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
Pekka Rinne ($8,200): The Nashville Predators are a risky proposition on Friday night as Pekka Rinne is projected to start against the Florida Panthers. Now, the expectation is that Florida is capable of producing around 34 shots per 60 at home. That shot volume brings about hope that Rinne can perform like he did against the Avalanche (35 saves on 36 shots) before the All-Star Break. Petr Mrazek ($7,700) is an even greater risk on Friday night at home against Vegas. Carolina is 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and should have lower ownership because of the danger Mrazek presents (2.81 GAA, .894 save percentage).
High-Priced Skaters
Sidney Crosby ($8,900): Crosby enjoys a great matchup against the Ottawa Senators tonight. He had a goal on just one shot against Tampa Bay on Wednesday. Crosby generated three chances but only got that one shot on net. Ottawa allows the most shots in the league at nearly 37 a night. Crosby averages 1.1 points per game against the Senators in his career. Ottawa yields 4.29 goals per game, which just begs for us to use the Pittsburgh Penguins' top line. Ottawa's top line could be a contrarian pick here. However, Jack Eichel ($7,400) is a great high-priced center choice against a Chicago Blackhawks team with a 72% road penalty kill and giving up nearly four goals per contest on the road.
John Gaudreau ($8,700): Gaudreau against a Washington Capitals team without Alex Ovechkin (suspension) is an intriguing game. Calgary is 16-9 on the road with a margin of +0.80 goals per game. Rust from the bye weeks could play a role here as both teams come off having more than a week to recover. Washington's penalty kill is 77.3% on the season but hovering closer to 75% over the last 15 games. Calgary's conversion rate is around 25% in that same time span. Washington has surrendered 30 goals in their previous five games before the break, and Calgary had scored 24. Jake Guentzel ($7,700) might be a good choice against Ottawa, or perhaps Nashville's Viktor Arvidsson ($7,800), who has 19 goals in 28 games played.
Value Skaters
Luke Glendening ($3,300): This is probably more of a tournament play in Glendening, but Toronto is a team that will be adjusting a bit with their new acquisition, Jake Muzzin. The center has 13 shots on goal and 5 blocked shots over the previous three games. Aside from the two-goal outburst against Edmonton, those peripherals help at that low of a price. Mark Jankowski ($3,800) offers a chance against a Washington team that's had its share of struggles against high-scoring offenses.
Brandon Pirri ($4,100): The All-Star break might have come at a good time for Pirri, who struggled over his final three games with just six shots and a few scoring chances. He still is garnering top-six time, however. That bodes well along with his still-low price on FanDuel. Carolina has yielded 19 goals in their last five games so goals could be had. Shot volume is shaky, though, as Carolina allows less than 30 shots per game at home. Evan Rodrigues ($3,400) comes in at a very reasonable price against a Chicago team that plays at a high-scoring pace (44 goals for and against over the last five games).
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.