Welcome to Friday’s two-game NHL Slate. Jack Hughes and Jacob Markstrom are looking to lead their teams to victory and both players should be quite popular on this slate. We still need to dig deep and find value to allow us to pay up for both superstars, so let’s take a look at some options. You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Fantasy for Friday, October 20th, 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 

Calgary Flames Vs Elvis Merzlikins (3.6)

New Jersey Devils Vs. Ilya Sorokin (3.2)

Columbus Blue Jackets Vs. Jacob Markstrom (3.1)

New York Islanders Vs Vitek Vanecek (3.0)

Calgary Flames Vs. Columbus Blue Jackets


Players to target: Elias Lindholm, Jonathan Huberdeau, Matt Coronato, Adam Fantilli, Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin, Andrew Peeke, Chris Tanev, Jacob Markstrom, Elvis Merzlinkins

The Calgary Flames are playing their second game in as many nights, but they are still a great option on this slate. They have forwards who can score goals, so we need to have some exposure to them.

Jonathan Huberdeau is having a decent start to his season. He has four points in as many games, but the shot volume still isn’t there. That could get a slight bump tonight against a bad Columbus team, but he still needs to register a point to hit value.  Matt Coronato is a player to keep an eye on. He may not blow up the slate, but he’s a young player who can shoot the puck.

On the back end, Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev are two players to consider. Hanifin can provide value by racking up points and shots, but he can also block shots, so he can hit value without having to register a point. Tanev is a shutdown defenceman who is cheap and can block three shots without breaking a sweat.

For Columbus, we want just minimal exposure. Adam Fantilli is a talented rookie and he can find time and space to do some damage. The real value here is on the back end with Zach Werenski and Andrew Peeke. Werenski is a real threat to score a goal and he’s back from IR, while Peeke is a step up from Tanev. There’s nothing wrong with playing Peeke/Tanev in the same lineup and spending most of your salary on forwards.

When it comes to goalies, Jacob Markstrom and Elvis Merzlikins are both solid options. Markstorm is playing the second game of the back-to-back, but the matchup on paper is a good one for him. For Merzlinkins, his numbers in two games have been elite, so if you really want to be contrarian, he’s the play to go with.
 

New Jersey Devils Vs. New York Islanders


Players to target: Jack Hughes, Tyler Toffoli, Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, Matthew Barzal, Dougie Hamilton, Noah Dobson, Ilya Sorokin

This game feels like one that the New Jersey Devils should win, but considering how they’ve started the season, I'm not all-in on them. I’ll definitely have exposure to Jack Hughes and Tyler Toffoli, but everything else is optional.

For the Islanders, Noah Dobson is really the only player I care about. He has some offensive upside, but it’s really the value that he brings defensively. He hit the double bonus last game against Arizona and could easily do the same tonight. If you need more exposure to a lacklustre Islanders offence, Matthew Barzal is as far as I’d go.

The main reason I don’t trust the Devils is because of Ilya Sorokin. Getting an elite goalie at $7500 is a gift, one that I’ll gladly take. Again, the Devils have been mediocre to start the season, so even if they do win this game, it won’t be a blowout. There is value in playing Sorokin and Hughes in the same lineup.