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
Jaroslav Halak ($8,400): The Boston Bruins are projected to start Halak against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night. Montreal is a team more than capable of firing 35-plus shots on net at home. They did in their last matchup at home against the Bruins. Halak historically has played well against Montreal. This year, the goalie has been more consistent than Tuukka Rask. The risk lies in the fact that Boston is on zero rest. Expectation belies the increased shot total projections. There may be safer picks out there but, again, confirmations will not come until around morning skate at the earliest. John Gibson ($8,600) is extremely risky but could see a lot of shots from Pittsburgh on Monday.
High-Priced Skaters
Cam Atkinson ($7,200): Atkinson fires a lot of shots on net (42 in his last 10 starts). He has five goals in the previous nine games and generates scoring chances per 60 among the best 20 forwards in the league. Vegas comes in on no rest after playing in New York on Sunday afternoon. Will Marc-Andre Fleury start yet again? If Malcolm Subban starts, the floodgates may run toward Columbus. It is something to monitor. Columbus' top line was already one of the better plays as it was. The only concern is the anemic Blue Jackets' power play that works at only 15.4%. David Pastrnak ($8,000) is always a viable choice on a short slate and did have four shots and a ton of chances in his last meeting with the Canadiens. Also, watch out for Mark Stone ($6,700) against Nashville as Stone is a bit underpriced on this slate.
Nathan MacKinnon ($8,800): MacKinnon is on fire again for the Colorado Avalanche, with nine real-world points in his previous five outings. This includes a four-point outburst against Dallas on Saturday night. Colorado comes in with a power play that converts at 29.8% versus a New York Islanders.penalty kill that converts at just 76% on the road. The fun part for daily fantasy players is that Colorado has yielded a slate-leading 23 goals in their last five contests. Colorado's penalty kill has been just as leaky as the Islanders and will allow for some options on Monday night. Sidney Crosby ($8,700) and William Karlsson ($7,300) could be some options to be utilized on Monday night.
Value Skaters
Andrew Shaw ($4,000): Shaw has been steady, though not spectacular. For a value play, that is fine considering the Montreal forward has points in seven straight games this month. He generated 16 shots in this span, which is not terrible and does garner power play time as well. Shaw knows Boston well, and his hard-nosed playing style should yield some opportunities tonight. Among the more higher-risk options on Monday night, Pontus Aberg ($3,800) is in play along with Mikkel Boedker (same price). Boedker carries more risk because of low shot volume (13 shots in previous 10 games). Ryan Hartman ($3,500) is still playing top minutes for Nashville Predators and that should provide value given his near double-digit FanDuel point average over his last five outings.
Nate Schmidt ($3,900): Schmidt is a dangerous risk play on Monday night. The thought process is the Vegas defenseman will be on the ice for most of the time against the Columbus top line. This should increase his chances to block more shots at the very least. Schmidt can generate some shot and chance volume and will see time on the power play and penalty kill. His floor is right around 1.5 shots and blocks per contest, which is just enough to warrant placing him in a lineup or two. Mike Reilly is another high-risk choice out there from Montreal at $3,700 and Ryan Murray comes in at $3,800 for Columbus.
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.