NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Monday 12/31/18
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
David Rittich ($7,800): The Calgary Flames will start Rittich against the San Jose Sharks on Monday night. Rittich performed well against Vancouver on Saturday but was a hard luck loser in overtime. That swung his numbers by some 15-20 FanDuel points. Overall, in his last seven starts, the goalie is 4-1-2 while allowing two goals or fewer five times. One of the vital keys in daily fantasy for goalies is trying to roster that netminder most likely to face 30 shots and yield two goals or under. San Jose averages 35.1 shots per game which is second in the entire NHL. Calgary and San Jose are two of the stingiest teams when it comes to shots allowed (28.3 shots per game yielded). This should be intriguing. Henrik Lundqvist ($7,700) is a moderate risk against a St. Louis Blues team that is just 9-10-2 at home.
High-Priced Skaters
Nathan MacKinnon ($8,600): MacKinnon is an excellent play against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night. Los Angeles is next level slow on the wings and defense at times. The center has seven-plus shots on net in three of his last four starts. Los Angeles gives up over 33 shots per 60 on the road. Colorado is normally the top or second most expensive stack on slates, but Tyson Jost ($3,700) being possibly on the top line helps with relief. The Los Angeles penalty kill is just 73% on the road which could help a Colorado team that is nearly 30% at home on the man advantage. Brayden Point ($7,700) and Aleksander Barkov ($7,300) are solid options on the night before 2019 begins.
Mark Stone ($6,800): Stone carries a little risk because of erratic shot and chance volume. However, Ottawa has some merit as a choice on Monday as Columbus gives up 3.05 goals per game at home. The winger has eight real-world points in his previous seven outings but has zero or one shot three times too. Columbus has a sub-80% penalty kill at home, though, and tends to play with more pace there as well. Ottawa will get their chances in this game at even strength. However, look to the Columbus top line as a counter option. This is because Ottawa allows a league high 37.4 shots per night. Cam Atkinson ($7,400) rides high on lists along with John Gaudreau ($8,400).
Value Skaters
Nick Ritchie ($3,700): Ritchie is seeing top line ice time of late (around 15-16 minutes a night). This means he is not seeing all the time in all situations (more on power plays and even strength). However, that is okay. He has four assists in the last two contests. Ondrej Kase offers as a cheap mini-stack option as the two are $8,000 combined. This will allow one to spend up everywhere else to maximize stacks. Some other tournament options may include Ty Rattie ($3,600) and Andrew Shaw ($4,100). Even Frank Vatrano ($3,900) carries some extra value on a night where Florida should be under the radar with lower ownership rates.
Anthony Cirelli ($3,800): Cirelli has prospered in Tampa Bay because of his third line utilization. He draws against mostly bottom six talent and Anaheim is about as slow when it comes to foot speed. He has topped 10 FanDuel points in his last two starts and tallied 9 real-world points in the previous 11 games. One thing to note is that Cirelli's ice time has included an uptick in power play time which has boosted his overall average time on ice to over 15 minutes a night in this time frame. His price remaining mostly static on FanDuel makes him an advantageous play on Monday night. Jesperi Kotkaniemi ($3,600) and Henrik Borgstrom ($3,300) are high-risk options but could pay off with optimal matchups on Monday against depth lines.
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.
