NHL DFS Picks: Friday's Best DraftKings & FanDuel Studs & Stacks

With a loaded eight-game slate waiting for us, Friday night should be a blast for NHL DFS. There are quality roster picks up and down the salary spectrum and all sorts of interesting line combinations in play. A few standout spots are emerging on the Vegas board, and there is some concentration of ownership around expected plays, our goal here is to parse through some of the noise and identify some of the leading NHL DFS picks for you as you put together your DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy hockey lineups. Using Awesemo’s premium proprietary player projections and the top stacks tool, we will highlight several players and situations that will be advantageous and help your team rocket up the leaderboard.

As always, be sure to check our premium Slack for crucial lineup information in the 20-30 minutes leading up to every game’s lock. With the COVID-19 pandemic still looming, teams have taxi squads and are ready to fill positions daily as teams scratch players. Our Slack chat is hands down one of the best places to get news and line change notifications.

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NHL Power Plays: DraftKings + FanDuel DFS Picks | Jan. 22

NHL DFS Picks: Centers

Evgeni Malkin ($6,300 DraftKings / $7,700 FanDuel), A/A Grades

One half of the Penguins’ decade-long dynamic duo, Malkin centers the Penguins second line. He has had a stellar NHL career, posting multiple 100-point seasons when healthy and fully available. The only question mark on Malkin’s Hall of Fame resume is the time he has missed, playing a full 82 games only twice in his career, his second (106 points) and third (113 points) years in the league. Over the past five seasons, Malkin has averaged 64 games played, putting up 29.6 goals and 45.2 assists per season.

Last season saw Malkin start 55 games, potting 25 goals and racking up 49 assists in 19:31 average time on the ice. Malkin is a willing passer and a frequent shooter, averaging 3.10 shots on goal per game. He centers the line in between Bryan Rust and Jason Zucker. In their 41:01 of five-on-five ice time this season, the line has a Corsi-for percentage of 52.54% and has generated five high-danger chances (55.56 HDCF%) this season. Playing together last year, Malkin and Rust as a duo were on the ice for 643:25, generating a 52.38% Corsi-for percentage and a 56.63% high-danger chances percentage.

When we consider that he also adds time on the first power-play unit, at his prices compared to other options on the slate, Malkin looks reasonable for the money, and he centers a line that we will want to work with in constructing lineups. He is firmly in play and should be justifiably popular tonight.

Dylan Larkin ($6,400 DraftKings / $6,900 FanDuel), A/B(A) Grades

Larkin looks like a solid value play in a spot that might not be the most popular. The top line for the 2-2 team looks like a quality value stack on both sites on tonight’s slate. The team doesn’t immediately jump off the page as a powerhouse offense — they rank 29th with a lowly 43.5% Corsi-for percentage as a unit, and puck possession is a major problem. Larkin is slated to play in between Vladislav Namestnikov and Filip Zadina, a line that has been together for just 12:40 of ice time so far but has generated a quality 52.94 Corsi-for percentage.

As the pivot Larkin has two goals and two assists already this season. Larkin played largely with Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha last season, centering a line that was together for 358:51 across 47 games. The unit posted a 53.08% Corsi-for percentage and a 53.85% goals-for percentage while going 13-76 on high-danger chances (o.276 goals on 1.61 HDCF per game). This suggests that the newly appointed Red Wings captain can bring forth this production with any wingers and could put the top Red Wings line in an underappreciated spot tonight.

Additional Center Values

Center is a relatively loaded position on this slate. We have numerous options at the high dollar mark, including Jack Eichel, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews and Mika Zibanejad, but they make full stacking two teams a challenge at their high prices. At a lower tier of investment, we can look to Nicklas Backstrom, Ryan Strome and Logan Couture.

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NHL DFS Picks: Wingers

Patrick Kane ($7,200 DraftKings / $8,000 FanDuel), A/A Grades

If you feel like the Blackhawks top line has been consistently featured in this space, you’re absolutely correct. They have looked like high-end options on most of the slates we have had this season, and that is no different tonight. Kane is underpriced for his talent and production, even at these relatively high prices. Kane already has two goals and an assist in four games to start the season and is ripping 4.5 shots on goal per game. Last year we saw Kane put up 84 points (33 goals, 51 assists) in just 70 games while taking fewer shots in slightly more ice time. A more aggressive Kane could put up massive scoring numbers if the shooting uptick continues.

Overall, the top line is still trying to find its footing as a unit, particularly in terms of puck possession and yielding opportunities. In just 25:46 ice time together, the unit with Alex DeBrincat and Pius Suter has a lowly 36.67 Corsi-for percentage and has generated just one high-danger chance against the five that they have allowed the other way. Hopefully this developmental blip will be enough to push some ownership off of the top line in what Vegas sees as one of the night’s higher-scoring games.

Kevin Fiala ($5,600 DraftKings / $6,100 FanDuel) A/A Grades

Holding down the right wing spot on the Wild second line, Fiala offers a nice blend of salary savings and upside. He had a quality season last year, putting up 54 points (23 goals, 31 assists) in just 64 games with only 15:24 average ice time. To start this season, he is seeing 19:04 per game, the highest minutes share of his career by a full 90 seconds, getting time on the second line and with the top power-play unit.

Fiala has put 19 shots on goal in the team’s first four games (4.75 a game), though he has failed to convert so far. He also has yet to rack up an assist, with linemates Nick Bonino and Marcus Johansson each lighting the lamp just once, on plays that did not involve him directly. Still, the line has generated a high-end 55.56% Corsi-for percentage as a unit in their 32:34 on the ice together this season while generating three high-danger chances total yet failing to score. This will eventually change, and there is upside in this line at their prices in FanDuel NHL contests, as well as on DraftKings.

Jakub Vrana ($4,800 DraftKings / $4,600 FanDuel) B/A Grades

Despite numerous absences due to COVID-19 policy violations, the Capitals still field a solid top line. The patchwork unit features Vrana on the left, Tom Wilson on the right and Backstrom in the middle, and there is sneaky scoring upside at value on both sites.

Vrana is off to a hot start this season, with two goals and an assist in the team’s first four games. Now 24 and in a contract year, Vrana is looking to build on his breakout over the past two seasons, which saw him post 47 points in 82 games two seasons ago and 52 in just 69 games last year. The skilled Czech winger has been discerning with his shot attempts this season, putting nine of 10 total shots on goal and two in the back of the net (22.2% shooting). He averaged 2.71 shots on goal per game last season, so an uptick in attempts could boost production. Vrana is an inexpensive option on tonight’s slate, and he carries significant upside playing on the top line while offering full power-play correlation with Wilson and Backstrom.

Additional Wing Values

There are values up and down the board on both sites tonight. A few names that are in play everywhere include Mantha, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Artemi Panarin, Zach Parise and Rust.

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NHL DFS Picks: Defensemen

Roman Josi ($6,800 DraftKings / $6,600 FanDuel) A/A Grades

The most expensive defenseman on DraftKings and third-most costly on FanDuel, Josi offers high-end reliability for the cost. He sees roughly 24 minutes of ice time on the team’s top defensive pair and first power-play unit. Coming off a 65-point season in which he put up 23 points on the power play, Josi has one helper and 13 shots on goal (4.33 a game) over the team’s first three games. Josi is not solely reliant on point production for his fantasy scoring. His 108 blocked shots tied for 33rd in the league last season, and he has an average of 1.92 shots blocked per game over the last six seasons. Josi is costly, but if you have the salary to spend from savings we’ve found elsewhere, this is a good spot to drop it. In what amounts to nothing more than a narrative pile-on, the situation is odd because Josi and the Predators will be taking on a Stars team that has yet to play a game this season thanks to COVID-19 issues.

Jared Spurgeon ($4,200 DraftKings / $4,800 FanDuel) C/A Grades

Dipping further into the value end of the pool, we can look to Spurgeon of the Wild. Spurgeon plays on the team’s top defensive pair and sees time on the team’s first power-play unit (note that he could be incorporated into stacks with Fiala based on power-play time). Spurgeon has seen an average of 25:04 on the ice to start the season, a significant increase from his 22:34 average last year that saw him produce a 32-point season, with 13 of those coming on the power play.

This year Spurgeon has not hit the points board, but he has contributed with 1.25 blocked shots and two shots on goal per game. He finished last year tied for 42nd in the league with 103 blocks in 62 games (1.66 a game) while putting 1.80 shots on goal per game. For a low price, we can roster upside and correlation with other players that we like, making Spurgeon a high-end option among NHL DFS picks on the blueline tonight.

Additional Defenseman Values

There are numerous top defensemen who are coming in with strong value grades on both sites. The high end of the list includes Brent Burns, Kris Letang and John Carlson. In the more affordable range, we can look to Morgan Rielly, Connor Murphy, Erik Karlsson, Kevin Shattenkirk and Darnell Nurse.

Top Stacks

Colorado 1: Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

NY Rangers 1: Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Pavel Buchnevich

Pittsburgh 1: Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Kasperi Kapanen

Edmonton 1: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Zack Kassian

Value Stacks

Pittsburgh 2: Jason Zucker – Evgeni Malkin – Bryan Rust

Detroit 1: Vladislav Namestnikov – Dylan Larkin – Filip Zadina

Anaheim 1: Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Sonny Milano (DraftKings NHL only)

Minnesota 1: Zach Parise – Victor Rask – Kirill Kaprizov

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Author

Terry McBride

Terry used to do other things, now he writes words on the internet. He hopes his more than 20 years’ experience in season-long and daily fantasy sports and his custom models for MLB, NBA, and NFL don't steer you too wrong when he writes columns and makes picks on Awesemo.com. A lifetime of experience keeping odd hours make Terry ideal to cover KBO baseball overnight until the world returns to normal. Most of those late night hours have been spent on the couch watching sports, T.V., and movies; just try to shut him up about any of the above. You can find his pop-culture ramblings and more on Sideaction.