FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: January 4

Welcome back to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays.  This is the Thursday, January 4th edition.  We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.

Yesterday, with a two game slate, we had limited lineup options.  But we were confident with our top picks, knowing that if they played out well, it would be easy to win most cash and GPP plays.  As it turned out, most of those picks were spot on.

One of the recommended Red Wing stacks was Andreas Athanasiou ($3,900) with Dylan Larkin.  Larkin was one of our top centers, and he ended the night with an assist and two shots, totaling 12.8 FanDuel NHL points.  But Athanasiou piked up 35.2 FanDuel NHL points on two of the Red Wings only goals, along with seven shots.  Andreas was easily the best value of the night, with a low $3.9K salary, and the best point result.

In our lineup example, we recommended stacking mostly Rangers and Blackhawks, along with some Red Wings on offense.  We were expecting the best defensive play from the Red Wings, and that worked out well.  With the exception of J.T. Miller, who only had 3.2 FanDuel NHL points on one blocked shot and shot on goal, everyone in the recommended lineup had double-digit points.

Mika Zibanejad ($6,300) hadn’t scored a goal in a few weeks, but we thought Wednesday’s match up against Glass was a great opportunity for Mika to bounce back.  Obviously there was some risk with that play, but he still had 43% ownership in most GPP’s.  Zibanejad had finally scored a goal last night, a power play goal, and five shots on goal for 20.5 FanDuel NHL points.  Mats Zuccarello ($6,500) added an assist for Mika’s, power play goal, giving us an additional 11.7 points.

We were nervous about playing the Blackhawks against Lundqvist, but they piled up five goals.  As a result, Patrick Kane was worth the $8,400 salary and gave us a goal and assist, along with five shots on goal for 28 FanDuel NHL points.  His second-line mate Hartman had two assists, adding another 19.2 points to the lineup.

On defense, Kevin Shattenkirk was active blocking shots, four of them, and had four shots on goal for a solid 12.8 FanDuel NHL point result.  Our top value pick on defense, Jordan Oesterle, plugged in an additional 17.6 points with an assist, four shots, and two blocked shots.

Finally, we favored Jimmy Howard‘s match up over Henrik Lundqvist, and that paid off.  While Howard gave up one goal to the Senators on home ice, he also had 33 waves and the win, for another 12 FanDuel NHL points.  Jimmy ended the night with 34.4 points, and if he were able to obtain the shutout, he would’ve had over 40 points.

So after another great night of FanDuel NHL results, we’ll do our best to maintain the momentum and identify great picks for a busy night in the NHL.  Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Thursday, January 4th: 

Panthers at Bruins (7pm ET)

Sharks at Maple Leafs (7pm ET)

Islanders at Flyers (7pm ET)

Hurricanes at Penguins (7pm ET)

Lightning at Canadiens (7:30pm ET)

Golden Knights at Blues (8pm ET)

Sabres at Wild (8pm ET)

Devils at Stars (8:30pm ET)

Blue Jackets at Avalanche (9pm ET)

Kings at Flames (9pm ET)

Ducks at Oilers (9pm ET)

Predators at Coyotes (9pm ET)

It’s Thursday night and for the NHL that means another massive 12-game slate.  Unlike the NBA, Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are the two hot weekdays for the NHL schedule, and they didn’t disappoint tonight.

As of Thursday morning, the only confirmed goalie is Tuukka Rask, for the Bruins.  However, given most of these teams had at least a day off, it’s fairly reasonable to know who most of the starting goalies are, but keep an eye on updates from @mattymcmatt17 or @FantasyCPR throughout the day.

Reviewing the match ups, we immediately like the Predators or road-ice against a terrible Coyotes defense.  The Devils and Stars match up is tricky, but we could have a sneaky play there.  Will the Flyers offense bounce-back against a terrible road-ice Isles defense?  We’ll see.  The Bruins are hot, and playing on home ice, but so are the Panthers.  We like some of the other match ups as well, but there will be several to avoid.

Now let’s start building our NHL DFS optimal lineup by looking at the top centers for this slate…

Top FanDuel NHL Centers: Jan 4th

There’s an overwhelming number of great picks for center tonight.  Steven Stamkos ($8,800) and John Tavares ($8,700) are tied for third in the NHL with 49 points.  Between the two, Tavares scores more goals, but they each have one of the top three NHL goal scorers on their line, also improving their chances for assists.

Stamkos has a great match up in Montreal, and Tavares has a wonderful match up in Philly.  They’re both on road ice, but if you can afford them, especially in cash games, pay up for one of them.

On road ice, the Devils have been giving up over three goals per game since the start of December.  That bodes well for the Stars offense, which could use a jump-start right now.  Even with the Stars offensive struggles, Tyler Seguin ($8,000) has been hot over the last couple of weeks with five goals in his last six games.  With this match up, Tyler is a great pick as well.

Another red-hot center is Nathan MacKinnon ($7,900).  The match up against the Blue Jackets with Bobrovsky likely in goal could be difficult.  But at home over the last three games, MacKinnon has two goals and six assists, and is averaging over 30 FanDuel NHL points-per-game.

Auston Matthews ($7,700) got back on the ice in late December and has four goals in his last five games.  Matthews is a unique goal-scorer who’s on pace to match only Alex Ovechkin with 40+ goals in his first two NHL seasons.  Even against a very stingy Sharks defense, Matthews is in play tonight.

One of our favorite picks at center tonight, though, is Ryan Getzlaf ($7,600).  The offensively surging Ducks head to Edmonton tonight.  The Oilers have given up a surprising 3.67 goals-per-game at home, tied with the Coyotes for the leagues worst.  And over the last nine games, Getzlaf has 10+ FanDuel NHL points in eight games.  That’s due to two goals and 13 assists in just nine games.  Against the Oilers in Edmonton, Ryan has a shot at 40 points tonight.

It’s hard to justify paying a cheap price with so many great center picks tonight.  So we’re likely not paying cheaper than $5.6K tonight.  With that in mind, we like three value picks, Ryan Johansen ($5,600) against the Coyotes in Arizona, William Karlsson ($5,600) against the Blues in St. Louis, and Brayden Point ($5,600) against the Canadiens in Montreal.  Of the three, Point is the best pick as Bradyen and his second line have been on fire since the start of December.

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

Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Jan 4th

Again at wing there is a very long list of top picks.  Before we skim through a few, a big fade for tonight is Vladimir Tarasenko ($8,200) against the stingy Vegas Golden Knight defense.  Tarasenko is one of the league’s top talents and has been playing well lately, but Vegas has been incredibly difficult to penetrate offensively over the last month.  Vlad is a great pick for a contrarian GPP play only.

Back to the top picks, if you’re playing Seguin and can afford it, sack him with Jamie Benn ($7,800).  Benn has three goals and five assists over the last seven games.  Like Benn, Claude Giroux ($7,700) has been hot over the last seven games, with a goal or assist in seven of his last eight games.  The Flyers offense was flat on Tuesday, so there’s risk with this play, but the Islanders defense away from Long Island has been horrendous.

Jonathan Marchessault ($7,200) just signed a six-year $30M extension with the Golden Knights, and that seems like a steal for Vegas.  In his last seven games, Marchessault has five goals and six assists, recording at least a point in each game.  During that period, Jonathan is averaging an amazing 22.66 FanDuel NHL points-per-game.  He’s been a hot topic of ours over the last two weeks, and while he’s hot we’ll continue recommend riding him, even in St. Louis against Allen and the Blues.

After watching the Flyers struggle in Philly against the Penguins on Tuesday, Josh Bailey ($7,200) and Anders Lee ($6,800) are great plays.  Lee is the goal-scorer of the two, but Bailey is a better all-around offensive option, now with 50 points, second in the NHL.  If you only need one, go with Bailey.

If you’re playing Getzlaf at center, a red-hot Rickard Rakell ($6,800) is your top stacking option at wing.  Over the last six games, Rickard has seven goals, scoring at least one goal in each of those games, and two against the Coyotes.  Rakell also has three assists during that period.  So with a nearly 30 FanDuel NHL point-per-game average, Richard is a tremendous pick against a terrible Oilers defense when in Edmonton.

Another consistently hot winger, and guy we’ve been on for weeks, is Mikko Rantanen ($6,500).  Over the last 15 Avalanche games, Mikko has at least one goal or assist in 12 of those games.  So over the last six weeks, Rantanen is consistently providing double-digit FanDuel NHL points.  On home ice against a struggling Blue Jackets team, Rantanen is likely to keep rolling.

With Filip Forsberg on the IR for 4-6 weeks, the Predators have a scoring void to fill tonight in Arizona.  The most likely candidate to fill that void is Viktor Arvidsson ($6,300).  The 24-year-old has a goal or assist in only two of his last five games, but Arvidsson has been involved in scoring fairly consistently throughout the year.  This is a great opportunity for Viktor to bounce back.

While we like the Predators’ offensive odds in Arizona, we do like one of the Yotes for our lineup tonight.  We’ve been on 19-year-old Clayton Keller ($5,600) for weeks now, and his salary is finally climbing to an appropriate range.  But Keller is still a decent value, averaging over 13 FanDuel NHL points-per-game.  In his last eight games, Clayton had 9.6+ points, mostly landing above 15 points as he’s had a goal or assist in all eight games.

With the Bolts Point leading the top second line tonight, and one of our top picks, we have to consider Tyler Johnson ($5,700) as an affordable stack with Brayden.  Johnson has four goals and three assists in his last three games, and the Lightning’s second line matches well against the Habs tonight.

Finally, for value we’re considering Craig Smith ($4,200) again.  While Smith hasn’t had a goal or assist in any of the last three games, he has an amazing 19 shots over that period, averaging almost seven per game.  Against the Wild, Craig was on the ice for 17 minutes and peppered the goalie with eleven shots.  He had no other stats, but that still provided us with 17.6 FanDuel NHL points.  Against the Coyotes tonight, Smith will have a lot of shooting opportunity again.

Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Jan 4th

After a very slow start for the Sharks offense, we started paying attention to Brent Burns ($7,100), again, in December.  Burns was a consistently dominate defensive pick last season, averaging nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game.  Brent is the rare defender who can provide a point or assist every game, pepper the goalie with multiple shots, and build up additional points with several blocked shots.

Burns actually started his hockey career as a right-winger, and spent some time at wing for the Sharks in the NHL.  But since moving Brent to the defensive spot, they Sharks have developed a uniquely dominate skater on the ice.  Tonight, Burns and the Sharks are playing in Toronto, against a Maple Leafs team with plenty of offensive fire power, but poor defense lately.  Buns is a must-have in all lineups, even though he’s expensive.

Victor Hedman ($6,500) continues to be red-hot for the Lightning.  In fact, Hedman’s month resembles Burns in many ways, providing almost as many points as Burns, and for a $600 bargain.  It will be incredibly difficult to stack the two together, so if you’re fading Burns because of the salary, grab Victor instead.

Roman Josi ($5,700) has historically been our favorite offensive pick from the Predators, but since early December P.K. Subban ($5,800) has emerged as the better option.  With a Preds stack in play against the Yotes, Subban is our favorite pick among the two.

The Flyers were ice-cold against the Penguins on home ice Tuesday.  But Shayne Gostisbehere ($5,700) has been hot of the last couple of weeks.  As we identified with Giroux, the Islanders defense has been terrible this season, and they’re allowing 3.76 goals-per-game when away from home, the worst in the NHL.  With that in mind, we fully expect Ghost to bounce back with another goal or assist tonight, and 15 to 20 FanDuel NHL points.

Erik Johnson ($4,700) has incredible value lately, providing two goals and two assists in the last four Avalanche games.  Also, Erik is blocking several shots and getting four to six shots on goal, creating a slam-dunk pick for double-digit points over the last two weeks.  With a decent match up on home ice against the Blue Jackets, Johnson is one of the better value picks on defense.

Finally, while we mostly stayed away from a very good Vegas Knights offense, aside from Marchessault, we still like their match up against the Blues in St. Louis.  Brayden McNabb ($3,900) is only averaging 8.32 FanDuel NHL points-per-game this season, but over the last three weeks he’s had 8+ points in every game, improving his average.

McNabb is getting 20 to 25 minutes of ice time each game, at last one shot on goal, and averaging an incredible three to six blocked shots.  Also, Brayden has a couple of helpers.  With that type of productivity, Brayden is likely to climb above 10 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and has a solid match up to maintain momentum tonight.

Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Jan 4th

There are several goalie match ups tonight which appear to be tough, but are actually great opportunities.  Veteran Carey Price ($8,400) has great career numbers, but he and the Habs are soul-searching right now, and playing a tough Lightning team, even on home ice, likely won’t help.  Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,600) is expensive, but he has a solid shot at a shutout win and 30 to 40 FanDuel NHL points tonight.  The risk with Andrei is the lack of shot on goal, and low save number.

The Florida Panthers with James Reimer ($7,700) in goal is not a team you want to play right now.  However, the Bruins are on fire and Tuukka Rask ($8,900) hasn’t given up more than one goal in a game over his last five starts.  Rask is a decent bet for a win tonight, even with this tough match up.

Cam Ward ($7,300) struggled significantly against an emerging Capitals team in Carolina on Tuesday.  But the Canes travel to Pittsburgh tonight, facing a Penguins team also struggling to find an identity this season.  Matt Murray ($8,600) filled in nicely for Tristan Jarry against the Flyers on Tuesday.  But the Penguins were already in a solid winning position when he hit the ice.  Like the rest of the team, Murray is struggling and Ward is having a great year.  We’d take the value from Cam over Matt.

But our favorite goalie is in Dallas, and is admittedly risky.  The Devils are scoring 3.11 goals-per-game away from home, fourth best in the NHL.  And New Jersey’s net-minders Cory Schneider ($8,200) and Keith Kinkaid ($7,200) are having solid seasons.  To be conservative, we’re assuming Schneider, the better goalie of the two, is in net tonight.

However, since the start of December, the Devils are struggling significantly on road ice, with a 2-5 record and have lost their last three straight.  Since December, the Devils only scored more than three goals in a road game once, against the Blue Jackets, and have given up an average of nearly four per game.

Meanwhile, Ben Bishop ($8,500) has won four of his last five home games and is having a great season on home ice.  Also, of those last five home games, Ben has two shutouts, against the Blackhawks and Sharks.  During that period, Bishop is averaging 30 to 40 FanDuel NHL points-per-game.  If Ben can pull off another win, against a team likely to provide an increased number of saves, Bishop is a sneaky top pick tonight.

So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Thursday, January 4th:

C    Getzlaf (ANH $7,600)

C    Point (TB $5,600)

W   Rakell (ANH $6,800)

W   Johnson (TB $5,700)

W   Keller (ARI $5,600)

W   Smith (NSH $4,200)

D    Burns (SJ $7,100)

D    McNabb (VGK $3,900)

G    Bishop (DAL $8,500)

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!