NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings (4/19): 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 and FanDuel.

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 and FanDuel for Monday, April 19th, 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 4/19

• • Carolina Hurricanes vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (-125) - 5.5U
  • Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Florida Panthers (-220) - 5.5O
  • Detroit Red Wings vs. Dallas Stars (-230) - 5.5U
  • Chicago Blackhawks vs. Nashville Predators (-140) - 5.5U
  • Minnesota Wild (-150) vs. Arizona Coyotes - 5.5U
  • Ottawa Senators vs. Calgary Flames (-210) - 6U
  • Montreal Canadiens vs. Edmonton Oilers (-130) - 6U
  • San Jose Sharks vs. Vegas Golden Knights (-222) - 5.5O

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 total column indicates that it is a more dangerous matchup for that team's goalie while it might be beneficial to stack against him. If the total is low, that means he is in a good matchup from a fantasy perspective and should be considered for your goalie selection. 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 rank. When looking at this matrix, you will want to look for teams that succeed in the power play rank (lower the rank the better they are) while their opponent has a poor penalty kill rank (the higher the rank, the worse their penalty kill is).

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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 or needing cornerstones for your tournament builds.

NHL DFS Center Picks

• Aleksander Barkov, FLA ($8,200 DK / $7,900 FD) - Connor McDavid is certainly in play but if needing some salary relief, you could go right down to Barkov who is another great spend up option at the center position. Barkov is having a very strong month of April as he has scored five goals this month and eight total points so you should look to continue riding the hot hand of Barkov.
• Sean Monahan, CGY ($4,900 DK/ $5,300 FD) -Monahan is having a down year compared to other years but he should find himself in some favorable matchups on Monday against Ottawa. The Sens are allowing 3.6 goals per game and Monahan has been able to find the back of the net twice against them this year.

Other centers to consider: 

• High Priced- McDavid, Trocheck, Hintz, Aho
• Mid-Tier- Lindholm, Suzuki, Benn, Couture, Karlsson
• Value- Staal, Hartman, Dach

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Max Pacioretty, VGK ($8,200 DK / $8,000 FD) - The consistency of Pacioretty is just too good to pass up for your cash game builds. In just five games against the Sharks, Pacioretty has scored three goals while grabbing four assists and also taking 18 shots on goal.
• Nino Niederreiter, CAR ($3,900 DK / $4,300 FD) - Niederreiter has been featured on the Canes third line but it seems to have benefited him as he has scored four points over his last five games while also taking 12 shots on goal during that stretch. Niederreiter does see time on the second power-play unit and has a solid enough floor to trust in your cash game lineups.

Other wings to consider: 

• High Priced- Draisaitl, Kane, Tkachuk, DeBrincat, Kaprizov, Hornqvist, Fiala, Stone
• Mid-Tier- Svechnikov, Meier, Zuccarello, Gaudreau, Bjorkstrand, Kessel, Kubalik
• Value- Keller, Vatrano, Labanc, Puljujarvi, Laine, Duclair, Gurianov, Parise, Gusev, Strome, Marchment

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Mark Giordano, CGY ($6,200 DK / $5,400 FD) - Giordano really grades out well as a cash game option, especially in the matchup against Ottawa. Giordano has scored seven points over his last 10 games played and has racked up 39 peripheral stats during that stretch as well. Giordano has scored two goals and recorded two assists in seven games against the Senators this season while racking up 35 peripheral stats in those seven games.
• Ryan Ellis, NSH ($4,200 DK / $4,000 FD) - Ryan Ellis has always been one of the better cash game defenders to use day in and day out. He is finally regaining his form as he is averaging over 3 peripheral stats per game over his last 10 games played while recording one goal and two assist in that stretch.

Other defensemen to consider: 

• High Priced- Hamilton, Hedman, Chychrun, Nurse, Josi, Barrie
• Mid-Tier- Petry, Pietrangelo, Theodore, Weber, Sergachev, Karlsson
• Value- Dumba, Lindell, Hanifan, Montour, Ekholm, OEL, Stone, Pesce, Cernka, Chiarot

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA ($8,100 DK / $8,400 FD) - If paying up for the goalie position on both sites, Bobrovsky should be one to target. He is 4-0 against the Blue Jackets this year and is sporting a 2.71 goals allowed average and a .921 save percentage in those four games. Bobrovsky has won three of his last five starts and is averaging less than three goals allowed per game in that stretch.
• Jake Oettinger, DAL ($7,200 DK / $8,200 FD) - The Stars might ride the hot hand for their matchup on Monday night and that hand belongs to Jake Oettinger. Oettinger has won two straight games and has won three of his last five games that he has started but what's even more impressive is that he has only allowed eight total goals in that five-game span. He is definitely underpriced over on DK and makes for a great cash game and tournament goalie over there.

Other goalies to consider: 

• High Priced- Lehner
• Mid-Tier- Talbot
• Value- Mrazek, Lankinen

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 in case he gives up a few goals while that opposing team carries lower ownership. Also, make sure that the goalie listed above is starting and if not, make sure to pivot!

Favorite NHL DFS Line Stacks 

• VGK 1  
  • Pacioretty/ Stephenson/ Stone (Theodore, d-men add on)
    • The Golden Knights will be on home ice against a bad Shark defense so this just seems like an automatic lock from a stacking standpoint. The Sharks are allowing 3.29 goals per game to opponents when they are on the road and are giving up 3.8 goals per game to the Golden Knights specifically. This line has generated two even-strength goals in 29 minutes of ice time against the Sharks and is generating 34.48 scoring chances for and 12.17 high danger chances for per 60 against them this season. All three skaters are fully correlated at even strength and are all skating on the top power-play unit so they make a very strong trio to roster.
• DAL 1  
  • Robertson/ Hintz/ Pavelski (Klingberg, d-men add on) 
    • The top line for the Stars really stands out and could be a lower-owned line in tournaments. They are moderately expensive over on DK while they do carry some value over on FD so they would be a preferred stack over on FD just based on price. This line is sporting a 2.73 expected goals for rate per 60 minutes of ice time and is generating 28.7 scoring chances for and 13.9 high danger chances for per 60 minutes. Hintz and Pavelski will be skating together at even strength and on the top power-play unit and make for a great mini stack if only looking to stack two Stars players.

Other Stacks to consider: EDM 1, FLA 1, CAR 1, CGY 1, MIN 1,  CAR 3, FLA 3

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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