This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
GOALIE
Martin Jones, SJ vs. ANH ($8,000) – Other than the start against the Lightning in which he allowed four goals, Jones has not allowed more than two goals in his past 10 games. Stopping pucks will be a lot easier than usual against the Ducks, who are missing Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler, deploying Derek Grant (17 points in 105 career games) and Chris Wagner (22 points in 114 career games) as their top two centers, and dressing defenseman Korbinian Holzer and converted defenseman Michael Liambas on their fourth line. The Ducks are 21st in the league in both goals per game and power-play efficiency.
CENTER
Mark Scheifele, WPG at NSH ($7,200) – He's one of the most underrated elite centers in the league, and with 24 points in 19 games this season he's proving that last year was no fluke. Pekka Rinne and the Preds have traditionally been very good against the Jets, but the Jets are flying higher than ever right now, and given their offensive firepower no goalie in the league is safe. In 17 career games against the Predators, Scheifele's scored 10 points.
Nicklas Backstrom, WAS vs. CGY ($5,600) – It's rare for an elite center to be available at this price, and it's only because Backstrom's been on a cold streak lately with just three assists in his past 10 games. The Flames, meanwhile, have allowed at least three goals in each of their past six games, including 12 in their past two. Backstrom is worth the gamble against a team that can't keep pucks out of their own net, and in 14 career games against the Flames he's scored seven goals and 20 points.
WING
Evander Kane, BUF vs. CLS ($7,000) – Here's why Kane is still a good pick against Sergei Bobrovsky and the Jackets: he's ninth in the league in goals even though the Sabres offense is non-existent, he's third in the league in shots on goal, and plays both on the penalty kill and power play. He's doing it all for the toothless Sabres, and remains one of the league's best power forwards. The Jackets play a tough game and Seth Jones anchors their blue line, but so far no defense in the league has managed to contain Kane.
Viktor Arvidsson, NSH vs. WPG ($6,000) – When Arvidsson scores, he does it in bunches. The speedy and trigger-happy winger has scored five goals in his past seven games, and against stingy teams such as Minnesota, Columbus and Los Angeles, too. Strangely enough, Arvidsson has registered just one shot in three of his past four games, but that's likely an anomaly for such a high-volume shooter. With eight goals in 19 games, he's on pace for another 30-goal season, not to mention he's playing more minutes than ever before. Connor Hellebucyk has been excellent this season, but if Arvidsson can get a lot of pucks on net surely one (or two) of them will go in.
James van Riemsdyk, TOR vs. ARI ($5,900) – He's scored five points in his past four games, including two-point efforts in a back-to-back series against Boston. Even though his time in Toronto is likely drawing to a close, the 28-year-old impending free agent has one last chance to land a huge contract, and Arizona presents a good opportunity to pad his stats. His ice time can be difficult to predict, but it generally falls within a range of 14-17 minutes per game, and against a struggling Antti Raanta it shouldn't be difficult to capitalize on some scoring chances.
DEFENSE
Dougie Hamilton, CGY at WAS ($5,500) – Scoring on the Caps won't be easy, but Hamilton's been pretty reliable throughout his career when it comes to generating offense. His 65 shots is 23 more than the next highest total (Mark Giordano) on the Flames, and ranks fourth in the league. He'll have plenty of chances to put pucks on net, too, since the Caps are the third most penalized team in the league with 104 penalties, averaging a little over 12 penalty minutes per game, which is equivalent to roughly six power plays. As much as the Flames have struggled to find consistency and keep pucks out of their net, offense has not been a problem, and their power play ranks 12th in the league.
Seth Jones, CLS at BUF ($5,300) – Bobrovsky gets most of the credit for keeping pucks out of the net, but Jones is an elite No. 1 defenseman who was recently promoted to the first power play unit in an effort to generate more offense. The Jackets have not scored more than two goals in a game in two weeks, but even if their scoring woes continue, Jones is an excellent shot blocker and registered 11 shots on goal over his past two games. Zach Werenski has the higher offensive ceiling, but Jones has a higher floor and some added upside with more power-play opportunities.
