NHL DFS Playbook January 24: Top DraftKings and FanDuel Picks
Published: Jan 24, 2024
Welcome to Wednesday's seven-game NHL Slate. We have a ton of good options to choose from, including Nathan MacKinnon against the Washington Capitals. 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 Wednesday, January 24th, 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 24th
Recommended DFS Starting Goalies
Top Options for Saves
Connor Ingram vs Florida Panthers
Devon Levi vs Los Angeles Kings
Charlie Lindgren vs Colorado Avalanche
Best Odds for a Win
Joey Daccord vs Chicago Blackhawks
Alexandar Georgiev vs Washington Capitals
Sergei Bobrovsky vs Arizona Coyotes
Favorite Goalies to Use for DFS Lineups
Joey Daccord, G, Seattle Kraken
Only a handful of goaltenders have been better then Daccord since the holiday season and tonight he gets a cake matchups against the Blackhawks who are scoring just 1.1 goals per game over the past 30 days on the road. Daccord likely won't see the volume of other goalies on the slate but he's got a real shot at that shutout tonight and the bonus that comes with it.
Cam Talbot, G, Los Angeles Kings
Talbot was one of the best goalies in the 2023 portion of this regular season but since then he has just been okay. He still holds a 2.43 GAA on the season but has lost 8 straight starts which is just ridiculous. Things have a way of evening themselves out though and the Sabres while they shoot the puck a lot aren't scoring many goals of late and just lost to the Ducks last night.
Ilya Samsonov, G, Toronto Maple Leafs
Here we go, bringing back the catch the falling knife play of the day! This is the boldest one to date as Sammy wasn't even on the roster parts of this season because he's been so bad. Why play him? Well, he looked sharp against the Kraken a couple nights ago and the Jets offense isn't amazing on the road at just 2.6 goals scored over the last month. Taking a risk here but it could yield an amazing reward.
Recommended DFS Skaters
Highest Expected Goal Totals
Vancouver Canucks vs St. Louis Blues (3.78)
Colorado Avalanche vs Washington Capitals (3.54)
Florida Panthers vs Arizona Coyotes (3.53)
Favorite Skaters to Use for DFS Lineups
Nathan MacKinnon, C, Colorado Avalanche
I hate to get wrapped up in the chalk but sometimes it just makes too much sense. The Capitals are falling apart and allowing goals finally and they played just last night so they will be tired as they are an older team. The Avalanche are rocking teams right now with over 4-5 goals per game lately and MacKinnon is the head of the attack, hard to fade that.
Jared McCann, C, Seattle Kraken
Terrific matchup for the Kraken tonight as they try to get back on track after losing 4 straight games. McCann is the offensive plug to this team and with his 18 goals on the season he is always a bargain at around 5k in DFS if the matchup is right. The Blackhawks are allowing the 6th most DFS points to centers on the season, seems like a no brainer.
Elias Pettersson, W, Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks at home are just a wagon this season with 17 wins and a +59 goal differential they are plowing through teams in front of the home crowd. The matchup against the Blues is a better one too as they have recently started sliding and allowing 3.3 goals per game on the road the last month. They also rank 31st against left wingers this season so Pettersson should have a field day.
Trevor Moore, W, Los Angeles Kings
I have played Moore a lot this season and rarely have I been disappointed! His 21 goals on the season are pacing the Kings and every game it seems he is a threat to find the back of the net. The matchup with the Sabres on the west coast having played last night is a good one too so plug in this mid range piece tonight.
Vince Dunn, D, Seattle Kraken
Like I said earlier in the playbook with McCann this is an awesome matchup for the Kraken tonight and it looks like Dunn will be on the ice today despite the day to day injury tag. Dunn is the blue liner to own in this matchup with his big minutes and 35 points on the season!
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Player Pool
| $ Tier | C | D | W | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High |  Nathan MacKinnon  $10,000 | Cale Makar $8,300 |  Elias Pettersson $8,700 | |
 Auston Matthews $9,900 | Quinn Hughes $7,500 |  Sam Reinhart $8,200 | ||
 J.T. Miller $8,000 | ||||
| Medium |  Anze Kopitar $5,800 |  Vince Dunn $5,000 | Trevor Moore $6,300 |  Nikolaj Ehlers $6,100 |
| Jared McCann $5,000 | Drew Doughty $5,400 |  Alex Ovechkin $5,900 | ||
| Brandon Montour $5,100 | ||||
| Low |  Alex Wennberg $3,200 | Filip Hronek $4,700 | Jordan Eberle $3,800 | |
| Adam Lowry $3,800 | Justin Schultz $3,100 | Jonathan Drouin $4,300 | ||
 Trent Frederic $3,400 |
Stacks
| Avalanche | Cale Makar | Jonathan Drouin | Nathan MacKinnon |
| DraftKings | 8300 | 4300 | 10000 |
 Fanduel | - | - | - |
| Kings | Trevor Moore | Anze Kopitar | Drew Doughty |
| DraftKings | 6300 | 5800 | 5400 |
| Fanduel | - | - | - |
| Kraken | Jordan Eberle | Jared McCann | Vince Dunn |
| DraftKings | 3800 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Fanduel | - | - | - |
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.