A good chunk of you played daily fantasy football this year, 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
Robin Lehner ($7,500): The New York Islanders are projected to ride the hot hand and start Lehner against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. Lehner has been on fire of late with five straight wins (one in relief) while allowing just 3 goals on 143 shots. New York has won four straight while scoring 3.6 goals per game in their last five. That may offer enough cushion to warrant a start. Lehner's ownership should be way higher than usual given his low price. A crazy, contrarian option would be Collin Delia at $7,700. This is, of course, if he starts. Wait to see who gets confirmed closer to game time as a few later plays could surface.
High-Priced Skaters
Patrice Bergeron ($8,300): Bergeron has topped 20 FanDuel points in two of his last three contests. Boston faces a Calgary team that played in Detroit last night. Calgary had been stingy all year on the road allowing just 2.1 goals per contest. However, over the last six games, the Flames have yielded over three goals a night. The good thing about this scenario is Boston should be able to control how their top line is deployed against Calgary. Their power play adds a wrinkle at 27.1%. They can strike at any time and Bergeron is a huge part of that man advantage. Evgeny Kuznetsov ($7,100) is back on the top line for Washington and that may be enough to place him into some lineups. Also, look at Mathew Barzal ($6,600), who has nine real-world points in his previous five starts.
Claude Giroux ($7,300): This qualifies as extremely high risk. Giroux has vanished over the past few games. However, maybe a closed door players only meeting helped in some way. Little has gone right on the man advantage if Giroux is not the conduit. Also, at even strength, the linemates have been shuffled more and more often lately. Carolina does give up three goals a game on the road, but both of these teams have had a tough time scoring of late (1.8 goals per night). Something has to give here and the feeling is the top line of Philadelphia may sneak under the radar. Vladimir Tarasenko ($6,900) and David Pastrnak ($8,400) are sniper options for GPPs especially on Thursday night. Tarasenko is a much higher risk, however.
Value Skaters
Evan Rodrigues ($3,300): Rodrigues is listed at center on FanDuel and will likely anchor the top line and top power play unit on Thursday against the Florida Panthers. The Buffalo forward broke the double-digit FanDuel points barrier in two of his previous three games. He played 22 minutes against the Islanders and could see that much ice time against a Florida team that yields 3.75 goals per game and nearly 33 shots per 60 on the road. The whole point of a punt play is getting maximum use for point potential. This is about as high as it gets. Henrik Borgstrom ($3,300) keeps developing for Florida and now has four real-world points in his last seven outings.
Dominik Kahun ($3,700): Kahun is played sheltered minutes for Chicago but has 15 minutes or more in five of his previous seven starts. His speed was on full display against Boston along with a shoot first mentality. The good news is that Chicago has been averaging nearly three goals a night on the road. New York has a penchant for still allowing 30-plus shots with ease and that offers some hope to playing a value pick like Kahun. Frank Vatrano ($3,700) and Jordan Martinook ($3,500) are higher risk possibilities on Thursday night.
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.