NHL DFS Playbook January 23: Top DraftKings and FanDuel Picks
Published: Jan 23, 2024
Welcome to Tuesday’s nine-game NHL Slate. We have a ton of good options to choose from, including Connor McDavid against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Artemi Panarin against the San Jose Sharks. Those may be obvious choices, but we also need to find some value and pick the correct goalie. You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Fantasy for Tuesday, January 23rd, 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 23rd
DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts
A nine-game slate means we have a healthy amount of options to pick from. We also have some games with a goal total of 5.5, so that is a good place to start when picking goalies. We still need to make sure that we find players in elite matchups because Connor McDavid can’t win us a GPP alone. Let’s take a look at which players we need to keep tabs on.
Recommended DFS Starting Goalies
Top Options for Saves
Jake Allen Vs. Ottawa Senators
Elvis Merzlikins Vs. Edmonton Oilers
John Gibson Vs. Buffalo Sabres
Best Odds for a Win
Igor Shesterkin Vs. San Jose Sharks
Stuart Skinner Vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
Filip Gustavsson Vs. Washington Capitals
Favorite Goalies to Use for DFS Lineups
Stuart Skinner, G, Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers have won 13 games in a row and Stuart Skinner is one of the main reasons for that success. His matchup on paper is elite and he’s just been so good. It’s fair to want to fade him in GPPs, but for cash games, it’s hard to look the other way. He hasn’t allowed more than two goals in any of his last five starts.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G, Buffalo Sabres
Don’t look now, but Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been elite in his last three starts. He’s allowed a total of two goals in three games, including two shutouts. Anaheim isn’t a very good team and the Sabres score more goals on the road. I understand not wanting to pay $82oo for him on DraftKings, but don’t let the high price tag scare you away.
Ilya Sorokin, G, New York Islanders
Ilya Sorokin continues to do his best despite seeing a crazy amount of shots. Patrick Roy is in town and he is certainly someone who knows a thing or two about playing the goaltender position, but those changes won’t be instant. Sorokin stopped 41 shots last game and could be in for another high workload. Vegas is missing some key pieces up front and they just haven’t looked great over the last couple of weeks. Nothing wrong with Sorokin in all formats.
Filip Gustavsson, G, Minnesota Wild
Filip Gustavsson is 7-3-1 on home ice but has a 3.24 GAA and a .902 SV%. It’s not great, but it’s a lot better than his numbers on the road. Washington just can score goals so this is a good spot for Gustavsson to take his winning streak to three games. His price tag is more than I’d like to pay but he has a good chance of picking up the win and hitting value.
Samuel Ersson, G, Philadelphia Flyers
The Tampa Bay Lightning are horrendous on the road. They are allowing the 5th most goals and rank 23rd in goals. For whatever reason, things just don’t work when they aren’t at home. Samuel Ersson is confirmed to get the start, and while his numbers aren’t that great, his team can provide him with enough goal support to pick up the win. He’s a good GPP option to consider.
Recommended DFS Skaters
Highest Expected Goal Totals
Edmonton Oilers Vs Elvis Merzlikins(4.8)
New York Rangers Vs. MacKenzie Blackwood (4.0)
Ottawa Senators Vs. Jake Allen (3.6)
Favorite Skaters to Use for DFS Lineups
Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are going to be very dangerous tonight. McDavid is coming off a poor performance against Calgary, but we know what the greatest player in the world can do. He’s worth every dollar tonight and you shouldn’t think twice.
Sean Monahan, C, Montreal Canadiens
Sean Monahan has seven assists in the last four games and continues to push his trade value even higher. He’s been a big reason why the Canadiens are scoring goals of late. Montreal can’t defend so it’s likely they’ll be playing catchup hockey, which means more ice time for Monahan.
Brady Tkachuk, W, Ottawa Senators
Jake Allen is confirmed to start tonight and he has just not been good this season. The Canadiens have allowed 15 goals in the last two games, including six to the Sens less than a week ago. Tkachuk loves to shoot the puck and go to the net. I can’t imagine him not hitting value tonight.
Chris Kreider, W, New York Rangers
Chris Kreider has points in his last four games and goals in his last two. We know he can score goals, but his shot volume remains inconsistent. Things might be different tonight because San Jose can’t suppress anything, but we know that Kreider earns his money by scoring goals and that’s what we are hoping to see.
Ivan Provorov, D, Columbus Blue Jackets
I don’t think I’ve mentioned Ivan Provorov this season and there’s probably a good reason for that. He does have 23 points on the season, but we are more interested in his ability to block shots. He’s in a great spot to do that against a high-flying Edmonton team and he’s reasonably priced at $3900.
Henry Thrun, D, San Jose Sharks
We are really going to the button of the barrel for value. Mario Ferraro is unlikely to play tonight and we know just how many minutes he can eat. Someone also has to step up and block shots and Henry Thrun has done just that. He’s blocked three or more shots in two of the last five games, but more importantly, he played 24 minutes against Los Angeles yesterday. That game did go to overtime, but that is still a very good sign. I expect the Sharks to be defending a lot this game and for Thrun to return value on $2900.
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Player Pool
| $ Tier | C | D | W |
|---|---|---|---|
| High |  Connor McDavid  $9,600 |  Rasmus Dahlin $7,300 |  Artemi Panarin $8,900 |
| Evan Bouchard $6,900 | Zach Hyman $8,400 | ||
 Brady Tkachuk $7,700 | |||
| Medium | Tim Stutzle $6,500 | Adam Fox $5,600 |  Cole Caufield $6,500 |
| Mika Zibanejad $6,400 |  Jakob Chychrun $5,400 | Jeff Skinner $6,200 | |
| Low | Josh Norris $4,800 |  Marc-Edouard Vlasic $3,200 | Alexis Lafreniere $4,600 |
 Sean Monahan $4,200 | Jake Sanderson $4,500 | Zach Benson $3,400 |
Stacks
| Senators | Jakob Chychrun | Brady Tkachuk | Josh Norris |
| DraftKings | 5400 | 7700 | 4800 |
 Fanduel | 6700 | 8700 | 6400 |
| Oilers | Connor McDavid | Evan Bouchard | Zach Hyman |
| DraftKings | 9600 | 6900 | 8400 |
| Fanduel | 10400 | 8500 | 9700 |
| Rangers | Mika Zibanejad | Chris Kreider | Adam Fox |
| DraftKings | 6400 | 6600 | 5600 |
| Fanduel | 8400 | 7900 | 7100 |
| Senators | Jakob Chychrun | Brady Tkachuk | Josh Norris |
| DraftKings | 5400 | 7700 | 4800 |
| Fanduel | 6700 | 8700 | 6400 |
| Oilers | Connor McDavid | Evan Bouchard | Zach Hyman |
| DraftKings | 9600 | 6900 | 8400 |
| Fanduel | 10400 | 8500 | 9700 |
| Rangers | Mika Zibanejad | Chris Kreider | Adam Fox |
| DraftKings | 6400 | 6600 | 5600 |
| Fanduel | 8400 | 7900 | 7100 |
Player News
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Zach Eflin (lat) is likely to return and start Sunday against the Angels
It was assumed that Eflin would be back this weekend, but now we have a concrete date. The 31-year-old may not be at full strength after throwing fewer than 60 pitches in his rehab start, but the Orioles feel confident enough to have the right-hander back on the bump for the series finale against the Angels.
Riley Greene is not in the lineup for the first game of a doubleheader against the Rockies on Thursday.
Greene will get a break and likely return to the lineup for the second game of the twin-billing. Zach McKinstry will get the start in left field while Greene rests.
Panthers released TE Jordan Matthews.
Matthews converted to tight end a few years ago and hasn’t made much noise at the position. The change has, however, likely kept him in the league for a few more seasons. He appeared in four games with the Panthers last year but didn’t record any stats on offense. The Panthers also released or waived WR Dax Milne, C Andrew Raym, and TE Colin Granger.
Yu Darvish (elbow) is facing live hitters on Thursday.
Darvish has been throwing bullpen sessions and traveled to the team’s complex in Arizona to face live hitters on Thursday. It will be his first time facing live batters since a spring training appearance on March 13th. He will likely need a few sessions like this before the Padres can map out a rehab appearance timeline for him.
Adael Amador is starting at second base and batting ninth for the Rockies on Thursday.
Amador has now started three of the last four games at second base for the Rockies. He’s gone just 7-for-43 this season with 15 strikeouts in 16 games. He’s just 22 years old, so there is plenty of time for him to adjust to the MLB level, but he doesn’t need to be on redraft radars right now.
Jackson Holliday is playing second base and batting second for the Orioles on Thursday against the Twins.
With Cedric Mullins sitting out on Thursday, Gunnar Henderson will bat lead off, and Holliday will jump up from sixth in the order to second. Holliday is riding a hot streak right now, and the Orioles are taking advantage. This is likely just a one-game sample with no Mullins or Adley Rutschman in the lineup, but Rutschman has been struggling, so perhaps it could become a more permanent spot in the lineup for Holliday moving forward.