Welcome to the FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column for Saturday, December 16th. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
Hopefully you were following along yesterday, because we had a great day. Jack Eichel was one of our top picks at center, and he piled up three goals and one assist on eleven shots, and even threw in a blocked shot for a total of 63.2 FanDuel NHL points for just one player.
Even better, we were big on stacking Eichel with Evander Kane, who added three helpers and four shots for a total of 30.4 points. So with the Eichel-Kane stack, you had 93.6 FanDuel NHL points, while spending only $14,300 in salary.
However, we whiffed some some other picks, like Anze Kopitar, who only had just over six points. And while we were big on Curtis McElhinney, he only provided 8.8 points in a loss. Still we had plenty of points for cash-game wins. If you were taking down GPP’s, you likely had picks like Lindell instead of Klingberg, the Sedin brothers, or paid up for Brent Burns while perfectly picking the value.
For Saturday’s slate, we’re only focused on the ‘Main’ offering, which includes the 7pm ET games and beyond. This includes the exciting outdoor event at the Landsdowne Park venue. Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Saturday, December 16th:
Canadiens at Senators (7pm ET NBC SN) Centennial Classic at Lansdowne Park
Kings at Islanders (7pm ET)
Stars at Flyers (7pm ET)
Jets at Blues (7pm ET)
Blue Jackets at Hurricanes (7pm ET)
Ducks at Capitals (8pm ET)
Penguins at Coyotes (8pm ET)
Lightening at Avalanche (9pm ET)
Predators at Flames (10pm ET)
Unlike last night, there is a plethora of top goalies on the ice tonight. The top goalie talent creates an obstacle when picking offensive players, but there are still plenty of juice offensive match-ups.
In Colorado tonight, the Avs have confirmed Jonathan Bernier is minding the net. Last week, Bernier had a great outcome, making 39 saves for the win over the Penguins in Pittsburgh. But that result masks the three performances prior, when Jonathan gave up nine goals on just 62 shots.
The Avalanche are hosting the Tampa Lightening. The Bolts are currently scoring an amazing 3.74 goals-per-game, the most in the NHL. Along with some scoring pressure from the Avs, who are scoring over three goals-per-game, tenth in the NHL, this game could turn into a shootout, and we’re certainly targeting the Bolts tonight. But with a max of only four players per team, who else will we look at? Let’s take a look 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 16th
The Penguins are scoring 2.88 goals per game, in the middle of the NHL, but they have one of the best match ups of the night, in Arizona against a terrible Coyotes defense. The Yotes are giving up 3.44 goals per game, tied with the Islanders for the worst in the NHL. So while Sidney Crosby ($9,000) and Evgeni Malkin ($7,800) are quite expensive, they’re both great options at center tonight. We recommend not paying up for Crosby and sticking with Malkin. Between the two, they’re nearly equally as productive this season.
As we already mentioned, the Lightening have one of the best goalie match ups tonight as well. Steven Stamkos ($8,600) is also expensive, but with 43 points in only 31 games, Stamkos has the second most in the NHL, including 31 assists tied with Jakub Voracek for most in the NHL. If you’re willing to pay up for Crosby, we recommend picking Stamkos instead. Steven is the better value.
However, while Stamkos is the more dominate product at center for the Bolts, Brayden Point ($5,800) is leading the second line for the top scoring team in the NHL. Point’s production has been muted by the dominate performance of the top line, but he’s still dropping around 15 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. Point is the top value option for Saturday night’s slate.
Another sneaky value pick is Pierre-Luc Dubois ($5,200). We grabbed Dubois on Thursday night for a similar salary, and he rewarded with a power play goal and 23.7 FanDuel NHL points. The fantasy hockey value for third overall pick of he 2016 draft is rapidly emerging. Dubois is leading the Blue Jackets top line right now, along-side Artemi Panarin.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Dec 16th
With the Caps on the ice at home tonight, Alex Ovechkin ($8,700) is an obvious top pick at win. Ovi is having a great year, and he’s a lock for 15+ FanDuel NHL points each time he plays, and will likely exceed 20 points tonight against the Ducks.
But we like Nikita Kucherov ($9,000) more than Ovechkin tonight. Kucherov is currently the most dynamic player in hockey. With 22 goals and 22 assists, Nikita is leading the NHL with 44 points. Kucherov is consistently averaging over 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, after 31 games, and has a shot at 40+ points tonight, with the match up in Colorado.
Even better, we can stack Kucherov with Vladislav Namestnikov ($6,600). Vlad is more inconsistent, sometimes have quiet games even with around 20 minutes of ice time. But Namestnikov is benefit-ting from playing on the Bolts top line this season, along with Stamkos and Kucherov, who are top-two in total NHL points this season.
We mentioned the Penguins as top picks at center, and Phil Kessel ($7,800) is one of the top picks at wing if you’re considering a Penguins stack, or want exposure to their great match up. The veteran is having a fantastic season, 15 goals and 22 assists tying him with John Tavares, 9th in the NHL, with total points. With this match up, he’s a slam-dunk pick.
After a long losing streak, including many one-goal losses in overtime, the Flyers are not on a hot streak. Philly’s head coach, Dave Hakstol, moved the lines around a bit, and the result has been dynamic scoring over the last five games. That makes Claude Giroux ($7,500) and Wayne Simmonds ($5,300) top ten FanDuel NHL picks tonight, at home against Ben Bishop and the Stars.
Also, while Jakub Voracek ($7,700) moved to the Flyers second line, he’s still their most productive offensive player. Play any of these three, but Simmonds is clearly the best value.
Fortunately, digging for a value pick was easy tonight. We already mentioned the great Penguins match up with the Coyotes several times, and 23-year-old Dominik Simon ($3,100) has been getting around 15 minutes of ice time since being called up to play against the Maple Leafs on December 9th. Simon is likely off many FanDuel NHL players radar’s, so this is a sneaky great value pick with potential low ownership.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Dec 16th
Like the list of possible wings to play, the scoring potential at defense is uniquely high tonight. Kris Letang ($6,900) is clearly a great option if you’re looking to stack the Penguins against the Yotes. But while Erik Karlsson ($6,800) is on the ice tonight, he and the Senators have been underwhelming. And with Roman Josi ($6,300) in Calgary, Letang seems like the best option of the three, even though he’s expensive.
Drew Doughty ($6,000) is playing in New York against the Islanders, who are tied with the Coyotes giving up 3.44 goals-per-game, the worst in the NHL. So if you need to save $900 in salary, and can’t afford Letang, Doughty is a great pick, and likely the second best pick on defense tonight.
But with a heavy focus on the Bolts tonight, we really like Victor Hedman ($5,600). He hasn’t been scoring goals as often this season, only two, but he has 17 assists and is on the ice 25 to 30 minutes with one of the top scoring offenses in the NHL. Victor will also get several shots on goal and blocked shots, for a solid double-digit result on a modest salary.
With some interest in the Flyers tonight, Ivan Provorov ($4,400) and Andrew MacDonald ($3,500) continue to be great value plays on defense. MacDonald’s results are misleading.
Andrew only played in 16 games this year, due to an injury. Since coming back on the ice, he’s getting around 25 minutes of ice time, and is providing helpers. MacDonald’s average will likely climb closer to the double-digits over the next couple of weeks. And of course, you can always pay a little more for Shayne Gostisbehere ($5,300), the Flyers most productive defender.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Dec 16th
As we mentioned at the start of the article, FanDuel NHL will be tough tonight due to the stacked talent of goalies on the ice tonight. But, some of these plays are misleading.
Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,600) is the best goalie between the pipes tonight, averaging over 26 FanDuel NHL points-per-game as a consistent starter for the Bolts. We’ve mentioned several times that we like Tampa’s offense tonight, but I’m concerned about Andrei as a goalie pick.
The Avs are also a dynamic offense this season, 10th in scoring in the NHL. So paying $9.6K for a goalie with that much risk, seems like a mistake. However, it’s still a solid pick with risk in almost every goalie play.
Carey Price ($8,700) has been struggling this season. The Habs are playing in a prime time match up against the Senators, who haven’t scored well this season, but there are too many better options than Price tonight.
Braden Holtby ($9,300) and Sergei Bobrovsky ($8,700) are each sound picks at goalie tonight, but we like Pekka Rinne ($8,700) the most. The Predators are playing the Flames in Calgary tonight.
Calgary has had some spark over the last month, but are still struggling to score three goals per game. And Rinne is has been on fire lately with nearly 30 saves per game and five wins in his last seven starts. Like all goalies tonight, Pekka has some risk with this match up, but for the price, he’s definitely the best value.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Saturday, December 16th:
C Kopitar (LA $7,300)
C Point (TB $5,800)
W Kucherov (TB $9,000)
W Namestnikov (TB $6,600)
W Simmonds (PHI $5,300)
W Simon (PIT $3,100)
D Hedman (TB $5,600)
D MacDonald (PHI $3,500)
G Rinne (NSH $8,700)
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!