NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, SuperDraft (1/23): Value Plays, Goalies, Stacks

Welcome, RotoBallers. Hockey season is back and I am thrilled to be covering this sport over at RotoBaller! As always, I will do my best to give you the stats and info you need to build the best lineups possible for your GPP and cash game NHL contests on DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft.

If you are new to playing NHL DFS, there are several things to know that will help you get caught up to speed. The first thing to know is that stacking lines is important and correlating your plays can pay off. In hockey, if someone scores a goal, there's a good chance that some on his team will receive an assist on that goal, so you want to build lineups around players skating together. The second thing is to make sure you look at the two sites and see the different ways to obtain points. On DraftKings, you get bonus points for 5+ shots or 3+ blocked shots so someone like Alex Ovechkin who is a volume shooter tends to be a better play there just because he can rack up additional points based on his style of play.

Today I'll be bringing you my NHL lineup picks, analysis and advice for NHL DFS contests on DraftKings, Fanduel, and SuperDraft for Saturday, January 23rd, 2020 at 7:00 PM. Be sure to also check out our awesome NHL tools including our Lineup Optimizer, Research Station, Projections, and DFS Cheat Sheets! Feel free to follow me on Twitter @jorgepucks as I am happy to engage with readers and try to answer your questions. Good luck RotoBallers!

NHL DFS Analysis and Picks for 1/23

• Montreal Canadiens (-150) vs. Vancouver Canucks - 6.5U
• Philadelphia Flyers vs. Boston Bruins (-155)- 5.5U
• LA Kings vs. St. Louis Blues (-200) - 5.5U
• Ottawa Senators vs. Winnipeg Jets (-128) - 6U

NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix

The matrix above takes the averages of four categories and creates a rating scale to help you decide which goalies to use, which goalies to target against, and conversely which teams could be viable from a stacking standpoint. It looks at four categories: Goals Allowed (GA), Shots Allowed (SA), Goals For (GF), Shots For (SF). The higher the overall rating in the last column indicates that it is a more dangerous matchup for that team's goalie while it might be beneficial to stack against him. I match and sync this every day to the actual opponents that they are facing every slate so this is always slate specific.

NHL DFS Power Play Matrix

The Power Play matrix is to help locate matchups that can be exploited should there be an odd-man advantage during the game. Just like the goalie matrix above, the teams are matched up based on their own power play percentage rank and their opponent's penalty kill percentage. When looking at this matrix, you will want to look for teams that succeed in the power play rank while their opponent has a poor penalty kill rank.

Did you know RotoBaller has a Premium NHL DFS subscription? Like what you read today? You can show your support for Jorge by using promo code JORGEPUCKS when purchasing an NHL DFS Premium Pass. You get 10% off, and exclusive access to all of our Premium NHL cheat sheets, DFS research tools, Premium Slack Chatrooms, Stack Builder, Correlation Matrix and Lineup Optimizer!

NHL DFS Core Plays

The Core plays below are the players that you should focus on incorporating into your cash game builds and tournament builds. When it comes to cash games, you want guys that offer high floors that rack up peripheral stats (shots, blocks, etc).

When it comes to tournaments, it is best to take a core play and see who their linemates are and build line stacks based on that. I will give 2-3 plays (varies on slate size) at each position at different pricing ranges so that you can have a variety of plays to choose from when building your cash builds.

NHL DFS Center Picks

• Mark Scheifele, WPG ($ 7,200 DK / $ 7,400 FD) - Scheifele will be one of the higher owned players on the slate, and for good reason. He has produced back-to-back multi-point outings against the Senators and with getting the home-ice advantage, could find himself in another position where his line scores several goals again tonight. Scheifele has scored at least a point in three out of four games and has produced double-digit DK points in every game so far this season.
• Nick Suzuki, MTL ($ 5,700 DK / $ 5,900 FD) - Suzuki has been an assist machine in the early stages of the season. He has registered an assist in four straight games and has taken seven shots over his last two games played. His only goal came on opening night where he took six total shots and if he can replicate that kind of performance again on this slate, he could help you take down some tournaments.

Other centers to consider: Bergeron, Horvat, O'Reilly, Schenn, Norris, Danault, Kotkaniemi, Lowry

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Kyle Connor, WPG ($ 7,600 DK / $ 7,500 FD) - Connor has steadily risen to be one of the better point scorers in the NHL and he is off to another good start this season. Connor is tied for second with seven points scored and has registered a point in every game he has played this year. Connor has the green light to shoot the puck as he was in the top 10 for shots taken in all of last season and in a soft matchup against a not so good defensive team in Ottawa, he is always capable of having a ceiling type of game against them.
• Tyler Toffoli, VAN ($ 5,100 DK / $ 4,900 FD) - Speaking of ceiling games, Tyler Toffoli has really had back-to-back ceiling games against his former team in Vancouver. The former Kings and Canucks winger stuck it to them by recording five goals and one assist while taking 11 shots in the process. His price is still too good to pass up on but he could also be heavily owned in tournaments just based on recency bias and for those that just watch the game logs.

Other wings to consider: Tkachuk, Wheeler, Tatar, Gallahger, Ehlers, Anderson, Batherson, Athanasiou, Kyrou

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Jeff Petry, MON ($6,500 DK / $ 5,500 FD) - The best floor on the slate at this position is Jeff Petry. So far this season, Petry has scored a point in all five games played and is seeing plenty of ice time. He has seven points on the year with three of those coming on the power play. Petry does a little bit of everything for Montreal as he can rack up points, fire several shots on goal, and also blocking several shots as well.
• Tyler Myers, VAN ($4,400 DK / $ 3,700 FD) - From a value perspective, Tyler Myers could be one to consider on this slate. He has registered four points in six games so far this season and is coming off of an eight-block performance which is quite impressive.  Myers has scored a point in three straight games and is seeing over 20 minutes of ice time over his last four games.

Other defensemen to consider: Doughty, Chabot, Hughes, Payarko, Grzelcyk, Morrissey

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Jordan Binnington, STL ($ 8,400 DK / $ 7,300 FD) - The price over on FD has to be a mistake as they have Binnington down in the low 7k range while he is the top goalie over on DK. Binnington has had a solid start so far to the season as he is 2-1-1 with a 2.67 goals allowed average and a .913 save percentage. The Kings offense has been solid to start the season as they are averaging three goals scored per game and 29 shots per game but with the Blues being on home ice, they should be able to take advantage of line matching and put themselves in the strongest chance to get a win.
• Connor Hellebuyck, WPG ($ 8,200 DK / $ 8,400 FD) - Hellebuyck is off to another strong start to the season as he has gone 2-1 with a having a two-goal allowed average and a .935 save percentage. On Thursday night, Hellebuyck stopped 28 of 29 shots while allowing only one goal against Ottawa and looked extremely poised in the net. Hellebuyck is 5-0 all-time against the Senators and has a goals-against-average of two and a .934 save percentage against them. The Sens have some young offensive talent but they will be overmatched, especially with this game being played in Winnipeg.

Note: If you do roster a goalie listed above, it is sometimes best to make a hedge lineup in tournaments and take the opposing offense against them incase he gives up a few goals while that opposing team carries lower ownership.

Favorite NHL DFS Line Stacks

• WPG 1
  • Connor/ Scheifele/ Wheeler (Morrissey, D-men add on)
    • This top-line for Winnipeg has produced 10 total points in just two games against Ottawa this season. While they don't possess the strongest statistical numbers, this trio of forwards has been able to capitalize on a bad Sens defense and generate goals at both even strength and on the odd-man advantage. So far this season, this line is generating 21 scoring chances per 60 minutes, but they are creating 13.74 high-danger opportunities per 60 minutes which is where the real value lies in this line. Ottawa is allowing 3.5 goals per game and has allowed four power-play goals this season so if looking to spend some money on a stack, look no further than the top line for Winnipeg as they correlate at full strength and on the power play.
• MTL1/3
  • This game has shootout potential written all over it as there are several lines to like from both teams. The most dominant line in this matchip has been MTL 3 as they have generated seven goals in a two-game span against Vancouver. The Canucks have been trying to find favorable matchups against the Canadiens and their top line has actually been letting them down defensively as they have a xGA/60 of 2.69 and are allowing 14.57 high-danger chances per 60 minutes. The Canucks top line has really struggled out of the gates this year but they have too much talent on this line so hopefully, the quick pace that Montreal plays with should jumpstart this line sooner or later. The top line for Montreal has looked solid again from a puck possession standpoint and a scoring chances standpoint so they look to also be in play as they have been facing off against the second line for Vancouver.

Other Stacks to consider:  STL 2, BOS 1, BOS 3, OTT 1

SuperDraft NHL DFS Picks

C: Scheifele (1X), Bergeron (1.05X), Horvat (1.2X), Suzuki (1.35X), Danault (1.75X)

W: Connor(1.15X), Hoffman (1.2X), Wheeler (1.25X), Marchand (1.4X), Gallagher (1.6X)

D: Parayko (1.2X), Hughes (1.2X), Petry (1.4X), Chabot (1.65X), Doughty (1.8X)

G: Hellebuyck (1.1X), Binnington (1.35X)

*Core 4 for SuperDraft are Bolded

Key Abbreviations:

xGF/60= expected goal for per 60 minutes of ice time

GF/60= goals for per 60 minutes of ice time

SC/60= Scoring Chances per 60 minutes of ice time

If you have any additional questions, make sure to reach out to me on twitter or in our NHL room at the RotoBaller slack chat!

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