NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, SuperDraft (1/28): Value Plays, Goalies, Stacks

Welcome, RotoBallers. Hockey season is back and I am thrilled to be covering this sport over at RotoBaller! As always, I will do my best to give you the stats and info you need to build the best lineups possible for your GPP and cash game NHL contests on DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft.

If you are new to playing NHL DFS, there are several things to know that will help you get caught up to speed. The first thing to know is that stacking lines is important and correlating your plays can pay off. In hockey, if someone scores a goal, there's a good chance that some on his team will receive an assist on that goal, so you want to build lineups around players skating together. The second thing is to make sure you look at the two sites and see the different ways to obtain points. On DraftKings, you get bonus points for 5+ shots or 3+ blocked shots so someone like Alex Ovechkin who is a volume shooter tends to be a better play there just because he can rack up additional points based on his style of play.

Today I'll be bringing you my NHL lineup picks, analysis, and advice for NHL DFS contests on DraftKings, Fanduel, and SuperDraft for Thursday, January 28th, 2020 at 7:00 PM. Be sure to also check out our awesome NHL tools including our Lineup Optimizer, Research Station, Projections, and DFS Cheat Sheets! Feel free to follow me on Twitter @jorgepucks as I am happy to engage with readers and try to answer your questions. Good luck RotoBallers!

NHL DFS Analysis and Picks for 1/28

• Florida Panthers vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (-182) - 6.5U
• Philadelphia Flyers (-160) vs. New Jersey Devils - 5.5O
• Calgary Flames vs. Montreal Canadiens (-130) - 6U
• Tampa Bay Lightning (-132) vs. Carolina Hurricanes- 5.5O
• New York Rangers (-110) vs. Buffalo Sabres (-110) - 6U
• New York Islanders (-135) vs. Washington Capitals- 5.5U
• Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Boston Bruins (-120) - 5.5O
• Los Angeles Kings vs. Minnesota Wild (-155) - 5.5U
• Detroit Red Wings vs. Dallas Stars (-200) - 5.5U
• San Jose Sharks vs. Colorado Avalanche (-250)- 6O
• St. Louis Blues vs. Vegas Golden Knights (-155) - 6U
• Anaheim Ducks vs. Arizona Coyotes (-140) - 5.5U
• Toronto Maple Leafs (-125) vs. Edmonton Oilers- 6.5U
• Ottawa Senators vs. Vancouver Canucks (-139) - 6.5U

NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix

The matrix above takes the averages of four categories and creates a rating scale to help you decide which goalies to use, which goalies to target against, and conversely which teams could be viable from a stacking standpoint. It looks at four categories: Goals Allowed (GA), Shots Allowed (SA), Goals For (GF), Shots For (SF). The higher the overall rating in the last column indicates that it is a more dangerous matchup for that team's goalie while it might be beneficial to stack against him. I match and sync this every day to the actual opponents that they are facing every slate so this is always slate specific.

NHL DFS Power Play Matrix

The Power Play matrix is to help locate matchups that can be exploited should there be an odd-man advantage during the game. Just like the goalie matrix above, the teams are matched up based on their own power play percentage rank and their opponent's penalty kill percentage. When looking at this matrix, you will want to look for teams that succeed in the power play rank while their opponent has a poor penalty kill rank.

Did you know RotoBaller has a Premium NHL DFS subscription? Like what you read today? You can show your support for Jorge by using promo code JORGEPUCKS when purchasing an NHL DFS Premium Pass. You get 10% off, and exclusive access to all of our Premium NHL cheat sheets, DFS research tools, Premium Slack Chatrooms, Stack Builder, Correlation Matrix and Lineup Optimizer!

NHL DFS Core Plays

The Core plays below are the players that you should focus on incorporating into your cash game builds and tournament builds. When it comes to cash games, you want guys that offer high floors that rack up peripheral stats (shots, blocks, etc).

When it comes to tournaments, it is best to take a core play and see who their linemates are and build line stacks based on that. I will give 2-3 plays (varies on slate size) at each position at different pricing ranges so that you can have a variety of plays to choose from when building your cash builds.

NHL DFS Center Picks

• Nathan MacKinnon, COL ($8,600 DK / $8,500 FD) - Mackinnon was extremely active in their first game against San Jose onTuesday night as he recorded one assist while also taking six shots. Mackinnon has not scored a goal in over three-games so he is certainly due for one....or two.
• Mathew Barzal, NYI ($6,300 DK / $6,700 FD) - Barzal is the catalyst for this Islanders offense and he brings major upside to your fantasy lineups. In their game against Washington on Tuesday, Barzal took six shots on goal while registering both an assist and a goal. Barzal can be risky as he has three games where he has scored 20+ DK points and three games where he produced 0 DK points so proceed with caution.
• Nazem Kadri, COL ($4,600 DK / $5,800 FD) - If you choose to get exposure to Matthews or McDavid instead of MacKinnon, you could always save some salary and consider rostering Nazem Kadri on both sites. This is the cheapest price we will see for Kadri over on DK and for the upside that he presents, he makes for a great cash game play. The pace should be a good one and with how poor the Sharks have been on the defensive end, we could see several goals being scored from multiple lines on the Avs.

Other centers to consider: McDavid, Matthews,  Eichel, Pavelski, Kopitar, Pettersson, Schenn, Trocheck, Eriksson Ek, Backlund, Texier, Sutter

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Mitch Marner, TOR ($7,300 DK / $7,900 FD) - Marner has been white hot as of late as he has registered two points in three straight games. He is seeing over 20 minutes of ice time and found success against Edmonton this season as he has a goal and an assist in two games against them.
• Mark Stone, VGK ($6,300 DK / $7,600 FD) - Stone is priced way down on DK while being priced correctly over on FD. He is coming off of a three-assist game against the Blues on Tuesday and has seven total points over his last four games played. Stone is leading Vegas with nine assists on the season and he will continue to rack up the assists as he skates on the top forward line and the top power-play line for the Golden Knights.
• Carter Verhaeghe, FL ($3,700 DK / $4,300 FD)- Verhaeghe has been a nice surprise for the Panthers as he has recorded five total points in his first three games of the season. Verhaeghe has had back-to-back two-point outings and has found the back of the net in two straight games.  He truly benefits from skating alongside Aleksander Barkov on the top forward line and he is taking his shots as he has had back-to-back four-shot outings.

Other wings to consider: Rantanen, Marchand, Pacioretty, Huberdeau, Svechnikov, Radulov, Garland, Hornqvist, Perron, Kreider, Giroux, Duclair, Kyrou, Zucker, Donato

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Cale Makar, COL ($6,000 DK / $6,000 FD) - Makar finally had a big-time game this season which came on Tuesday night against the Sharks. Makar recorded three assists as the Avs put up a seven-point effort. Makar has yet to record a goal this season but if he remains involved on the offensive end, those goals will eventually come.
• Erik Karlsson, SJ ($4,900 DK / $5,200 FD) - For a defensemen that is seeing 27 minutes of ice time, the pricing on Erk Karlsson on both sites seems to be a tad low. Karlsson is still finding his footing in this Sharks offense but he will get more opportunities as he continues to skate on the top power-play unit for San Jose. The matchup against the Avalanche is tough but he is one of the better players on this San Jose who could make as a viable one-ff on this slate.
• Adam Larsson, EDM ($4,000 DK / $3,600 FD) - Larsson has found fantasy success as he has been racking up peripheral stats every game. He has blocked at least three shots in six games so far this season while taking a shot on goal in each game. While the ceiling for Larsson is low, his floor is high which is ideal for cash game builds.

Other defensemen to consider: Theodore, Fox, Klingberg, Hughes, Toews, Heiskanen, Provorov, Werenski, Girard, Lindholm, Dobson, Schultz, Byram

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Anton Khudobin, DAL ($8,400 DK / $8,200 FD) - Khudobin remains to be a brick wall between the pipes and has a chance of winning his fourth game of the season on Friday against Detroit. Khudobin is averaging one goal allowed per game while also having a .958 save percentage to start the season. While he is a candidate for a win, the Stars defense limits shot attempts which makes it tough for him to have ceiling type games.
• John Gibson, ANA ($7,900 DK / $7,400 FD) - John Gibson has been outstanding for the Ducks this year as he has gone 3-1-2 with a 1.67 goals allowed average and a .948 save percentage. He is seeing over 30+ shot attempts per game and has already pitched two shutouts. The Coyotes are getting off to a slow start offensively as they are averaging only 2.4 goals scored per game so this bodes well for Gibson who seems to be locked in.
• Semyon Varlamov, NYI ($7,500 DK / $7,900 FD) - The pricepoint on DK is just too good to pass up for Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov is 3-1 with a 1.00 goals allowed average and a .966 save percentage in four starts this season. His lone loss came against the Capitals where he saw 37 shots and while the Capitals are a solid team, they will still be without Ovechkin which makes this only a more attractive matchup for Varlamov.

Note: If you do roster a goalie listed above, it is sometimes best to make a hedge lineup in tournaments and take the opposing offense against them incase he gives up a few goals while that opposing team carries lower ownership.

Favorite NHL DFS Line Stacks

• COL 1
  • Landeskog/ MacKinnon1/ Rantanen (Hughes, D-men add on)
    • The Avs line is priced up on both sides and while it is tough to squeeze them in, we have seen them dominate in almost any given matchup which makes them a tough fade on this big slate. On Tuesday, the MacKinnon line generated seven scoring chances and two high danger opportunities and saw almost split time going up against the Sharks top two lines. If the Avs top line is too expensive, you could always pivot and move to their second line who is significantly cheaper but still gets you exposure to an Avs team thathas one of the higher game totals and win odds on the slate.
• NYI 1
  • Lee/ Barzal/ Eberle (Pulock, D-men add on)
    • On a large slate like this, the Islanders top line could see pretty low ownership which makes them an attractive line stack. So far this season, this top Islanders line has an xGF of 3.44,  32.2 scoring chances per 60 minutes, and 17 high danger opportunities per 60 minutes of ice time. Against Washington on Tuesday, they saw a heavy dose of the Capitals third line and the Barzal line controlled this matchup as they generated a 58 corsi for while registering two goals throughout the game.
• FL 1
  • Verhaeghe/ Barkov/ Duclair (Ekblad, D-men add on)
    • The top line for the Panthers has gotten off to a hot start and as long as Barkov is centering the top line, they will always be an offensive threat. This line has generated a 4.56 xGF/60, 40.66 scoring chancer per 60, and 25.41 high danger opportunities per 60 minutes of ice time. In their lone game against Columbus, the Panthers top line dominated Columbus as they generated nine scoring chances,  three high danger opportunities, and a 67.86 corsi for percentage.

Other Stacks to consider: DAL 1, PHI 2, BOS 3

SuperDraft NHL DFS Picks

C: MacKinnon (1.25X), Eichel (1.35X), Barzal (1.4X), Pettersson (1.45X), Barkov (1.7X)

W: Panarin (1.2X), Pacioretty (1.3X), Svechnikov (1.35X), Tkachuk (1.4X), Rantanen (1.6X)

D: Burns (1.15X), Carlson (1.25X), Klingberg (1.3X), Jones (1.55X), Heiskanen (1.6X)

G: Raanta (1.25X), Khudobin (1.45X), Gibson (1.5X)

*Core 4 for SuperDraft are Bolded

Key Abbreviations:

xGF/60= expected goal for per 60 minutes of ice time

GF/60= goals for per 60 minutes of ice time

SC/60= Scoring Chances per 60 minutes of ice time

If you have any additional questions, make sure to reach out to me on twitter or in our NHL room at the RotoBaller slack chat!

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