NHL DFS Power Plays: DraftKings & FanDuel Picks | 1/28

We have a very full 14-game NHL DFS slate to pick and choose from tonight, and that means narrowing down our field. On a slate as large as this, winnowing down our prospective choices is a double edged sword. If we’re right, very few people are going to be right along with us, but if we’re wrong, there is no rebounding. It is the delicate balance of daily fantasy on such large slates. Let us not waste more time and get to our NHL DFS Picks for DraftKings and FanDuel fantasy hockey lineups.

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Power Plays: NHL DFS Picks for DraftKings & FanDuel | 1/28

Center

Elias Pettersson (VAN vs. OTT)

DraftKings – $5,900

FanDuel – $6,400

After a slow start to his season, Pettersson has 3 points in three games and is skating with his usual line mates in Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller. The crux here is the matchup with Ottawa. Bo Horvat’s line should see a lot of Ottawa’s top line, with Pettersson and company taking the depth matchups. With Ottawa’s top line off the ice, the Senators are boasting an expected goal share of 37.7 percent. The Pettersson line should be able to take full advantage of this, and Pettersson’s price across the industry is still very reasonable due to the aforementioned slow start.


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Vincent Trocheck (CAR vs. TB)

DraftKings – $4,500

FanDuel – $4,700

Carolina returns to action tonight after being forced to take 10 days off because of positive COVID cases on the roster. The team returns to face a Tampa Bay team that is similarly coming off a short break, having not played since Saturday. Centering the second line and on the top power-play unit, Trocheck saw his ice time increase every game Carolina played this year, capping at nearly 19:30. The return of Jordan Staal could dampen that a bit, but it’s clear that Trocheck is their second-line center now, and because of lack of power-play correlation with his line mates, he makes an ideal one-off for tournaments or cash games.

Christian Dvorak (ARI vs. ANA)

DraftKings – $3,500

FanDuel – $4,300

Despite being listed as ostensibly the third-line center, Dvorak pushed past 20 minutes in the team’s last contest because he plays in so many situations for them. The matchup tonight should see Dvorak and his line mates against Ryan Getzlaf and his, and Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell have been about two standard deviations worse than normal by expected goals against since last season. Their goals against is only coming in below average due to stellar goaltending. Dvorak isn’t much of a shooter — under 2 per game even playing 18 minutes a night — but at this price he doesn’t need to be. It is a good matchup with a reasonable cost for a one-off from a game that will feature little ownership.

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Winger

Brendan Gallagher (MTL vs. CGY)

DraftKings – $6,000

FanDuel – $7,100

The issue with using anyone from Montreal is they spread out ice time. There is only one forward — Nick Suzuki — averaging over 17 minutes of ice time. Gallagher is down to 15:17 per game, the lowest for him in four years. It isn’t really hampering his goal scoring, though, as he has two in six games, to go with a whopping 24 shots on goal. Despite the loss in ice time, Gallagher is shooting even more than he has before, and that kind of floor is really hard to ignore, even on a slate this big. He should also avoid the Matthew Tkachuk matchup, meaning he gets softer defensive assignments against Calgary. It is a good night to use Gallagher in any format.

Craig Smith (BOS vs. PIT)

DraftKings – $4,100

FanDuel – $4,400

As the Bruins wait for David Pastrnak to return to the lineup, there has been a revolving door on the top-line right wing. That vacancy has been most recently filled by Smith. While not a heralded free agent pickup, it’s worth mentioning he has 16 shots in five games this year playing further down the lineup. From 2017 to 2020, he had a higher goals-per-60 rate at five-on-five than stalwart goal scorers like Kyle Connor and Leon Draisaitl, and the third-highest shot rate among all forwards in hockey. Tonight we are going to find out tonight what he can do with 17-18 minutes on the top line with a pair of the best players in the world.

Dylan Cozens (BUF vs. NYR)

DraftKings – $2,700

FanDuel – $3,600

Though he’s slotted on Buffalo’s second line, be wary of such designations, as Cozens has averaged a bit under 12 minutes a game over his last three contests. He is not being used in a typical second-line fashion. All the same, he is skating with Eric Staal, and those two have started to develop some chemistry in a short sample, breaking even by expected goal share. The real feature tonight is the matchup against the Rangers, one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL last year and neck-and-neck with the Blackhawks by expected goals against this year. Cozens may not get much ice time, but he’s on a decent line in a great matchup at a bargain price. He is fine for salary relief.

Defense

Zach Werenski (CBJ vs. FLA)

DraftKings – $4,800

FanDuel – $5,100

Werenski has zero assists in seven games this year, and though he’s not a big assist guy — mostly because his team doesn’t score a lot of goals — that is sheer bad luck, and he’s set for a turnaround in this regard. The two big reasons for playing him tonight are his price — $4,800 on DraftKings, and that’s likely because of his bad luck — and the matchup against a Florida team that has had a hot start out of the gate (though they have played just one game in nine days because of cancellations from other teams in their division). I expect some rust on the Panthers tonight, and that makes Werenski appealing in any format at his very reasonable price.

Miro Heiskanen (DAL vs. DET)

DraftKings – $5,400

FanDuel – $5,200

While John Klingberg is considerably more expensive than Heiskanen, particularly on DraftKings, that is only part of the reason to use him tonight. In actuality, this is about the role that Heiskanen plays. He is a defenseman, but he’s more a rover. He is very reminiscent of Erik Karlsson of 6-7 years ago, and remember how good Karlsson was offensively when he was in his prime? Heiskanen isn’t a big shot blocker, so he’s not a true combo threat, but he is a five-shot threat. Tonight the Stars get a Detroit team that has been abysmal this year (and last year, and the year before that). Klingberg should get the ownership because of the power-play role, and that makes me want to use Heiskanen as a one-off.

Goalie

John Gibson (ANA at ARI)

DraftKings – $7,900

FanDuel – $7,400

The pricing on DraftKings has made me laugh because Gibson’s has risen from $7,000 to $7,900 even as Arizona’s hasn’t budged. That is how well Gibson has been playing this year, including a shutout of this very Arizona team. He is more reasonable on FanDuel, but there is no reason to avoid him in any format tonight. The Ducks aren’t great defensively, and that should give Gibson some volume to work with, but Arizona also doesn’t have many snipers to be concerned about. This is a good matchup for Gibson, even on the road.

Jacob Markstrom (CGY at MTL)

DraftKings – $7,300

FanDuel – $7,900

This is about shot volume. The Canadiens were second in the league in shot rate last season and return this year with an improved lineup that sees them first by shot rate. The Flames are solid defensively, but the Habs should get their fair number of shots off, and that puts Markstrom on the radar for tournaments.

NHL DFS Stacks to Target

BUF1 – Eichel – Reinhart – Hall

SJ2 – Kane – Hertl – Karlsson

MTL1 – Danault – Tatar – Gallagher

MIN2 – Bonino – Kaprizov – Dumba


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Michael has been writing about fantasy hockey for over a decade, and has been playing Daily Fantasy for just as long. He has contributed to both the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Herald, has worked for Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and is now in his fifth season with Stokastic. He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and can be reached on Twitter @SlimCliffy.

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