Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for January 11th

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 Friday, January 11th 2019.

The big Thursday night slate went mostly as well as planned. Yesterday’s fantasy hockey lineup worked out well, regardless of the goalie you had, but much better if you had Robin Lehner between the pipes.

Unfortunately, in many of my lineups I went with a riskier Jaroslav Halak play, and that didn’t pan out as well as I had wanted.

Still, I generated over 150 FanDuel NHL points thanks to a last couple of minute point surge by the Bolts Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Between the two of them, they piled up over 56 points, most of the points within the last three minutes of the game. I watched the game, it was pretty exciting.

Another huge play for us was sticking with Mattias Ekholm, who had three blocked shots, piled up six shots on goal, and added a goal and assist for an incredible 34.4 FanDuel NHL points while only spending $4,700 of the FanDuel salary on the pick.

Brandon Pirri continued to be a value star…that has to end soon. But until then, we’ll continue to play him. But another, more sneaky, move we made was plugging Travis Konecny into our lineup expecting one of his many shots on goal, 11 in the three games prior, finally getting into the net.

We had a hunch the Flyers would end their losing streak on Thursday night, and not only did they end their losing streak but Konecny scored the game winning goal! Now, can we replicate the same success in a smaller Friday night slate, presenting a better opportunity to build more cash.

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 Friday, January 11th 2019:

Sabres at Hurricanes 7:30pm ET

Red Wings at Jets 8pm ET

Panthers at Flames 9pm ET

Penguins at Ducks 10pm ET ESPN+

That’s right, it’s only a four game slate. But that’s standard for a Friday. Earlier in the season, the NHL schedule only had one game slated for a Friday, and it’s typical to see three or less each week. So I’ll take this one.

Of these eight teams, I love the odds the Jets and Flames have the most. The Penguins are also playing well and should have the advantage over the falling Ducks, but that could be a trap play in Anaheim as well. And the Sabres and Hurricanes have some promising sneaky moves, which we’ll get at to next.

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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

Wait, Jack Eichel ($7,700) is on the IR right? Well, not necessarily by game time. While researching value picks for the center position this morning, it occurred to me that Evan Rodrigues ($3,500) was a trap.

Rodrigues has been a sneaky value lately with Eichel off the ice and Evan taking over on the top line. His minutes on the ice climbed drastically and suddenly he was earning significantly more FanDuel NHL points-per-game than we’ve seen all year. Do NOT play Rodrigues tonight!

Following beat writers on twitter can be very beneficial. When I saw Paul Hamilton’s tweet mid-morning on Friday, I knew there was a chance we could get a top player who now claims to be 100% while many think he’s still on the IR Friday night.

While Carolina is a decent team lately, the Sabres play much better with Eichel in the lineup, and he’s likely to see close to 20 minutes of ice time tonight, and should be involved in scoring one or many goals for the Sabres on Friday night. I’m willing to pay up for this sneak-attack.

If you don’t like the potential injury risk Jack brings to the lineup, considering pivoting to a more expensive Sidney Crosby ($8,800) option instead. The ‘kid’ is on fire right now, along with the entire Penguins unit, and they have a favorable match up in Anaheim. However, as I stated earlier, this could be a trap road game, and I’m mostly fading the offense from both teams.

Sean Monahan ($8,000) is another decent consideration at center, although he burned us already, earlier in the week. Still, I love the Flames offensive possibilities against the Panthers on home ice. So if I don’t play Sean, I’ll likely play some of his other line-mates.

I continued to look for value, for the Friday night slate, and I’m continuously disappointed in the options. So, I keep coming back to the possibility of playing Eichel with Mark Scheifele ($7,600). We’re saving a little salary from that combination, versus giving up more money for more potential risk with Monahan or Crosby in the lineup. And again, I don’t love the value options.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

At the winger position, the list is dripping with value. That’s good because I just spent probably too much FanDuel NHL salary on my center picks. I also want to spend a ton of money on at least one or two top wingers.

Before we get there, I love three low-to-mid-range salary options at this position. The Winnipeg Jets Kyle Connor ($4,900), the Detroit Red Wings Andreas Athanasiou ($4,700), and Justin Williams ($4,700) for the Carolina Hurricanes.

These three guys are great for different reasons. First, Athanasiou has a baffling salary. The kid continues to consistently fill our lineups with double-digit points, yet his salary hovers around $5K or below. I’ll take that consistency in a heart-beat. Andreas is a beast on the ice and worth owning for fantasy hockey in all formats.

Connor happens to be the beneficiary of playing on one of hockey’s top offensive lines. As a result, he’s getting around 20+ minutes of ice team each game, has two goals (one during a power play) and one assist in the last three games. With that type of production for this price, he’s worth a play.

Finally, Williams is a veteran with Stanley Cup rings and is currently very active for the Hurricanes in Carolina lately. Justin has four goals in the last five games, two during a power play, and has at least one point in each of the last five games.

All three picks have one thing in common, consistent double-digit points with a fairly cheap FanDuel NHL salary.

Now, who do we like most at the winger position? Well, if you’ve been following this column all week, it’s anti-climatic. Regardless of Monahan’s up-and-down swing in points, Johnny Gaudreau ($8,900) and Elias Lindholm ($7,100) continue to be consistently dominate on office. If you play both, you’ll need to consider greater value at the winger position, or pick a flier at the second center spot. I’m likely at least going with Gaudreau.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

The two expensive options, Kris Letang ($7,100) and Mark Giordano ($6,400) are fantastic fantasy hockey players at defense this year. However, for tonight, they seriously handicap your point total possibilities. So, I’ll begrudgingly fade them.

From there I started looking at the mid-salary-range guys like Dougie Hamilton ($4,900) and Josh Morrissey ($4,7000). If I go with Lindholm over Gaudreau, I’m OK to pick one or both of these guys. However, if I’m going with Johnny, Jack, and Mark as my two center and top winger picks, they’re going to be a tad too expensive.

So, I continued to dig for slightly better value at the defense position without giving up too many points. There are two options I’m comfortable with, and they’re similar to Hamilton and Morrissey.

Jaccob Slavin ($3,900) and T.J. Brodie ($4,300) have each been offensively active over the last two weeks, get several shots on goal and can add points with blocked shots. They’ve both be linked to their team’s offensive success, and I believe they’re two cheap ways to get nearly 30 points out of this position.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

On Thursday, I felt like the goalie position was very difficult to narrow down. Ironically, although not that surprising, the goalie position was easier to identify on Friday night.

Matt Murray ($8,800) is my favorite fantasy hockey goalie on the ice Friday. However, as I’ve mentioned numerous times, I don’t love his match up against a Ducks team whose looking to bounce back with John Gibson ($7,800) on home ice. So, I’m fading both net-minders considering the risk they add to your lineup.

From there, Laurent Brossoit ($8,400) is my next favorite net-minder, but I don’t love his price. Yes, his FanDuel NHL points-per-game average is fantastic and yes they’re playing on home ice. But hosting the Red Wings isn’t a great way to pile up saves, most of which will probably come from only Dylan Larkin or Athanasiou.

I’ve already targeted the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets offenses for my lineup, so we know Roberto Luongo ($7,800) and Jonathan Bernier ($7,400) aren’t great options for this lineup. Fortunately, David Rittich ($8,000) has been absolutely on fire lately and is countering Luongo on home ice in Calgary.

Again, Rittich is a guy we’ve been on for a while now, and if you need a reminder, he’s on a hot winning streak. David has 8-1-2 in his last eleven games. That’s right, he’s either won or helped take his team into overtime in ten of the last eleven starts.

That’s one heck of a streak. Also, Rittich is averaging around 30 saves per game lately, and is facing a Panthers team who isn’t afraid to fire that puck on net. I love this play again!

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays January 11th 2019 Summary

So we’ve narrowed our goalie down to Rittich and expect a solid Flames win against the Panthers on home ice. I also like Brossoit if we can find the salary, but he may not be worth the pick considering the likely low volume of shots on goal.

I backed into my defensive picks to save cash for two big plays at center and one to two big plays at winger. Fortunately, Brodie and Slavin appear to be great plays on defense tonight, and both are quite cheap.

To make matters even easier on us, we found three great value plays at winger, although a little more expensive than your standard FanDuel NHL value move. Connor, Athanasiou, and Justin Williams are all well under $5K a piece and likely get us 30+ total FanDuel NHL points.

For a top winger pick, I like Gaudreau and Lindholm. I’m not sure if I’m going with both, Johnny, or Elias, but I want at last one in all lineups Friday night. And for the top two center picks, I love Scheifele and Eichel. Crosby a strong consideration as well, but considering Jack is back on the ice, he’s likely not affordable.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Friday, January 11th 2019:

C       Mark Scheifele ($7,600)

C       Jack Eichel ($7,700)

W     Johnny Gaudreau ($8,900)

W     Kyle Connor ($4,900)

W     Andreas Athanasiou ($4,700)

W     Justin Williams ($4,700)

D      Jaccob Slavin ($3,900)

D      T.J. Brodie ($4,300)

G      David Rittich ($8,000)

Remaining Salary: $300

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!