NHL DFS Playbook October 31: Top DraftKings and FanDuel Picks
Welcome to Tuesday’s two-game NHL Slate. It’s Halloween, so there should be a ton of spookiness in the air. Will the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltending haunt us and not perform well? Can the Vancouver Canucks continue their strong start to the season? Which NHL player will ghost us? You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Fantasy for Friday, October 31st, 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
Toronto Maple Leafs Vs Cam Talbot (3.6)
Vancouver Canucks Vs. Kevin Lankinen (3.3)
Los Angeles KingsVs. Joseph Woll (3.0)
Nashville Predators Vs Thatcher Demko (2.9)
Toronto Maple Leafs Vs. Los Angeles Kings
Players to target: Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Pierre Luc Dubois, William Nylander, Matthew Knies, Alex Laferriere, T.J. Brodie, Matt Roy, Joseph Woll
The total for this game opened at 7.0 but has since moved to 6.5. The main reason is that Pheonix Copley and Ilya Samsonov are not starting, so that means we are going to see some decent goaltending in this game. While the goaltending may be slightly better, we should see a healthy amount of scoring chances.
For Toronto, the main players to target up front are William Nylander and John Tavares. I have no issue with playing Auston Matthews, but it’s going to be a challenge to fit his high price tag under the salary cap. Nylander can shoot the puck and has at least a point in every game this season. To help balance out the cost, T.J Brodie becomes almost a must-play. He isn’t going to wow anyone with points, but he is blocking a ton of shots and is $3600 on DraftKings. Can’t go wrong with that kind of value.
The Kings are a good offensive team, but I’ll gladly back Joseph Woll tonight. He has done nothing but be great this season, sporting a 3-1-0 record, a 1.33 GAA and a .961 SV%. He’s going to come back down to earth at some point, but it might not happen in this game.
On the flip side, the Kings have a few options to look at. While they are capable of scoring goals and taking a lot of shots, I’m going to limit my exposure to them because I like players from the second game more. Pierre Luc Dubois and Alex Laferriere are good, affordable options to consider if you aren’t going down the Woll path. You can also play Matt Roy at a very low price and have a nice, cheap three-man stack.
Nashville Predators vs Vancouver Canucks
Players to target: Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, Ryan O’Reilly, Brock Boeser, Andrei Kuzmenko, Philipp Di Giuseppe, Roman Josi, Quinn Hughes, Ryan McDonagh, Dante Fabbro, Thatcher Demko
The Vancouver Canucks are off to a great start to the season and are looking to add another win to their total. There are lots of options on the Vancouver side, but we need to be smart about who we target.
There is nothing wrong with stacking both J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. They may play on separate lines, but they are both on the top power play unit and are both capable of racking up points. If you don’t want to double-stack the C position, then consider going with Andrei Kuzmenko. He doesn’t shoot the puck much, so that does limit his upside.
On the back end, Quinn Hughes is scoring goals and has a ton of offensive upside. You can stack him with Miller/EP40 to complete the three-man power play stack.
On the flip side, Nashville doesn’t have a ton of forwards that I am in love with. Ryan O’Reilly is off to a strong start this season, but his shot volume isn’t here. If you’re going to target a player who doesn’t shoot the puck, it might as well be Kuzmenko.
The real value is on the blue line. We know what Roman Josi can do, but is it wise to pay up for him? Ryan McDonagh and Dante Fabbro are two players that I would consider playing. I’ll even go as far as suggesting you stack them. We know they aren’t in the lineup to score goals but rather block shots, and they do that regularly. The salary savings will also allow you to potentially pay up for another elite forward.
To wrap things up, Thatcher Demko is the only goalie worth considering. It might be hard for him to hit value because Nashville is middle-of-the-pack when it comes to shots on goal, but he is on a good team that is expected to win the game. If anything, you’re chasing the win here and I’m fine with that on a two-game 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.