Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for January 28th

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 Monday, January 28th 2019.

The 2019 NHL All-Star game in San Jose is over, and even though FanDuel didn’t have a fantasy hockey slate for the game, it was still a great event to watch. In the end, the Metro division continues to demonstrate why they’re a dangerous group of teams for the rest of the national hockey league.

It’s been a while since our last FanDuel NHL slate was available. In fact, we wrote about the last slate on Wednesday, almost a week ago. And while the NHL is back in action this week, many of the day’s schedules have smaller than usual slates. Still, I think we can build winning lineups, even with higher ownership percentages due to the low number of fantasy hockey options this week.

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 Monday, January 28th 2019:

Jets at Flyers 7pm ET NBC Sports Network

Devils at Penguins 7pm ET

In a way, this feels like the Pennsylvania slate. There are only two games on the NHL schedule and they’re all played in the same state. The Flyers are hosting a very tough Jets team from Winnipeg, but the Flyers caught fire for a brief stint before the ASB. Meanwhile, the Penguins continue to play great hockey, but also have a tough match-up against a difficult Devils offense right now.

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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

Keith Kinkaid should be between the pipes for the Devils on road ice, in Pittsburgh, against the Penguins. For me, that means Evgeni Malkin ($8,400) and Sidney Crosby ($8,800) are fantastic plays at center for Monday night night. We could get just as many points out of either play, so Malkin has the better value.

But, I recommend looking at the rest of your lineup options before you jump all over Malkin at center. For example, most of the goalies are expensive on Saturday, so Malkin plus a decent goalie pick would seriously limit your lineup picks at defense and winger.

For that reason, I like a cheaper I’m looking for a cheaper, high mid-salary range, type of top pick at center and Sean Couturier ($6,500) fits that requirement nicely.

It may seem odd to pick any Flyers against a very good Jets team, but keep in mind the Flyers (especially Couturier) were suddenly red-hot on offense before the break. The Fly-guys are also playing better hock on home ice this season.

Another reason I’m not keen on Malkin is my second pick at center will be cheaper, but not dirt cheap. You could dump Couturier and go with Malkin and Nolan Patrick ($4,700), who’s also getting hot right now.

But we also know while the Flyers offense is playing significantly better, their defense is still struggling making a Bryan Little ($5,400) Jets play from their second line a solid value play. In fact, Little and Couturier are going to see a lot of each other mostly on the ice at the same time.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

Even though there’s only a two-game fantasy hockey slate for Monday, there are still many great top winger options. However, with Taylor Hall on the IR and Kyle Palmieri ($6,400) facing a tough defensive match up on road ice, our options are still getting whittled down quickly.

Again, regardless of how well the Flyers are playing lately, I still like the Jets offense against the Flyers in Philly. Blake Wheeler ($8,100) is having another great season for the Jets, is nearly a lock for ten-plus points every outing and a very solid shot at 20 points in Philly. I’m planting Wheeler at the top of my winger list.

I could go with a couple of mid-salary range wingers for my next two picks, but I’m confident we’ll get some value plays at this position. I also already have some value options at defense in mind, which we’ll get to shortly.

With that in mind, I feel confident grabbing either Jake Guentzel ($7,700) or Phil Kessel ($7,600) as a second top winger play. Kessel is the cheaper play and is a rock-solid fantasy option every time he’s on the ice, but Guenztel is a bigger hat-trick type of threat.

He’s been hot and call all season, mostly cold, but Travis Konecny ($4,400) seems like a sneaky value play this week. Konecny is one of the most dynamic skaters on the ice for the Flyers, is always involved in shot attempts and is scoring more often lately. I’ll take that for only $4.4K of FanDuel NHL salary.

Full disclosure, I backed into my third winger pick after I realized the value I could get at the defense position. So keep that in mind when I say I’m still able to pay a decent salary for James van Riemsdyk ($6,000).

Why JVR? Well, he’s finally gelling with his old team again. Now playing most of his time on the Flyers top line, JVR has six goals in the last five games, including a hat-trick against a very good Wild team.

The other goals were against the Canadiens in Montreal, the Devils in New Jersey, and on home ice against the Stars. With another 20 minutes of ice time on Monday, he could have another big game.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

When I opened the FanDuel NHL defensive players list on my phone app, I stared at Kris Letang ($6,900) for a solid minute or so this morning. Letang is a beast. He’s on the ice for nearly 30 minutes per game and simply gets you points from blocked shots and shots on goal.

On Monday, Kris likely gets at least one assist and could get one by for a goal as well. It’s at least worth considering dropping a JVR or Kessel down to a cheaper pick for Letang, but in most formats I’m not willing to do that.

After questioning the Letang pick, the summary was there are two many great value plays at the defensive pick to give up so many points at the other positions.

For example, I was looking at Radko Gudas ($4,100) and Damon Severson ($4,100) and realized I’m getting two guys on the ice for 20 to 25 minutes, lots of blocked shots, a few shots on goal, and a decent shot for at least an assist and potentially one to two goals combined.

In fact, the more I looked at those two options, the more obvious the value appeared. Even better, Gudas’ 3rd-line tag from FanDuel may mislead many FanDuel NHL players from playing Radko, driving down his ownership. I’ll take that!

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

One major benefit of having a two game slate is you only have four goalies to consider. By the time I was nearly done with this post, I knew Matt Murray ($8,800) was starting for the Penguins, Laurent Brossoit ($8,500) was starting for the Jets, Flyers rookie Carter Hart ($8,100) is between the pipes, and we already mentioned the Devils are chancing it with Keith Kinkaid ($7,200).

First of all, Brossoit feels like a trap play. Laurent’s ownership will likely be high with the better Jets hockey team playing a nearly last place Flyers squad. But if you look at how each team has played over the last month, including how well Hart has played in goal, this is a riskier move than it appears.

I’m not touching that game with goalies. But I may throw Hart into a few GPP lineups.

Instead, I’m more interested in the Devils and Penguins match up.  And to make this season, while injuries are a major reason, Kinkaid hasn’t won a game since January 4th. But to be clearer, Keith is 1-5 in his last six starts.

Maybe the injury labeled rest helps him Monday, but I’m guessing Murray and the Penguins will make that extremely difficult. Speaking of Matt, man has he really turned it on lately. After struggling to star the season, Murray is now 10-1 in his last eleven starts. Do you really want to play Kinkaid against that? Nope. Not me. I’m more excited to grab Murray without having to pay over $9K for the man.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays January 28th 2019 Summary

Hart might be a sneaky play in goal for a GPP lineup, but I’m going with Murray is most FanDuel NHL formats on Monday night. It’s an expensive play, but any decent goalie option isn’t cheap for this slate.

Fortunately, the defensive slot has two dirt cheap picks in Gudas and Severson. I’m likely getting 25 to 35 points while only spending $8.2K, almost like grabbing another winning goalie for my lineups.

Before we look at the wingers, I’ve got to decide if I want to play Malkin or Couturier as my top center pick. Malkin is the better play, I just have to find a second value pick at winger to make that happen.

If I don’t go that route, then I’m playing Couturier with Little. If I do go that route, I’ll still keep Little in my lineup with Malkin. Regardless, I love Wheeler and either Kessel or Guentzel as my top two winger picks. To complete the position, I either get a cheaper third winger pick with Konecny or I go with JVR, whose red-hot for the Flyers right now.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Monday, January 28th 2019:

C       Sean Couturier ($6,500)

C       Bryan Little ($5,400)

W     Blake Wheeler ($8,100)

W     Phil Kessel ($7,600)

W     James van Riemsdyk ($6,000)

W     Travis Konecny ($4,400)

D      Radko Gudas ($4,100)

D      Damon Severson ($4,100)

G      Matt Murray ($8,800)

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!