DraftKings and FanDuel NHL Power Plays, Saturday 12/29

 

This Saturday of the NHL DFS season is chock full of crazy matchups with some high expected goals for. First off, let’s remind everyone again of the Votts media list and a few links to follow.

When you are making your teams, one needs to make sure your goalie is confirmed and starting. Sites like Dailyfaceoff.com, Leftwinglock.com, and Goaliepost.com are great places for information. Another great source exists in team the form of team beat writers.  Jeff has created a list on Twitter @Votts_DFS  for all of the NHL teams, and a separate list of all the beat writers for you to follow, it’s a great tool and a necessity. The advanced stats that I use and reference in this article come from Corsica.hockey and naturalstattrick.com. 

When covering a broader based slate, I use covers.com as well.

If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to contact me on our premium Slack chat, or you can hit me up on Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS.

If you would like a free one-week premium NHL trial of Awesemo.com you can use the promo code: POWERPLAYS.

 

A Quick Note…

There are four games on the afternoon schedule. The picks below cover the 11 game main schedule. For the afternoon slate, Awesemo covers it exclusively in the chatroom.

Full Schedule For Saturday December 29th, 2018

[table id=1078 /]

Prices are in DraftKings format unless noted. FanDuel prices will be included as well.

 

NHL DFS GPP Plays For Saturday

High Priced Shots

Jack Eichel ($7,700) — Boston is banged up and Eichel performs at over a point a game pace versus the Bruins. It appears there will be no Marchand or McAvoy for this game. That suits Eichel and Buffalo just fine. The Bruins’ penalty kill has dropped to near 77% on the road while Buffalo’s power play is above 20% at home. Buffalo ownership should go up a little but with the 11 game main slate, the spread should be enough to afford Eichel. His $8,000 FanDuel price tag is not so bad either. See if Jeff Skinner is an option for stacking but do not stray too far. With Boston, one never quite knows and Buffalo after that top line is chateau bow wow!

Claude Giroux ($6,300) — Taking risks is the name of the game here. Giroux is not a risk here, however. His DraftKings price is absurdly low much like Sidney Crosby and at least a half dozen centers on Saturday night. He has fired 20 shots on net in the last four games and probably created as many scoring chances. Honestly, Florida and Philadelphia will be a sloppy track meet and the expectation is quite a few goals (over/under 6.5 early). Florida’s second line will be an interesting counter here but they are not high priced. Please note that Giroux is listed as a winger on FanDuel at $7,300. There are a slew of options at center though including Brayden Point, Tyler Seguin, an under priced Sidney Crosby, and the Matthews/Tavares duo. Chalky pick should be Nathan MackInnon but one may play him anyway because of the slate.

Nikita Kucherov ($7,900) — Tampa Bay is on fire and so is Kucherov with 19 points in his last ten games! That includes five goals on 33 shots so shot volume is rarely a problem with the Russian winger. Tampa Bay scores at a 4.35 goals per game clip at home and faces a Montreal team on zero rest. There is a good bit of sludge teams to take advantage of. Remember, rust is added when a team doesn’t play for three or four nights then has a back to back right after Christmas break. Kucherov is $9,000 on FanDuel so if that becomes a bit too pricey, there are other options.

Those for GPP’s could include Mitch Marner. Even Alexander Radulov is a sneaky pick for Dallas and comes at a lower price on both sites than most. Keep in mind, this is about taking some shots in what will be a wide open night.

 

Into The Middle

Matthew Barzal ($5,800) — Barzal took about 30 games to get going this year but now has 11 points in his previous nine games. This is after a three point outburst against Ottawa on Friday night. He is averaging just about three shots a game in this span and generating scoring chances at a level comparable to late last season. Toronto will get their chances on Saturday in what will be an emotional game against the Islanders. However, New York will get theirs too at even strength where Toronto is vulnerable. Again, the Maple Leafs take the least amount of minors in the league. Barzal carries some risk but carries some sneaky reward as well. The center is just $5,700 on FanDuel.

Kevin Hayes ($5,500) — It is acceptable to ride the wave here with Hayes because of his FanDuel price (only $5,800). Even his DraftKings price is not terrible given his production (15 points in the last ten games). He has 28 shots in the previous ten contests. The only frustrating risk of Hayes is his shot selection. Again, special teams production has been good of late too (4 points in the previous eight contests). This becomes a contrarian pick in most circles but with the way Nashville has been meandering around lately, the option is not awful.

Ryan O’Reilly is somehow in this price range too against Pittsburgh and he may be worth a look. J.T. Compher may be as well against a Chicago team that bleeds so many scoring chances one would think this is 1985 all over again with the Edmonton Oilers. Chris Kreider makes for a contrarian mini stack of sorts on Saturday night as well and he has four goals in his previous three starts (all featuring 4+ shots on net).

Alex DeBrincat ($5,300) — DeBrincat carries huge danger at times because his shot and chance volume can be all over the place. However, Colorado is in a bit of flux as they look to spread around their scoring. Also, Semyon Varlamov has been awful of late and the Avalanche defense has been shaky (15 goals allowed in their last five while only scoring nine). If Colorado pushes the pace like expected, they will be vulnerable to counter attacks. DeBrincat normally feasts on those and yes is a point a game player in this latest ten game span. Dylan Strome is an interesting play for those pushing a contrarian line here. There will be many more options on social media and Slack because the feeling is plenty of line shifts are likely on Saturday.

 

Throwing Some Darts

Alex Galchenyuk ($3,600) — Galchenyuk’s health is increasingly becoming a concern but he has looked much better in the last week or so with four points and improved shot selection. Anaheim is the worst in the league when it comes to facing value forwards and the Ducks may be down to their third string goalie or a hobbled John Gibson on Saturday. Either way, Arizona has a chance to be a sneaky late play across the board. His FanDuel price is still an outrageous $5,400 so keep that in mind. Wayne Simmonds is a high risk play on Saturday against a Florida team which tends to get lazy around defending their net.

Henrik Borgstrom ($3,100) — This delivers value but danger as well because of Borgstrom’s low shot volume. He did score again on Friday night as utilization will be key for the young Florida rookie. Philadelphia’s bad penalty kill and even worse defense should at least allow for a few chances. His near punt play price on FanDuel will be enticing as well. Anthony Cirelli ($4,000/$3,800) is a safer pick tallying eight points in his last nine games. His shot volume is higher and his role is more stable than Borgstrom’s. However, Borgstrom is the punt play while Cirelli remains a value option.

Goading The Goalies

Again, our best bet with this slate is to simply wait for confirmations to come in. The problem lies in that there are only a couple confirmations and likely goaltenders so far. Morning skates reveal a few more but alas sometimes the wait can be right until warm-ups on a busy Saturday. Looking towards the lesser games tonight might actually pay off in GPP’s. Also, keep an eye on who starts for teams on no rest and some road opponents.

There are several teams playing with no rest. One total sludge matchup exists between the Islanders and Maple Leafs so goaltenders are out there. Some will risk Frederik Andersen and that makes a pretty good cash play at least. Shots and the Islanders do not always go hand in hand so one never knows. Florida and Philadelphia project to 70-75 shots total but can anyone trust their goalies right now? Exactly! Talk about high risk!

More backups playing than usual means the likelihood for more goals. Better yet, how does Dallas come out after the comments made on Friday by CEO Jim Lites. Playing Ben Bishop may be worth it or totally backfire. See who starts for Arizona, especially against an Anaheim team that has generated some shots but not goals of late. Arizona goalies are priced cheap as usual ($7,200 on DraftKings) for example. The best advice again is watch and wait a bit.

More picks and choices will be available on Slack and social media later along with stacking possibilities and injury updates.

Best of luck on Saturday! This will be a fun and nutty ride. Don’t forget there is a huge mega slate on New Year’s Eve. That is by Monday standards anyway. We will split the difference there so stay tuned for that one!

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