NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 4/5/19
A good chunk of you played daily fantasy football this year, and I'd be willing to bet a significant portion 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.
And 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
Anton Khudobin ($8,100): The Dallas Stars have locked up their playoff spot but are still fighting for playoff seeding, so there is no slowing down for them right now. Khudobin comes in allowing three or fewer goals in each of his last 12 starts, but only able to pick up the win in six of those games. The Stars come in at -110 on the road, but we also see the Chicago Blackhawks coming in at -110, which should set this up for a very close game. The win is essentially a coin flip here, but Khudobin should be able to provide massive fantasy value since the Blackhawks come in with the highest expected Corsi For on the slate sitting at 46.8. This means they Khudobin is set to see plenty of shots tonight, thus giving him plenty of save upside and points. A smaller slate always gives us condensed ownership but we have the combination of points from saves and the win also being firmly in play with Khudobin tonight.
High-Priced Skaters
Artemi Panarin ($7,700): This is it for the Columbus Blue Jackets, two games left in the season and they still need to clinch a playoff spot, which has been hanging in the balance since the trade deadline when they risked it all to acquire a few players. Panarin comes into this game with eight points in his last six games and eight shots. That is solid production from their star player, but we'd like to see his shot volume increase a bit more to give him a safer floor of points and that looks likely tonight. He is facing off against the New York Rangers, who the third worst in the league when it comes to Corsi Against (the number of shot attempts allowed per 60). They have been one of the weakest defenses all season long and with the Blue Jackets in a must-win spot, they should be firing on all cylinders to grab the two points. We find Panarin on the top forward line and the first power-play unit, both of which, should be popular targets on this small three-game slate.
Tyler Seguin ($8,200): With the first Wild Card Spot still up for grabs in the Western Conference, Seguin and the Stars have to pick up one point tonight to secure that. Seguin is and has been the best player for the Stars all season long, averaging over four shots per game and comes in on a bit of a hot streak with 12 points in his last eight games. Amazing real-life production along with fantasy production we can count on every single night due to his consistency and overall usage in the offense being on each of the top units. If you are truly looking for one of the safest overall options on this slate, Seguin is truly the answer tonight but he is not just a "floor" play, he also brings plenty of upside since the Blackhawks are allowing 13.71 High-Danger Scoring Chances per 60, which is dead last in the league.
Value Skaters
Hampus Lindholm ($3,800): Lindholm and the Ducks have been one of the worst teams all season long but he is still bringing fantasy value on an almost nightly basis. First off, his price tonight being under $4K helps ease the process of roster construction, since we are looking for value on a smaller slate. Next, he comes in with two or more blocked shots in four of his last six games, along with seven shots in that same time frame. That is a somewhat surprisingly strong point per dollar production and shouldn't be passed on in either format tonight. He isn't on either power-play unit which can limit his potential upside but the Ducks are scoring 41.7% more goals compared to the month prior, so there is more potential than usual here.
Ryan Strome ($4,900): Strome has posted some solid fantasy numbers this season, even with the Rangers eliminated from the playoff seemingly months ago. He has recently moved up to the first power-play unit with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, which is certainly paying dividends for him as he has five points and eight shots in his last five games. It also helps that his price is still very affordable even after this recent late-season offensive surge. The matchup tonight versus the Blue Jackets should have plenty of scoring since five of their last six games against each other have hit the over. The first power-play for the Rangers is a nice GPP stack tonight and could even set you up to do a game stack given the recent scoring between the two teams.
Thomas Vecchio is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Thomas Vecchio also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username TomVec629. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
