This Saturday indicates just a medium slate. First off, let’s remind everyone of the Votts media list and a few links to follow.
When you are making your teams, one needs to make sure your goalie is confirmed and starting. Sites like Dailyfaceoff.com, Leftwinglock.com, and Goaliepost.com are great places for information. Another great source exists in team the form of team beat writers. Jeff has created a list on Twitter @Votts_DFS  for all of the NHL teams, and a separate list of all the beat writers for you to follow, it’s a great tool and a necessity. The advanced stats that I use and reference in this article come from Corsica.hockey and naturalstattrick.com.
If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to contact me on our premium Slack chat, or you can hit me up on Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS.
If you would like a free one-week premium NHL trial of Awesemo.com you can use the promo code: POWERPLAYS.
A Quick Note…
The picks below cover the Saturday evening slate which is seven games in all.
Full Schedule For Saturday, January 5th, 2019
[table id=1084 /]
Prices are in DraftKings format unless noted. FanDuel prices will be included as well.
NHL DFS GPP Plays For Saturday
High Priced Shots
Auston Matthews ($8,000) — The play should be higher owned just because of Toronto playing a Vancouver game without Elias Pettersson. More importantly, Matthews has not scored a goal in five contests. He averages three shots a game still and chances generated have remained steady. The Canucks allow 3.2 goals a game on the road and still have a below average penalty kill of 77% on the road. Toronto’s power play has dropped a bit to near 23% but again chances off of it have not dropped. This may become a prime opportunity to stack on Toronto a bit on this medium slate. Patrice Bergeron is another high priced play in a good spot against Buffalo but like Matthews is in the mid-$8000’s.
Nikita Kucherov ($7,900) — The Tampa Bay forward is over $9,000 on FanDuel but for good reason. He has eight goals and 25 points in his last ten games. Eight of those points came on the man advantage. San Jose presents some issues for Tampa Bay but this still could be a back and forth affair. Tampa outscoring its opponents has become a mantra of sorts. They have not lost in regulation in over a month. Kucherov is a big reason for that. David Pastrnak is an easy choice but Leon Draisaitl presents a cheaper option and will be low owned on Saturdaynight. This is because so many will overlook him even against a slower Los Angeles team.
DraftKings Only Play
Mathew Barzal ($6,900) —Â Barzal is riding the wave! He scored two more goals against Chicago and now has nine goals and 15 points in his previous ten games. He barely averaged two shots a night in his first 29 contests. However, he is now at nearly four shots a night. The shots hitting the net are not a surprise as a few expected Barzal to struggle initially. Now, it is his team and defenders are finding out the hard way that one cannot catch what you cannot see. St. Louis will have its hands full trying to contain the forward.
Into The Middle
Phillip Danault ($4,400) — Danault cooled off a bit the other night but had 12 points in his previous nine outings on two shots a game. Danault tends to score in bunches so there lies the risk. However, his FanDuel price is still below player average. His DraftKings price is downright cheap. Consider that Montreal is playing a Nashville team on no rest. The Canadiens are in good position to score 3+ goals. They have scored 19 goals in their last five games. Their expected goals is also over 3 on Saturday night. It makes a moderate risk play less dangerous. Looking at other choices like Anze Kopitar could pay off and even Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who has been very consistent of late.
Jake DeBrusk ($4,600) —Â DeBrusk presents as a nice tournament play and even cash play in some cases because of his floor (shots on net) and scoring potential. He has averaged nearly four shots on net in his last ten starts. His time on ice increased to over 17 minutes a night in this span as well. Power play time has almost doubled. The winger is just $5,300 on FanDuel and is slowly becoming the sniper he was projected when he played in the AHL. He does have 13 goals in 32 games for Boston including four in his last eight.
DraftKings Only Play
Kevin Fiala ($4,500) — Fiala comes in at a moderate risk to play on Saturday but his DraftKings price is low enough for a dart. He has seven points in his last nine games with two goals and 26 shots. Since the Filip Forsberg injury, Fiala has seen his ice time rise to 17 minutes a night. Even his power play time has risen some. Montreal is a team that will allow around three goals a night. See who starts for Montreal as well. Nashville comes in without rest and on a tough schedule so Fiala’s floor may even elevate a little.
Throwing Some Darts
Joonas Donskoi ($3,600) —Â Donskoi plays less than 13 minutes a game now and mostly a third line role with a tiny bit of power play time. His utilization has been altered and so far, it has worked well. Donskoi scoring five goals in his previous nine contests on around two shots a game is solid. His price inches up to $4,300 on FanDuel but it is still valuable enough. Trying to fire up a dart is not easy but again a goal chance being moderate is enough to consider the forward against Tampa Bay’s depth. That depth is vulnerable and among the worst in the league in giving up high danger scoring chances.
Anthony Duclair ($3,300) — Duclair suddenly saw nearly 17 minutes of ice time on Friday night. The result was an assist and four shots on goal with three scoring chances. Columbus will not be rested on Saturday which means a player with Duclair’s speed could be valuable. Playing a high event team such as Florida has resulted in some crazy outcomes. Keep in mind, these teams have combined to hit the over with ease in their last matchup and over 70 shots on goal combined. Mathieu Joseph is another dart to take a look at and only comes in at $3,000 on DraftKings and almost as cheap on FanDuel.
Goading The Goalies
Again, our best bet with this slate is to simply wait for confirmations to come in. The problem lies in that there are no confirmations so far. Morning skates reveal a few more but alas sometimes the wait can be right until warm-ups on a moderate Saturday night slate. Looking towards the lesser games tonight might actually pay off in GPP’s. Can teams on no rest pike up enough shots to make Boston and Montreal viable options?
Watch to see who starts whom. Expect the unexpected again as Michael Hutchinson is ridiculously priced at $8,100 on Draftkings. He is confirmed but the goalie position is a considerable mess on Saturday night. Los Angeles goalies are priced at $7,000 on DraftKings if one wants to take a GPP risk. They project to allow over 30 shots with ease.
The slate offers up few ways to get fancy. Tuukka Rask could be a solid play on Saturday but again his price is $8,100/$8,700 which is high. That may make him more of a cash goalie option for a higher win potential. Jack Eichel will be out again which should increase Rask’s chances. Robin Lehner is projected to start for the Islanders and that may be worth a play as well.
More picks and choices will be available on Slack and social media later.
Best of luck on Saturday! This expects to feature a lot of unexpected, slate wise. And yes, Tampa Bay and San Jose start at 11:00 pm ET. That is not a joke.
