FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: January 12
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays. This is the Friday, January 12th 2018 edition. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
Last nights results were, somewhat, surprising. Linus Ullmark ($7,000) was the top overall FanDuel NHL performer on the ice last night. The 24-year-old Swede had a dominating performance, allowing only one goal to the Blue Jackets in Buffalo, making 44 saves, and taking the win for a total of 43.2 FanDuel NHL points.
Ullmark was very low-owned, below 10% in most GPP and cash plays, and created an easy path to winning money last night if he was in your lineup. We liked the idea of Ullmark, but ultimately decided he was too risky. However, we did suggest Linus for GPP’s, so hopefully some of you plugged him into your lineup.
We were expecting the Flames to allow a minimum amount of goals to the Lightning, in Tampa, and the only allowed one. The outcome wasn’t too surprising, as the Flames have the fourth lowest GAA away from home, 2.54 per game. But the surprising part was the Flames piling up five goals against the Bolts, who are typically good at defense in Tampa.
Michael Ferland was one of our solid mid-salary range value picks from the Flames last night. Ferland had only one shot on goal, but it went in. Additionally, Michael had two blocked shots and an assist for a total of 24.8 FanDuel NHL points. Ferland was a tremendous $5.2K pick at wing last night, and a solid way to wing cash games, even if some of your other picks were disappointing.
Jack Eichel ($7,600) was another one of our contrarian picks. Regardless of he situation, the young Sabres star is typically safe to play for NHL DFS optimal lineups. Jack also had a goal and assist, among the three goals for the Sabres, and with an additional two shots on goal had 23.2 FanDuel NHL points.
The big surprises were guys like Sebastian Aho, Johnny Gaudreau, and Kyle Okposo. Each had 23 or 24 FanDuel NHL points last night. Aho and Gaudreau are stars for their respective teams, but have been cold lately. Johnny should be at the time of everyone’s list each time he’s on the ice, but we’ve been fading him recently. Maybe that needs to end now.
With those thoughts in mind, let’s take a look at the NHL schedule for Friday, January 12th 2018:
Canucks at Blue Jackets (7pm ET)
Flames at Panthers (7:30pm ET)
Capital at Hurricanes (7:30pm ET)
Jets at Blackhawks (8:30pm ET)
Oilers at Coyotes (9pm ET)
While many who have followed hockey over the last two years may think the Blue Jackets have an advantage against the Canucks in Columbus, we were surprised by the results. The Canucks are in the middle of the pack when is comes to scoring and allowing goals on road ice in the NHL, 15th in both category.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets are only scoring 2.5 goals at home, fourth worst in the NHL, but are only giving up 2.32 goals per game, seventh best in the NHL. So we’re expecting a low scoring result from this game. If Vancouver gets three pucks in the net tonight, they’re likely a winner.
Once again, the Flames are on the road, now facing the Panthers. Florida has given up 3.37 goals per game at home, sixth worst in the NHL. But they’re also scoring 3.37 goals at home, ninth best in the NHL. However, as we saw in Tampa last night, the Flames are a hard nut to crack on defense when away from Calgary. And the Flames offense is hot, so this could be a great time to stack Calgary.
The Hurricanes give up about as many goals as they score in Carolina, around 2.8 for each. But the Canes just surprised the Capitals in D.C. last night. Can they do it twice in a row? Maybe. The Caps are scoring 2.8 goals on the road, matching up well with the Canes defense. However, the Washington has been terrible on defense away from home, giving up 3.45 goals per game, fourth worst in the NHL. If the Canes stay hot, they could blow out the Caps again tonight.
The Jets offense is firing on all cylinders, and we’ll continue to ride them until they cool off. Tonight is risky though, with the Blackhawks only giving up 2.4 goals per game in Chicago, while scoring 3.4. Going with either the Jets or Hawks tonight is probably going to lead to several 20+ FanDuel NHL point results in your lineups.
Finally, the Coyotes are one of the worst offensive and defensive teams in the NHL at home. But their offense is gradually improving, now better than the Sabres. The Oilers offense is also improving, and they have a solid match up in Arizona tonight. We may pluck some value from the Yotes, but the Oilers top scoring talent is in play as well.
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 12th
We seldom like to pay up for Connor McDavid ($9,000) when other top players like Blake Wheeler ($7,800), who we’ll discuss in a minute, are available. But McDavid has a goal and two assists in his last four games, and is shooting nearly six shots per game lately. So we’re finally getting the 15-20 FanDuel NHL point consistency, again, from Connor. Also, the Coyotes are struggling significantly on home ice this season, opening the door for McDavid to have a big game tonight.
Still, it’s hard to pay up for McDavid when we have a red-hot Wheeler on the ice. Blake has 12+ FanDuel NHL points in each of the last seven Jets games. During that period of time, Wheeler had five goals and five assists, averaged over a blocked shot per game, and averaged 23.63 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. The Blackhawks in Chicago aren’t an ideal match up, but the Jets have been beating almost anyone lately. Still, consider the risk before plugging Wheeler in your lineup.
Aleksander Barkov ($7,100) and Vincent Trocheck ($7,000) are a two-headed center monster for the Panthers over the last three weeks. Vinnie has consistently averaged near 17 FanDuel NHL points-per-game this season, and Barkov is on an incredible tear right now. In the Panthers last three games, Barkov has three goals and three assists, and is averaging well over 30 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. Our biggest worry is the Flames defense on the road, but playing guys like this while they’re hot usually works out well.
Nick Schmaltz ($5,900) quietly has double-digit FanDuel NHL points in six of his last seven games. Schmaltz has a goal or assist in each of the last five games, and six of the last seven. With Kane also hot, Nick should continue to roll tonight, even against a tough Jets team. Winnipeg is giving up nearly three goals per game on the road, allowing the Hawks to likely have three-plus goals tonight.
We mentioned McDavid earlier, but there’s a cheaper option for us at center from the Oilers. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($5,200) was the top-dog at center before McJesus arrived on the scene in Edmonton. Leading the Oilers second line, Ryan averaging nearly 12 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and sees about 17 to 22 minutes of ice time each game. Against a terrible defense on the road tonight, Nugent-Hopkins is a quiet way to pile up double-digit points with a low-end salary.
A couple other fliers to consider given the hot streaks and match ups are Sean Monahan ($7,300) and Mikael Backlund ($5,200) if the Flames stay hot, and Jonathan Toews ($7,000) in case he bounces back from his quiet night against the Wild after a great five game streak.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Jan 12th
Overlooking Johnny Gaudreau ($7,600) last night was a clear mistake. The 24-year-old New Jersey native had over 20 FanDuel NHL points in three of his last five games, each game at least over eleven points. During that time, Johnny has a goal and nine assists. The assist amount is incredible and a big reason the Flames are scoring so well lately. The Panthers are giving up a ton of goals in Florida, so Gaudreau and the rest of his line should stay hot tonight.
If you’re going with Schmaltzy at center, definitely stack him with Patrick Kane ($8,500) at wing. Kane is a popular player, so he’s expensive. Patrick also can be streaky this season. But with 20+ minutes of ice time against a team giving up nearly three goals per game on the road, Kane is a smart pick tonight. And we know Patrick can pile up as much at 40 to 50 points on a good night.
If you’re looking for stacks with McDavid, look no further than Leon Draisaitl ($6,500). Is even possible to play McDavid and anothe top wing, while still affording Draisaitl as a second most expensive winger. In the last three games, Leon has a power play goal and assist, and also has a great match up against the Yotes tonight.
Looking back to the potential Jets stack, we love Patrik Laine ($7,700) and Nikolaj Ehlers ($6,300). Both are averaging over 13 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and Laine has stepped up his performance since Mark Scheifele hit the IR with an injury. On Tuesday night in Buffalo, Ehlers had a power play goal, a second goal, and five shot son goal for 32.5 FanDuel NHL points. Ehlers can pile up assists too, but his goal-scoring this season has been impressive.
With the Caps giving up almost 3.5 goals per game on the road, we have to consider Hurricane wingers like Sebastian Aho ($6,700), Teuvo Teravainen ($5,600), and Elias Lindholm ($4,700). Of the three, Lindholm is cheapest for a reason, but is a solid shot at ten points each night. Teravainen isn’t as consistently dominate as Aho, but he’s been on fire lately, and Aho is heating up as well.
Digging for huge value, we like Troy Brouwer ($3,200). This is a cheap way to get 15 to 20 minutes of ice exposure to the Flames top line. And Brouwer has double-digit FanDuel NHL points in two of his last four games, including an assist last night with three blocked shots. In fact, if Brouwer continues to play at this level on Calgary’s top line, you can expect his salary to begin climbing rapidly soon.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Jan 12th
With only one blocked shot and shot on goal while on the ice for 22 minutes, John Carlson ($6,000) was a disappointing, and expensive, pick last night. We want to like Carlson tonight, but over last six games, John has double digits in four games. However, the two games were Carlson was quiet, were both against the Hurricanes, including one in Carolina. So this match up clearly does not bode well for John and the Caps.
Instead, we like saving $200 and grabbing Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano ($5,800). Mark isn’t flashy on the ice, but the veteran has two goals and three assists in the Flames last six games. Giordano was quiet last night, but he’s mostly been active on the offense while the Flames has rolled over the last two weeks.
Another veteran defensive man we like for top defensive picks is Dustin Byfuglien ($5,200). In the last three games, Dustin has two goals, including a power play goal. And with 20+ minutes of ice time, Buf will get a few shots on goal while blocking shots for the Jets. If Winnipeg has a good night tonight, Byfuglien should be heavily involved.
While we’re not stacking Blue Jackets tonight, Seth Jones ($5,500) and Zach Werenski ($5,200) are still very active on the ice, even as the Jackets struggle. In the loss to the Sabres last night, Jones still had an assist, seven shots on goal, and a blocked shot for an awesome 21.3 FanDuel NHL points. Against a surprisingly strong road-ice team, Seth and Zach should provide value defending the Canucks tonight.
Alexander Edler ($4,800) is now averaging almost 12 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and has 15+ points in five of his last six games. The incredible part is Edler only has three assists, his only offensive stats, during that run. So how is Alexander building so many points each game? Shots and blocked shots. This is one of the reasons we always like Brent Burns. Edler is becoming a point-machine regardless of the Canucks offense, and is still too cheap for FanDuel.
Finally, if you like the Oilers, Oscar Klefbom ($4,800) is still relevant in the NHL DFS world. Averaging 10.6 FanDuel NHL points-per-game with a salary below $5K, Oscar often flies under the radar for most FanDuel NHL players, and is a great way to set yourself apart from other GPP players tonight.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Jan 12th
Sergei Bobrovsky ($9,000) is the most expensive goalie on the ice tonight, and we believe the solid net-minder is a hard fade tonight. While Bob is clearly the most talented goalie on the ice, and he’s only giving up one to two goals per game in the last two weeks, the Blue Jackets are struggling to wing games, especially on home ice. Also, the Canucks are a decent team on the road, better than the Jackets at home. We don’t like paying up for this much risk.
Connor Hellebuyck ($8,100) is tempting against Jeff Glass ($7,400) and the Hawks in Chicago. But while Glass gave up five goals against the Golden Knights in his last start, he’s won two of his four starts this season, and only has one regular time loss to a very good team. Hellebuyck should be a top play, but he’s also risky. Also, we hate Glass against a very good, and hot, Jets offense.
Instead of paying up for Philip Grubauer ($7,700), we’d rather get a better bargain for Cam Ward ($7,600). Cam had a rough five-goal loss to the Bolts in Tampa earlier in the week, but until that rough loss, he’s been very good. The Caps were able to score five goals against Ward on January second, in an overtime loss, but they really struggled against the Canes last night in D.C.
Cam Talbot ($7,600) likely has a slam-dunk win tonight against the Coyotes. The problem is that Talbot likely lets several goals in net, even with a win. Instead of Talbot, we like Jacob Markstrom ($7,500) in a low-owned win over the Blue Jackets.
Speaking of low-owned, David Rittich ($7,300) will hardly be on anyone’s radar Friday. Meanwhile, David has started five games and never given up more than two goals in a game. With a 3-1-1 record against a Panthers team who gives up over three goals a game at home, Rittich is a very good bet for a win tonight.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Friday, January 12th:
C Wheeler (WPG $7,800)
C Nugent-Hopkins (EDM $5,200)
W Laine (WPG $7,700)
W Draisaitl (EDM $6,500)
W Ehlers (WPG $6,300)
W Brouwer (CGY $3,200)
D Giordano (CGY $5,800)
D Byfuglien (WPG $5,200)
G Rittich (CGY $7,300)
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!