The small Sunday NHL three-game main slate will see significantly higher ownerships on the top players than we are used to seeing for NHL DFS. The top owned line does project to have the most value, but how can we fit under the cap while getting a hold on the big names? Let’s dive into some favorite stacks.
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Best NHL DFS Picks Today | Jan. 15
Alexis Lafreniere, Kappo Kakko: $7,000 DraftKings | $8,800 FanDuel
With Chris Kreider out of the lineup, Kakko and Lafreniere will be featured in top-line roles again skating for the New York Rangers against the Montreal Canadiens, who have been allowing a wealth of shots and goals over the last month.
This pair projects to have a high ownership around 25-30% on both FanDuel and DraftKings. That’s actually still very reasonable when considering how it allows the rest of your team to be set up Sunday, when our Winnipeg Jets stack is simply a must play and quite pricey.
Montreal has allowed 4.70 goals against per game over it’s past 10. Over that span, Montreal has allowed 4.25 GA/60, and simply has no answer for the opposition’s top players.
Kakko and Lafreniere may not be as offensively dominant as true top-line stars, but in this matchup the pair has the upside to break through with superstar level production.
Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers: $14,800 DraftKings | $19,100 FanDuel
From this point on, it’s not entirely ignorant to say that Winnipeg’s top line of Connor, Ehlers and Pierre-Luc Dubois could be as productive as any unit in the NHL.
Many expected a massive season from Ehlers, who is one of the most talented wings in the league and clearly did not entirely jell under former Jets coach Paul Maurice.
Over the past four games since Ehlers returned from injury Jan. 6, he and Connor have combined for seven goals and 15 points, with an average of 6.56 shots on goal combined. Now they take on a the Arizona Coyotes, who played last night at the Minnesota Wild, and are perfectly situated to run wild once again.
Finding a way to stack the entire line and include Dubois is reasonable but does hamper the rest of the lineup. Ehlers and Connor project to produce slightly more offense, and goals in particular, the rest of this season, and differentiating by pairing just the two is a logical option.
Goalie
Igor Shesterkin: $8,300 DraftKings | $8,400 FanDuel
Should the Jets actually start David Rittich instead of Connor Helleybuyck, Rangers goalie Shesterkin becomes by a significant margin the most valuable on the slate, and this is why.
Pyotr Kochetkov is likely to start for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Vancouver Canucks and also will be trendy. However, Vancouver continues to score at a very high clip, and Kochetkov’s play has dipped badly of late. The rookie is an unproven option in reality, and counting on a bounce-back versus a Canucks team that can score does not make sense.
Playing any of the three massive underdog goalies (Collin Delia, Cayden Primeau, Karel Vejmelka) also projects to be a complete disaster, because in all likelihood each will lose his game while allowing three or more goals.
Shesterkin has remained in spectacular form over his past five starts, stopping 92.6% of shots faced. Montreal features very little in the way of true scoring talent outside of Cole Caufield and is generating just 2.43 xGA/60 over it’s past 10 games.
On a day when the floor is extremely low for most goalie options, sticking with the chalky Shesterkin makes a ton of sense.
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