Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid works for the puck against the Columbus Blue Jackets during an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio, Friday, March 4, 2016. The Blue Jackets won 6-3. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)
Welcome back to another exciting NHL season with Daily Fantasy Sports Rankings. If you have been away since June there are a few things of note. There are going to be some players in much better shape than others due to the participation in the World Cup of Hockey last month in Ontario, Canada. As expected(by Canadians anyway) Team Canada walked away with the win taking down Team Europe in the best of three finals.
Coming into the new NHL season most teams are coming in very healthy with one huge injury that came about this week. The defending Stanley Cup champions will be dealing without their superstar Sidney Crosby for an undisclosed amount of time. He suffered a concussion during practice earlier in the week and while he has been skating, there is no timetable for his return.
We have a light night on the ice to open the season with just four games but there are some intriguing matchups. We have the battle of Ontario with the Leafs visiting the Senators, the battle of Alberta with the Flames travelling north to take on the Oilers. We also have a Central division rivalry matching the Blues and Blackhawks and then to cap it off we head out West for a battle of Cali between the Kings and Sharks.
Let's dig in and take a look at some top values on the ice for daily fantasy.
Hockey is back and with it come our NHL projections which help inform these picks every night. When you purchase a DFSR NHL subscription to our base hockey projections you also get access to our brand new NFL DFS suite of tools including full projections, optimal NFL lineups and our Player Lab, which includes filters to help you create NFL lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings for any format. It’s a set of tools well beyond anything we’ve ever had, and something we feel will help our users *ahem* tackle the NFL season.
If you want to see the numbers behind our projections, create linueps with a single click, or research as deeply as your heart desires, click the button below to test out yourself.
Opponent - STL
Proj Pts FD - 15.68 DK - 3.92
After an early exit form the playoffs last season I fully expect a bounce back from the Blackhawks. It starts tonight in a home matchup against their division rivals the St. Louis Blues. The Hawks are early -125 favorites and Crawford who is confirmed starting sits right near the top of the projections from a raw points perspective. Despite being labelled by some as a product of good defense which resulted in 35 wins but looking closer he was much more than that. He ranked 4th among all goalies in save %(.924) while starting 58 of the Hawks games. With a low 5.0 Vegas total I fully expect this game to be low scoring and controlled by the home team. Crawford is safe in all formats.
Opponent - TOR
Proj Pts FD - 16.75 DK - 4.19
The Senators are currently the biggest favorite(-143) on the slate putting Craig Anderson right near the top of the PTS/$ rankings. He should also see the volume as the Leafs ranked inside the Top 10 in shots for per game(30.7) last season. He was one of only 12 goalies to record 30+ wins last season and was very successful against these Leafs going 3-0 with .948 save percentage. He is safe in all formats tonight.
Opponent - CGY
Proj Pts FD - 18.27 DK - 5.96
The anticipation of McDavid's first full season in the NHL has grown to an enormous level. In 45 games last season he averaged over a point game finishing with 48 and just missing out on the rookie of the year. He starts this season as the second most expensive player, albeit it's a small four game slate. He gets an elite matchup right off the bat as well against eh Flames who allowed the most goals per game of any team in the league last season. He has a tremendous floor with the amount of ice time he will receive and is a near lock for more 1+ point per game production. Center(pun intended) your lineups around this superstar tonight.
Opponent - STL
Proj Pts FD - 8.75 DK - 2.68
If you are going with McDavid at the top of the salary you most likely will want to go a bit cheaper in the second center slot. Anisimov is a great option who comes under $5K on both sites and plays the top line alongside Patrick Kane and rookie of the year Artemi Panarin. He also will get time on the Hawks powerplay where he picked up 11 points last season and he is also great short handed where he recorded four points last season.
Opponent - LA
Proj Pts FD - 14.22 DK - 4.92
I lead off with Pavelski over Kane due to his salary being $1,100 cheaper on both sites. He had an excellent '15/'16 season with 78 points(5th in the league) while playing all 82 games for the Sharks. He also had tremendous success against the always tough Kings team as he recorded 16 points in 10 games against them including their four games to one triumph in the playoffs. With so many value plays on the first day of the season it will be very easy to pay up for one or multiple star players. He is safe in all formats.
Opponent - STL
Proj Pts FD - 15.84 DK - 5
The most expensive forward on both sites and for good reason. He is coming off an elite season where he lead the league in points during the regular season and was the only player to exceed 100. He ended up winning the Hart Trophy becoming the first American born player to do so, while also winning the Ted Lindsay award voted on by his peers to be the Outstanding Player. He is always worth paying up for as the floor is very high as he averaged over 16.5 iCorsi/60 last season(Top 50) and the ceiling is higher than any other player not named Alex Ovechkin.
Opponent - TOR
Proj Pts FD - 13.18 DK - 4.07
Looking down at the second tier of wingers I will be all over Mike Hoffman. He plays alongside Mark Stone and Kyle Turris on the top line and also gets top PP minutes. You almost lock him into cash lineups on a nightly basis due to his mid $5K price tag and the fact he was ranked 8th overall last year in iCorsi/60. For those who forget Corsi is a metric used to determine a players overall shot attempts(shots on net+shots missed net+shots that were blocked). It really gives us a great look at players who are aggressive while on the ice.
Opponent - TOR
Proj Pts FD - 16.38 DK - 5.46
You will be seeing a lot of Karlsson and Burns in this top spot this season as they elite options in the fantasy game from a defense standpoint. I lean Karlsson tonight as he is the cheaper of the two with a much better matchup against a projected weaker Leafs team. He played all 82 games last season and lead all defensemen in points with 82 including 26 powerplay points. I don't blame you if you wanted to go Burns as he comes with a bit higher floor as he out shot Karlsson last season 353-248. Either way you are getting an elite option and I would definitely consider rostering both in GPP to be contrarian.
Opponent - SJ
Proj Pts FD - 10.09 DK - 3.24
Muzzin was one of my favorite value plays at the defense position last season. His price always seemed to stay in the mid level and he provided a very high floor. He averaged over 1.5 blocks per game while adding 40 points and close to 2.5 shots per game. He should also be spending time on the Kings top powerplay unit giving him some added upside.
Hockey is back and with it come our NHL projections which help inform these picks every night. When you purchase a DFSR NHL subscription to our base hockey projections you also get accessto our brand new NFL DFS suite of tools including full projections, optimal NFL lineups and our Player Lab, which includes filters to help you create NFL lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings for any format. It’s a set of tools well beyond anything we’ve ever had, and something we feel will help our users *ahem* tackle the NFL season.
If you want to see the numbers behind our projections, create linueps with a single click, or research as deeply as your heart desires, click the button below to test out yourself.
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View Comments
Woo Hoo. Hockey is back. Awesome picks Chris. Wait to see how it goes tonight.
I meant to say I can't wait to see how it goes tonight.
Hello Ryan. I am so pumped.