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
Jonathan India hit a three-run homer off Emmanuel Clase in the bottom of the 10th to give the Royals a 5-3 win over the Guardians in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Clase left a slider over the middle of the plate, and India, who had been 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, hammered it out to left. It was just his fifth homer of the season and the second allowed by Clase. A big disappointment as a fantasy infielder — the 0-for-4 in stolen bases is particularly ridiculous — India still might have something to offer down the stretch. Statcast thinks he’s been really unlucky, giving him an xBA about 30 points higher than his current .242 and an xSLG about 70 points higher than his actual.345 mark. Still, without the occasional steal, his upside is pretty limited.
Michael Wacha held the Guardians to one run and three hits in 5 1/3 innings in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Wacha has allowed exactly one run in three straight starts, though he’s remained stuck on four wins since mid-June. At least the Royals did go on to win 5-3 today on a three-run homer in extra innings. It’s just the second time all year they’ve scored that many runs in a game started by Wacha. They won 7-5 in Houston on May 12. Wacha figures to face the Blue Jays next Friday.
Gavin Williams pitched six innings of two-run ball against the Royals in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Williams allowed five hits, walked two and struck out three. Maikel Garcia’s two-run homer in the fourth was responsible for the damage. Williams’ ability to miss bats varies greatly from start to start, but at least the overall results are getting more consistent. He has a 2.25 ERA in his last four starts, and he hasn’t had any truly bad outings since May. Williams will likely next face the Twins on Friday. Unfortunately, last night’s rainout cost him what would have been a home start versus the Rockies on Wednesday.
Emmanuel Clase gave up a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th to take a blown save and a loss in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Royals.
In a bit of an oddity, all three runs were earned, since Clase picked off the automatic runner on second base. Unfortunately, that was the only out Clase recorded before giving up a homer to Jonathan India. With umpire Malachi Moore refusing to give him anything close, Clase walked Josh Rave before the pickoff and Luke Maile afterwards to set things up. Maybe Rave would have reached anyway, but it really looked like Maile’s ball four should have been strike three. It’s Clase’s fifth blown save and third loss. He had allowed just one homer all year and never more than two runs in an outing.
Maikel Garcia had a two-run homer, a triple and a walk against the Guardians in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The homer off Gavin Williams was hit 418 feet to center. Maybe this is the start of a turnaround for Garcia; he was hitting just .206/.247/.265 in 18 games this month, and he hadn’t homered since June 18.
Hayden Birdsong is starting Sunday’s game for Triple-A Sacramento.
Birdsong was sent to Triple-A on Tuesday, but there was some thought that he could make his next start in the majors after Landen Roupp was placed on the injured list. That won’t happen, as Birdsong will get at least one turn in the minors. If he pitches well in Sacramento, he could be an option before the end of 2025.