Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for January 10th

Welcome to back to the NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays column. This is a fantasy hockey column focused on top lineup plays each day. This edition is focused on the Main slate for Thursday, January 10th 2019.

Alright, full disclosure, yesterday’s fantasy hockey picks mostly sucked! Yes, I said it. I’ve done significantly better, especially with smaller slates, than we did on Wednesday and I’m disappointed with the outcome.

What happened? Well, the Avalanche did a decent job of containing the Calgary Flames top line. Yes, the Flames won and yes we still garnered a solid 25.6 points playing a reasonably priced David Rittich ($7,800).

But, while Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm had decent games, they both fell just under 20 FanDuel NHL points. But the most disappointing play was spending $8K on a Sean Monahan 1.6 points from a measly blocked shot. It’s not Monahan’s fault, we should haven’t have played him against MacKinnon…lesson. learned.

There are a plethora of options for the massive Thursday night NHL slate. So there’s little excuse to land below 100 points with a lineup today.

However, the tough part is that we now have more competing high-point lineups to contend with. These slates tend to be tough, but if you build a low-chalk fantasy hockey lineup, with great value, you’re going to win all cash plays and many GPP’s.

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, January 10th 2019:

Capitals at Bruins 7pm ET ESPN+

Maple Leafs at Devils 7pm ET

Islanders at Rangers 7pm ET

Stars at Flyers 7pm ET

Predators at Blue Jackets 7pm ET

Hurricanes at Lightning 7:30pm ET

Canadiens at Blues 8pm ET

Jets at Wild 8pm ET NBC Sports Network

Panthers at Oilers 9pm ET

Coyotes at Canucks 10pm ET

Sharks at Golden Knights 10pm ET ESPN+

Senators at Kings 10pm ET

That’s right, twelve games. That is 24 teams and as many as at least 48+ lines to consider stacking or picking through for your lineup. I’m going to focus on some games I think are key for winning on Thursday night.

The Lightning continue to be a hot hockey team and they’re hosting a modest Hurricanes team in Tampa. I like the Bolts on home ice, but we’re going to need to find value to afford some of their top plays.

The Islanders continue to surprise the league and play a beatable Rangers team in New York. I also like the Stars and Flyers, two struggling teams, playing in Philly. The Golden Knights still have some great value, as do the Canucks, and we know the Predators have some solid defensive picks after last night.

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

I might play Connor McDavid ($8,900) and Patrice Bergeron ($8,600) in a few lineups tonight, but mostly cash plays. The key will be matching them with cheap value picks.

While the Oilers offense has essentially be non-existent aside from McDavid’s incredible play, Connor continues to be one of the best fantasy hockey options this season. And while the Bruins have a tough Capitals team at home in Boston, the Caps also gave up three goals to a struggling Flyers team last night and Bergeron is red-hot again.

However, for most of my lines on Thursday, I’m going to tag either Brayden Point ($7,900) or Tyler Seguin ($7,800) as my top two center picks.

Seguin has played significantly better since the Dallas Stars owner called out their top offensive players. But, I also think Tyler is going to be one of the top-chalk plays of the Thursday slate, which leans me toward Point, who’s also red-hot and may be overshadowed by the several other, more popular, fantasy hockey options at the position.

Another potentially under-the-radar pick at center is Brock Nelson ($5,500). The 27-year-old is coming off a three-point, two goal and one assist, home game against the Hurricanes. Nelson now has three goals and three assists in the last five games, and has a favorable match up at Madison Square Garden, in New York against the Ranges.

Point, McDavid, Bergeron, or Seguin are a great top pick with Nelson as a second cheaper value play at the position. Of the four top plays on Thursday, I like Point the most, and Seguin the least but only because of the chalk.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

Look, Nikita Kucherov ($9,300) may be chalky on Thursday night too, but I’m hoping many fantasy hockey players are just getting sick of plugging him into their lineups and they now have many other flashy picks on Thursday night to consider.

That could be wrong, but regardless Kucherov shouldn’t hurt having in your lineup tonight, except for his salary. Also, I already like Point, and stacking Brayden with Kucherov is a big shot at getting over 50 FanDuel NHL points with two picks in my lineup.

Nikita has been absolutely on fire in the last two months, cooling off in San Jose against the Sharks, only to bounce right back against against the Blue Jackets in Tampa, scoring yet another goal and providing another assist.

While Nikita seems expensive, we have plenty of value picks to consider on Thursday so paying for Kucherov isn’t that hard. Before we get there, we absolutely have to grab Alexander Radulov ($6,700) against the Flyers in Philly.

I’m getting nervous constantly targeting the Flyers because at some point their losing streak is going to break and it’s going to hurt a lot of fantasy hockey players. That could be tonight. But even if the Flyers pull off a sudden win, it’s likely that Radulov is involved in more than one goal on Thursday, scoring or assists, and he’s firing plenty of shots on goal for additional points.

Speaking of the Flyers, I’ve been watching Travis Konecny ($4,400) play, each game, over the last several weeks. While this team seems to be down-and-out right now, Konecny continues to fly around the ice at an impressive pulse.

Travis quietly fired off nine shots in the last three games. He only scored once, but when a good hockey player starts firing a high volume of shots like that, they start to make their way in, and the law of averages is telling us Travis is due for a big scoring night. This could be a fun under-the-radar play at winger.

Finally, the best value on the board is easy. Yes, he may be chalky again too, but most of our plays are likely being avoided by many fantasy hockey players. So, I feel comfortable plugging Brandon Pirri ($3,500) in every lineup I own. The 27-year-old is averaging nearly 19 FanDuel NHL points per game, but is dirt cheap as the Golden Knights continue to move him between the NHL and AHL.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

The hottest defensive plays in fantasy hockey over the last two weeks have been Erik Karlsson ($7,800) and Brent Burns ($7,600). When the Sharks acquired Karlsson over the summer, I began dreaming of ways to stack these two in the same lineup.

However, I knew they’d take some time to gel and they struggled out the game, starting in October. Also, from October into December, paying for Karlsson and/or Burns rarely made sense. However, now they’re two of the top picks in this slate.

If you go that route, though, you’re going to need to find another value pick at winger and you may have to pick two mid-salary range guys at center. I’m not going there with this sample lineup tonight, but I do think playing one or both is a smart move.

With that thought aside, my next favorite play is a consistent stream of points coming form Jeff Petry ($5,000). The Habs second line defense man is one of the best bargains in NHL DFS optimal lineups these days.

That being said, while they’re not nailing the same high point volume as Petry, Alexander Edler ($4,600) or Mattias Ekholm ($4,700) can, at times, be an even better bargain at the defense position.

We went with Ekholm last night, and he rewarded with 20.8 FanDuel NHL points coming from three blocked shots and two assists. Edler is a similar type of player and slightly cheaper. I like any combination of Petry, Edler, and Ekholm as a great way to get nearly 40 points from the position without sacrificing as much salary as a Burns or Karlsson pick.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

It’s not a unique problem, but with twelve games or 24 teams to consider, I spent most of my time on Thursday morning trying to figure out which goalie to put into my lineup. There are many top options, and goalies from the expensive part of the list down to the cheap side of the list will provide double-digit points.

I’d love to play a guy like Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,400) or Marc-Andre Fleury ($9,200)…who’s suddenly expensive…but my fantasy hockey strategy is typically to go with a cheaper pick who can get you nearly the same amount of points.

What you’re paying for with Vas or Fleury is nearly backing on 20+ points. However, while I sometimes miss at the goalie position, I can usually find a guy who can get me 20+ points and save around $1-$1.5K.

I’m taking that route again on Thursday night. My first thought was to take Robin Lehner ($8,300), and if you’ve been following this column you know why. Lehner has been on fire for the Islanders and they continue to start him between the pipes as a result.

But, Robin gave us three goals last outing to the Blues. Yes, he still gave us 23.2 FanDuel NHL points with the win, but that’s the most goals he had given up since December 13th. In fact, Robin had only given up three goals TOTAL in his three prior starts. Something tells me he’s due for some regression, even against the Rangers.

If you don’t believe in the regression story, fade me and go with Lehner has your top goalie pick. Just be aware of the risk!

This might seem like an even riskier bet, but I’m leaning toward playing Jaroslav Halak ($8,200) against the Capitals on home ice instead. Yes, the Caps.

For starters, the Caps defense has struggled on the road lately. Also, the Bruins offense is red-hot right now. So it’s likely Halak gets a win tonight. Even better, he should get a lot of saves generating a lot of points, even if we gives up a few goals.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays January 10th 2019 Summary

Halak and Lehner are my two favorite goalies tonight. Lehner has been demonstrating better point consistency but Halak may actually be in the better fantasy hockey spot on Thursday night. Also, I think Jaroslav flies under the radar for us.

With that pick in our lineup, we’re going to go with modest plays on defense, grabbing any combination of Petry, Edler, or Ekholm. That should get us 30 to 40 points without having to spend too much of our FanDuel NHL salary from the defense position.

We have plenty of cash to spend when we look at the winger spot, which is good because I want Kucherov and Radulov in practically all of my lineups on Thursday night. Still, I also want a fairly expensive pick at center like Point, so I need to find value plays too.

Brock Nelson isn’t necessarily cheap, but he’s a hot center right now and $5.5K seems like a modest price to pay for the 27-year-old. And, plugging a sneaky Konecny play along with the obvious chalky Pirri play makes this lineup affordable.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Thursday, January 10th 2019:

C       Brayden Point ($7,900)

C       Brock Nelson ($5,500)

W     Nikita Kucherov ($9,300)

W     Alexander Radulov ($6,700)

W     Travis Konecny ($4,400)

W     Brandon Pirri ($3,500)

D      Alexander Edler ($4,600)

D      Mattias Ekholm ($4,700)

G      Jaroslav Halak ($8,200)

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!