NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: October 19th

Welcome to NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays. We’re a fantasy hockey column focused on the top FanDuel NHL players for your lineups each day. This is the Friday night, October 19th Main slate edition.

Yesterday’s NHL DFS picks were frustrating. I played several different lineups with multiple combinations and they all fell flat. That doesn’t happen often. It was also frustrating, because it was such an exciting slate.

But the most frustrating part about the slate is…I still like those picks. They just didn’t play out the way they should have. Fortunately, I’ve played NHL DFS almost every day for several years, and know this is just the way things happen sometimes. I just wish I could get those picks back on another night.

Oh well, we move forward to Friday. Unlikely Thursday, we have a small three game slate on Friday night. That can be good and bad. It’s great, because if we hit the right stacks, we’re a clear winner in all formats. In fact, in this situation it’s better to use similar lineups in both Cash and GPP games. But, if you hit the wrong stacks, even one of two, you’re done for the night.

So, there’s obvious risk, as always when predicting human behavior, but we think we have nailed some of the best stacks for the night.

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 Friday, October 19th 2018:

Panthers at Capitals 7pm ET ESPN+

Wild at Stars 8pm ET NBC Sports Network

Predators at Flames 9pm ET

Probably the most obvious pick for tonight is the Capitals on home ice over the Panthers. We’ve seen some decent scoring from the cats, but it’s mostly against poor defenses. The Capitals have a solid offense right now, although Braden Holtby has struggled at times already this season.

I’m struggling to figure out who I like more in the Wild vs Stars game in Dallas. The Wild are playing solid hockey lately and are consistently a dangerous team to play. But, in Dallas the Stars are also tough to play, especially when Bishop is hot in net. I think we figured out the right play there.

And in Calgary, the Flames are hosting a tough Predators team on road and home ice. Calgary is off to a decent 4-2 start, but below their top line they’re struggling. Also, Johnny Gaudreau appears to be able to return to the ice on Friday night after a rough Charlie McAvoy hit the other night. But, if Johnny doesn’t go, that would be a huge hit to the Flames productivity.

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

For the most part, Centers are cheap on Friday night. Tyler Seguin ($7,900) is the most expensive option and a very good play against the Wild on home ice. Seguin started the season with three goals and seven assists in the first four games, but cooled off in the last two games with no points.

However, Tyler still provided around ten points per game in the last two, thanks to eight and six shots in the last two games. Tyler is on the ice for around 20 minutes per game and is a big part of the Stars offensive production each night.

Dubnyk is likely starting for the Wild and he has a solid .940 save percentage, sixth best in the NHL. But, Devan also has 199 shots on goal in just five games this season and is giving up over 2.2 goals per game.

So we can expect Seguin to get another high volume of shots on goal tonight, with a better chance of goals and assists on home ice. Tyler is a solid 20+ point play tonight and worth the salary. However, I like Evgeny Kuznetsov ($7,400) more tonight.

Look, I get that Seguin is a great play almost every night. But he has the tougher match up compared to Evgeny. And Kuznetsov’s offensive productivity has been more consistent. Yes, Kuzy had a rough outing against the Devils in New Jersey, but all of the Caps did.

Outside of that game, he’s had a least one goal or assist in five of six games. Through six, Evgeny now has four goals and six assists and has the ability to land you between 30 and 40 points tonight. If you can’t afford Seguin or Kuznetsov because of some big plays at the winger position, pivot to Nicklas Backstrom ($6,700).

Speaking of pivots, the Stars have a very cheap second regular line and top power play line center option for you, veteran Jason Spezza ($4,800). He doesn’t have a goal yet this season, but does have four assists in five games.

Spezza is only getting 12 to 15 minutes of ice time each game, which is one of the reasons he’s so cheap. But he’ll get a few shots on goal and could finally get that goal tonight. For only $4.8K, picking Jason is worth at least getting a few points and being able to make some other big plays at the winger position, knowing you also have a big double-digit ceiling with Spezza in your lineup.

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Wingers

By now, you’re likely to pick up on the fact that we’re leaning toward a Caps and Stars stack tonight. The Stars, not necessarily because we think the Wild and Dubnyk are struggling, but because they’re allowing a high volume of shots on goal this year. That will give a Stars top two lines too many chances for goals Friday night.

The Capitals stack is somewhat obvious. They’re the defending Stanley Cup Champions, they’re on home ice, and they’re playing the Panthers. Florida is struggling to get hot on the ice this season, especially with the lack of their top net-minder. The Panthers defense has also been lackluster so far this year. We have to stack this match up tonight.

So with those two points in mind, and considering the fact we did use a lot of salary on at least one big pick at center, my favorite two winger picks are Alexander Radulov ($6,600) and T.J. Oshie ($6,300).

We’ve talked about Radulov several times already this season, so if you’ve followed this column daily, you may be sick of playing him. Or, you realize how incredibly consistent Alexander has been, baring yet another set back from a hot scorer in New Jersey (I’m still bitter about Kinkaid’s fall last night).

In six games, Radulov has four goals and six assists. As we mentioned, the Stars should get a lot of shots on goal tonight and Radulov is averaging around three per game. Also, Rad isn’t afraid to block some shots, which we could see tonight as well. This is a decent shot at around 20 points tonight.

Oshie was a stone-cold DFS NHL play for a good part of last season, mostly in the first half. This year is different. T.J. started the year with four goals in his first three games, although he cooled off since then.

Still, Oshie also already has three assists in that time, spends around 20 minutes on the ice each game, and gets several shots on goal and blocked shots each time he’s on the ice. This is another decent shot at around 20 points tonight.

I mentioned a Backstrom/Spezza play could let you spend a little more at the winger position, and I had Alex Ovechkin ($8,800) in mind when I said that. This is probably the most obvious play of the night and he’s likely going to be chalky.

But no one can ignore his productivity. Aside from the Devils game, Ovi has been absolutely dominating, providing over 20+ NHL DFS FanDuel points each game. But, with Ovi and most of these plays in your lineup, you need to find some value as well.

Sticking with the Caps and Stars stacks, there are two value plays likely flying under everyone’s radar tonight. Mattias Janmark ($3,900) hasn’t done as much as Brett Connolly ($4,000) on the ice this season.

Most of Connolly’s production has been while playing on the top line with Ovechkin. That’s still a possibility tonight. However, Brett has recently played on the third regular line. But what many are likely missing is that both Janmark and Connolly should get time on the power play tonight as well.

They are risky, potentially only giving you a couple of points, but given their match ups, they’re more likely to climb toward the double-digit mark tonight. Alright, let’s look at a few top picks on defense…

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Defenders

I’ve played around with the defensive picks multiple times already toady. I’m surprised at where I landed, but will present several options. My favorite two picks are John Carlson ($6,400) and John Klingberg ($6,500).

Yes, they’re the top two more expensive picks at the position, but you can actually afford them together. We’ll demonstrate that in our example lineup. Carlson and Klingberg are each very solid attempts at getting 20+ points in a position where it’s difficult to lock that in. They also help complete the Caps and Stars stacks.

The other plays I like are picking either Carlson or Klingberg and finding a better value with your second pick on defense. P.K. Subban ($6,100) and Roman Josi ($5,800) are often two of my favorite picks on defense because they’re such a huge presences on the Preds offense.

But, I prefer to get better value for Ryan Ellis ($5,100) and Mattias Ekholm ($4,800). Ellis plays on the top line with Josi and is arguably a better DFS NHL play most nights. Meanwhile, Ekholm can give you some of the benefit of Subban’s productivity without having to pay up for P.K’s price.

A nice pivot option from these stacks is Keith Yandle ($5,300), who should have many blocked shots tonight and likely is involved in any scoring chances the Panthers get with Holtby struggling at times right now.

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Goalies

Picking a goalie with a three-game slate can be easier. You are narrowing down your top options already to only six goalies. From there, you know who you think has a good shot at winning, so now you’re down to three. And from there, who will see the highest volume of shots and provide the most saves.

While we’ve focused on stacking the Caps and Stars tonight, I’m not as excited about playing Braden Holtby ($9,100) or Ben Bishop ($8,900). While they both should see a win tonight, neither is in the top ten in save percentage or goals against, and we do have a couple of those tonight.

James Reimer ($7,700) is a tempting GPP play, but he does have a win yet this season, in three games, and is giving up nearly four goals per game. Oh yeah, and remember we’re stacking a very good Caps offense against Reimer and the Panthers?

So, that already crosses three goalies off our list. I’m concerned about playing Devan Dubnyk ($8,700) in Dallas, but if you’re fading the Stars stack, he’s a good play. While Devan is giving up too many goals with so many shots on goal, he still has a high .940 save percentage. So his volume of saves is impressive.

That leaves me with Predators likely starting goalie Pekka Rinne ($9,000) in Calgary tonight facing Mike Smith ($7,900) and the Flames. Frankly, I could go either way with this play. Smith has a decent shot at a win on home ice tonight.

But, Rinne’s statistics are hard to ignore. Pekka has a .943 save percentage and is only giving up 1.75 goals per game. Both stats are 4th best in the NHL so far this season. That isn’t surprising, considering what we’ve seen our of Rinne the last couple of seasons. Pekka’s only loss was to the Flames in Nashville, which worries me. But he’s been red hot since then, and gets a banged up Flames offense who’s struggled after their top line is on the ice. So I’m leaning toward Rinne.

FanDuel Power Plays: October 19th 2018 Summary

We’re starting our Caps and Stars stacks with some combination of Kuznetsov, Backstrom, Seguin, or Spezza. Who you pick helps lay out who you can afford at the winger and defense spots. You may want to lock in your goalie first too, so you know how much salary you have in those positions.

We landed at picking between Smith and Rinne, who are facing each other. The bottom line is, who do you think wins that game. I like Rinne more than Smith, overall, but Smith gives you better value, especially if you think he’s a winner tonight.

At the winger spot, there are combinations that allow you to afford Ovi, but I’d rather save the salary and spread the productivity over Oshie and Radulov, and hopefully get more overall points. Fortunately, plays like Janmark and Connolly allow you to afford all of these plays.

Even better, with those wingers, you can still pay up for top two defenders tonight, Carlson and Klingberg. If that’s too rich for you, consider the Preds defenders in their top two lines, or take some of the risk with a Yandle pick.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel on Friday, October 19th 2018:

C       Evgeny Kuznetsov ($7,400)

C       Jason Spezza ($4,800)

W     T.J. Oshie ($6,300)

W     Alexander Radulov ($6,600)

W     Brett Connolly ($4,000)

W     Mattias Janmark ($3,900)

D      John Carlson ($6,400)

D      John Klingberg ($6,500)

G      Pekka Rinne ($9,000)

Remaining Salary: $100

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!