While you’re sweating some baseball today, make your way on over to the NHL lobbies on FanDuel and DraftKings. There are 10 games tonight, with many teams needing wins which should give us some quality hockey to work with. Besides some of the stacks I mentioned in the Stacks of the Day article, there aren’t a ton of pay-up spots I like, so I’ll be hunting for some value in my lineups tonight. We’ll get some words from Awesemo first, then I (Tommienation1) will give my thoughts on these plays.
Top-Tier
Taylor Hall ($7,500 DK/$8,200 FD)
“The Devils’ implied total is near 3 tonight at home in a tough game against the Penguins, and they should ride Hall for a lot of minutes in a game they need to win.”
Over his last 10 games, Hall (“A” points grade) has attempted 63 shots and created 36 Scoring Chances. He regularly sees 20 minutes of ice time, and especially down the stretch, the Devils will want to lean on him. With points in five straight games, Hall makes for one of the best options because of his even-stength matchup against the Penguins’ fast-paced top-6 and his top power-play time.
Dougie Hamilton ($5,000 DK/$5,700 FD)
“The top pairing defenseman in Calgary attempts a lot of shots, but has run into some bad luck in terms of getting on the score sheet. At home tonight, he has a favorable matchup against the Blue Jackets, making him a nice tournament play.”
Hamilton (“A” points grade and value) is averaging over 10 shot attempts per game over his last 7 games, and he may reach that number again tonight against a Blue Jackets’ team that has the 24th-ranked penalty-kill. He should see his usual 20+ minutes tonight as well as top power-play time, and it is likely he hard-matches against CBJ1, which allows 12.6 High-Danger Chances Against per 60 minutes. The team total may not be where we like it, but the price is good enough that he deserves some consideration in tournaments.
Value
Casey Mittelstadt ($3,000 DK/$3,000 FD)
“The min-priced center is making his debut tonight as a Sabre. He’s listed as the third-line center, but he could provide some value tonight as he’ll play on the second power-play unit.”
In his NHL debut, Mittelstadt finds himself skating between Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart. Obviously there is no data (which is part of the reason they don’t pop in the rankings) on this line together, but this will have decent matchups against the Red Wings’ 2nd and 3rd lines, which are sub-par defensively. The second power-play time for Mittelstadt is just icing on the cake for his value, as the Red Wings have a 78% penalty-kill.
Sam Gagner ($3,700 DK/$4,100 FD)
“Gagner is playing on the wing with the Sedin brothers, the top power-play, and tonight the Canucks 2.9 implied total is almost a full goal above their monthly average.”
Despite Gagner’s recent results (5 points in his last 6 games), he’s still priced as somewhat of a punt winger on both sites. We should see him take on the non-Connor McDavid lines for the Oilers, and Edmonton as a team has allowed the most Scoring Chances Against per 60 minutes and the most High-Danger Chances Against per 60 minutes in March. Besides some of the AHL guys providing some value at the forward position (but also coming with some uncertainty in terms of line combinations), Gagner (“A” DK and FD value) is one of the better value skaters on tonight’s slate.
