NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 11/21/19
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
Darcy Kuemper ($8,500): The Arizona Coyotes expect to start Kuemper against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight. Toronto just fired their coach so that may stoke a fire in them where at least they fire a ton of shots on net. Now, guess which DFS goalie averages the most points per game on FanDuel? That's right, it's Kuemper at 23.59. That is higher than players like Tuukka Rask and even Connor Hellebuyck. Out of the three, Kuemper arguably has the best matchup to pile on the points.
High-Priced Skaters
Nathan MacKinnon ($8,800): Colorado's center enjoys great matchups no matter what because he averages nearly 1.5 real-world points per game (31 points in 21 games). Add in a shot volume of around five a game in net, and it is easy to see a nice secondary option from the duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on Thursday night. When a player generates double-digit per 60 scoring chances like MacKinnon, that is impressive. Think of it this way -- every team tries to stop him and yet few seem able to. Just imagine if his normal linemates were available. Jack Eichel ($8,100) has some career success versus Boston and could be on your radar tonight, too.
David Pastrnak ($9,100): Pastrnak now has eight goals in his last nine games on 46 shots. He has been especially lethal on the power play with four goals on the man advantage during that span. Buffalo has the 24th-ranked penalty kill, and Boston's power play is third mostly due to the winger. Pastrnak's shooting percentage has come down over his last 10 games, and yet he is still shooting at nearly 23% for the season. Maybe the goal rate won't slow down quite as much as it was forecasted. Also, Evander Kane and Filip Forsberg are both $7,700 and in solid matchups versus Vegas and Vancouver, respectively.
Value Skaters
Brett Connolly ($4,100): The Florida Panthers are entertaining offensively, and Connolly is a big reason why. He has 15 real-world points (8 goals) in 21 games. His shot volume is not great (1.7 shots per contest), but the production is for a middle-six forward. When he gets the ice time, the production and chances go up. As long as Connolly sees around 15 minutes a night, he is worthy of trying in GPPs as a one-off value play. Kirby Dach ($3,700) is another solid option on Thursday, as the rookie has seven real-world points in his previous five games despite some limited ice time.
Martin Necas ($3,800): Necas has 15 points in 21 games this year, which includes 5 goals. Like Connolly, his shot volume is not too good (around 1.5 shots per game), but he is seeing more time on the power play and has two of his goals on the man advantage. Carolina traditionally is a better team against Philadelphia on home ice, and Necas does come pretty cheap for a player averaging as many real-world points as he does.
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.
