NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 1/31/20
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
Connor Hellebuyck ($7,700): The Winnipeg Jets goalie is projected to start on Friday night at home against the Boston Bruins. It has been a tough road for Hellebuyck, and he has lost three straight starts while allowing 13 goals. However, he did stop 72 of 73 shots before that downturn. Did the All-Star break help? That answer should come quickly. Hellebuyck has been very good this year despite a very porous defense and even worse special teams in front of him. He should face 30-35 shots with ease against a potent Boston offense. See who starts from Carolina as a possible backup.
High-Priced Skaters
Mika Zibanejad ($7,800): The center has an excellent matchup against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night. Zibanejad has 19 shots on goal and 4 real-world points in his last three games. There is a way to roster Artemi Panarin as a power-play stack of sorts against a Detroit team with a 73% penalty kill. Also, Detroit allows a league-worst 3.88 goals per game and the second-most scoring chances in the league. Zibanejad becomes an easy choice. Sidney Crosby ($8,400) thrives against the Philadelphia Flyers at home in his career and could be a good pick, too.
Leon Draisaitl ($8,500): With a larger slate than anyone has seen over the past couple weeks, Draisaitl is still a solid play versus the St. Louis Blues. He is $800 cheaper than Connor McDavid and has 16-plus FanDuel points in his last seven starts including 20-plus in five of those seven. That translates to a whopping 14 real-world points in that span. St. Louis allows just under 3.1 goals per game on the road, and Jordan Binnington has looked vulnerable of late. The Edmonton Oilers could get a nice scoring push tonight.
Value Skaters
Justin Williams ($3,900): Williams is enjoying a nice, sheltered role while playing around 12-13 minutes a night. The great thing is he has eight shots on net in two games. Those two goals against Winnipeg were a bonus, but he is getting pucks on the net. Also, the right-winger has five scoring chances so far. The opportunities are there, and the forward goes up against the Vegas Golden Knights without Marc-Andre Fleury. Tyler Ennis ($4,000) has 20-plus FanDuel points the past two contests and is home against Washington who is suddenly allowing three-plus goals on a very regular basis.
Adam Fox ($3,900): The New York Rangers defenseman has a risky floor but is value priced. He has 10 real-world points over the last 10 contests (one goal). He averages nearly two shots a game but only 0.5 blocks per contest. That can be a bit of a problem. Again, this is a very good matchup versus the worst defense in the NHL. John Marino ($3,700) is a moderate-risk option on Friday against the Flyers.
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.
