NHL DFS Picks & Stacks for DraftKings & FanDuel Lineups | Detroit Red Wings & Artemi Panarin 1/15/22

COVID protocol has been making a strong onset through the NHL in the past month or so. Keeping an eye on new is imperative to succeeding at NHL DFS. Following my Twitter beat writer lists are a huge advantage for getting last minute news and scratches. This Power Play article will use Awesemo’s Premium NHL Tools NHL DFS advice to help with building lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel tonight. The Awesemo NHL projections and ownership projections are two of the best tools to utilize when constructing stacks and making the optimal NHL DFS picks. Let’s go position by position and pinpoint some of the top plays and stacks for Saturday, Jan. 15.

NHL DFS Picks, Top Stacks & Lineup Optimizer Plays

Center

Connor McDavid (EDM vs. OTT): DraftKings – $8,600 | FanDuel – $10,100

Undoubtedly, it has been a slide of late for Connor McDavid, but even his downturn has seen him post 11 points in his last 10 games, averaging 3.9 shots per game. That is what makes him so valuable – even at his worst, he’s still over a point per game with a high shot volume. Seeing him with a price drop makes sense, given the context, but also makes him a lot more palatable than he would be otherwise.

Of course, the matchup tonight is where we’re focusing. While the Ottawa Senators have a potent top scoring line – and they themselves should be in consideration tonight – they also give it up defensively at the other end, coming in below average by shot share over the last six weeks. Over those six weeks, the Senators have the second-most time shorthanded, next to only the Carolina Hurricanes. Giving McDavid several power plays is a bad idea, but it’s very much in the cards for tonight.

Naturally, McDavid will carry high ownership tonight as he normally does, so full stacking his even-strength or power-play lines is the right approach in tournaments. The price drop brings him into range for cash games as well.

Tage Thompson (BUF at DET): DraftKings – $5,200 | FanDuel – $5,500

Tage Thompson was removed from the COVID list on Friday and is set to return to the lineup on Saturday night. While we have seen a mixed bag of players returning from COVID, Thompson is returning after the minimum five days so the hope is that he hasn’t had any adverse effects and can step back in as he was a week ago. We will find out tonight if that’s the case.

At any rate, the matchup tonight against Detroit is a great one. The Red Wings use their third line in a shutdown role, and that third line has been bad this year: 44% share of the shot attempts and just 47% of the share of scoring chances. If they are matching up against Thompson tonight, that is a matchup that favors Thompson.

Finally, there is the health of the team. Buffalo has welcomed back some wingers to the lineup, and that could mean Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch skating with Thompson, which should ostensibly be this team’s best offensive trio. He is just shy of 3.5 shots per game since the calendar rolled to December and should have talented line mates in a plus matchup. The potential all-star is on our list of centers to target in tournaments tonight in tournaments, even as part of a stack.

Winger

Artemi Panarin (NYR at PHI): DraftKings – $5,900 | FanDuel – $7,800

When presented with an opportunity like this, one question pops up: if we’re not going to use Artemi Panarin priced down to $5,900 on DraftKings when he’s playing against a hapless Flyers team, when are we going to use him? This is a player pacing for a 90-point season, and that is considered a slow start to the year for him. That is kind of the appeal here: if he’s firing on all cylinders, he’s probably $1,500 more expensive on DraftKings. But he does have just four points in seven games, which is why his price has dropped so much.

The question is if he’s getting unlucky or just playing poorly. Well, since the start of December, the duo of Panarin and Ryan Strome have led to a shooting percentage of 9.3% at 5-on-5 when they’re on the ice, and that’s normal. It isn’t as if they’re shooting 4% or something. On the flipside, they are controlling just 45% of the shot attempts when they’re on the ice, so they aren’t performing well, either. Adding Filip Chytil to the wing should help with their offence, though.

They aren’t playing well, but Philadelphia is performing even worse, and Panarin will miss the top-line matchup from the Flyers. Panarin is still an elite player and he’s in a great matchup. At the least, he’s a viable one-off in tournaments tonight.

Adrian Kempe (LAK at SEA): DraftKings – $4,400 | FanDuel – $5,600

Having been named to the All-Star Game this week should highlight how good a season Adrian Kempe is enduring: 16 goals and 23 points in 37 games, pacing for 35 goals and nearly 250 shots in a full season. That is just outstanding offence, and the jump in shot rate is a big reason why he’s a target here. He was a guy who could scarcely be relied upon for a couple shots a game for most of his career. Now, he’s averaging a DraftKings shot bonus more than every six games. A remarkable season so far.

Tonight, the team is on the road, but they’re going into Seattle, and the Kraken have just fallen off the map. This was a team that was roughly 49% shot share through their first two months and have fallen below 46% since. The goaltending has scarcely rebounded in that span, being bottom-5 in the NHL. This is truly just a bad team without an effective shutdown line, and that’s great news for the Kings’ top line and Kempe.

With his shot rate, we could be tempted into playing Kempe as a one-off tonight, but he skates a lot of minutes with Anze Koptiar. Having at least a two-man duo from the top line appears a better idea in tournaments.

Jonathan Dahlen (SJS vs. PIT): DraftKings – $3,200 | FanDuel – $4,400

We will have to see how things shake out at their game-day skate, but Jonathan Dahlen was moved back to the top line last game with Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl. While that trio doesn’t have a lot of minutes together, the Meier/Dahlen duo was generating over 73 shot attempts and 38 scoring chances per 60 minutes with Logan Couture as their center. Now that Hertl is likely there, it should mean very high offensive rates.

The problem tonight is the matchup. Pittsburgh is a very good team, likely a Cup contender. The good news is that Couture is likely to take the top-line matchup from the Penguins, and that is a tougher line defensively. It isn’t to say that Dahlen and co. have a cakewalk against the depth because, again, this is a Cup contender and contenders have good-to-great depth. But it is an improvement over facing the top line.

He is certainly best used as part of a stack rather than by himself. He has very talented line mates and the likelihood of him smashing without his line mates coming along with him is low. But we do have them with reasonable ownership and this should be a good offensive line.


Latest NHL DFS Content


Defense

Jacob Trouba (NYR at PHI): DraftKings – $4,900 | FanDuel – $5,500

Jacob Trouba has seen a price drop over the last couple weeks and that makes him a lot more reasonable. Because he doesn’t skate the top PP unit, he needs to bring peripherals even with his price drop, and that he does: eight shot bonuses and 14 block bonuses on DraftKings this season, including both in the same game twice. As outlined in the Panarin section, the Flyers have been poor defensively for a long time now, being bottom-3 by shot share over their last 16 games. This is a good matchup for Trouba to take advantage of his shooting ability from the back end.

Cam York (PHI vs. NYR): DraftKings – $3,000 | FanDuel – $3,800

The prospect defenseman from the Flyers has had a good start to his career, as he appears to be one of the few defensemen they have that is actually moving the puck. That is probably why Cam York was moved to the top PP unit in place of everyone else they have on the roster. He is also skating over 21 minutes a night. While his team is underperforming, he is very cheap, skating a lot of minutes for a team that is at home, and he’s eating top PP minutes. For anyone looking to punt with a defenseman who can bring more than shot blocks, this is the guy.

Goalie

Jordan Binnington (STL vs. TOR): DraftKings – $7,500 | FanDuel – $8,000

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in town and they’re a top-10 team by shot rate over the last six weeks, which brings Jordan Binnington near the top of tonight’s projected saves by a goalie. The problem, of course, is that Toronto is a lethal offensive team. A big part of that is the power play, though, as Toronto is scoring at a higher rate over that span with the man advantage than any other team, and it’s not close. On the flipside, the Blues have a top-10 penalty kill in that same span. As long as the Blues can hold the fort on the penalty kill, there’s a good chance from a solid Binnington score tonight, and he’ll have little ownership in this matchup.

Top NHL DFS Stacks Today

DET1: Larkin-Raymond-Bertuzzi

The way Detroit runs their lines at home, the top line rarely sees the top line from the opposition. That means avoiding the Thompson line here, and there just is not much Buffalo depth to contend with this top Detroit trio. By our Top Stacks tool, they are one of the better leveraged lines on the slate, and in a home matchup, that puts them towards the top of our priority list.

LAK1: Kempe-Kopitar-Iafallo

Though this trio struggled to start the year, they are absolutely blowing the doors off the competition of late: 68% shot share and 65% share of the scoring chances since the start of December. They are coming off a big game and that could draw some ownership here, and that could push them near the 10% mark tonight. All the same, Seattle’s defense has fallen as the year has worn on and the goaltending might be the worst in hockey. The Kings’s top line is firmly in play for us tonight.

*Additional Stats from Natural Stat Trick

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Michael has been writing about fantasy hockey for over a decade, and has been playing Daily Fantasy for just as long. He has contributed to both the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Herald, has worked for Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and is now in his fifth season with Stokastic. He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and can be reached on Twitter @SlimCliffy.

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