FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: January 10
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays. This is the Wednesday, January 10th 2018 edition. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
Tuesday night was an amazing night to be playing FanDuel NHL lineups. Patrick Kane was a key contributor for all winning cash or GPP plays. We anticipated the Chicago Blackhawks would dump a ton of goals into the net against the Senators in Ottawa, and they piled up eight goals, only giving up two, for a total of ten in the game.
Kane had an incredible four assists and one goal, getting involved in five of the eight scoring events. Patrick’s goal was of the power play variety, he also had three power play assists, a blocked shot, and three shots on goal. By the end of the game, Kane had an amazing 52.4 FanDuel NHL points, and if you had him in your lineup you were well on your way to winning, with any of the other combinations we highlighted.
Another huge contributor was Nick Schmaltz, who had two of those goals from Kane, and an assist, for 38.3 FanDuel NHL points. One of the big disappointments of the night was Brandon Saad staying quiet in such a high-scoring game. With only three shots, and a blocked shot, Saad had a disappointing 6.4 FanDuel NHL points. Even worse, Brian Hartman put up a goose-egg, quiet all night without one point.
Our two biggest center focuses were great last night. Blake Wheeler developed a total of 22.9 FanDuel NHL points, primarily from two assists and two blocked shots. But one of those blocked shots hit Wheeler in the wrist and he was sent off the ice. That could be a huge blow to the Jets red-hot offense.
Also, Jonathan Toews almost quietly created 35.2 FanDuel NHL points with a peppering of seven shots on goal, two reaching the net. And while John Carlson had a goal and five blocked shots, building a 23.2 FanDuel NHL point result, his goal was Alex Ovechkin‘s only big even of the night, providing an assist, and two shots, for a miserable 11.2 FanDuel NHL points. If you pivoted from Ovi, you probably had a better outcome.
Finally, with Connor Hellebuyck a late scratch from goal, and Steve Mason playing dreadful this season, we recommended using fellow NHL DFS optimal lineup writer Rob Geriak’s recommendation of moving to Philip Grubauer. With the Canucks scoring well on road ice, we figured they’d get a lot of shots on goal, and they did. Vancouver only scored one goal last night, but Philip was able to grab 37 saves and the win, for 37.6 FanDuel NHL points. Thanks Rob!
Replace Hellebuyck with Grubauer. 👀 https://t.co/doVYE4FnyT
— Rob Geriak (@TheRobGeriak) January 9, 2018
So with those results in mind, we move on to a short two game slate, with three of the four teams on the ice tonight, playing back-to-back games. Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Wednesday, January 10th:
Senators at Maple Leafs (7:30pm ET)
Wild at Blackhawks (8pm ET NBC SN)
Right off the bat we’re intrigued by the Blackhawks offense. They just piled up eight goals on the road, and are averaging a much better 3.53 goals per game in Chicago, seventh best in the NHL. Meanwhile, on the road, the Wild are only averaging 2.64 goals, and lost 2-3 to the Flames in Minnesota last night. Should we stack the Hawks?
While the Senators are scoring well in Ottawa, they have a dreadful 2.26 goals per game on road ice. That’s second worst in the NHL. To make matters worse for the Sens, they’re giving up 3.21 goals per game on the road, leading to a very likely loss. So we know the Maple Leafs stack may be in play as well. But can the Leafs bounce back from a disappointing home loss to a struggling Blue Jackets team?
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: Jan 10th
Like last night, the top center picks are obvious and very affordable. Before we even get through some of the other options, immediately consider picking Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews ($7,800) with Jonathan Toews ($6,800). We know the Hawks offense is hot, and the Maple Leafs have an offensive advantage against the Senators on home ice.
Matthews was cold on Monday against the Blue Jackets, only providing one shot on goal in 19 minutes of ice time. But in his last seven games, Auston has five goals. Goal-scoring is Matthews specialty, tied for tenth in the NHL with 19.
In his short, nearly two-year, career, only Alex Ovechkin has scored as many goals as Auston is on pace to score by the end of this season. Tonight, against a Senators team giving up too many goals on road ice, Matthews is a solid bet to get a goal, or two, in net.
If you’ve followed our column yesterday, you’re aware we were high on Toews yesterday, and as we already discussed, he didn’t disappoint with 35.7 FanDuel NHL points on a reasonable salary. The Wild should be a tougher opponent, but Devan Dubnyk has been dreadful on road ice, giving up 4.5 goals per away game, in his last four away starts. Two of those games were as much as six goals. Jonathan should be a 20+ point candidate tonight.
If you’re not sold on the top two options, there are slim pickings through the rest of the list. Eric Staal ($6,600) is a healthy consideration if you’re fading the Hawks. In his last four games, Eric has four goals, getting two goals in half the games. but when not scoring goals, Staal often provides little other offense, and could land you below five points on an expensive $6.6K salary.
While the Senators have struggled on defense, their offense remains healthy, and among the rest of the picks on the board, Derick Brassard ($5,900) is one of our favorite values. Brassard has two assists and two goals in the Sens last three games.
The Leafs should have Frederik Andersen in net tonight, and he’s been solid this season. But Toronto allows too many shots on goal for Andersen, and while he has a high save percentage, it’s mostly because of the high volume of goals, meaning he’ll still allow several goals in a game, with a great save percentage, even if winning a game. This could open the door for Brassard to be a great pick at center tonight.
Finally, Nick Schmaltz ($5,200) and his second line is red-hot right now. Over the last four games, Schmaltzy has at least 13+ FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and has another offensive advantage tonight. As we mentioned already, last night in Ottawa, Nick had two power play goals and one assist for 38.3 FanDuel NHL points. Now Schmaltz is bringing a four-game point streak to home ice, where the Hawks play their best.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Jan 10th
Among the wingers, the first top pick Patrick Kane ($8,300) is obvious, but you’re likely to skim past Mark Stone ($7,100). Don’t. Over the last three games, Stone has an incredible three goals and give assists, nearly averaging three points per game. And in his last seven games, Mark has four goals and eight assists.
While he has a couple of quiet games among the seven, he’s developing a consistent offensive dominating performance. With the Leafs often playing soft on defense, even on home ice, Stone could rack up another 20+ FanDuel NHL points tonight, with very little ownership on a small slate.
Kane is an obvious pick, for the same reasons we already discussed. He’s red-hot. At times Patrick can also be inconsistent, but last night he had a power play goal, four assists, three shots on goal, and a blocked shot. It’s hard to imagine Kane will have a massive drop-off in productivity with back-to-back games and each an offensive advantage. Play him again tonight!
It’s actually feasible, to play Matthews, Toews, Kane, and Stone tonight. We’ll get to that later. But the hard part is finding the right mid-salary range or value plays at the wing position. James van Riemsdyk ($6,000) may have an unimpressive streak of only two goals and one assist in his last seven games, but he’s fairly consistently providing double-digit FanDuel NHL points this season. With this match up tonight, van Riemsdyk is likely to push for 20 points.
If you’re not sold on van Riemsdyk’s production lately, pivot to William Nylander ($5,900), who has a power play goal and two assists in his last three games, and two goals and four assists in his last seven games. In this match up, Nylander likely stays hot.
Looking back to the Blackhawks, a pick we’re still considering, even though he was disappointing last night, is Brandon Saad ($5,900). Yes, he only had three shots on goal and a blocked shot for 6.4 FanDuel NHL points in an eight-goal onslaught for the Hawks. But over the last five games, Saad has two goals and four assists, and it’s likely he bounces back tonight.
Two cheaper, but high point potential, options from the Leafs and Hawks are Zach Hyman ($4,300) and Vinnie Hinostroza ($4,100). Between the two, Hinostroza has been more consistent over the last two weeks, but Hyman sees nearly 20 minutes of ice time, and has the better offensive match up tonight. Regardless, one or both could help you grab the more expensive options at center and wing tonight.
Finally, one more contrarian pick like Stone. Ryan Dzingel ($3,600) was quiet last night. But we’ve been tracking Dzingel’s progress over the last week and have been impressed. We faded Ryan last night because of the match up, but tonight he could be in play again.
In his last four games, Dzingel has played on the Sens top line and scored four goals. He has a low point average, but with his time, now, on Ottawa’s top regular line and second power-play unit, Dzingel is seeing around 20 minutes of ice time and his point average is rapidly climbing.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Jan 10th
Depending how expensive you went at center or wing, Erik Karlsson ($7,000) may still be affordable. With the Senators offense heating up, Karlsson is a more valuable pick lately. Even without scoring Erik will get you two to five shots on goal and several blocked shots. But over the last three games, Karlsson piled up five goals. And in the last six games, Erik has three multi-point games. With the Leafs defense tonight, Karlsson is in play. A cheap, and sneaky, pivot from Karlsson is Dion Phaneuf ($4,600) whose back on the ice after a prolonged injury related absence.
For mid-range value, we like either Duncan Keith ($5,400) or Jared Spurgeon ($5,200). Even with the Blackhawks scoring lately, Keith’s fantasy value has been underwhelming this year. Bu in his last seven games, Keith has six assists, and is averaging a few shots on goal and blocked shots per game. So we know Keith is good for about ten points. With a big scoring night from the Hawks, he could be worth 15 to 20 points.
If you’re fading the Hawks defense tonight, and like the Wild at home, Jared Spurgeon has been hot over the last month. Jared had a goal last night against the Flames, and has another goal and five assists in his prior six games. Assume Forsberg has an off night, Spurgeon is likely to land somewhere near 20 FanDuel NHL points.
Two great value picks for our Blackhawks and Maple Leafs stacks are Morgan Rielly ($5,200) and Jordan Oesterle ($4,000). Rielly was quiet on Tuesday against the Blue Jackets, but most of the Leafs were. Prior to that disapopinting result, Morgan had at least one assist in five of six games, totaling six during that time. With 25 minutes of ice time, several shots on goal, and a blocked shot or two, Rielly is a strong play. With another assist, Morgan could have 15 to 20 points.
Oesterle has been a main focus of ours for weeks now, and his run continues. Also leading a top line, for the Hawks, Jordan’s FanDuel NHL average has rapidly climbed toward 20 points-per-game over the last two weeks. That incredible, considering Keith’s average is below 11, and he’s $1.4K more expensive. Jordan now has three goals and four assists in the Hawks last six games. His hot streak should continue in Chicago tonight.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Jan 10th
Narrowing our goalies down tonight, is fairly easy. While no goalies have been confirmed at the time this article is written, we’re expecting Mike Condon ($7,200) to start for the Senators, Frederik Andersen ($8,400) to start for the Maple Leafs, Devan Dubnyk ($8,600) to start for the Wild, and Anton Forsberg ($7,400) to be in the crease for the Blackhawks.
Condon and the Senators defense has been horrendous over the last couple of weeks, even if winning games. So there’s no way we’re interested in Mike tonight. He’s only good for a GPP play. Dubnyk and Andersen are arguably the best goalies on ice tonight. As mentioned before, Andersen leads the NHL in saves, mostly because the Leafs defense has been porous. Still, with the high save potential, Frederik is a solid play tonight, and likely the top goalie.
If the Hawks were playing the Wild in Minnesota, our top goalie would be Dubnyk. However, away from home, Devan has been terrible, giving up 4.5 goals per game in this scenario over the last six weeks. Also, with the Blackhawks offense on fire right now, this is a terrible time to pay up for Dubnyk.
Instead, we’re focusing on the great value Forsberg has to offer tonight. While the Wild have been tough to beat on home ice, they’re struggling to win any games on the road. Minnesota is giving up 3.64 goals per game on the road, third worst in the NHL. Meanwhile, averaging 29.7 shots on goal, while traveling, they’re only scoring 2.64 per game, eleventh worst in the NHL. So Anton has the perfect set up for an easy 30+ FanDuel NHL point win tonight, and at a much cheaper price than Andersen or Dubnyk.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Wednesday, January 10th:
C Matthews (TOR $7,800)
C Toews (CHI $6,800)
W Kane (CHI $8,300)
W Stone (OTT $7,100)
W Hyman (TOR $4,300)
W Dzingel (OTT $3,600)
D Rielly (TOR $5,200)
D Oesterle (CHI $4,000)
G Forsberg (CHI $7,400)
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!