Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for December 13

Welcome to NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays. We’re a fantasy hockey column focused on top lineup plays each day. This edition is focused on the Main slate for Thursday, December 13th 2018.

Our Fantasy Hockey focus on Tuesday landed some mildly solid result for DFS NHL FanDuel lineups. Johnsson ($3,600) wasn’t quite the value play we were hoping for, getting only two shots for 3.2 points. And Keith Yandle had a surprisingly quiet 6.4 point night. But he’s more likely to bounce back soon.

The rest of our lineup picks were mostly in the 13 to 25 FanDuel NHL point range. The biggest play of the night, that we had, was Jack Eichel ($7,700) piling up 40 points with ten shots on goal, a power play goal, and a power play assist. He also added two blocked shots.

Eichel and several other of the same type of plays are back on the ice tonight, so we may need to consider them again.

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 Thursday, December 13th 2018:

Coyotes at Sabres 7pm ET

Kings at Blue Jackets 7pm ET

Hurricanes at Canadiens 7:30pm ET

Maple Leafs at Lightning 7:30pm ET ESPN+

Canucks at Predators 8pm ET ESPN+

Panthers at Wild 8pm ET

Oilers at Jets 8pm ET

Stars at Sharks 10:30pm ET

While we had some great results on Tuesday, it was still difficult to cash in on the both GPP and cash games. Unfortunately, around 160 points wasn’t quiet enough, and in many cases you needed 180 to 200 points just to break into the cash spot. That’s not ideal, nor is it normal.

On Thursday, we have eight games, compared to the ten we had on Tuesday. Hopefully we don’t have another scenario where the bar is significantly higher to cash than usual. We shouldn’t as there are several very good defensive match ups, but there’s also some great value and big-name plays to consider for another solid shot at cashing.

Quick Plug: You may have noticed a lot of NHL games are now aired on ESPN+. I have a subscription so I can watch more sports in general, but enjoy the coverage from ESPN+ for Hockey as well. If you’re looking for a cost-effective way to follow more live coverage of the NHL, you can get a trial-subscription here.

So, let’s start building our NHL DFS optimal lineup by looking at the top centers for this slate…

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Centers

Once again, like Tuesday, Connor McDavid ($9,100) and Auston Matthews ($8,400) are each on the ice for a DFS NHL slate. Any time either McDavid or Matthews is on the ice, they’re worth a heavy consideration as your top overall DFS NHL play.

However, I’d also argue Jack Eichel ($7,800), who also happens to be red hot right now, is emerging as one of those types of players. Now 31 games into the season, Eichel is averaging 19.26 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, nearly the same amount as McDavid.

On Thursday night, Eichel and the Sabres are hosting the Arizona Coyotes in Buffalo, NY. The Sabres had an embarrassing outcome against the Flyers last weekend, but Jack still had 32 points with five shots on goal and two goals.

In fact, over the last three games Eichel has 40, 32, and 40.2 FanDuel NHL points, averaging over 35 points-per-game. If you look back from now through Mid-November, Eichel only fell short of a double-digit point outcome once. He’s becoming a dependable play at center, he’s still fairly cheap compared to guys like McDavid and Matthews, and he’s playing the Coyotes on home ice tonight.

Fortunately, we can still get in on some of the Edmonton Oilers offense in Winnipeg Thursday. While the Jets offense has played well lately, their defense has struggled at times. They’re allowing too many shots on goal, and their solid net-minders are letting more than three goals per game past the crease in the last week.

Meanwhile, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($5,500) is leading the Oilers second line, plays with McDavid and Draisaitl on their top power play line. Over the last four games, Nugent-Hopkins has 17 shots on goal, four goals (one during a power play) and one assist. He’s hot right now, and still fairly cheap. We’re essentially getting a value play here, and I like the odds.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

Before we jump into two obvious winger plays I continue to recommend because they continue to do well for fantasy hockey lineups, I’m excited to look at the Sharks again tonight.

It’s been a while since we’ve touted Timo Meier ($6,100) and Tomas Hertl ($5,100), mostly because they’re finally landing around the salary price point they deserve. But still, this duo appears to be a solid value.

Meier is averaging over 17 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, more than the vast majority of wingers, yet he’s still very affordable for lineups. Hertl is playing on the same lines as Meier, and over the last four games he has two power play goals, three in total. Against a suspect Dallas Stars defense and struggling goaltending lately, this seems like a great mid-salary range play for our lineups.

The other two wingers I like are probably boring for most fantasy hockey players who read this column regularly, but I can’t ignore the value and top play potential Jonathan Huberdeau ($7,100) and Andrew Shaw ($3,700) bring to your lineups.

Starting with Shaw, sure he’ll only give nine to eleven points on some nights were he’s fairly quiet with shots but has an assist, or only a couple blocked shots and a few shots on goal. But the Habs second-liner is only the ice around 17 minutes per game now and has a point in each of their last five games. In that time, he has a goal and four assists.

Considering you’re only paying $3.7K for Andrew and yet he’s likely to give you double-digit points, that’s a very good DFS NHL deal. Thanks FanDuel!

Huberdeau is quite frankly a no-brainer. I don’t care who the Panthers are playing, Jonathan is nearly a slam dunk for two points (goals and/or assists) every time he’s on the ice this season. With 36 points in just 29 games, Jonathan is now 20th in the NHL in points. I don’t mind paying $7.1K for a, near, slam dunk pick.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

Sticking with the obvious plays of the night, why not ride the hot hand of Seth Jones ($5,700) on home ice against the Kings? Granted, I’ll be surprised if Jones isn’t a chalky play tonight. I mean, if he isn’t, then many DFS NHL players aren’t paying attention.

In his last seven games, Jones has at least a goal or assist in six games, four goals and four assists total, and even with Seth isn’t scoring, he’s piling up over 15 points just from shots and blocked shots.

Last weekend, against the Caps, Jones didn’t hit the points on the stats sheet, but he had eight shots on goal and three blocked shots for 17.6 FanDuel NHL points. So he was still one of the best plays at defense, without getting heavily involved in the offense. Although his shot on goal total is impressive.

Not quiet the dominating play as Jones, Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,200) is periodically showing up on our radar more often, lately, this season. In the last eleven Buffalo Sabres games, Ristolainen has ten assists and two goals. Rasmus is also piling up lots of shots on goal, and his blocked shot averaging is hovering around three per game lately.

Like the Eichel play against the Coyotes on home ice in Buffalo, Rasmus appears to be a great mini-Sabres stack play with Jack.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

It took me a while to land at a goalie pick for tonight. I’ll try to break down the, somewhat linear, logic I used.

Again, I like Pekka Rinne ($9,900). I mean, the guy is probably the best case for a near lock any goalie in the NHL will give you for fantasy hockey. Not just the save total, which is frankly low thanks to better defense than most, but because Rinne is great at keeping the goals against to a 1.91 per game average.

That’s lowest in the NHL! Among regular starters, only Andrei Vasilevskiy comes close at 2.29, which frankly is fairly far away from Pekka’s average. So you know you’re getting a low goals against number tonight, and the Predators are often winning. So if you’re looking for a decent 20+ point lock at the position, grab Rinne and find bigger value with a center or winger pick.

Unfortunately, I don’t like what I’m giving up with the extra salary for Pekka. Also, I sometimes struggle to pick him because of the lower points total from less shots at Rinne.

The reverse of that is probably Frederik Andersen ($9,300), but we’re paying too much for a game the Maple Leafs could, and likely will, lose.

Even though the Bolts lost in a blowout to the Senators, they’ve played fairly well lately. Also, we’ve seen the young Senators blast past good teams like that from time to time this year, they’re just not very consistent in doing so.

I do like the Lightning’s odds hosting the Maple Leafs on Thursday night, and we know there’s going to be a high shot total from a good Leafs offense. That makes playing Louis Domingue ($8,700) or Andrei Vasilevskiy ($8,300) an attractive option.

Domingue is probably the better play because he’s had more success lately, but Vas likely bounces back into his rock-solid form on Thursday. Remember, Vas has the second lowest goals against average (2.29) this season, and paying only $8.7 or $8.3K allows you to easily pick the other plays we like tonight, potentially paying up for a better option in one spot if you go with Andrei.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays December 13th 2018 Summary

We’ll see who the Bolts like at goalie this afternoon, either Vasilevskiy or Domingue. We like the Bolts to win with a high save number on home ice Thursday. But even if they lose, it’s likely we still get nearly 20 points from this play. Decent floor with a very high ceiling.

From there, we have plenty of cash to grab a red-hot Eichel at center, and I’m likely going with Nugent-Hopkins as a mid-salary range value play at center as well. Ryan’s pick also gives me some cheaper exposure to McDavid’s offense.

At winger we honestly have a lot of usual suspects. We haven’t talked about Meier or Hertl in a while, but they’re both hot again, and having a great season. Tonight seems like another night to own that dynamic duo on the Sharks second line.

We also like Huberdeau and Shaw, a top pick and value play we used earlier this week. We could get over 40 points from this play, while adding smoking hot Seth Jones and Ristolainen to our lineup for defense.

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

C       Jack Eichel ($7,700)

C       Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($5,500)

W     Jonathan Huberdeau ($7,100)

W     Timo Meier ($6,100)

W     Tomas Hertl ($5,100)

W     Andrew Shaw ($3,700)

D      Seth Jones ($5,700)

D      Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,200)

G      Louis Domingue ($8,700) / Andrei Vasilevskiy ($8,300)

Remaining Salary: $100 / 500

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!