NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 1/30/20
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
Mackenzie Blackwood ($7,400): The New Jersey Devils goalie is confirmed to start on Thursday night against the Nashville Predators. Blackwood always seems to have an adventure in net with the defense in front of him. Expecting a higher-save count is likely. He stopped 35 of 38 shots against the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. The extra day of rest helps the New Jersey goalie, which Nashville is coming off a 5-4 win versus the Washington Capitals last night. New Jersey will at the very least be the rested team. For a high-risk play, look into Pekka Rinne at just $7,600.
High-Priced Skaters
Jack Eichel ($9,000): The center has a great matchup against the Montreal Canadiens at home. He scored against Ottawa and added three shots. He did miss six shots on net, though, and that does have to improve. However, Montreal is a team that allows over 32 shots per 60 and has a penalty kill of just 77.8% on the road. Though Montreal has enjoyed a mastery of sorts over the Buffalo Sabres, Eichel averages four-plus shots a game and nearly a point a contest against them. Nico Hischier ($5,700) is one to watch from New Jersey against a ragged Nashville defense.
Kyle Palmieri ($6,600): With only three games on the slate, the goal scorer rises near the top of our lists for, yes, goal-scoring potential. He has four real-world points in his last four games and is averaging three scoring chances per night in that span. Nashville may be a tough team to figure out, but does John Hynes get nervous tonight facing his former team or do his former players against their former coach? One person will not, and that is Kyle Palmieri. Other alternatives tonight include Filip Forsberg ($7,600), and watch to see if Brendan Gallagher ($7,500) returns from injury against Buffalo.
Value Skaters
Rocco Grimaldi ($3,700): Grimaldi just does not get the ice time he should necessarily. However, he had three shots and six shot attempts in just a little over nine minutes of ice time against Washington. That included a goal as well (two in the last four games). His speed could easily frustrate a Devils team that often gets caught flat-footed in their own zone. This may be a night where he should see a little more time on the ice -- especially at even strength. Zemgus Girgensons ($3,800) carries some value for Buffalo.
Jakob Chychrun ($3,600): The Arizona Coyotes finally enjoy a home game against one of the worst teams in the league in the Los Angeles Kings. At the least, the last line change should help, and Chychrun has struggled, but his floor has remained pretty steady (3.5 shots and blocked shots total per game). Even just an assist helps exceed his value on this night. Joakim Ryan ($3,500) is getting top minutes for Los Angeles with the Drew Doughty injury and is minimum-priced.
Chris Wassel is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Chris Wassel also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username chriswassel. 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/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
