Welcome to Saturday’s 7-game NHL Slate. This is a very competitive slate with five teams being projected to score less than three goals. The biggest favorites on the board are the Tampa Bay Lightning, who take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Fantasy for Thursday, December 21st, but before you build those NHL daily fantasy lineups, don’t forget to check out our NHL DFS projections, the NHL Value Finder, and the NHL DFS lineup generator. Let's look closer at the daily fantasy hockey top plays for tonight's NHL DFS Showdown slate.

 

 

NHL DFS Playbook January 27th

Recommended DFS Starting Goalies

Top Options for Saves

Stuart Skinner Vs. Los Angeles Kings

Elvis Merzlikins Vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

Connor Hellebuyck Vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

 

Best Odds for a Win

Andrei Vasilevskiy Vs. Columbus Blue Jackets

Pyotr Kochetkov Vs. New Jersey Devils

Connor Hellebuyck Vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

 

Favorite Goalies to Use for DFS Lineups

Connor Hellebuyck, G, Winnipeg Jets

Pittsburgh may have gotten the best of Hellebuyck in this exact matchup four days ago, but I have no issues going back to him on home ice. He’s the current favorite to win the Vezina and with Pittsburgh on a back-to-back, it should be all systems go for Connor. He’s lost his last three starts but I think he turns that around against an aging Penguins team. Over his last 10 games, he holds a 1.90 GAA and .935 SV% and I think he gets it done in Winnipeg.

Stuart Skinner, G, Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton’s streak may have been snapped by the Golden Knights, but they are still playing like one of the best teams in the league. Stuart Skinner is 9-1 in his last 10 starts, over which he holds a 1.40 GAA and .950 SV%. The Kings looked like a wagon of a team earlier in the year but things have gone off the rails in LA. Over their last 10 games, they have a 3-5-2 record and will need to figure things out fast if they hope to beat the red-hot Oilers and Stuart Skinner.

Connor Ingram, G, Arizona Coyotes

Connor Ingram is a risky, but interesting play on this slate. He is 2-0 against Nashville this season and the Predators have dropped five of their last six games. He may be coming off his worst start, but he’s been a solid netminder this year, holding a 2.69 GAA and .914 SV%. He would not be my first pick in a single-entry contest, but in multi-entry and larger field tournaments, the salary savings could pay off if he finds another solid game against a team he has beaten twice.


 

Recommended DFS Skaters

Highest Expected Goal Totals  

Tampa Bay Lightning Vs Elvis Merzlikins (3.8)

Carolina Hurricanes Vs. Vitek Vanecek (3.7)

Toronto Maple Leafs Vs. Joonas Korpisalo (3.5)

 

Favorite Skaters to Use for DFS Lineups

Sebastian Aho, C, Carolina Hurricanes

While you can always pay up for Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid, Sebastian Aho is my favorite center on this board. Carolina has the 2nd highest implied total today at 3.7 games and New Jersey’s Vitek Vanecek has looked like one of the worst goalies in the league all season. He holds a 3.26 GAA and .887 SV% and could be in some serious trouble with a Carolina team with a 7-3 record in their last 10. Aho has two goals in his last four games and has fantastic upside here at a fair price.

John Tavares, C, Toronto Maple Leafs

John Tavares may not be as exciting as Auston Matthews, but he’s fairly priced and is riding a three-game goal streak. He’s in a great matchup here against the Ottawa Senators who allow the 3rd most goals in the league at 3.62 per game. Tavares skates the second line with William Nylander and is on the top power-play unit with Matthews. Toronto has the 4th best power play in the league while the Senators have the 5th worst penalty kill. 

Steven Stamkos, W, Tampa Bay Lightning

Steven Stamkos is in a great spot here against the Columbus Blue Jackets. You can obviously spend up for Nikita Kucherov, but Stamkos is much cheaper and skates the top line and power play beside Kucherov. Columbus is thought to be a defensive-minded team, but they have a bottom 10 penalty kill and will be up against it hosting Tampa Bay’s league-best 30% power play unit. Columbus allows the 2nd most goals at 3.66 per game and getting Tampa in your lineups is going to be important.

Andrei Svechnikov, W, Carolina Hurricanes

Andrei Svechnikov cannot seem to catch a break when it comes to injuries, but he is an excellent player when in the lineup. He will skate the top line and power play with Sebastian Aho and is an elite player for his price tag. He’s a game-time decision and if he cannot go, Teuvo Teravainen can easily be slotted in his place. Svechnikov has 30 points in 29 games and though he rarely threatens to provide the shot bonus, he is very dangerous with the puck and New Jersey has serious goaltending issues.

Roman Josi, D, Nashville Predators

Roman Josi is the most expensive defenseman on the board, but he is worth every penny. He has 10 goals and 35 assists through 51 games and has a very consistent fantasy floor. He threatens to pick up both the shot and blocked shot bonus in every game, allowing him to pay off his price tag without scoring points. Pair this with the fact he is nearly a point-per-game player and it’s easy to see his upside far outweighs his downside.

Darren Raddysh, D, Tampa Bay Lightning

With Mikhail Sergachev injured, Darren Raddysh presents as a solid value play. He slates the top pair with Victor Hedman which means he will have a ton of ice correlation with Tampa’s top line. He finds himself on the second power-play unit which is a bonus, but the real draw comes from his shared time on ice with Nikita Kucherov. Raddysh has recorded a point in four of his last five games and with his low price tag, he opens things up for roster construction.

 

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