NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: October 26th

Welcome to NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays. We’re a fantasy hockey post focused on the top FanDuel NHL players for your lineups each day. For this edition, we’re focused on the Main slate for Friday, October 26th 2018.

Wednesday’s top goalie play of Marc-Andre Fleury was highly owned but he only gave us a miserable 11.2 NHL DFS FanDuel points. Unfortunately, I avoided Vasilevskiy and Varlamov because I was worried about the Bolts and Avs solid offense. However, either would’ve been a good play given they only gave up a combined one goal last night. Vas was the chicken-dinner play at goalie on Wednesday night.

Our Kieth Yandle play at defense worked out nicely, and while the Jets top line didn’t have a big scoring night, we still saw over 22 points from Blake Wheeler thanks to two assists, one of the power play variety, and Mark Scheifele added over 20 points with a goal.

Still, many of our value plays didn’t work out, which is key to winning in all formats. If your value plays don’t work out, you need big two-point (goals or assists) nights from several top players at each position to win all formats.

While I couldn’t get a post out for the Thursday Main slate, I had still completed analysis and developed a lineup I liked for the slate. Ironically, the lineup mostly worked out because of my top value play at winger, Anthony Duclair ($3,300).

The Blue Jackets winger had two goals on four shots, one during the power play. I knew Duclair should see more ice time in Saint Louis, and his salary seemed dirt-cheap. Fortunately, the gamble paid off with a big 30.9 NHL DFS FanDuel point night, and ownership of only around 1%.

I’m hoping to find similar plays during the Friday night slate, but with a smaller slate, it’s going to be difficult to find another nugget like that. In fact, I may be more inclined to pay up for closer to mid-salary range type players on Friday 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 the Main slate on Friday, October 26th 2018:

Sharks at Hurricanes 7:30pm ET 

Jets at Red Wings 7:30pm ET (NHL Network)

Senators at Avalanche 9pm ET 

*Lightning at Golden Knights 6pm (ESPN+)* (Not part of the Main slate)

Yes, there’s a big game in Vegas at 6pm ET today. However, FanDuel is starting it’s NHL DFS slate at 7:30pm ET on Friday night. That’s likely due to the rush of players submitting their lineups between 6 and 7pm ET, or 3 to 4pm Pacific. I get it, but it’s unfortunate given the options we could’ve had for our lineups, from two great teams.

So, we’re only down to three games and six teams tonight. The Sharks and Hurricanes are both hot right now, so someone will buckle in Carolina. Meanwhile, the reeling Red Wings host a good Jets team not yet firing this season.

And while the Senators have looked solid this season, most of their good production has been in Ottawa. Tonight, the Sens are in Colorado facing a very tough Avs team to beat on the Avalanche’s home ice.

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

Of all the positions we’re staffing for our lineups on Friday night, I frankly find the center position to be the most difficult. I have some great plays at the winger, defense, and goalie spots that I don’t want to change, but that’s going to handicap our picks at center.

I’m not completely sold on this move yet, but I may fade Nathan MacKinnon ($8,900) and grab his winger line-mates instead. However, MacKinnon is my favorite pick at this position. He’s averaging over 22 NHL DFS FanDuel points-per-game this season.

MacKinnon may have only had 6.4 points last game, but that was against Vas and the Bolts in a 0-1 loss for the Avs. That’s not a fair comparison. Tonight, the Avs face a more vulnerable defense and goal tending group. MacKinnon is at least going to have double-digit points, with a solid chance at 20 to 30 points. If you fade one of our more expensive plays at the other positions, plug Nathan into your center spot.

Another center I love, and he’s $1,200 more affordable, is Mark Scheifele ($7,700) against the Red Wings in Detroit. I’ve been high on Scheifele since the Jets moved Laine up to the top line with Mark.

Since then, we’ve seen three goals and two assists, along with over 70 NHL DFS FanDuel points in just two games. Scheifele and the Jets are on the road, so they may not be as attractive as MacKinnon on home ice. But, the Red Wings are a team you want your offense playing against each time.

However, at least for tonight’s sample lineup, I’m going with Sebastian Aho ($6,700) in many formats. Talk about consistency, Aho has a point in all nine games this season, and Sebastian is averaging around 20 NHL DFS points-per-game.

That’s not saying Aho will definitively get you 20 points tonight, but he’s nearly a lock for around 15 points per game. And Seb hasn’t being doing this to just easy teams in ideal match ups, Aho has assists in Tampa and at home against the Avalanche. He’s also piled up two goals against the Wild in Minnesota. Give the consistency, it’s hard to ignore the value with this play.

I’ve also considered Dylan Larkin ($6,200) on home ice against the Jets, but I’d rather play Aho with a value pick of either Andreas Athanasiou ($4,500) or Avs third center Carl Soderberg ($4,500).

Given the other options from the Avs, Soderberg may not seem like the best play, but he’s in on the power play units and gets points from blocked shots, shots on goal, and at least one of assists or scoring most games.

We’re basically paying a cheap price for about 17 minutes of ice time from a Avs player in a decent match up. Athanasiou is a similar play but in a slightly more elevated position on his team. There’s obvious risk, though, playing a struggling offense against a good team like the Jets. So, I’m leaning toward Soderberg.

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Wingers

OK, the wingers. This is one of my favorite positions tonight. There are just so many great combinations you can play at this position. That’s incredible considering we only have three games to consider, which usually provides slimmer pickings.

We love the Jets even on road ice, so Blake Wheeler ($7,500) and Patrik Laine ($7,300) are both strong affordable plays as long as we went more of a value play route at the center position. This is also a great way to get a piece of Scheifele’s line without paying up for Mark at center.

But, I prefer to play Mikko Rantanen ($7,200) and Gabriel Landeskog ($6,700) over Wheeler and Laine. The Avs stack has a higher point-per-game average this season, they also have a decent match up, and they’re on home ice, a stark contrast to the Jets position. For that reason, I’m trying to find a way to play Rantanen and Landeskog in all formats, even if I’m playing MacKinnon at center.

Fortunately, Friday night is ripe with value plays. We talked about the Hurricanes’ second line leader, Aho, as a top center pick. His line-mate Micheal Ferland ($5,100) is a great stacking play given the goal streak Ferland’s on right now. he has a goal in each of the Canes last four games.

But a slightly cheaper play, in the same game, could be Timo Meier ($4,900) on the Sharks second line. In fact, we’ve talked about Meier and line-mate Tomas Hertl ($5,500) often as great value plays this season. I’m happy, but surprised, to see they’re both still relatively cheap while each consistently providing nearly 15 NHL DFS FanDuel points-per-game.

That leads me to want to combined a mini-Sharks stack of Meier and Hertl with the big mini-Avs stack of Landeskog and Rantanen. This leaves plenty of cash on the table to make a splash at defense and/or goaltender.

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

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Defenders

I can not believe it’s taken me this long to finally arm up to playing Brent Burns ($7,200) in a NHL DFS lineup. If you’ve followed this column for the past two seasons, you know I’m usually playing Burns each time he’s on the ice. But, I was worried about how the Sharks will handle the new gelling or chemistry with Erik Karlsson ($6,700) now on the ice too.

But, after a cold start to the season, Burns is now on fire manning defense on the Sharks top line and even seeing Karlsson on the ice with him for power plays. Brent now has a point in the last six-straight games, something we’re used to seeing, and two goals and eight assists in that time, so often more than one point.

The fact that Burns has a goal and two assists against the Predators last outing isn’t even that surprising, it’s more status quo. And his goal was of the power play verity, the kind we like to see. Finally, another stat slowly starting to develop for Burns is additional blocked shots.

This is why I’ve always like Burns in NHL DFS. It’s not just the beard, he’s one of the better offensive players in hockey, while eating up tons of ice time and piling up blocked shots as a defender. Now that he’s back in this dominating form, I’m definitely playing Burnsy tonight, and made the right lineup moves to be able to afford him in a top defense spot.

Frankly, my second pick on defense is a move mostly to be able to afford Burns while also getting some great points out of the center and winger positions, as we already discussed. We don’t have a lot of salary left if we want a decent goalie, but one of our favorite rookie defensive-man is on the ice tonight, Dennis Cholowski ($3,700).

For a small price, we’re paying for a top-line Red Wings d-man who’s likely to have three to four blocked shots while on the ice for over 20 minutes tonight. Also, Dennis isn’t afraid to shoot the puck several times and could add some points with goals or assists. I’ll take it!

NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays: Top Goalies

Whenever we have smaller slates like this, I go with the process of elimination to find my net-minder. Tonight is no different.

Let’s start with the goaltender we don’t like tonight. Petr Mrazek ($7,400) has been solid in his last couple of starts, but he’s now 2-2-1 and gave up five goals to the Rangers on home ice this season. That’s not the kind of risk we’re looking for tonight.

We’ve mentioned it a few times, but we also hate any tender we’re throwing on the ice for the Red Wings to defense the Jets. Sure, it’s on home ice, but I’m worried about Jimmy Howard‘s ($7,300) ability to stop the Jets from scoring more than three goals tonight. So he’s also out.

As we look at the remaining four teams; oddly, as I was doing my research, some breaking goalie assignments were made that shifted my thinking a little bit. The Sharks are starting Aaron Dell ($7,700) instead of Martin, the Avs are starting Philipp Grubauer ($7,300) instead of Varly, and Jets are starting Laurent Brossoit ($7,300) instead of Hellebuyck.

Craig Anderson ($7,800) has been rock-solid for the Senators this season, but against the Avs in Colorado? No, thanks. That leads me to Brossoit and Grubauer as the top two plays at goaltender and quite frankly, you could pick either one.

Both Laurent and Philipp have a cheap $7,300 salary giving us a ton of salary back to maybe go bigger at either center or the winger position. Or maybe we buy a few more points over our value pick on defense. But between the two, I like that Grubauer should see more shots on goal inflating his point today. So I’m leaning that way, but you could easily argue either play Friday night.

FanDuel Power Plays: October 26th 2018 Summary

My favorite play at center for Friday night is Aho because of the value you get with his salary. However, I may still try to pay up for Scheifele or MacKinnon as they each have good match ups tonight. From there, I’m going to grab a value play at center like Soderberg or Athanasiou.

At the winger position, I’m likely stacking the Avs top-line wingers Rantanen and Landeskog, regardless of how I play the centers. And then I’ll grab two value wingers from the Sharks, Hertl and Meier, who continue to out-perform their price.

Speaking of Sharks, they’re on the ice and I FINALLY feel comfortable playing Burnsy tonight. He’s expensive, but his output is impossible to ignore right now, regardless of the format or his match up on the ice. To make it easier to afford him, I’ll use Cholowski again.

The net-minders is a little difficult for Friday night. Many of the teams in the Main slate are starting backup goalies. But that’s awesome! We now have two very good value plays in Grubauer and Brossoit.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Friday, October 26th 2018:

C       Mark Scheifele ($7,700)

C       Carl Soderberg ($4,500)

W     Mikko Rantanen ($7,200)

W     Gabriel Landeskog ($6,700)

W     Tomas Hertl ($5,500)

W     Micheal Ferland ($5,100)

D      Brent Burns ($7,200)

D      Dennis Cholowski ($3,700)

G      Philipp Grubauer ($7,300)

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!