NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: October 13th

Welcome to NHL DFS Power Plays. We’re a fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day. This is the Thursday, October 11th edition.

We got a day off from NHL DFS on Friday, with no hockey games scheduled. Frankly, I needed the break as well. While we’ve been doing a relatively great job of picking top scoring each day, for NHL DFS, we’ve whiffed on a few value picks, and aside from John Gibson, our goalie picks have struggled to verify as well.

But, as the season continues and we continue to research, finding the right picks with the right match ups gradually gets easier. Especially as we exit the fall into the winter months. We’re starting to get there.

While there are NHL games all day, FanDuel has split NHL DFS into two primary lineup slates. You have the Early Only slate, which includes four games starting between 1pm ET and 3pm ET. While that slate has some exciting options, this column is focused on the larger nine-game Main slate.

Before we get there, a reminder to never take a NHL DFS optimal lineup as ‘bible’ for your personal lineup each day. Use the suggestions as guidance. Also, make sure you follow final lineup thoughts throughout the day on our twitter account @FantasyCPR or me @MattyMcMatt17 look for late breaking lineup news.

Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Saturday, October 13th 2018:

Penguins at Canadiens 7pm ET

Blue Jackets at Lightning 7pm ET

Canucks and Panthers 7pm ET SNO

Maple Leafs at Capitals 7pm ET

Islanders at Predators 8pm ET

Ducks at Stars 8pm ET

Blues at Blackhawks 8:30pm ET

Sabres at Coyotes 9pm ET

Flames at Avalanche 10pm ET CBC

The Maple Leafs and Capitals game is probably the highlight of the night. The Maple Leafs offense is surging, while the Caps have continued to look strong on the offensive side of the ice as well. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if that was a high-scoring game. We may need to tap that action.

The Canucks and Panthers are battling in Florida, and both teams could have some solid scoring as well, with at least questionable goaltending for the Panthers right now. Kane and the Blackhawks offense is surprisingly starting the season well on offense, and the Sabres have a great scoring opportunity in Arizona.

We’ll also focus on some safer goalies, but identify the riskier picks for GPP plays as well. So, let’s start building our NHL DFS optimal lineup by looking at the top centers for this slate…

 NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Centers

Let’s throw our captain obvious hat on and get those picks over with to start. The Maple Leafs have the most consistent scoring top two lines in the NHL right now. Avoiding them each day, lately, is a great way to lose.

John Tavares ($8,400) hasn’t been as consistent as Auston Matthews ($8,200), so between the two, I prefer Matthews tonight. Auston has two goals in five of his first six games, and at least one goal in every game. That is insane! So with nine goals in just five games, Matthews is easily giving you around 30+ DFS NHL FanDuel points per game. Even against Holtby, who’s given up a lot of goals this season, he’s a great play.

Stacking Tavares and Matthews is possible, but I’d rather grab a value pick value with one of them. Also, if you’re looking for a pivot, look no further than Nathan MacKinnon ($8,600). The Avalanche haven’t played as many games as the Leafs yet, four so far this season, but MacKinnon is having similar success with his offense. Nathan has at least a goal in each game, totaling five in four games.

If you’re trying to find a more affordable option, Tyler Seguin ($7,900) may seem attractive given his nearly 36 NHL DFS FanDuel point-per-game average, but I don’t like his match up against a likely John Gibson in goal. I’d rather play Jack Eichel ($7,800) in Arizona.

Another value pivot, Leafs fade play, is Evgeny Kuznetsov ($7,400) and Nicklas Backstrom ($6,800). You’re essentially betting the Caps have more success against Andersen than the Leafs against Holtby, which is certainly possible.

But given all of these options, I still like Matthews as the top center pick, and I’m going to look for value to play with him, so we’re not punting many of the other spots on in the lineup. Fortunately, the Canucks 20-year-old second line leader Elias Pettersson ($5,200) is still relatively dirt-cheap.

Like Matthews and MacKinnon, Pettersson is on the scoring sheet for each of the Canucks first four games. However, Elias hasn’t been quite as dominate. Pettersson didn’t register a goal in Carolina, although he still had an assist.

But, Pettersson has three goals against the Flames, and one in Tampa against the Bolts. The young center is hot right now, and I have no problem paying only $5.2K for his action in Florida against a Panthers team struggling to mind the net right now.

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Wingers

If you’re going the Kuznetsov and Backstrom route at center, stacking Alex Ovechkin ($8,800) is a solid move at winger, as long as you find value throughout the rest of your winger picks. We have some ideas we’ll get to in a minute.

But my favorite pick at winger on Saturday night is Patrick Kane ($8,300). The Hawks second-line veteran scorer has at least one goal and assist in all four games this season. Kane has four goals and three assists, averaging two points per game.

Even better, Kane has 24 shots in just four games, so we also know Patrick will rack up points just from his very active shooting. And, with the right value picks, you can still afford game, with another dynamic play like Matthews.

If you don’t want to pay up for Kane, my next three wingers are Mikko Rantanen ($6,800), Mitch Marner ($6,700), or Alexander Radulov ($6,400). Of these three options, Radulov has been the most consistently dominate, already with three goals and four assists in just three games

But, again, I’m not that high on the Stars offense if John Gibson is in net for the Ducks. So, I’d prefer Rantanen over all three, and Marner if you’re trying to get a cheaper piece of the Leafs offensive action tonight.

Because we’re likely playing several expensive picks tonight, there’s just too many great options to avoid, I need to find a lot of value at the winger position. Fortunately, there are tons of great options.

For a mid-salary range pick, I like former Penguins winger Conor Sheary ($5,200). Now on the Sabres top line with Eichel, Sheary is having a solid start to the year, but never a lock for a lot of DFS NHL FanDuel points, which is likely why he’s affordable.

Sheary has two games against the Rangers this season, and an assist against the Golden Knights. Connor struggled to put up points against a good Bruins and Avalanche team. But, tonight in Arizona, Sheary will get another chance to play a Rangers-like team, struggling to beat opponents and stop scoring. This is a sneaky time to own Sheary.

For greater value and honestly more consistence, I love Brett Connolly ($3,700), again, and Max Comtois ($3,400). Connolly historically plays on the Caps third line, and scores in spurts providing a great value play each of the last two seasons.

But thanks to the Tom Wilson suspension, Brett is playing on the Caps top line with Kuznetsov and Ovechkin. That’s inflating Connolly’s ice time to nearly 20 minutes per game, increasing his number of shots on goal, blocked shots, and improving his ability to provide assists.

Comtois is in a different situation. Max is a 19-year-old rookie getting more ice time thanks to several injuries for the Ducks to start the season. But Comtois is off to a hot start, increasing his ice time to around 15 minutes per game and allowing him to play on the Ducks top line.

In just three games, Comtois has two goals and one assist, along with six shots on goal and three blocked shots. This is a cheap price to pay for a solid shot at over ten DFS NHL FanDuel points. Alright, let’s look at a few top picks on defense…

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Defenders

Every time the Capitals have been on the ice, I’ve been high on playing John Carlson ($6,400). However, I was worried about the impact a hot Keith Kinkaid would have on Thursday. After spending 26 minutes on the ice and only providing one shot on goal and one blocked shot, it’s clear Carlson had an off night in New Jersey.

Now back in Washington, D.C. and playing a heavy shooting offense tonight, John will likely bounce back tonight. Averaging around 20 DFS NHL FanDuel points-per-game, it’s likely Carlson hits around his average again tonight, and paying $6.4K for that number of points is worth it. He’s my top pick at the defense position tonight.

If you need to save some salary, Duncan Keith ($5,600), Keith Yandle ($5,400), and Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,300) are my three favorite defense picks. Yes, I was big on Ristolainen on Thursday and he only gave us 6.4 points.

But that was a risky play against a good Avs team. Tonight, the Sabres odds are more in their favor agains the Yotes in Arizona. Yandle and Keith also have great match ups and each are on home ice. But another pick I love is Morgan Rielly ($5,700).

In fact, looking at these defense options, I’m definitely going to use two to three value picks at the winger position so I can afford guys like Carlson and Rielly together. Morgan, especially, has been a nice surprise this season and can’t be ignored tonight.

In the Leafs first five games, Rielly has played with Matthews and the first line, scoring three goals and providing an eye-popping nine assists. Rielly’s assist total is very well linked to Matthews scoring tear. We could get another 20 to 30 points from Morgan tonight, with a ceiling of around 40 points.

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Goalies

If you haven’t been reading these columns daily, full disclosure…I’ve struggled at picking top goaltending this season. Although, part of the problem is that we haven’t seen great goaltending across the board. We’ve also seen bizarre outcomes like mid-tier goalies blanking top-scoring teams.

That isn’t abnormal as we try to feel at the season, to start. But, this season has been more difficult than I’ve seen in years.

OK, now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s talk about who we like and don’t like tonight. First starters, I’m not touching Braden Holtby ($9,100) or Frederik Andersen ($8,200). While each goalie has been a great DFS NHL FanDuel play after the last year, although Holtby went through a terrible period last spring, they’ve each been very inconsistent this season. They’re also playing each other, with their offenses both hot right now. No, thanks.

I was high on Ben Bishop ($9,000), until he got absolutely smoked by the Maple Leafs. And now looking at the offensive struggles the Jets have seen, it’s starting to look like Bishop may have just had an ideal match up in his first two starts.

Sergei Bobrovsky ($8,900) and Andrei Vasilevskiy ($8,700) are playing each other, effectively canceling each other out. That makes Pekka Rinne ($8,800) appear to be a top pick tonight. While he’s a solid play, let’s remember the Rangers and Jets are each off to cold scoring starts, making Rinne’s 2-1 record less attractive. Also, the Islanders are playing well to start the season.

Again, I like Rinne, just not as much as these other two. Assuming Bishop struggles against tonight, or honestly even if he doesn’t, his match up against John Gibson ($8,600) is problematic for the Starts.

The 25-year-old veteran Ducks net-minder is on fire right now. Yes, he just lost the Coyotes on home ice, in a shootout, but that was mostly the Ducks offense to blame. John still hasn’t given up more than two goals in any start, four so far this season, and he shut out the Yotes in Arizona already.

The Stars will be the most challenging start for Gibson this season, but he’s already seen 104 shots on goal, saving all but six. This is a big reason I’m low on the Stars offense tonight. Again, there’s risk, but honestly there’s solid risk with every play tonight, and going with the hot goalie lately has worked.

Another play I like tonight, mostly because of the match up, is Jacob Markstrom ($7,700) in Florida against the Panthers. The Panthers are a dangerous offense, at times, but they also get cold. At first, I didn’t like this play, given Markstrom’s struggles in his first three starts.

But frankly, Jacob could still give up several goals tonight and win. That’s because the Panthers goalies situation is reeling since losing Roberto Luongo to the injury ninja. James Reimer has already been confirmed to start for the Panthers, and with two losses in his two starts, Reimer gave up six goals on just 48 shots.

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: October 13th 2018 Summary

There are a lot of big offensive plays tonight. The Leafs are on the ice again, making Tavares and Matthews obvious great plays at center. You could fade them and go with the Caps Kuznetsov and Backstrom, but we’re likely grabbing one Leafs center with Canucks young center Pettersson to balance the salary impact.

While there is so much scoring in the center position, the winger position is no different. If you’re stacking the Caps, Ovi is a great play, but the value you get from Connolly on the Caps top line is unavoidable. Along with value from Comtois on the Ducks top line, we’re able to afford expensive plays like the Hawks Kane.

On defense, thanks to smart spending at the winger position, we’re able to make some big plays like the Caps Carlson and Leafs Rielly. And while we’re nervous to pick any goalie, lately, our focus is on Rinne, Gibson, and Markstrom tonight.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel on Saturday, October 13th 2018:

C       Auston Matthews ($8,200)

C       Elias Pettersson ($5,200)

W     Patrick Kane ($8,300)

W     Conor Sheary ($5,200)

W     Brett Connolly ($3,700)

W     Max Comtois ($3,400)

D      John Carlson ($6,400)

D      Morgan Rielly ($5,700)

G      John Gibson ($8,600)

Remaining Salary: $300

Note: This is a recommended lineup after discussing our top options for the slate. You should use this as a guide, and provide your own input when building NHL DFS FanDuel lineups.  We are not telling you, or selling you, to use this lineup.

Best of luck in your NHL DFS FanDuel contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across College Football, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, EPL, PGA, and NASCAR this fall!