FanDuel NHL: Tuesday Targets

FanDuel NHL: Tuesday Targets

This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.

SLATE PREVIEW

It's a smaller slate with games delayed yet again, but that still leaves us with an eight-game offering starting at 6 p.m. EST. The Oilers-Senators and Lightning-Predators games are the only ones featuring the second half of a back-to-back.

Note that there are plenty of players who are expected to return to the lineup Tuesday, including: Ilya Samsonov, Lars Eller and Evgeny Kuznetsov for the Capitals, who are hosting the Flyers at 6 p.m., and Pierre-Luc Dubois making his Jets debut against the Flames at 10 p.m. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Panthers (-245) and the Golden Knights (-250) are the most heavily favored teams, while the Sharks (-116) at Kings (-102) should be wholly avoided because a game featuring two rudderless teams can veer in all sorts of weird directions.

GOALIES

Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK vs. ANH ($8,800): Fleury's expected to start as Vegas continues to rotate their two goalies and he has been statistically better than Robin Lehner this season. He's a little more stable and predictable because he doesn't play the puck as often or as poorly as Lehner, and that will minimize Anaheim's chances to create turnovers in the offensive zone. They already have the league's worst offense at just 1.85 GF/GP.

Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB at NSH ($8,700): The Preds just aren't in the same class. They weren't very good down the middle even when Ryan Johansen was playing, and their top three centers right now —  Matt Duchene, Erik Haula, Colton Sissons — have combined for just four goals in 33 games.

Connor Hellebuyck, WPG at CGY ($7,900): This is a tough game to gauge because even though the Flames should have the upper hand, the Jets are a very different team with Dubois in the lineup. Hellebuyck has been surprisingly effective against the Flames, going 7-2-1 with a 2.05 GAA and .926 Sv% all-time against them.

Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA vs. DET ($7,500): Chris Driedger could start after turning aside 32 shots in his last start, but he was tagged with the loss, so conventional thinking has the Panthers going back to a rotation. Bob should be one of the better value plays of the night because the Wings really shouldn't pose that much of a threat and it would probably take a minor miracle for them to win two straight.

Mikko Koskinen, EDM at OTT ($7,400): Koskinen is expected to start after Mike Smith played Monday, and like Bobrovsky, Koskinen should have no problem getting the win. His numbers have not been good, but the Oilers offense provides a ton of goal support. The Sens have scored just five goals in their past three games.

Kevin Lankinen, CHI at DAL ($7,200): I simply like the upset potential here, especially knowing that the Blackhawks managed to pull it off with an inferior goalie in net. The Stars have cruised to victories with their power play, but over the past two weeks the Hawks have been flat-out better, converting on 31.8 percent of their power plays and operating at 95 percent on the penalty kill; the Stars PP comes in at 23.1 percent and their PK is woeful at 76.7 percent.

VALUE PLAYS

Ty Dellandrea, DAL vs. CHI ($3,000): It feels like the Stars just never have a full roster, but Dellandrea is at least reaping some benefits playing on the top line and the top power-play unit. He finished Sunday's game with four shots in 14 minutes, but keep in mind that his line was buried at even strength, allowing eight chances and generating zero for the rare 0.0 CF%. They won't be that bad again, but look for head coach Rick Bowness to use Tanner Kero in that spot if Dellandrea falters.

Kristian Vesalainen, WPG at CGY ($3,000): Vesalainen gets virtually no playing time, but with Dubois in the lineup that may change. He will be on a line with Paul Stastny and Blake Wheeler, two veterans who are known to be good playmakers on offense. The bet is that Vesalainen gets to play a bit more as Paul Maurice spreads it out between his top three lines. The other thing to keep in mind is that Vesalainen does not play on the PP.  

Nick Paul, OTT vs. EDM ($3,300): Paul plays on the second line and registered at least two shots in nine of his past 10 games. On talent alone, he's not a top-six winger, but gets to play with two young talents in Colin White and Drake Batherson, both of whom may have plenty of room to operate against a porous Edmonton defense.

Barclay Goodrow, TB at NSH ($3,700): Goodrow and linemate Blake Coleman have caught fire of late, with Goodrow scoring four points in his past four games. The good thing about this line is that they play special teams and have the ability to stuff the stats sheet in different categories.

Philipp Kurashev, CHI at DAL ($3,900): Kurashev's fluctuating ice time scares me a little, but the bottom line is he's centering Patrick Kane and the Stars goaltending has not been particularly good. Kurashev can be a high-reward option, but know that he can get benched at a moment's notice.

LINE STACKS

Lightning at Predators

Brayden Point (C - $7,500), Steven Stamkos (W - $7,900), Ondrej Palat (W - $5,300)

The key to this line is Point, who is on a five-game point streak, and Stamkos, who has three goals in his past five games. Palat's a nice player but not particularly productive in fantasy, though he does keep the total cost of this line stack down, and all three play on PP1. Nashville has the league's worst PK at 65.2 percent, and a lot of that has to do with their goalies, who have a combined .775 Sv%, which ranks 30th in the league.

Oilers at Senators

Leon Draisaitl (C - $8,200), Dominik Kahun (W - $3,800), Kailer Yamamoto (W - $4,800)

I wish Draisaitl had more productive linemates, but considering how thin the Sens are on defense, the thinking is that they won't have enough personnel to defend against this line. Connor McDavid's line stack is arguably more productive because two of them play on PP1, but that stack will eat up more of your allotted salary when both lines should be productive.

Panthers at Red Wings

Aleksander Barkov (C - $7,400), Carter Verhaeghe (W - $4,700), Anthony Duclair (W - $4,500)

They were completely shut out in the last game against the Wings, the first time all three were held off the scoresheet this season. That was bound to happen, but it's probably quite rare, and we're willing to chalk it up to a one-off. They were once again the best line that night, generating 19 chances and allowing only seven at even strength.

DEFENSEMEN

Shea Theodore, VGK vs. ANH ($6,400): I'm not quite sure why Theodore continues to be so undervalued compared to other elite defensemen, but for my money he's the one with the most offensive upside. Theodore is on a three-game point streak and has registered at least three shots in all but one game this season.

Tyson Barrie, EDM at OTT ($5,400): Barrie's play has continued to trend up recently and he's finally settling in as the QB on PP1. It might be the most dangerous unit in the league even though they rank ninth in efficiency; Ottawa's PK ranks 24th and they've taken 67 penalties this season, second-most in the league. Evan Bouchard ($3,500) would be the value play for the Oilers' other PP unit.

Thomas Chabot, OTT vs. EDM ($5,100): I think we tend to overrate Chabot because he stands out so much on a very bad Sens blue line. That being said, quantity counts for something, and that includes ranking 11th among NHL defenseman in shots and first in PP TOI/GP.

Nicolas Hague, VGK vs. ANH ($3,600): Hague is averaging 19 minutes a game while Vegas awaits Alex Pietrangelo's return. He's got a big shoot and he's not afraid to use it, and even if he doesn't score any points does a good job of getting shots on net.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jason Chen
Jason won the 2021 FSWA Hockey Writer of the Year award, and was also a finalist on 2019. He joined RotoWire in 2013. Jason has also written for Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, The Hockey News, The Hockey Hall of Fame's Legends Magazine, and Centre Ice Magazine.
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