A good chunk of you probably already play daily fantasy football, and I'd be willing to bet a significant portion have also tried out daily fantasy basketball and baseball. But hockey? Hockey?
It's time to give it a try over on FanDuel, because it's a ton of fun. And our analysis and projections can help you win.
To help, let's take a look at some goalies, high-priced skaters, and lower-priced players to target for today's slate.
Goalie to Target
Semyon Varlamov ($8,000): The Colorado Avalanche have a rough matchup on the surface against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, but this may not be all bad. There is risk as Boston can score early and often with their top line. Surprisingly, though, the Bruins only average two goals a game on the road (29th in the league). That pans out somewhat in the numberFire projections as Boston is only expected to score 2.58 goals. Boston only averages 30.5 shots per game, while the league average is close to 32.5. Varlamov has been alternating good and bad performances over the last four outings but did stop all but one shot against the Edmonton Oilers. Connor Hellebuyck is also viable, priced at $8,100 and facing a team on the back end of a back to back in the Washington Capitals. Check for confirmations first as always.
High-Priced Skaters
Patrick Kane ($8,400): The St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks square off on Wednesday night with the expectation of a high-event contest. Kane has four points on 11 shots and eight scoring chances against the Blues this season. The only caveat in stacking this game will be in waiting to see who ends up on the line with Kane. If one does not feel comfortable spending all the way up on Kane, sliding back to Vladimir Tarasenko at $7,900 is a good option. You can also look to Ryan O'Reilly ($6,700) as well. David Pastrnak ($8,500) may see the highest ownership on the night despite being on the road.
Nathan MacKinnon ($8,600): If the top two lines match up against each other, this will be some treat. MacKinnon likely will be the highest-owned center on the slate. Colorado line one has delivered in this position several times this year. MacKinnon has eight straight games of 3+ shots (averaging 4.25 per night in that span). He scored 23 real-world points on 77 shots in in 17 games so far. Jaroslav Halak has been very good in net, but again Colorado can easily put up 4-plus goals on any given night at home. Their 3.23 goal projection may be a little low even in this matchup.
Value Skaters
Pontus Aberg ($3,600): If Aberg keeps averaging around 16 minutes a night for the Anaheim Ducks, it is not hard to keep plugging in the winger until the price creeps up more. His shot volume the past few games is all over the place (1, 5, 2, 1, and 2). However, he has 15-plus minutes of ice time in all but the Calgary game. His floor is decent for a value play on a short Wednesday night slate. Anaheim will be an against-the-grain play because the Vegas Golden Knights should be able to carry the majority of possession and shots edge. However, it all comes back to that price point. Robby Fabbri ($3,400) is enjoying second line minutes for St. Louis and enjoys a reasonable matchup on Wednesday night as well.
Josh Manson ($3,600): The Anaheim defenseman presents a decent tournament play for punting on Wednesday. With the Ducks allowing 36.5 shots per contest and being on the road, the expectation is Vegas should get up plenty of shots on goal tonight. Shot attempts would be close to double that so Manson may figure in on quite a few blocked shots. That is at least the hope when it comes to padding the floor for this value choice. The Cam Fowler injury is also prompting this play, as Manson and Brandon Montour should see a slight bump in ice time. For upside you can look at power play specialists such as Brad Hunt and Vince Dunn. Both are priced in the $3,600-$3,800 range but are higher risk.
Chris Wassel is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Chris Wassel also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username chriswassel. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.