A good chunk of you played daily fantasy football this year, and I'd be willing to bet a significant portion of you 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.
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
Jake Allen ($7,500): The short slate provides an easy target in Allen, who is confirmed to start for the St. Louis Blues against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night. Allen has an excellent 7-3-3 record with a 2.36 goals against average and .924 save percentage. Anaheim has lost four of their previous five games and average just 2.27 goals per game on the road (slate-worst split). Allen had a tough time out against Vegas, allowing 5 goals on 33 shots. However, the light shooting Ducks may be a perfect bounce-back game for the Blues' backup netminder. Ilya Samsonov ($8,200) is a viable alternative from the Washington Capitals, too.
High-Priced Skaters
Mika Zibanejad ($7,800): The center is producing well and has four real-world points in his last two home games. Playing the New York Islanders can be tough but points and chances should be plentiful. These teams traded shots and chances last year aplenty. New York has scored 17 goals in their last five games, and Zibanejad is still generating around three scoring chances a game, despite averaging three shots a game in that span. Most will be higher on other centers tonight, but Zibanejad is a choice who merits higher ownership.
Alex Ovechkin ($8,700): Ovechkin has 93 points in 80 career games in the NHL versus the Carolina Hurricanes. That is the most points he has career-wise against one team. Washington has been excellent at home, while Carolina has been vulnerable on the road. They do yield 2.86 goals per game on the road with a penalty kill lower at 81%. The Russian left-winger just plays better versus Carolina. He has two points, five shots on goal, and five scoring chances in the last two games versus the Hurricanes. Artemi Panarin ($8,500) is a nice one-off on all platforms from the Rangers.
Value Skaters
Ilya Kovalchuk ($4,100): Kovalchuk is a moderate-risk play because his ice time could drop at any time. He does have 16-plus FanDuel points in three of his previous four appearances. If he keeps playing 19-plus minutes a night, the chances are going to come on a power-play that is starved for scoring. Can he keep shooting around three times on net a game? It's a great question. If he stays motivated, Kovalchuk could be a cheap, value play for some time to come. Ondrej Kase ($3,600) has a couple goals recently for Anaheim and is heating up.
Johnny Boychuk ($3,500): It does not take much for Boychuk to hit value since he is minimum-priced on the Monday slate. He has hit value in two of his last three contests. With Adam Pelech out for the season, Boychuk is paired with Noah Dobson, which means help for his shots and blocked shots. He averages 1.7 shots and 2.0 blocks per game for the Islanders. Both numbers could see a boost on Monday against the Rangers, who allow the second-most shots in the league. Jaccob Slavin ($3,900) is valuable for his floor from Carolina, as well.
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.