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
John Gibson ($8,500): The Anaheim Ducks will likely start Gibson on Friday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina again topped the 40 shot mark against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday in a 5-1 loss. In their last meeting, Gibson held the fort early then watched as Anaheim came back to win 2-1 in overtime. The goalie stopped 33 of 34 shots in the victory. One trend to note is that Anaheim has been slowly allowing fewer shots of late (32.5 shots per contest over the last 7 full starts). Consider that Gibson was facing nearly 40 shots a game for quite awhile early on. Ben Bishop ($9,000) will be higher owned (especially in cash games) and if Connor Hellebuyck ($8,300) starts, he may see the highest ownership numbers.
High-Priced Skaters
Blake Wheeler ($7,800): Wheeler inherits another solid matchup against the St. Louis Blues on Friday night. Winnipeg, as a whole, benefits from having the highest projected goal total of the night at 3.58. The Jets also feature a 68.8% chance to win. This will likely draw ownership to them, but a little creativity can help here. Wheeler has 11 real-world points over his previous six starts. His shot floor is solid at 2.7 per night, meaning he should be in for an up-tick in goals (4 on 74 shots so far). His 5.4% shooting percentage is well below his 10.3% average in his Winnipeg career. Either way, the chances should be plenty given the Blues yield 3.18 goals per night on the road. Other options include Leon Draisaitl ($6,800) and Alexander Radulov ($6,400). Radulov may be a bit of a surprise, but San Jose gives up the most road goals on this slate (3.53 per game).
Ryan Getzlaf ($7,100): Getzlaf fired a complete dud against Chicago on Wednesday, with just one shot and one scoring chance created. It was an odd sort of night. Getzlaf had a prime matchup there, and just did not deliver much of anything. Tonight features another great matchup, as Carolina's depth can be attacked. Overall, the top-line center has averaged just about a real-world point per game this year. He is a good bit more risky than Connor McDavid ($9,100), but the price savings are reasonable enough. Ownership expects to be in the single digits for the Anaheim center. Tyler Seguin ($7,900) and Sebastian Aho ($6,100) are choices that could be mixed in as well on Friday night. Note that Aho was shifted back to center due to the injury to Jordan Staal.
Value Skaters
Pontus Aberg ($3,700): Aberg will be a permanent fixture here if FanDuel keeps his price at this level. Sean Monahan received this treatment his rookie season and for several months was a steady value play nearly every single night. Aberg produced 16 FanDuel points against Chicago on Wednesday. That marked double digit production in three straight contests. He still is hitting the net at just a hair over two shots per night and is still playing around 15 minutes a night. Until the gravy train stops, he has to be considered a plug and play selection. Daniel Sprong ($3,600) is another Anaheim player to watch for and Jordan Martinook ($3,500) may get top-line minutes tonight for Carolina if Thursday's line indications hold true.
Jonas Brodin ($3,900): Brodin presents a dangerous tournament play on Friday because of injuries to Mikko Koivu and Mathew Dumba. Minnesota is also not rested and has lost three of their last five games while allowing several shots more than their season average. Tonight should mean more blocked shot chances for Brodin. Brodin possesses a decent floor (1.35 shots per game and 1.6 blocks per night). The only question is the ice time. That has been erratic of late -- jumping from 15 to 23 depending on the start. Look to other places if necessary. These are even more dangerous -- like Kris Russell ($3,800). Also, Gavin Bayreuther ($4,000) has prospered from the Dallas injuries to play top-four minutes on the blueline.
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.