FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: December 29
By Matt Rogers
Welcome to the Friday, December 29th edition of the FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
With plenty of value identified, yesterday’s lineup options work out very well. Aside from a low 4.8 FanDuel NHL points from Erik Haula, most of our skating and goalie options landed between eleven and 40 points. If you played many of the picks, especially the value picks, you should have won all cash plays, and had a shot at GPP’s with a smart swap or two in the lineup.
Before Sam Gagner and the Canucks hit the ice, it appeared Nick Bjugstad was our top value pick of the night. He had two shots on goal and was involved in two of the three goals, with two helpers against the Flyers on home ice. On a cheap $4,000 salary, Bjugstad was able to turn around 19.2 FanDuel NHL points for us. Even better, Nick’s ownership was below 15% in most GPP’s.
But it turned out the top value pick was our center value suggestion, Sam Gagner. For a bargain salary of $3,800 and an average ownership in the 5% range, we saw Gagner pile up two goals and an assist, along with three shots on goal, for a total of 36.8 FanDuel NHL points. Sam allowed us to pick several top options across the lineup, and was a perfect setup for a great NHL DFS optimal lineup earnings night.
Our top two defensive picks, Brent Burns ($7,200) and Victor Hedman ($6,200) were pricey, but they both had an assist and identical 17.6 FanDuel NHL point result. And at goalie, our top value pick, Jacob Markstrom, paid off on home ice against the Blackhawks. Markstrom let two goals in, but he also had 30 saves and was able to get the 5-2 win over the Hawks.
So, once again, we’re happy where most of the picks landed last night, and will take what we learned from the misses and move forward. Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Friday, December 29th:
Sabres at Devils (7pm ET)
Blue Jackets at Senators (7:30pm ET)
Rangers at Red Wings (7:30pm ET)
Flyers at Lightning (7:30pm ET)
Penguins at Hurricanes (7:30pm ET)
Predators at Wild (8pm ET NBC SN)
Islanders at Jets (8pm ET)
Blues at Stars (8:30pm ET)
Maple Leafs at Avalanche (9pm ET)
Blackhawks at Oilers (9pm ET)
Flames at Ducks (10pm ET)
Like Wednesday, we’re back to a large eleven game slate tonight. We even have a great one, the Predators visiting the Wild in Minnesota, on NBC Sports Network tonight, which is unique for a Friday night.
With teams like the Predators and Lightning back on the ice, we may need to revisit some of our recent top picks, again, tonight. But the challenge for Friday night will be identifying the goalie match ups.
With so many games this week, and so little time to rest, it’s hard to know who each team will place between the pipes until later in the day. But given the trend of the week, and a steady dose of beat-writer reading, we can make a solid guess at the match ups.
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 29th
With three goals and seven assists in the Oilers last seven games, Connor McDavid ($9,000) is hot. With almost 17 FanDuel NHL points-per-game after 37 games play, McDavid is consistently a top FanDuel NHL consideration. But Connor’s salary remains consistently expensive, and for the first two months of the season, it was rarely worth justifying McDavid as a valuable pick in FanDuel NHL.
Tonight, the Oilers host a Blackhawks team reeling over the last couple of weeks. When away from Chicago, the Blackhawks are only scoring 2.42 goals per game, fifth worst in the NHL. In the same scenario, the Hawks are giving up over three goals per game, in the middle of the league. McDavid has a goal or assist in each of his last three games, and is likely to stay hot on home ice tonight.
But, while McDavid is a solid candidate for 20+ FanDuel NHL points tonight, Leon Draisaitl ($6,500) saves you $2.5K and is also likely to get over 20 points tonight. Leon has actually be more productive than McDavid over the last three weeks.
While Draisaitl only has one goal in his last seven games, he’s piled up nine assists. The Oilers have played eleven games in the month of December, so far, and Draisaitl has only scored below 11+ FanDuel NHL points in three of those games. Leon is a sneaky top pick tonight at center.
With the top-scoring Islanders on the ice, John Tavares ($8,800) is always a consideration. But keep an eye on the Jets starting goalie tonight. Connor Hellebuyck is having a good season, especially on home ice, and the Islanders could be a risky offensive play tonight.
Steven Stamkos ($8,300) and the Bolts incredible offensive is on home ice against the Flyers, more attractive than Tavares’ situation. Last night, Stamkos piled up 35.7 FanDuel NHL points on seven shots, and two goals, one of which was during a power play. The Flyers have been tougher on defense lately, but are no match for the Bolts on home ice.
Looking back at the Jets and Isles game, we realized there is tremendous value playing Bryan Little ($5,000) on home ice tonight. With the Mark Scheifele injury, Little’s ice time climbed up to 21 minutes on Wednesday against the Oilers. As a result, Bryan had three shots on goal, one of which crossed over the crease, and added a blocked shot for 18.4 FanDuel NHL points. We could see a similar scenario tonight.
Two more mid-salary range options to consider before we move onto wings are Columbus Blue Jackets Pierre-Luc Dubois ($5,700) and Lightning’s Brayden Point ($5,600). Dubois had been having a mediocre season, but is hot this month, and Point is quietly leading a great second line for the Bolts, one of the best scoring teams in the NHL.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Dec 29th
In our opinion, the only expensive top wing pick you should consider paying up for is Nikita Kucherov ($9,200). With a 20.5 FanDuel NHL point-per-game average, Kucherov is always a unique must-have for cash games and great, but expensive, anchor for GPP’s. Nikita has at least one goal or assist in every game since December 9th. And with an ideal match up against the Flyers on home ice, he’s a slam-dunk pick.
If you can’t afford Kucherov or can afford to pair him with another top pick at wing, Taylor Hall ($7,400) has been an absolute beast on the ice for the Devils lately. In his last three games, Hall has a goal and four assists. Taylor leads New Jersey in goals (12), assists (24), and points (36) this season.
Tonight, the Devils host the Sabres in New Jersey. The Sabres have been terrible this season defending the puck from net, but are even worse away from home. In this scenario, the Sabres are giving up 3.6 goals-per-game, third worst in the NHL, while only scoring 2.3 goals. Hall isn’t far behind Kucherov as a top winger tonight.
The Islanders are giving up 3.63 goals per game when away from home this season. Tonight, they’re traveling to Winnipeg to face the Jets. With Scheifele off the ice tonight, Patrik Laine ($7,400) and Blake Wheeler ($7,300) are going to get a lot of ice time in ideal scoring situations for the Jets tonight. Either is another top-five pick.
With eleven goals and league-leading 37 assists, Josh Bailey ($7,000) is having a career season. Bailey is tied with Tavares with 48 points, second in the NHL, and is only four points behind NHL leader Kucherov.
The Islanders could have a tough road match up tonight, but they’re also one of the NHL’s leading scoring teams. So playing Bailey is typically safe this season. If you like the Isles but need a cheaper top wing option, pivot to Anders Lee ($6,600), whose third in the NHL with 22 goals.
Mikko Rantanen ($5,900) is averaging nearly 13 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, which is great. But the more attractive result is Mikko’s consistency. In eight of his last nine games, Rantanen has eight-plus FanDuel NHL points, and seven of those games were in the double-digits.
Mikko plays on the Avs top line, which has been very productive this season, and hosts a Maple Leafs team who’s struggled to stop goals, even with their success so far this year.
Over the last week, the Carolina Hurricanes have been hot, and a big reason for that is Sebastian Aho ($5,800). In the last two games, Aho has has three goals and one assist. Sebastian consistently plays on the Canes top lines, and sees 15-20 minutes of ice time per game. Aho is also typically firing shots on net each game, and isn’t afraid to block a shot. In a favorable match up on home ice against Pittsburgh, we like Aho again tonight.
Finally, digging for deeper value, we like Ondrej Kase ($3,900) on home ice against the Flames tonight. If the Flames have Mike Smith in goal tonight, this is a risky play. But the 22-year-old is playing on the Ducks top line, seeing around 15 minutes of ice time per night, and has three goals and one assist in their last four games.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Dec 29th
With the Penguins placing Kris Letang on IR yesterday, and Erik Karlsson ($6,900) providing inconsistent results this season, we’re looking at Victor Hedman ($6,300), again, as our top pick on defense tonight.
Some FanDuel NHL players may be getting sick of playing Hedman, because he’s been an ideal pick on defense for the last several weeks. But fading Victor tonight is likely a mistake. While Hedman is only averaging 12.8 FanDuel NHL points-per-game this season, he’s consistently averaging over 16 points-per-game in December and we should expect Hedman to remain hot the rest of the season.
Shayne Gostisbehere ($5,800) is likely a good pick again tonight, even away from home against a solid Bolts team. The Lightning may have a back up goaltender in net tonight, and Ghosts sharp-shooting has been on point lately.
We also typically like Roman Josi ($5,900) and P.K. Subban ($5,600) when they’re on the ice, a great FanDuel NHL stacking option when the Predators play. But we don’t love their match up in Minnesota. Instead, with Zach Werenski likely out again tonight, we love the value Seth Jones ($5,400) provides against a struggling Senators defense.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Dec 29th
Assuming he starts, our favorite play in net is Sergei Bobrovsky ($8,600). The Blue Jackets struggled in recent weeks, but with so much talent on that team, they were likely to bounce back. Bob has 30+ saves in each of his last four starts, and tonight has a favorable match up against the Senators, in Ottawa. Even though they’re on road ice, we could even see a shutout from this one.
Robin Lehner ($7,500) has been playing well lately, and if they weren’t playing in New Jersey against a hot Devils team, I’d consider Lehner a great value pick. Instead, we like the odds of Cory Schneider ($8,400) pulling off another win tonight, with the potential for 25 to 30 saves against a Sabres team who’s been more active on offense lately.
For the sneaky value pick at goalie tonight, we like Cam Ward ($7,600). Assuming he starts, Ward’s salary seems incredibly cheap. Cam is averaging over 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game this season. And the Penguins are only scoring 2.53 goals-per-game away from Pittsburgh, eight worst in the NHL. Also, the Penguins are giving up 3.63 goals-per-game, tied with the Islanders for league’s worst. So while Ward is buried on the goalie list, by salary, he’s actually a top five pick tonight.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Friday, December 29th:
C Draisaitl (EDM $6,500)
C Little (WPG $5,000)
W Hall (NJ $7,400)
W Bailey (NYI $7,000)
W Aho (CAR $5,800)
W Kase (ANH $3,900)
D Hedman (TB $6,300)
D Jones (CLS $5,400)
G Ward (CAR $7,600)
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!