FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: December 18
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays. This is the Monday, December 18th edition. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
With so many NHL games on Saturday, our last column, playing the Saturday FanDuel NHL slate was difficult. Several winning GPP and cash-game lineups had 250+ points. Putting up over 200 points a night in FanDuel NHL is difficult to accomplish. Still, with our picks last night we landed at, mostly, between 150 and 200 points, setting us up for several wins, especially in cash plays.
The genius move of the night was playing Carter Hutton, who had 48 saves, a shutout, and a win for 58.4 FanDuel NHL points. Also, while we nailed Jack Eichel on Thursday night, who piled up points with a hat-trick and assist, Gabriel Landeskog was not on our radar on Saturday.
Playing Hutton yesterday was just pure genius in a streaming option and DFS. No way to know he would make nearly 50 saves.
— Chris Wassel (@ChrisWasselDFS) December 17, 2017
Landeskog had three goals and two assists for an astronomical 62.6 points. Stacking Gabriel with Nathan MacKinnon, who had another two goals for the Avs, landed you over 106 points with just two players. And with Hutton, you easily won cash games. We did mention that game would be a shootout, and should’ve focused more on the Avs, instead of just the Bolts.
But Pekka Rinne worked out well enough, piling up 32 saves for a win and shutout, as expected. Rinne gave us over 45 FanDuel NHL points. Along with Brayden Point, Anze Kopitar, Nikita Kucherov, and Victor Hedman, we were able to build a quality NHL DFS optimal lineup. But, while the Flyers won 2-1, their offense was flat most of the night, hurting our GPP prospects.
With only five games tonight, we have a more focused view of the lineups, and will use recent experience to build today’s NHL DFS optimal lineup. Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Monday, December 18th:
Blue Jackets at Bruins (7pm ET)
Ducks at Devils (7pm ET)
Kings at Flyers (7pm ET)
Penguins at Avalanche (9pm ET)
Sharks at Oilers (9pm ET)
Tonight, we have several great goalie match ups. Tuukka Rask and the re-emerging Bruins are hosting a very good Blue Jackets team with Sergei Bobrovsky in goal. The Devils are scoring well this year, but the Ducks aren’t allowing many goals. Both the Flyers and Kings are playing better defense this year, but have the potential to pile up goals on offense, so which one wins that battle tonight?
The Penguins are starting to demonstrate offensive prowess after a terrible start to the season. But the Avalanche are one of the top scoring teams in the NHL, and dumped a lot of goals in net against a very good Bolts defense. And with the Oilers hosting the Sharks tonight, we can expect more scoring chances for San Jose than we’re used to seeing this season.
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 18th
After the onslaught of goals from the Avalanche over the weekend, and with the digression of the Penguins early this season, it’s tempting to take center options like Nathan MacKinnon ($7,800) on home ice, in Denver, tonight against the Penguins.
But Matt Murray is not longer on the IR, and should defend the puck between the pipes tonight for Pittsburgh. Murray has only given up two goals in each of the two games he started since coming off of the IR. So, while the Avs are a hot offense, we’re fading them tonight.
Connor McDavid ($9,200) is on home ice for the Oilers tonight, but this is another match up we do not love. The Sharks have a solid Martin Jones in net and they have been stingy on defense all season, only giving up 2.39 goals-per-game, the second lowest in the NHL. Instead, we really like the match up tonight for the Penguins.
While the Penguins have struggled to win games since the start of the season, it’s mostly been on the defensive side of the ice. And with Murray battling injury issues, the Penguins are now giving up over three goals per game.
But Pittsburgh has now won six of it’s last ten games, and Sidney Crosby ($9,100) and Evgeni Malkin ($7,900) have a combined 63 points. Crosby (14) has four more goals than Malkin, but Evgeni has 20 saves to Sidney’s 19. So they’re both playing around the same level of offense this year. Between the two, we consistently like Malkin, given his salary.
If you need to get cheaper with your top center pick, we like Patrice Bergeron ($7,400) as a second tier top center tonight. Like the Penguins, the Bruins have also been more productive on the offensive side of the ice lately, with Bergeron scoring two goals and providing five assists in the Bruins last seven games.
Bergeron is on the ice for 20 to 25 minutes, but David Krejci ($5,700) is on the ice for just short of 20 minutes and has been nearly as productive as Patrice over the last two weeks. Against a struggling Blue Jackets team on home ice, Krejci could be a steal tonight.
Another offensive match up we like tonight is the Sharks in Edmonton. The Oilers are giving up 3.21 goals-per-game, sixth worst in the NHL. The Sharks offense has been quiet this season, but is starting to spark over the last week. With Logan Couture out of the game tonight, Joe Thornton ($5,400) is the highest profiled center for the Sharks tonight.
But, we like a very cheap 23-year-old Chris Tierney ($3,500) over Thornton. Tierney is more inclined to score a goal and we’re getting the Sharks center on their second power-play line for only $3.5K, which is a bargain.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Dec 18th
There is a plethora of top-talent at wing tonight. We’re going to immediately eliminate the Flyers and Kings as we’re expecting a low-scoring tough offensive match up tonight. And we already pegged the Bruins, Sharks, and Penguins as our top stacking targets, with our center picks.
That aside, if you’re fading Matt Murray and the Penguins tonight, you must play red-hot Gabriel Landeskog ($6,000). The 25-year-old Swede has the potentially to emerge as a top scorer in the NHL one day. Gab now has two hat-tricks this season, and is coming off of a 62.6 FanDuel NHL performance on Saturday, from three goals and two assists against a very good Lightening team. If the Penguins struggle tonight, it’s likely because Landeskog remains hot.
With the Landeskog elephant addressed, we’re focusing first on the Penguins for wing picks. Phil Kessel ($7,800) is having one of his best seasons of his long veteran career. Ignore the 2nd line tag on FanDuel NHL, Kessel will be on the ice for at or more than 20 minutes tonight, and with 15 goals and 23 assists already, Kessel is 10th in the NHL in total points.
Patric Hornqvist ($5,800) is another veteran the Penguins leave on the ice for an extended period of time. While not as dominate as Kessel, Hornqvist is tied with top-line Penguins winger Jake Guentzel ($6,700) with 21 points so far this season. Patric has 11 goals, while Jake has 12, and their both great plays tonight.
With Brad Marchand ($7,700) and David Pastrnak ($7,500) both on the ice tonight, the Bruins also have some dynamic offensive weapons to pick. The only problem with both, is their price tag. But there are some sneaky value picks you can grab, like Melker Karlsson ($3,800) playing 15+ minutes on the Sharks top line against a terrible Oilers defense in Edmonton. And if you can afford him, Tomas Hertl ($4,900) improves your scoring odds, compared to Karlasson, from the Sharks.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Dec 18th
Well, tonight is the night! We were high on Brent Burns ($7,200) all of last season, but after a slow start this year, we’ve been fading Burns each week. The Sharks offense has sputtered this year, but Burns and the Sharks are beginning to regain their scoring.
Over the last five Sharks games, Brent has piled up five goals and three assists. Along with his three to eight shots per game, and blocked shots, Burns can rapidly create nearly 30 FanDuel NHL points in any given game, like he did last season. We believe Burns is ‘back’, and now is a great time to grab him while he’s still ‘cheap.’
If you’re fading Burns, again, grab Kris Letang ($6,900). We love the Penguins tonight, and if you’re looking to complete a Penguins stack on defense, pay up to get their dynamic ice-hog, who’s had a goal and five assists in the last seven games. Like Burns, Letang can be effective even when not scoring, due to his high shot volume and blocked shots.
While we like the Penguins more than the Avalanche tonight, it’s hard to ignore how great of a value Tyson Barrie ($5,100) continues to be each week. Tyson is on the ice for only around 20 minutes, but he’s very active in the power play, and often provides assists, along with his blocked shots.
Finally, a sneaky value pick on defense is second-line defensive-men Justin Braun ($3,900). Braun is one of those productive players who gets over 20 minutes of ice time, and while he’s not scoring often, provides a lot of assists, four over the last six games, shots on goal, and blocked shots to quickly pile up around ten or more FanDuel NHL points, consistently.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Dec 18th
Jonathan Quick ($8,800) is arguably the best goalie on the ice tonight, and the Kings are giving up the least amount of goals per game in the NHL. But the Kings are in Philadelphia tonight, facing a hot Flyers team on a six game winning streak. Quick is worth a consideration, but there’s lots of risk with this expensive play.
We also talked about how we like the Penguins more tonight, and since coming off the IR, Matt Murray ($8,700) is only giving up two goals per game. We should at least get 12 points for the win, but we did see the Avs pile up five goals against a good Tampa Bay Lightning team on Saturday.
Sergei Bobrovsky ($8,700) may be the second most expensive goalie tonight, but he’s not currently playing like one of the top goalies in the NHL. Over the last three games, Bob has given up 11 goals, and only around 21-22 saves. Sergei and the Blue Jackets are struggling right now, which makes Tuukka Rask ($8,200) a sneaky pick tonight.
While he struggled earlier in the season, Rask has been incredible over the last two weeks. In fact, Rask has only given up more than two goals in one game over his last seven starts. And the third goal against Rask, was in an overtime loss. Tuukka is our favorite net-minder tonight!
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Monday, December 18th:
C Malkin (PIT $7,900)
C Tierney (SJ $3,500)
W Kessel (PIT $7,800)
W Guentzel (PIT $6,700)
W Hornqvist (PIT $5,800)
W Karlsson (SJ $3,800)
D Burns (SJ $7,200)
D Braun (SJ $3,900)
G Rask (BOS $8,200)
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!