This Saturday of the NHL DFS season is chock full of plays, traps, and more. First off, let’s remind everyone of the Votts media list and a few links to follow one more time.
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.
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.
A Quick Note…
There are three afternoon games. The picks below cover the eight game main schedule.
Full Schedule For Saturday November 10th, 2018
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Prices are in DraftKings format unless noted. FanDuel prices will be included as well.
NHL DFS GPP Plays For Saturday
High Priced Shots
Sidney Crosby ($6,900) — The play becomes a nice one given how porous Arizona looked against Philadelphia. Crosby is $8.900 on FanDuel, however, which increases his risk. That being said, Arizona is not the same team with Darcy Kuemper (anyone other than Antti Raanta). Their penalty kill could scare some off any Pittsburgh power play stacks (91% efficiency — 9 short-handed goals scored). Do not be scared easily here. Tampa Bay is likely the bigger chalky option on this Saturday night slate.
Patrice Bergeron ($7,500) — Bergeron brings a more reasonable price on FanDuel at $8,300. He is the highest priced center on the DraftKings slate. That sounds crazy with some of the star power on this schedule but that is how it goes. Part of the reason is Toronto playing with no rest after a 6-1 trouncing of the New Jersey Devils last night. Boston’s first line will be owned in quite a few places but look to the power play for some price relief. Jake DeBrusk could be had for a middle of the road price. This could be a wild scoring, high-event affair. Therefore, looking into Toronto options (John Tavares and Nazem Kadri, for starters) is not unreasonable.
Artemi Panarin ($7,100) — Panarin still averages nearly four shots per contest and has no goals in his last six games. So, why play him? The New York Rangers are not rested and could easily give up 35-40+ shots to Columbus on Saturday. Henrik Lundqvist is likely not to start after the Rangers blew a two goal third period lead. Nikita Kucherov and Tampa Bay may be in play but will be higher owned. Columbus is a fun team at home and can easily score 3+ goals. They can allow it too which makes New York back door plays very plausible. Also, the Columbus power play is starting to click a bit. It’s up to nearly 15% now (it was single digits in the first few weeks of the season).
Mike Hoffman ($6,300) — Hoffman has been hot of late with 11 points in his last ten games on 36 shots. He scored six goals in that span and is not back up to playing nearly 17 minutes a night. He presents a slightly cheaper alternative to Evgenii Dadonov (whose price has shot up a little). Florida plays a more high-event style at home and both teams in this tilt could come close to 35 shots apiece (much like the Columbus game). Hoffman is just $5,500 on FanDuel which is a solid bargain (less than $400 per FanDuel point). Ownership projects out to be moderate at best for Hoffman which is good on this night.
Into The Middle
Kevin Hayes ($4,100) — Hayes is almost a value play and yet a risky GPP play. Those two are possible at the same time. He does not score a ton but does have seven points in his last ten games (two goals on 30 shots). That shot output is solid and he does generate about the same amount of scoring chances a contest. One could spend up for Mika Zibanejad for power play help here as the Columbus penalty kill (like the Rangers one) has been around 75% of late). This means looking to the other side with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Boone Jenner also. See if Cam Atkinson plays first, however (day to day with injury).
Alex Galchenyuk ($5,400) — It is acceptable to go for the shots. Galchenyuk has six points in seven games so far for Arizona. He returned from an injury scare early in the Philadelphia game and generated several scoring chances. His shot volume is about 2.3 per contest in the early going which is decent. Hopefully, the center can fire more pucks on net during the man advantage (those numbers are low). He is only $5,300 on FanDuel which is not a bad price. Pittsburgh allows over four goals a game at home this season. Arizona and Galchenyuk may have some wiggle room to play. Another risky play may be Chris Tierney — who has 15 points (13 assists) in 16 games. He would be a buffer play in the $4000’s.
Mark Stone ($5,700) — Stone, like most of Ottawa is under priced. He has scored 16 points in his last ten games (four goals on 28 shots too). People forget Stone is a point a game player basically at this juncture. Tampa Bay will give up their opportunities and sometimes yield 35+ shots against an inferior opponent. This happened just the other night against the Islanders. Stone is more sensibly priced on FanDuel at $6,400. Did we mention he averages more DFS points than Nikita Kucherov? Now, we did. Thomas Chabot becomes a play from the blueline if one goes down this road as well. The Ottawa defenseman has points in all but two games this year.
Jake DeBrusk ($4,500) — DeBrusk becomes a higher risk GPP play on Saturday but some would argue no. His increased role on the Boston power play helps. Also, Toronto is not rested and honestly the implied goal total for this game is around 6.5. The winger will find a good bit of open ice especially as the game goes on. The ice time and opportunity will be there. It comes down to DeBrusk executing. He did in his last game with two goals and an assist on four shots. His FanDuel price is at $4,300 which is even better. With what is a medium slate, it is alright to get a little creative. Just do not get too cute. It is alright to play a little chalk or slightly off the chalk for relief.
Throwing Some Darts
Oliver Bjorkstrand ($3,000) — Bjorkstrand is a contingency play partially based on the availability of Cam Atkinson. Bjorkstrand excelled in the role last night against Washington and fired five shots on net with four scoring chances. This was all in just over 14 minutes of ice time. His near minimum price on DraftKings is nice and value price on FanDuel ($3,500) is hard to pass up. It reminds us of Andrei Svechnikov a little less than a week ago. Both could be viable plays on this night. The key is to pick through the value. Minnesota line two was a great play for that reason last night — matchup and opponent. Concentrate and attack.
Dylan Strome ($2,900) —Â This delivers danger as Strome still plays bottom six minutes. However, the near minimum priced center does show a bit of a scoring touch from time to time. Again, value choices are limited tonight as some players have priced out due to performance lately. This happens a couple times a week at least without fail. Pittsburgh gives up a fair share of scoring chances to bottom six players and the inevitable third line troll goal always is a possibility.
Antti Niemi ($7,500) — Like Chad Johnson last night, taking a stab at a backup seemed like an idea to explore. Niemi has not been terrible when compared to the inconsistency of Carey Price in the early going. Has he been great? No. Is he going to get a shutout? No. He has won three of his four starts though and is priced at just $7,400 on FanDuel. Marc-Andre Fleury at $7,500 could be a option on DraftKings but not on FanDuel ($8,500 not a value).
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 four teams playing with no rest. Those will likely be spots to watch to see who starts. It will also allow an insight as to who to start. Tampa Bay exudes chalk in net and Andrei Vasilevskiy is priced at $9,400 on FanDuel for example. Wow!  Jaroslav Halak starts tonight in place of Tuukka Rask, who is on personal leave. Halak is a value option on DraftKings but not as much on FanDuel. Even Roberto Luongo, who is projected, carries a good GPP projection on Saturday against his long time ago former team in the Islanders.
Just look at Friday night. There carries a lot more unexpected results tonight. If this had been a larger slate, ownership would be spread around. Vasilevskiy will be owned in some GPP’s even tonight on DraftKings especially. Darcy Kuemper is a high danger GPP pick. Kuemper playing lights out is not surprising but neither is him giving up four goals in short order.
More picks and choices will be available on Slack and social media later.
Best of luck on Saturday! This will be a fun ride.
