Friday night. Martin Jones ($8,500) has been a consistent nearly 20 FanDuel NHL point performer, but we actually like Aaron Dell more than Jones, and he’s off tonight. The Sharks don’t score enough goals per game, making the 12-point win in doubt each night.
And while the Sharks offense is mute, they also don’t give up many goals, challenging us to pick Jacob Markstrom ($7,700). He’s a great GPP pick, probably the best of the night, but there’s too much risk in this pick for cash games.
That narrows our two favorite goalie picks down to Curtis McElhinney ($7,300) and Keith Kinkaid ($7,200). We like the Stars offense in New Jersey tonight, and are fading the Red Wings offense. So between the two, we like McElhinney the most. In only five starts, Curtis is averaging over 23 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, mostly due to the 52.8 result last week in a shutout against the Oilers. But McElhinney alos had a great 38.4 result in a win over the Bruins in Boston. Tonight, he’s one of the top options at goalie, and the best value.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Friday, December 15th:
C Kopitar (LA $7,300)
C Eichel (BUF $7,200)
W Benn (DAL $7,600)
W Kane (BUF $7,100)
W Teravainen (CAR $4,900)
W Pitlick (DAL $3,100)
D Klingberg (DAL $5,600)
D Ristolainen (BUF ($4,700)
G McElhinney (TOR $7,300)
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.
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!