Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane (88) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the San Jose Sharks Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Hello and welcome to another day of fantasy hockey. Like most Sunday slates, this is a weird one as we have a couple of early games, a few mid-afternoon games and a few evening games. Fanduel has an all-day slate and Draftkings has an early only slate. On top of those slates, both sites have their main slates starting at 5 pm eastern. We have seven total games today and you will see that the picks cover the entire day and every slate. There are quite a few teams playing in a back-to-back situation as well as in their third game in four nights, so it will be an interesting day in the NHL world. Let's not waste any more time and dissect this interesting slate to find some great picks.
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 - 13.06 DK - 3.27
I am warning you right now that this not the "safest" day for your cash game lineups at the goalie position. With that being said, after digging a little deeper into the statistics pool, Corey Crawford stood out to me the most today. First of all, St. Louis is coming off of their long bye week and so far this year, most of the other teams have shown a ton of rust while in similar situations. Crawford has won his last two starts and while he allowed three goals in each of those two starts, he made some huge saves and should have a ton of confidence coming into this game. His career record against St. Louis is 15-6-5 with three shutouts which is pretty darned good. Vegas also thinks that St. Louis will be a little sluggish today as the Blackhawks opened as -160 favorites to earn the victory. The Blues are decent on offense, but they only scored three goals in their previous two games. Crawford is a decent cash game play today and is a great play for your tournament lineups.
Opponent - CGY
Proj Pts FD - 14.29 DK - 3.57
The Hurricanes are finally giving Lack a chance between the crease. Cam Ward should just retire already. He won a Stanley Cup as a rookie, but hasn't been more than barely an average tender of the twine since then. Eddie Lack (I love his name) stopped all 34 shots that came is away against the Ottawa Senators in his last game. Today Lack and the 'Canes welcome the Calgary Flames and their below average 18th ranked offense to town. Carolina is listed as a small favorite today and although there is little safety here, I believe that Lack is our best chance to have a monster game and help us win a tournament or two today.
Also Consider: Pekka Rinne - NSH (GPP)
Opponent - STL
Proj Pts FD - 12.36 DK - 3.79
Oh my goodness is this guy ever on fire. If you touched him you would burst into flames. Superstars get irritated when people criticize them for certain things. A few weeks ago some "intelligent" so-called reporter called Toews out as being a defensive first player and that his scoring days are long gone. If this was a Chicago reporter, then this guy should be praised by the Blackhawks. My fellow Manitoban is currently on a five-game point streak. During that streak, he has an incredible four goals, seven assists and 15 shots on goal. He also has points in eight of his last nine games and 29 shots on goal in those nine games. The Blues are ranked 24th on defense, so look for Toews to be firing on all cylinders. He is a great play in every single format today.
Stack With: Richard Panik, Nick Schmaltz
Opponent - OTT
Proj Pts FD - 14.04 DK - 4.51
After Toews, the center position is a bit cloudy again today, but the winger position is absolutely loaded today, so have no fear, my friends. My friend Chris and I always find you the best possible plays at every position. At the mid-range salary level, we have Barkov who plays on the Panthers' #1 line and #1 PP unit. The Senators own a decent 11th ranked defense, but this line is one of the very best in the league. Barkov has a goal in each of his last two games and while he's not the safest play in the world, he has monster upside while playing alongside his very talented line-mates at regular strength and on the power-play.
Stack with: Jonathan Huberdeau, Jaromir Jagr
Opponent - NYR
Proj Pts FD - 9.58 DK - 3.17
Chris wrote up Wennberg yesterday and I could just copy and paste a majority of what he said, but I better not do that. The same thing applies to Wennberg today as yesterday. He barely shoots the puck, but always has decent upside and he picked up two assists yesterday during a 7-0 thrashing of the Islanders to give him four assists in two games and six assists in his last four games. He plays on the top line and #1 power-play unit in Columbus and is a terrific play-maker. Fire him up in your GPP lineups.
Stack with: Nick Foligno, Cam Atkinson (PP)
Opponent - DAL
Proj Pts FD - 18.89 DK - 5.67
It is important to try and pick on weak defenses when choosing skaters for your DFS lineups. Here we have one of the league's best wingers this season and he's about to face the Stars who's defense is leakier than my last boat. It sank very quickly as I barely got out and swam to safety. The Stars defense is ranked 29th on defense in the NHL and their penalty is ranked dead last. Ouch! Marchand has points in three of his last four games and he recorded a goal and as assist in his last game. He has safety written all over him as he has averaged an awesome 3.7 shots in his last 12 games. His upside is also through the roof today against the Stars and their pathetic defense.
Stack with: Patrice Bergeron, David Backes
Opponent - BUF
Proj Pts FD - 12.92 DK - 3.88
I wrote about this guy last game and he made me look like a genius because he's so under-rated that it's not even funny. He is another guy that has safety written all over him, as he has 26 shots in his last eight games which is almost identical to his season-long average. What's really impressive is that while he plays on a bad team, he has managed to score a point in each of his last eight games. He has also scored a goal in each of his last three games. Buffalo is ranked 13th on defense which is average, but they gave up five goals to Colorado last night which is not good by the way. The Sabres have an awful penalty kill as it is ranked fourth worst in the NHL. This is great new for Vrbata as he plays on the Coyotes' top line and #1 PP unit. He is a great play in all formats today in the Desert.
Stack with: Martin Hanzal, Tobias Reider
Opponent - ARI
Proj Pts FD - 12.1 DK - 4.09
As we talk about bad defenses, we have to include Arizona in this conversation. The Coyotes are ranked 28th overall in the league on defense and 27th at killing penalties. This is great news for Reinhart who is way too cheap for his recent production and he plays on the second line and #1 PP unit for the Sabres. He has two goals ( both on the power-play,) an assist, eight shots on goal and four blocks in his last three games. Reinhart can disappear into thin air at times, so he isn't a safe play, but I him as a GPP play today stacked with his line-mates.
Stack with: Evander Kane, Jack Eichel
Opponent - ARI
Proj Pts FD - 12.24 DK - 4.55
This young man with almost as confusing of a last name as mine is becoming a star very quickly for the Sabres. Risto has an assist in each one of his last seven games to go along 21 shots and nine blocks in those seven games. The Monster of a man averages around 25 minutes of ice time per game and he logs huge minutes on the power-play and penalty kill for Buffalo. He is still too cheap on both sites and is my favorite play on defense in every single format today.
Opponent - DAL
Proj Pts FD - 9.24 DK - 2.78
It is nice to see "old" guys take a drink from the fountain of youth once in a while. Chara has been doing that quite often lately and has been playing some good hockey for the Bruins. He didn't record a point last game but managed two shots and five blocks. He has two goals in his last four games and he sees a decent amount of time on the Bruins' penalty kill and powerplay units. At these prices, he is safe in all formats today against the Stars and their terrible defense.
Also Consider: Aaron Ekblad (Fla)
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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