NHL DFS Man Advantage Monday December 31st

Welcome to NHL DFS Man Advantage for Monday night December 31st! I just want to start with a reminder that the start time for the main slate on DraftKings is 6pm EST, not the the usual 7pm start time. 

We get to end 2018 with a bang with a huge 11 game NHL DFS slate to delve into tonight! After going over the slate one thing I like about this slate is there a good amount of goalies I like under $8K, which is very rare. There are also some under priced options in the mid tier of skaters tonight which I plan on trying to take advantage of.

NHL DFS Goalies:

My top goalie tonight is the only goalie I am interested in play that is over $8K and that is Semyon Varlamov ($8,300). I am not in love with Varlamov, especially with his poor play this season, but he has a great match up tonight. Varly and the Av’s take on the leagues worst team, LA. The Kings come into tonight’s game winning 4 of their last 5 BUT they’ve only scored 14 goals in those 5 games for an average of 2.8 goals per game. While Varlamov has had a terrible December posting a GAA of near 5 a matchup with the NHL’s lowest scoring team could be just what he needs to get back on track

Matt Murray ($7,800) @ Minnesota and Henrik Lundqvist ($7,600) @ St. Louis are both good options tonight as well with winnable games against bad teams. Murray looks to finally be healthy and playing like the goalie that won back to back Stanley Cups.  In his 5 starts since returning from Injury on 12/15 Murray is unbeaten winning all 5 games an allowing only 6 goals. Lundqvist gets a matchup with a Blues team that doesn’t seem to know who they are and are coming off a 6-1 defeat to Murray and the Penguins. Hank had some bad luck of late, before his win on Saturday night against Nashville, he lost 4 straight overtime games.

My last pick in net is Linus Ullmark ($7,700) against the Islanders. I am only interested in Ullmark not Cart Hutton ($7,900) for Buffalo tonight though. Ullmark comes in a winner of 3 straight starts and allowing only 5 goals in the those 3 games. Ullmark is still the future in Buffalo and with the poor play from Hutton of late Ullmark could see a lot more playing time.

NHL DFS Top Players:

Top Tier:

Nathan MacKinnon ($8,100) – Usually I would just list MacKinnon and his line mates as my top line stack but tonight I figured I would dive into one of them a little bit. MacKinnon is currently in a “slump” by his standards with only 5 points in his last 5 games, and just the fact that a point per game average for MacKinnon could be a considered a slump just goes to show how dominant he has been this season. MacKinnon is averaging over 5 shots per game in his last 5 so his opportunities are still there.

Sidney Crosby ($7,300) – From a “slumping” player to one who is white-hot right now. Crosby did not disappoint when I wrote him up on Saturday night so I am going back to him tonight.  Sid has three consecutive multi-point games with 8 points, including seven assists, in that span. The NHL is still a young man’s league, but Crosby is showing that he can still play at a MVP level. I paired Crosby with Phil Kessel ($6,600) for a PP stack and it paid off with a combined 15 DKFP.

Matt Duchene ($6,500) – Duchene and the Senators have a matchup with the Blue Jackets in a game Vegas has set a combined goal total of  6.5, the highest on the night as of this writing. With the potential high score in this game I want to get some exposure to this game and Duchene is affordable top-tier option and he does have 3 goals in his last 4.

Mid Tier:

Mike Hoffman ($6,300) – Hoffman comes into tonight’s game with 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 4 games and is averaging just under 5 FPPG in that span.

Erik Karlsoon ($6,000) – After starting the season extremely slow, Karlsson has finally picked up and has started playing at an All-Star level. Karlsson comes in riding a 9 game point streak totaling 14 points (1 goal and 13 assists).

Chris Kreider ($5,200) – Kreider has back to back to multi point games and has points in 4 straight coming into his matchup with the Blues tonight.

Value Tier:

Yanni Gourde ($4,300) – I played Gourde with Stamkos on Saturday and while Stamkos was a bust Gourde was well worth the play. Gourde’s goal on Saturday was his first in 10 games and was inspired by a Make-a-Wish experience for a young child. Gourde has been quiet in his last 10 games, and he has just five points in that span. But four of those points have come in the last four games. Gourde may be waking up finally.

Oliver Bjorkstrand ($3,900) – With Nick Foligno leaving the team to be with his family while his daughter has surgery there will be an opportunity for someone to step into his place on the Jackets second line and Bjorkstrand might be the guy. I will be checking the Blue Jackets lines after morning skate to see if Bjorkstrand ends up with on line 2.

Ben Chiarot ($2,900) – This is another play based off a player being out of the lineup. Coach Paul Maurice said Dustin Byfuglien will be out until at least the All Star break and as his D partner Chiarot has the chance at some more ice time and maybe even get some time on the PP. Again, like with Columbus, I will be checking in on the lines after morning skate to see if there any changes.

Top Line Stacks:

NY Islanders 1 : Mathew Barzal is on fire right now…if Hutton starts I want this line

Buffalo 1 : One of the top lines in the NHL this season

Florida 1 : Great choice to pair one or two with Hoffman for a PP stack

Montreal 2 : Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher have been hot

Calgary 1 : Another one of the best lines in the league

Thanks for reading NHL DFS Man Advantage today and make sure you follow me on twitter @MVecchio81 and @FantasyCPR for all your NHL, NFL, NBA and more for all 100% FREE content!!!