NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 11/22/19
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
Tristan Jarry ($7,700): The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the second night of a back-to-back, which means Jarry will be in net since Matt Murray played last night. A bit of savings at goalie is helpful when we are dealing with a two-game slate, combined with the fact the Penguins are -165 home favorites versus the New Jersey Devils. Based on the matchup, Jarry is shaping up to be a safe floor but low ceiling type of option. The Devils come in dead last in the league when it comes to Corsi For at 48.71.
But what does this mean? The Devils don't generate a ton of shot attempts, which prevents Jarry from racking up points via saves. This limits his potential upside since he will likely let in a goal or two but won't have the extra saves to make up for the negative points. Again, he is the safe floor play due to being the biggest home favorite on a small slate.
High-Priced Skaters
Artemi Panarin ($8,600): The prize of the recent NHL offseason is off to a blazing hot start with 25 points in 19 games, including a current 12-game point streak. The New York Rangers are on the road but come in with a solid 3.18 implied total goal total, with the over/under set at 6.5 goals against the Ottawa Senators. Both teams are absolutely dreadful on defense and with no exaggeration could be the actual two worst defensive teams in the league. This means we should be in for plenty of scoring, and Panarin should be in the middle of that for the Rangers.
He is on the first forward line and the first power-play, as you would expect with his production. Nine points and 21 shots are what Panarin brings into this game over his last five outings, making him the most expensive skater on tonight's slate.
Evgeni Malkin ($8,500): Malkin has six points in his last three games and is picking up some of the offense with Sidney Crosby out for an extended period of time. Malkin is now up on the first forward line and still running the first power-play unit, which does make a nice stack tonight. The slate-high 3.58 implied goal total for the Penguins is not something you should be fading tonight, and despite the fact Malkin is very expensive, you should be trying to lock him into your lineups.
The forward line for the Penguins will have the last line change tonight since they are at home, which should put them in the ideal spot to score. Paying up for both Malkin and Panarin on this slate is tough, but it can be done with a few value plays tonight.
Value Skaters
Wayne Simmonds ($4,000): While the Devils are +140 road underdogs, they are rested and playing a team on the second night of a back-to-back. Take that for what you will, but finding a few value options for the Devils can help you round out a lineup with some high-priced skaters. Simmonds is on the third forward line and the first power-play unit for the Devils, and the latter is the most appealing when he is only $4K tonight.
Simmonds isn't a big-time goal scorer by any means, but he has three goals in his last five games along with seven shots. That is clearly a very high shot-to-goal ratio and isn't sustainable, but his price tag hasn't changed. He isn't up in the $6K range due to a recent scoring wave -- he is still a value play -- making him viable tonight.
Logan Brown ($3,600): As mentioned above, the Rangers and Senators are both horrible on defense, so you can look to this game for some scoring. Of the two games tonight, this has the better potential to be a back and forth game, which means we want some exposure here. The Rangers are last in the league in Corsi Against and the number of High-Danger-Scoring-Chances allowed per 60 minutes, presenting any opponent they face with plenty of upside.
I'm not here saying the Senators are some amazing offensive team -- they're not -- but a player like Logan Brown makes a great value option tonight. He is the center on the second forward line, on the first power-play unit, and is fully correlated with his linemates. Brady Tkachuk and Anthony Duclair are those linemates, who make a great three-man stack tonight.
