Sunday's 7-game NHL New Year's Eve slate is loaded with top-tier scorers featuring a great matchup as Jake Guentzel and the Pittsburgh Penguins face Bo Horvat and the New York Islanders. We should expect lots of tight games with some great matchups out there, but expect some of the top scorers to shine through still. So, be sure to check in with our NHL DFS Tools, with the daily NHL projections, and our NHL lineup generator when building those lineups today to help you decide which players you should be targeting!

 

NHL DFS Playbook December 31st

DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

Today is one of the more difficult slates in recent memory, as there are expected to be many lopsided matchups. With the Montreal Canadiens facing the Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers taking on the Anaheim Ducks, the Colorado Avalanche are home to the San Jose Sharks, and the Dallas Stars are home to the Chicago Blackhawks. All of these create great DFS matchups and should lead to high-scoring games. With this we will need to find some nice values, so that we can get as many of the top players today, such as Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, and Jason Robertson, into our lineups.

Recommended DFS Starting Goalies,

Top Options for Saves

Petr Mrazek vs Dallas Stars

Carter Hart vs Calgary Flames

Anton Forsberg vs Buffalo Sabres

Best Odds for a Win

Alexandar Georgiev vs San Jose Sharks

Scott Wedgewood vs Chicago Blackhawks

Calvin Pickard vs Anaheim Ducks

Favorite Goalies to Use for DFS Lineups

Scott Wedgewood, G, Dallas Stars

While Wedgewood wasn't great against Chicago in his last start, he still got the win, and that is really what you're paying for here. You want Wedgewood because of the high likelihood of the Stars getting the win. I would also expect the Stars to play better in this game as well at home, and they were given a scare by Chicago taking them to overtime.

Ilya Sorokin, G, New York Islanders

The last time the Islanders faced the Penguins they were embarrassed losing 7-0. I don't expect the Islanders to get embarrassed again today, and Sorokin played well in his last start as well. Look for Sorokin to have a big game today.

Carter Hart G, Philadelphia Flyers

Hart was a tough-luck loser in his last start giving up just 2 goals and losing in overtime. Hart hasn't lost in regulation in any of his last five appearances, and while Calgary is starting to play better, I like the price of Hart in GPP's and he should see lots of shots which gives him upside.

Recommended DFS Skaters

Highest Expected Goal Totals 

Colorado Avalanche vs Kaapo Kahkonen (4.5)

Dallas Stars vs Petr Mrazek (4.5)

Edmonton Oilers vs John Gibson (4.0)

Favorite Skaters to Use for DFS Lineups

Nathan MacKinnon, C, Colorado Avalanche

In a matchup against the Sharks, it is hard to not want to play one of the NHL leaders in shots on goal. The only thing that could limit MacKinnon today would be a big early lead limiting his ice time, but I think almost all of the top players available today have the same risk.

Jake Guentzel, W, Pittsburgh Penguins

Guentzel has five points in his last two games and he is coming off of a nine-shot game as well. Guentzel doesn't get the credit he deserves for being one of the best-scoring wingers in the league, but he could be in for another big night today.

Jonathan Drouin, W, Colorado Avalanche

With the Avalanche expected to score a lot of goals (4.5 is about as high of an expected goal total as you will find), getting Drouin who plays on the top line, and top powerplay at his price makes him nearly a must-play.

Mattias Samuelsson D, Buffalo Sabres

When the Sabres play teams that shoot a lot, Samuelsson blocks a lot of shots. The Senators are a team that will shoot a lot, and Samuelsson has twelve blocked shots in his last three games.

Player Pool

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