Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for January 9th

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 Wednesday, January 9th 2019.

After many big fantasy hockey slates consistently, each day, over the last couple of weeks, things are finally quieting down a bit on the NHL schedule. This week’s Wednesday night resembles a standard hockey week, with only three games on the schedule.

With three games and six teams to pick through, our goal is to find a few top plays and utilize any potential value we can obtain to afford them. The less value we find, the less top plays we can plug into our lineup.

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 Wednesday, January 9th 2019:

Predators at Blackhawks 8pm ET NBC Sports Network

Avalanche at Flames 9:30pm ET ESPN+

Senators at Ducks 10pm ET

Of these six teams, the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators are currently the hottest teams, at least from a fantasy hockey perspective. The Flames top line is one of the hottest in the NHL, and they have a decent match up on home ice Wednesday.

We may also be able to find some value from the Predators, who travel to Chicago to play a vulnerable Blackhawks team, and the Ducks also offer value plays while at home, in Anaheim, against a struggling Ottawa Senators team.

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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

The center position offers a conundrum. You have Nathan MacKinnon ($9,000) and Sean Monahan ($8,000) as your two obvious top picks. It’s unlikely any other center will score more FanDuel NHL points than these two on Wednesday night.

So, I’m interested in obtaining at least one of these two. Picking both is essentially impossible, unless I clutter the vast majority of my winger and defense picks with low-salary value plays. However, there isn’t really enough value to make a move like that on Wednesday night.

If I don’t go with either MacKinnon or Monahan, then I’m likely grabbing two mid-salary level picks like Jonathan Toews ($6,800) and Ryan Getzlaf ($6,600). The problem with that is I don’t like either option. In fact, if I’m going to grab a cheaper, mid-salary level, type of top center pick, I’m most included to do something like J.T. Compher ($5,000) leading the Avs second line.

So now that I know I most likely want either Monahan or MacKinnon, I’m looking to see if there’s a super cheap second value pick. Fortunately, the Predators offer a great option with Nick Bonino ($3,900) likely getting just under 20 minutes of ice time against the Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

The former Penguins center has two goals and two assists in the last six games, and is consistently getting at least some points from shots and blocked shots. With any scoring from Nick on Wednesday, he’s a steal. He also allows us to pay up for a likely Monahan type of pick.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

Going with one expensive, but big point, play at center along with a decent value allows us to make several big moves at the winger spot too. Before we get there, I want to grab at least one other value play, so I can finish a big-play stack at the top of my winger list, along with a mid-salary range guy.

Fortunately, the Ducks have been playing Nick Ritchie ($3,600) on their top line and he’s logging 15+ minutes of ice time per game lately. Also, while on the ice so much, Nick has been able to provide a goal and four assists in just five games.

Along with some shots on goal, and a few blocked shots here and there, that makes Ritchie a very good value play at winger. Especially on home ice against the Senators.

With some modest plays at defense and goaltender, that gives me plenty of cash to play with at the winger spot now. With Monahan already in my lineup, a guy we’ve been talking about for the entire month of January, my favorite idea is to go with a full stack of the Flames top line.

That means we grab red-hot Johnny Gaudreau ($8,900) and Elias Lindholm ($7,200) for our top two winger picks. Almost overshadowed by Gaudreau and Monahan, Lindholm has three goals, a power play goal, and six assists in just the last five games.

Gaudreau is a bigger story right now. The New Jersey native has ten goals in just the last seven games. Additionally, Johnny has six assists as well during that same time period. Gaudreau is getting many good shots on goal as well, and is moving his FanDuel NHL point-per-game average to just under 20 per game.

Rounding out our winger picks, we’re making a comfortable fourth with Craig Smith ($5,800). The Nashville Predators winger has at least one goal or assist in each of the last six games, totaling four goals and three assists in that time. This is a decent shot at around 20 points without giving up much FanDuel NHL salary.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

You may recall I mentioned earlier that we’re looking for modest plays at defense. If you saved enough money and haven’t already hit the four-man stacking max, Mark Giordano ($6,300) is easily my favorite play. Mark is a part of the red-hot Flames top line, but he would limit our ability to consider a Flames goalie.

Also, I think we can get solid FanDuel NHL points by simply grabbing two mid-salary ranges defenders, and we have tons of them in our defensive list for Wednesday night.

Without having to pay up for Roman Josi ($6,400) or P.K. Subban ($5,700), we can get a piece of those same top defenders and the Predators top lines by adding Ryan Ellis ($5,000) from the Preds top line and Mattias Ekholm ($4,700) from Nashville’s second line.

The Ellis/Josi line is one of the best defense combinations in the NHL, and Ryan has a goal and three assists in the last five games. Even better, Ellis is piling up points with a lot of shots on goal and blocked shots, consistently, each game.

But, Ekholm has actually been the hotter player later, and is now averaging more points-per-game (11) than Ellis. In the last six games, Mattias has two goals and six assists, while also providing points for shots on goal and blocked shots. This combination has a decent shot at giving us around 40 total points at the position.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

Quite frankly, smaller slates make picking a goaltender easier. However, the risk is…if you pick the wrong goaltender in a small slate, you’re likely toast.

The two cheapest net-minders are Wednesday night are Anders Nilsson ($7,100) and Philipp Grubauer ($7,500). Both goaltenders are giving up around four goals per game and neither is in an ideal position to grab that 12 points from a win on Wednesday night.

The net-minders who are in the best position for a win are Pekka Rinne ($8,100) and John Gibson ($7,900). Between those two, I like Rinne the most but I don’t like the amount of total saves we could get from either goalie.

A young Collin Delia ($7,900) is a tempting pick, especially for GPP. The rookie is now 3-1-1 giving up no more than three goals in any one game, and held his own well against a red-hot Flames offense on Monday night.

But, David Rittich ($7,800) is somehow $100 cheaper than Delia and is also having a fantastic season. Rittich is making a very strong case to overcome Mike Smith‘s starting position between the pipes, and hes averaging over 30 saves per game lately.

Against the Avalanche on home ice, it’s highly likely Rittich piles up another 30+ saves and obtains the 12 points for a win. So we’re looking at a decent shot at 25 to 35 points with this pick.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays January 9th 2019 Summary

We can afford Rittich or Delia as our net-minders, but Rittich is the safer play. Still, Delia may be worth playing in a floating GPP line. We’re also saving some money on defense by plugging in the Predators Ellis and Ekholm without spending more than $10,000 at the position.

We’re then grabbing value from Ritchie at the winger spot, and Bonino at the center spot. To amp up some more points at the winger position, I love grabbing a mid-salary range play from the Preds’ Smith on their second line.

These prudent, but high-value, plays allow us to make a big Calgary Flames top line stacking play. We’re going to place a red-hot Monahan at the top center spot, and also smoking hot Gaudreau with his winger line-mate Lindholm. Go Flames! (tonight)

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Wednesday, January 9th 2019:

C       Sean Monahan ($8,000)

C       Nick Bonino ($3,900)

W     Johnny Gaudreau ($8,900)

W     Elias Lindholm ($7,200)

W     Craig Smith ($5,800)

W     Nick Ritchie ($3,600)

D      Ryan Ellis ($5,000)

D      Mattias Ekholm ($4,700)

G      David Rittich ($7,800)

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!