We have three games today with some high-flying offensive teams. Colorado and Carolina are going to be popular, but can we find some value elsewhere? Will Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon destroy the slate? Can Jonathan Quick help lead the Los Angeles Kings to a fifth straight victory? You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Fantasy for Monday, November 14th, 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 slate.

 

 

NHL DFS Core Plays

Carolina Hurricanes Vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Let’s keep this matchup short and sweet. I don’t love the Chicago Blackhawks at all in this matchup, so I won’t bother to even look at their offence. I do like some of their defencemen, but we will get to that later. First, let’s look at who will be scoring goals for Carolina.

Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho are going to be quite popular tonight and for good reason. I’ll gladly pay up for either/or, but I will have my eye on Stefan Noesen, who completes the line. He put up a big goose egg last game, but that was against Colorado. I expect things to be quite different tonight. If you’re looking for some extra value, Jack Drury is skating on the second line and is $2500 on DraftKings. This is a short slate with some pretty elite players, so if anything, you’re playing him to allow you to pay up elsewhere. If he puts up a zero, so be it. 

On the blue line, Brent Burns is the obvious choice, but I don’t like his $6600 price tag. He can certainly hit value, but I’d rather pay down tonight for defenceman and spend up for elite forwards. We can find better value elsewhere.

Pyotr Kochetkov is getting his second start of the season and is only $8100 on DK. His matchup on paper is very good and he was very good his first time out against Edmonton. He didn’t see a ton of work in that game, but he likely won’t see much more in this one.

For Chicago, Jake McCabe and Connor Murphy are the only two players to worry about. Murphy is affordable at $3800 and has a really good chance at hitting the blocked shots bonus. Caleb Jones is another name we can add to the list, but I like him the least.

 

Los Angeles Kings Vs. Calgary Flames

I have no idea what we are going to get from either team tonight, but I’m hoping it’s goals. The Kings haven’t been great this season but they have won four games in a row and seven of their last ten. The Flames haven’t had the offensive punch that we were all expecting, but they have players who can score goals.

For Los Angeles, Kevin Fiala and Gabriel Vilardi are the two forwards we want to look out for. Fiala has the ability to score goals and he’s racked up 11 points in the last ten games. Vilardi has six goals in his last ten games and continues to see time on the top line. Both players are respectably priced and can hit value.

On defence, Sean Durzi is the player with the most upside. He isn’t on the top power play unit, but he can shoot the puck and block shots. He’s coming off a two-goal performance, so maybe we can see more of that magic in this one?

I know Jonathan Quick isn’t a sexy play, but he’s 6-2-1 in his last ten games and is facing an offence that is ranked 21st in goals per game. The Flames are getting Jonathan Huberdeau back tonight, but that won’t be enough for them. If you want to take a risk with your GPP lineup, this is the way to do it.

For the Flames, Huberdeau and Elias Lindholm are the two players to target. Huberdeau is expected to return to the lineup tonight, and while he only has six points on the season, we know what he is capable of doing when he gets going. Lindholm doesn’t shoot the puck a ton, but he does have points in four of the last five games. His $5300 price tag is also quite soft. If you want to REALLY get cute, Milan Lucic is skating on the second line and second power play unit and is $2500. He’s probably going to have to deal with Anze Kopitar all night, but at that price, just one point would be enough for him to hit value. 

On the back end, Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev are the defencemen to target. Hanifin can shoot the puck and block shots, so his floor is extra high. Tanev made his return to the lineup last game and played just over 17 minutes. He’s a key player on the penalty kill and can easily hit the blocked shots bonus. The best part: he’s only $2600 on DK. Can’t beat that kind of value.

Jacob Markstrom has been a mess this season and I don’t see things getting any better tonight. He’s $8000 and is sporting a .895 SV%. I know the Kings aren’t a great offensive team, but Markstrom hasn’t been stopping pucks, so I’m having a hard time justifying paying up for him. He has played better on home ice, but even that isn’t enough for me to trust him tonight. He has hit value in only two of his starts this season, so I’m just going to say no to him and look elsewhere.

 

 

 

St. Louis Blues Vs. Colorado Avalanche

All that salary we have been saving is for this matchup. The Colorado Avalanche are going to run laps around the St. Louis Blues tonight. For some reason, the Avalanche have gone from -245 to -190, and that is a head-scratcher. I don’t see why money is flowing the Blues way, but maybe that helps keep Colorado’s ownership low(ish).

Nathan MacKinnon has only four goals on the season, but he has 23 points in 13 games. He’s racking up points and shooting the puck. I will get behind that. His linemate Mikko Rantanen has been even hotter-- scoring nine goals and totalling 17 points in the last ten games-- and is now up to 13 goals on the season. I know it’s going to be a challenge to fit both players into one lineup and they will be popular, but I’ll gladly grab a big glass of watch to help me swallow all the chalk if it means I don’t fall behind. 

If you need some cheap options to get exposure to this game, Alex Newhook and Martin Kaut are two options to consider. Neither player has done much this season, but they are both skating on the second line and are below $3K. 

I know watching Cale Makar is fun and having him in our lineup is even more fun, but It’s nearly impossible to fit the big three into the same lineup. I’ll go down the list a bit and play Devon Toews, who is still really good at hockey and can definitely hit value for us.

Alexandar Georgiev is 7-1-1 on the season and is the most expensive goalie on the slate. He has the best chance at picking up the win tonight, it just comes down to a question of whether or not we fit him into our lineup. If you can’t, don’t worry about it, Quick and Kochetkov are good backup options, but there is a clear gap between Georgiev and those two.

For St. Louis, most of their forwards can be ignored. As a team, they are ranked 32nd in goals per game--which is worse than Arizona-- and they have to play this game on the road at altitude? No thank you. If you want a piece of them for bad luck,  Jordan Kyrou has 32 shots on goal in his last ten games, so he might find a way to hit the shot bonus. 

I don’t know how many St. Louis defencemen I will be rostering, but you could go with three and that still wouldn’t be enough. Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy and Niko Mikkola are all great options at different price points. Faulk is by the far the favourite, mainly because he can shoot the puck and block shots. He has a real chance at hitting the double bonus tonight. The other three are all going to be busy blocking shots, so that bodes well for those of you looking for the blocked shots bonus at a cheap price. 

Let me be very clear here: I wouldn’t play Jordan Binnington tonight even if you paid me to. Don’t let his last two performances distract you from the fact that he is a hot mess on a team that has lost eight of its last ten hockey games. He could hit the save bonus, but even that probably won’t save him. The worst-case scenario is he gets pulled after the first period, so like Markstrom, I’m just going to stay far away from him. 
 

 

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