Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for December 27

Welcome to NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays. This is a fantasy hockey column focused on top lineup plays each day. This edition is focused on the Main slate for Thursday, December 27th 2018.

The last time NHL teams were on the ice was back on Sunday, December 23rd. Our fantasy hockey lineup suggestions were OK, depending on which top picks you went with Sunday.

John Tavares and Morgan Rielly each yielded more than 20 FanDuel NHL points per person, and Brandon Pirri continued to be a top value play. But, the vast majority of our example lineup and several other picks only gave us around five to ten points each.

That doesn’t leave you with great odds to win GPP, and we only won a couple of cash games, mostly when facing smaller groups of other FanDuel NHL players. Now that the NHL is back on the ice Thursday, in a big way, we hope to almost double our points outcome.

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 27th 2018:

Devils at Bruins 7pm ET

Blue Jackets at Rangers 7pm ET

Red Wings at Penguins 7pm ET ESPN+

Hurricanes at Capitals 7pm ET

Flyers at Lightning 7:30pm ET NBC Sports Network

Sabers at Blues 8pm ET

Stars at Predators 8pm ET

Flames at Jets 8pm ET

Wild at Blackhawks 8:30pm ET ESPN+

Canucks at Oilers 9pm ET

Avalanche at Golden Knights 10pm ET

Coyotes at Kings 10:30pm ET

Ducks at Sharks 10:30pm ET

That’s a long list of games for one day of NHL action. However, it’s not surprising that we have 13 games, and 26 total teams, to pick through on the Thursday after Christmas and after a three day time-off period. The Flames and Jets are two good teams going head-to-head in Winnipeg, and the Predators have a favorable match up on home ice.

Outside of fantasy hockey, I’m a Flyers fan but they have a terrible match up against a very good Lightning team in Tampa. So we may be willing to pay up for some incredible skaters from a very good offense exploiting the struggling Fly-Guys.

The Golden Knights and Penguins continue to provide incredible value with cheap guys playing on top lines with great skaters. But the goaltending position could make your head spin, with an overwhelming number of great winning options.

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

For a top center pick, I could go with either one of Mark Scheifele ($8,300), Steven Stamkos ($8,300) or Jack Eichel ($8,000). Of that three, Eichel is the most appealing because of his value. Jack continues to be red-hot piling up goals and assists on the stat sheet consistently this season.

But, the Winnipeg Jets top lines, regular and power play units, are one of the most explosive in the NHL. The Bolts seem to be surging as well, so I want either Mark or Steven in my lineup, and if I pick one at center, I may pick one of their line-mates as a top winning pick to get a piece of both offenses.

Any of those three centers are expensive and we want to afford decent picks across the rest of the lineup with so many good teams on the ice Thursday night. So, my next move is likely pick a mid-salary range value play at center.

There are two I like here, one I picked last Sunday. Kevin Hayes ($5,800) didn’t have as big a game on Sunday as we hoped, but he still had an assist and double-digit points with a reasonable salary. I think Hayes is the same type of play on Thursday, although facing a tougher net-minder.

So, I’m leaning toward Bo Horvat ($5,700), more than Hayes, against the Oilers in Edmonton. The Oilers have a great offense, but their defense and goaltending has been suspect for years now, including this season, and Horvat and the Canucks offense are playing well lately.

Between Hayes and Horvat there’s only a $100 difference, but as you’ll see later, that could be an important difference.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

We talked about grabbing either Scheifele or Stamkos as a top center pick. I’m likely going with Mark, which makes me want Nikita Kucherov ($8,800) as a top pick against the Flyers.

Stamkos may have a good game too, but the Flyers historically struggle more against wingers than centers, and Kucherov is red-hot right now, quickly chasing Mikko Rantanen ($8,300) for most points (goals or assists) in the NHL.

I also love Rantanen, so that’s a very good pivot from Kucherov and away from the Bolts or Jets play, but I’m more likely to grab Kucherov or Blake Wheeler ($7,700).

Why not Patrik Laine ($7,900) on Thursday? Well, he’s worth a shot, but Laine can be a streaky sniper and I prefer to play him when he’s demonstrated an up-swing in his offensive production. Right now, Patrik seems to be cooling off, and Wheeler is a more consistent fantasy hockey option.

Before you get worried about spending so much money with your first three picks, don’t forget about Brandon Perri ($3,300) at winger.

Since being recalled from the Minors for the Vegas Golden Knights, Perri has been averaging around 15 minutes per game, and has three goals and one assist over a three game period. In fact, Brandon is averaging over 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. This is slam-dunk value, although he may be a little chalky for a value pick.

And I’m likely going to average out my salary at the winger spot by picking two great mid-salary range players in Bryan Rust ($5,700) and Tom Wilson ($5,100).

Wilson may be an on-ice behavioral headache for the NHL, but the man is playing incredible offense this season and was a clear difference maker in the Stanley Cup playoffs last year. For this salary, I will continue to play Tom until he finally demonstrates some type of ‘drop-off’ trend.

I haven’t seen any indication of that yet.

You may look at Rust’s 9.19 FanDue NHL points-per-game average and shrug…thinking, why him? Well, if you’ve been watching hockey daily like I have, you’ve heard Rusts’ name often when the Penguins are on the ice.

Playing on the Pengs top line with guys like Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel, Rust is averaging around 18 to 20 minutes of ice time (a very high amount) while scoring five goals and providing three helpers (assists) over the last five games. This is a great value for both players.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

I play different strategies on defense each week. If you’ve been following this column, this season, you’ve likely noticed a focus on grabbing a top ten defensive play, but not usually the most expensive, along with a value pick.

For the most part, that has been working. Doing that on Thursday, though, could really tie your hands while looking at incredible picks at other positions like Kucherov at winger.

If you’re going with a top pick, and have found a cheaper set of top plays at center and winger, they you should be looking at Kris Letang ($6,700) or John Carlson ($6,200). Both defenders are averaging around 16 FanDuel NHL points-per-game this season and their salary indicates they’re seriously underrated in NHL DFS still.

However, I’d prefer to lock in a 15 to 25 point play from Buffalo Sabres Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,500) instead.

It’s funny, last season everyone was waiting for, then prospect, Ristolainen to emerge as a dominating force at the d-man spot for the Sabres. This year, everyone was expecting Rasmus Dahlin ($4,700) to be that man, after a tremendous pre-season, but we’re now seeing the other Rasmus, Ristolainen, becoming the guy we thought he could be last season. Look out next year NHL!

Alright, I need around $8K+ at the goalie spot with so many high-win probability with high shots on goal options. So I’m looking for a decent value play for my second defense spot.

Fortunately Darnell Nurse ($4,400), former NFL Eagles starting QB Donavan McNabb’s nephew, is heating up this month. Nurse has two goals and five assists in the last six games, and is getting several shots on goal with several blocked shots each game to lock in ten-plus points most of the time.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

It took me a while to lock into my favorite goalie picks on Thursday morning. That’s honestly the reason I got this post out so late. While playing around with lineups, some of the guys I like most were Braden Holtby ($9,000) and Connor Hellebuyck ($8,300).

While each net-minder is facing a pesky team on home ice, they’re on home ice in a favorable situation and seem to be on the upswing side of their topsy-turvy play this season. Between the two, I’ll lean heavily toward Hellebuyck given the value you have with that $700 savings.

However, as news broke from several Boston Bruins beat writers that Jaroslav Halak ($8,200) was first off the ice during practice, always a very big indication they were starting at goalie that night, I immediately was more intrigued.

Surprisingly, Halak has been the better of the two goalies for the Bruins this year. Halak has only given up three goals in his last three starts, against the Canadiens, Ducks, and Predators…solid competition. Jari won all three of those games, averaging over 30 FanDuel NHL points-per-game.

On Thursday, the B’s have a decent match up against a Devils team with solid offensive players. But that is what makes this so intriguing. Halak will likely see a higher volume of shots on goal, on home ice, and with a likely win. So for a decent $8.2K salary, we could be nailing down 30+ points with this play.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays December 27th 2018 Summary

We’re looking to spend a lot of FanDuel NHL salary, on Thursday, at the center position…at least for one pick. We like several options, Stamkos, Scheifele, or Eichel. Of that three, though, we like Mark the most, and could grab a winger from one of those other lines to get a piece of two of the three offenses Thursday.

Horvat and Hayes are each great value plays for a second center pick, we’ll likely go with Bo over Kevin. If we go with Scheifele, we’re definitely grabbing Kucherov as a top winger play. From there, we want to consider saving some salary to get decent defense and goalie picks.

Rust and Wilson have been red-hot lately, and given their sub-$6K salary they’re both appealing for mid-salary range picks. Fortunately, Pirri is also back on the ice, and dirt cheap.

With the value plays at winger, along with decent value from Ristolainen and Nurse at defense, we have plenty of money to pay up for Halak at the goalie position. Jaroslav is a very decent shot at over 30 FanDuel NHL points from a goalie pick on Thursday.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Thursday, December 27th 2018:

C       Mark Scheifele ($8,300)

C       Bo Horvat ($5,700)

W     Nikita Kucherov ($8,800)

W     Bryan Rust ($5,700)

W     Tom Wilson ($5,100)

W     Brandon Pirri ($3,300)

D      Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,500)

D      Darnell Nurse ($4,400)

G      Jaroslav Halak ($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!