NHL DFS Playbook October 18: Top DraftKings and FanDuel Picks
Welcome to Wednesday’s two-game NHL Slate. Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby find themselves together on a slate and are looking to help propel their team to victory. Those two are going to be popular, but there are lots of great value options to target. You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Fantasy for Wednesday, October 18th, 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 now take a closer look at the daily fantasy hockey top plays for tonight's NHL DFS Showdown slate.
Highest Expected Goal Totals
Ottawa Senators Vs Darcy Kuemper (3.7)
Pittsburgh Penguins Vs. Ville Husso (3.5)
Detroit Red Wings Vs. Tristan Jarry (3.8)
Washington Capitals Vs Anton Forsberg (3.4)
Washington Capitals Vs. Ottawa Senators
Players to target: Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris, Brady Tkachuk, Alex Ovechkin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Matthew Philipps, John Carlson, Jakob Chychrun, Jake Sanderson, Martin Fehervary, Anton Forsberg
It’s hard to think about stacking against the Washington Capitals, but their offence outside of Alex Ovechkin is #NotGood. Ottawa has a ton of great options to choose from and some that you need to keep an eye on.
Josh Norris is expected to make his season debut and skate on the third line but on the top power play unit. At $3100 on DraftKings, that is hard value to pass up on. He’s got skill, but the problem has always been staying healthy. He’s back in the lineup, so let’s take advantage of it. You’d best pair him with Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson to complete the three-man top power play stack.
For Washington, Alex Ovechkin is a no brainer because of the number of shots he’s going to take. If you want another cheap forward, Matthew Philipps is skating on the third line and scored a goal last game. He’s going to get some looks, but he’s mostly a salary relief option. The real value is on the blue line. Martin Fehervary can block shots and the Senators love to shoot the puck. You can pay up for John Carlson if you want, but I think we can find better value elsewhere.
Anton Forsberg is confirmed to start for Ottawa and he’s got a decent chance of winning this game. As mentioned earlier, the Capitals aren’t that scary, so all he has to do is be decent and he picks up the win. I don’t like his price tag, but it’s a short slate with few options.
Pittsburgh Penguins Vs. Detroit Red Wings
Players to target: Sidney Crosby, Dylan Larkin, Jake Guentzle, Alex DeBrincat, Reilly Smith, Lucas Raymond, Erik Karlsson, Moritz Seider, Jake Walman, Ryan Graves,
Let’s get the goaltending out of the way quickly between these two teams. I can’t for the life of me trust Tristan Jarry tonight and I don’t want to go down the Ville Husso route. If you want to take the risk on either one, be my guest, but be prepared to be disappointed.
Shifting the focus to the forward, Pittsburgh has no shortage of elite options to consider. Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzle are great options but don’t hesitate to scroll down and target Reilly Smith. If you want to really go all out, Erik Karlsson is in a great spot because we know he loves to shoot the puck. If you want to look at a cheaper defenceman, Ryan Graves has 11 blocked shots in three games this season and is $3700 on DK. He’s going to flirt with the blocked shots bonus.
For Detroit, Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat and Moritz Seider is the main three-man stack I’d be considering. Again, Tristan Jarry can be hot-or-miss, and tonight, I think he’s a miss. He’s been decent this season, but I’m just not buying his 4-0 shutout against Washington. Lucas Raymond is definitely the way to go if you need another affordable forward.
I’ll throw Jake Walman’s name in here too because he’s another defenceman who can provide some offence but is a great shot blocker. If you pair him and Graves together and fill the UTIL spot with someone like Karlsson/Seider, you should be able to still afford some high-priced forwards. There’s nothing wrong with going with three defencemen on this slate.
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.