NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 4/12/19

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

Connor Hellebuyck ($7,700): Hellebuyck gets the start on Friday night against the St. Louis Blues, looking to avenge a loss in Game 1. The Winnipeg Jets goalie did not play poorly in that one, but his team could only muster one goal of support. Winnipeg did tilt play in their favor -- generating most of the better scoring chances, and if they keep doing this the goals should come. Hellebuyck's price is too low for a goalie at home going against a team that is averaging a slate-worst 2.69 goals per game. Winnipeg expects to make a few adjustments and come out with a more sustained push. Robin Lehner ($7,800) and Martin Jones ($7,500) are also on the cheaper side and carry more value than some of the slate's higher-priced talent.

High-Priced Skaters

Mark Scheifele ($7,400): The forward clunked and skunked on Wednesday night, with just one shot on net. It seems highly unlikely he'll do that again though. The Jets' top line did generate chances on Wednesday night, but it was more tilted on the Kyle Connor side of the ice. The key for Scheifele in any strength-for strength matchup will be for him to keep his emotions in check. That did not go well on Wednesday. If the Jets' top line is to have success, patience is needed because the chances will come with the St. Louis defense. Scheifele ranked top-15 in the NHL in goals in the regular season, and he was second on the Jets with 84 points. If they're scoring points, he's likely to be part of it. Sidney Crosby ($8,700) is there for those who want to spend up. He is almost guaranteed at least a point if not more.

Nikita Kucherov ($8,900): Kucherov seemed to get frozen in the moment on Wednesday as Josh Anderson and David Savard made Tampa Bay pay repeatedly for being a bit too aggressive. There is a balance in the playoffs and sometimes that gets taken for granted. Tampa had chances to ice the game, but a missed scoring chance for Kucherov in the second period came back to haunt the Lightning. Tampa typically does not make this mistake twice, and as favorites to win the Stanley Cup, one down game shouldn't deter you. Kucherov's 128 points were 6 more than anyone else scored in the regular season, and like the Lightning, we can expect him to bounce back. Evander Kane ($7,000) looked great and scored a gem for San Jose in Game 1. Chances will be there down the middle again.

Value Skaters

Oskar Sundqvist ($4,000): The St. Louis Blues forward created a few chances on Wednesday, even though he did have one find the back of the net St. Louis had one of their best road first periods in a long while. The fact that Sundqvist constantly plays 15-16 minutes a night and has stayed stagnant in price which is a big plus. Valtteri Filppula ($4,100) can be utilized in this spot as well from the New York Islanders.

Leo Komarov ($3,300): Komarov plays bottom-six minutes, but he's notched assists in two straight games and saw 13 minutes of ice time in Game 1. He's a risky play, but you can afford to take on some risk with a salary this low, especially with the scoring upside that Komarov has shown. Even Cal Clutterbuck ($4,100) has some punt play potential after seeing 17 minutes in Game 1.

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