Daily Fantasy Hockey Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings 12/22/17

Hello my fellow hockey fans and welcome back to another day of daily fantasy hockey here at DFSR. Today, we have a cozy four-game slate in store for you that shall not be short of excitement as we prepare for the Holiday season. Let's not waste any more time and dive right into the 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 lineups with a single click, or research as deeply as your heart desires, click the button below to test out yourself.

GOALIE

Braden Holtby FD - $9300 DK - $8400
Opponent - ARI
Proj Pts FD - 13.19 DK - 3.3

Okay, I was a goalie back in the day and I would almost(not quite) recommend myself against the Coyotes and their awful 30th ranked offense as they score only 2.19 goals per game. All jokes aside, Braden Holtby is a good if not great goalie and he's won his last four games and he is second in the league with 20 wins so far this season. Like I have said in my articles before, I try and lean on goalies that are playing at home, but this is too easy of a matchup for Holtby and the Capitals for us to ignore, so make things simple and lock him into all of your lineups in every single format this evening.

 CENTERS

Sean Couturier FD - $6600 DK - $6800
Opponent - BUF
Proj Pts FD - 14.2 DK - 3.94

I was getting worried about this guy as he has no front teeth(I really do hope that he asks for his two front teeth for Christmas). After being held pointless for three games, the young center scored a goal on six shots against Detroit two nights ago and he has 14 shots in his last three games. Couturier centers the top line and the #1 powerplay unit for the flyers, so he is an elite play tonight against the Sabres and their fourth worst defense(3.32 goals allowed per game).

Stack with: Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds

Jonathan Drouin FD - $5400 DK - $5400
Opponent - CGY
Proj Pts FD - 12.99 DK - 3.81Stack with:

Things haven't been easy for the Habs this year, but we cannot ignore this young man at these cheap prices on a small slate. He doesn't shoot the puck very often, but he offers a ton of upside as he plays on the #1 line and the #1 powerplay unit. It is a tough slate today, but Drouin looks like a solid play in all formats against an average Flames defense.

Stack with: Paul Byron, Max Pacioretty

WINGERS

Alex Ovechkin FD - $8800 DK - $8000
Opponent - ARI
Proj Pts FD - 18.23 DK - 5.27

It is very hard to ignore this guy on any given night, so when we have a short slate like this, I think it is a good idea that we hop on board here and don't look back. The "Great 8" didn't score a point last game, but he leads the league in goals scored(23) and shots on goal(160), and he does have two goals and two assists to go along with 12 shots in his last three games. The Coyotes are not only bad on offense, but they are also inept on defense as they allow a second worst 3.44 goals per game. Ovechkin is an elite play in all formats.

Stack with: Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov(PP)

Nick Bjugstad FD - $4100 DK - $4400
Opponent - MIN
Proj Pts FD - 8.43 DK - 2.49

I don't understand why the Panthers recently demoted this guy to the third line. He keeps producing no matter what and either way, he always seems to play on the #1 powerplay unit and has averaged 15.5 minutes of ice-time in his last three games while recording a goal, an assist and a whopping 12 shots on goal. Minnesota isn't bad defensively by any means, but at these prices, I think we should consider him in all formats.

Stack with: Jonathan Huberdeau(PP)Aleksander Barkov(PP)

DEFENSEMEN

John Carlson FD - $5800 DK - $6400
Opponent - ARI
Proj Pts FD - 12.02 DK - 3.61

Like I said earlier, the Coyotes are not good at hockey and this guy happens to be on a four-game point streak with a goal and three assists. To make things even sweeter, the veteran has 19 shots in his last six games and 10 shots in his last four. Carlson isn't cheap by any means, but it's slim pickings tonight, so fire him up in all formats.

Jeff Petry FD - $4000 DK - $4000
Opponent - CGY
Proj Pts FD - 8.26 DK - 2.47

Shea Weber is on the injured reserve, so this guy has taken over the job as the quarterback of the #1 powerplay unit for the Habs. The veteran scored a goal and added an assist to go along with three shots on goal and two blocks in his last game and he has averaged 24 minutes of ice-time in his last four games. Petry is simply too cheap to ignore in all formats this evening.

Also Consider: Shayne Gostisbehere(PHI)

Hockey is back and with it comes 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.