NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: October 18th

Welcome back to the NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays column. We’re a fantasy hockey column focused on the top FanDuel NHL players for your lineups each day. This is the Thursday, October 18th Main slate edition.

Our NHL DFS FanDuel picks have been hot over the last several days. I would’ve liked to get a set of lineup thoughts for yesterday, Wednesday, out as well. But, unfortunately, I had a surprise need to have a tooth extracted.

It wasn’t the ind of extraction you see in NHL games, where they spit the tooth, or part of a tooth, out after getting hit. It was a slow, nearly two hour long, procedure where they broke the tooth into 9 parts and gradually extracted the pieces to get the entire tooth out. Ouch…it still hurts.

But, I’m back to focusing on NHL DFS FanDuel lineup options, even with mild pain. Hopefully our lineups won’t be as painful tonight. We have a ton of options, with nine games and 18 teams on the ice. There are plenty of stacking solutions, but also a plethora of value picks we’re going to focus on.

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 Thursday, October 18th 2018:

Penguins at Maple Leafs 7pm ET ESPN+

Avalanche at Devils 7pm ET

Flyers at Blue Jackets 7pm ET

Red Wings at Lightning 7pm ET

Canucks at Jets 8pm ET

Coyotes at Blackhawks 8:30pm ET

Bruins at Oilers 9pm ET SNO

Islanders at Kings 10:30pm ET

Sabres at Sharks 10:30pm ET ESPN+

With the Maple Leafs hosting the Penguins in Toronto, there is a ton of offensive talent we could grab for our NHL DFS lineups in just one game. The goaltending in that game isn’t one of my favorite options for that position on Thursday night.

The Devils are back on the ice, likely with a red-hot Kinkaid in goal. But while the Devils are rolling to start this season, they’re hosting another hot team right now, the Colorado Avalanche. We’ll talk about the implications of that match up later.

A few other games I want to get a piece of are the Oilers hosting the Boston Bruins in Edmonton, The Sabres visiting the Sharks in San Jose, and the Blackhawks hosting a struggling Arizona Coyotes team in Chicago.

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

Frankly, there’s a lot of great plays at the center position, again, that you really can’t go wrong with many of the top options. Thursday night reminds me of Tuesday night, when we have around five slam-dunk picks at the position. Only, tonight we have even more options.

So while picking a top center is overwhelming, don’t get concerned. Many of these guys will have lower ownership because there are so many great options. You just need to pick the expensive lock NHL DFS play that works best in your lineup combination, within your salary cap.

There’s been a debate in the hockey world, lately, about who was the best player in the NHL, Connor McDavid ($9,000) or Auston Matthews ($8,600). From an NHL DFS FanDuel perspective, that answer right now is Matthews. However, McDavid is rapidly rising into mid-season form and will play his first game on home ice tonight.

Jaraslav Halak should be in net for the Bruins tonight, but frankly I don’t care who’s in goal for Boston. Tukkaa Rask hasn’t looked great to start the season, and McDavid has three power play goals in the last two games. Connor is a fantastic play on home ice tonight. But everyone knows this, so he’s also likely the higher ownership play, even with the expensive price tag.

At the time of writing this article, the Penguins don’t have their starting goalie confirmed. But again, I don’t care. The Penguins have given up too many goals at home and on the road that we know Matthews is likely to put up some more points tonight.

In fact, I love the Matthews play right now, because he’s on home ice as well, is $400 cheaper than McDavid, and is losing the ‘who’s best’ NHL debate which may artificially lower his ownership. Auston has at least two points, goals and/or assists, in every game he’s played this season. He’s another lock for NHL DFS.

Nathan McKinnon ($8,900) has been a consistently dominate NHL DFS play already this season as well. However, I’m worried about playing McKinnon against the Devils with Kinkaid likely in goal. Instead, I’d rather save my money and go with Matthews, Evgeni Malkin ($8,600), John Tavares ($8,400), Sidney Crosby ($8,300), or Patrice Bergeron ($8,200).

Actually, of that ‘fade McDavid’ group, I like Matthews and Bergeron the most. If I don’t play Matthews, I’m likely pivoting to Bergeron, who’s likely somehow flying under the radar tonight in Edmonton, while averaging just under 29 NHL DFS FanDuel points-per-game against a goalie the Bruins can exploit.

I started thinking about a value play at center for tonight, but I’m against the idea. There is just too much hot talent in this center group to not stack the positions with two expensive high-scoring plays.

For that reason, my favorite second pick is Jonathan Toews ($7,100) against the Coyotes on home ice in Chicago. Toews is another center who may drop off many NHL DFS players radars because he’s being overshadowed by so many other great plays. But you can’t ignore Jonathan’s early season surge.

In just five games, Toews has five goals and four assists, nearly averaging the two points per game Matthews has. Jonathan is getting plenty of shots on goal per game, and is consistently averaging double digit NHL DFS points. In fact, right now he’s hovering around the 25 points-per-game mark for FanDuel.

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Wingers

I went on a bit of a spending spree at the center position, so I recognize I need to find value at the winger and defense positions. Although, I honestly already knew value would be there. We’ve seen some top value plays continue to be affordable early this season.

Over time, as those players verify, they’ll become more expensive and no longer be a value play. However, some may have production fall off a cliff. I doubt our value players are slowing down anytime soon.

You may remember our call to plug Kasperi Kapanen ($4,200) into your lineup for the Monday night slate against the Kings. At the time, Kapanen was still under $4K per play, but after his two goals on two shots night, giving us 28.8 FanDuel points, Kasperi’s salary is finally rising…a bit.

Kapanen is often playing with Matthews on the top regular line and has logged 16 to 17 minutes of ice time each game. That has allowed Kasperi to pile up more shots on goal each outing, and his stat total is now four goals and four assists in the last five games. I’m willing to grab that value while it’s still hot.

Another value play we’ve touted several time already this season is Timo Meier ($4,700). The young 21-year-old Swiss winger was a favorite value play of our last season, and he’s oddly still quite affordable this year.

Meier is often playing with Couture and Tomas Hertl ($5,500), another decent value play, on the Sharks second regular line. The Sharks have also had Brent Burns, the talented offensive-minded veteran defender, on their second line with Timo.

But, Hertl and Meier also play well together on the Sharks second power play line. That’s one of the reasons I’m surprised Meier is still so cheap. he’s getting nearly 17 to 18 minutes of ice time per game, and now has three goals and one assist in the last five games.

Now that we’ve got value in our lineup, let’s go back to grabbing some of the top winger plays of the night. Instead of spending so much on the top obvious plays, as we did with the center position, we’re going to go with cheaper, but also still less risky, mid to upper mid-salary range plays.

First, I noticed Alex DeBrincat ($6,300), who plays on Toews top Blackhawks line, is somewhat affordable tonight. For under $7K, we’re getting a winger who has at least one goal or two assists in every game this season.

After five games, Alex has six goals and three assists, along with several shots on goal, averaging over 26 NHL DFS FanDuel points-per-game. This is a great mini-stack option with Toews.

Still with plenty of salary left over, I’m grabbing a similarly priced Kyle Palmieri ($6,500) from the Devils top line on home ice against the Avs tonight. We’ve been on Palmieri multiple times this season, already, and that will continue as long as his consistently providing points.

In four games, Kyle already has four power play goals, one per game, and seven total goals. If Palm’s tear continues, we’re looking at another potential 30+ point game. Although, the Kyle has a tougher match up with the Avs in town. Still, given his consistency over the first four games, some with tough opponents, we can’t ignore the value in this play.

Alright, let’s look at a few top picks on defense…

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Defenders

Again, given the money we spent at the center position, and that fact that we want a solid goalie tonight, we’re taking a similar approach to the defensive position, as we did with the winger position. What is that? Get some top players and value without giving up points.

That is often a difficult goal. It wasn’t a hard thing to accomplish with the four winger spots. There is just too many great plays at that position tonight. The defensive spot is more challenging. But, I think we’ve got some great plays.

My top three favorite plays at the defensive sport are Maple Leafs top line defender Morgan Rielly ($5,700), Blackhawks Duncan Keith ($5,600), and Canucks top line defender Alexander Edler ($5,500).

All three of these guys are reasonably priced. However, while the veteran Keith has consistently developed points with so much productive time on the ice this season, Rielly and Edler have been more dominate.

And between Rielly and Edler, Morgan is more likely to be involved in scoring so he has the edge. But don’t fade on Edler quickly against the Jets in Winnipeg. If you remember from earlier this week, one of the reasons we love Alexander so much is his shot-blocking ability.

In just six games this year, Edler already has piled up an amazing 35 blocked shots. That’s nearly six per game and if you look at his game log, he’s actually been that consistent. So even if Edler doesn’t snipe a goal or provide a helper, he’s giving you nearly 20 NHL DFS FanDuel points, with a reasonable salary, because of very good defense. Go figure!

As we said, we’re taking a similar approach to winger and defense tonight, so we’re looking for value at this position. There is also decent value at the defensive spot, with so many great defenders being over-showed by offense.

However, I’m a little surprised rookie Dennis Cholowski ($3,700) is still cheap. The Red Wings top line defender is also racking up a lot of blocked shots. But Dennis also has a goal and two assists in just four games, and is getting several shots on goal as well. So we’re getting a decent shot at ten-plus points with a very cheap defense play tonight.

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Goalies

I’m going to be blunt right out the gate. I was excited about my goalie pick tonight before I even saw the salary. He has a tougher match up tonight and could eventually slow down, but we haven’t seen that slow down since last season.

That’s why Keith Kinkaid ($8,200) is an obvious great play again tonight. In four starts for the Devils this season, Keith has only given up four goals. Kinkaid also already has two shutouts. And those shutouts weren’t against easy opponents. Yes, they were on home ice, but Keith shut out the Stars and Capitals, defending Stanley Cup Champions.

So the fact that the Devils are hosting the Avalanche adds some risk with this play, but we’re still fairly confident he can give us another 30 to 40 points night on a modest salary. Although, the ownership will likely be high.

So you may want some Kinkaid fade options, and there’s plenty tonight. If you have the salary, Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,000) already appears to be rapidly rising into his mid-season form, giving up only five goals in his first three starts. He’s expensive, but that’s because he’s an obvious great play on home ice against a horrendous Red Wings team Thursday night.

Another decent, and better value, play is Jaroslav Halak ($7,700). There are probably a few hockey fans slapping there forehead reading that. I get it, the Oilers are finally on home ice and Connor McDavid is on fire.

But Halak has already started on the road twice this season, and has only given up three goals in three outings. The Oilers will have a tough match up tonight, although I’m sure McDavid will still have several points.

DFS FanDuel Power Plays: October 18th 2018 Summary

Again, I love the center position tonight. There are so many exciting lineup possibilities to play with. Matthews and Bergeron are my two favorite top center plays, but McDavid is almost unresistant tonight, finally on home ice. For a second pick, I’m still spending big on a guy like Toews.

But, that means we have to find value at the winger and defensive spots. Fortunately, that isn’t difficult on Thursday night. Meier and Kapanen continue to be in great scoring spots for the Sharks and Maple Leafs, and they’re both still very cheap. We also like the defense we’ll likely get out of Rookie Cholowski at the defense spot.

That leaves us with plenty of salary to pay up for Palmieri and DeBrincat at the winger positions and Rielly at the defensive position. Why Morgan is still so cheap is baffling, so let’s take advantage of the opportunity tonight.

Finally, our favorite goalie play, Devils net-minder Kinkaid, is back on the ice. I love. But, so do many other NHL DFS FanDuel players. So you may want to find a way to afford Vas against the Red Wings on home ice, or take a chance with Halak in Edmonton against the Oilers tonight.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel on Thursday, October 18th 2018:

C       Auston Matthews ($8,600)

C       Jonathan Toews ($7,100)

W     Kyle Palmieri ($6,500)

W     Alex DeBrincat ($6,300)

W     Timo Meier ($4,700)

W     Kasperi Kapanen ($4,200)

D      Morgan Rielly ($5,700)

D      Dennis Cholowski ($3,700)

G      Keith Kinkaid ($8,200)

Remaining Salary: $0

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!