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Friday 1/28 NHL Breakdown
Welcome back for another installment of the Friday Night Forecheck here at Win Daily Sports! Tonight, we get a nice five game slate. It’s not too big, and not too small, and at first glance looks like a pretty good one. Good luck!
Goalies
Pavel Francouz – Colorado Avalanche: The Avs head to Chicago tonight to face the Blackhawks in a game they should pretty much dominate. They have a massive implied team total and should be able to handle the Hawks. The issue is limited upside here, so he may not be the optimal for GPPs tonight.
Braden Holtby – Dallas Stars: Dallas hosts the Washington Capitals tonight, and Holtby appears to be getting the start against his old team. This is a great spot for Holtby, as the Stars are a better team at home. There should definitely be some shot upside here, and the potential for a win is very real.
Bonus GPP Goalie Pick – Cam Talbot – Minnesota Wild: The Wild head to the Big Apple tonight to take on the Rangers, who just played last night in Columbus. While the Rangers have been better on home ice of late, they could be due for a letdown, and Talbot could very well go in and steal a game from them tonight. NARRATIVE ALERT!! Talbot was the backup to Henrik Lundqvist for two years, and the Rangers are retiring Hank’s number tonight. Marc-Andre Fleury is a consideration for a VERY RISKY GPP ONLY play, against the Avalanche tonight, who could possibly be without their star center in MacKinnon. Even without him, this is a very risky play, but it makes sense given the shot upside and the fact that MAF loves showing up in weird, unlikely spots.
Lines to Build Around
These lines are considered top plays for the night and can be considered the focal point of your builds. They will be listed by position in the following order: Center/Winger/Winger/Correlating Defenseman (if applicable).
Boston Bruins Power Play – Patrice Bergeron/David Pastrnak/Brad Marchand/Taylor Hall/Charlie McAvoy: The Bruins head to the desert tonight to face the lowly Coyotes and their pretty bad goalie in Scott Wedgewood. This unit is high powered, and will be facing the second worst penalty killing unit in the league tonight. It feels like a Pastrnak night, so if you want to go straight BOS2, that works in this situation as well.
Colorado Avalanche 1 – Nazem Kadri/Gabriel Landeskog/Mikko Rantanen/Cale Makar: The Avs called up a center from the AHL last night, which could indicate that Nathan MacKinnon will be out tonight, after taking a rough looking, but totally clean (THERE I SAID IT!) hit from Taylor Hall the other night. Even if Mac can’t go tonight, this is a nice play with Kadri in the top line at C. Kadri has been more than adequate replacing Mac as needed, and this line is in a great spot tonight. Make sure you keep an eye on news through the day, and if MacKinnon does go, then he goes in Kadri’s place.
High Risk Lines
These are plays that carry significantly more risk, but could pay off at low ownership. They will be listed by position in the following order: Center/Winger/Winger/Correlating Defenseman (if applicable).
Dallas Stars 1 – Roope Hintz/Jason Robertson/Joe Pavelski/Miro Heiskanen: The Stars are a much better team on home ice, and tonight they host the Capitals. This even strength matchup bodes well for the Stars, as this line should see much of the depth lines for the Caps. The Stars at home generally match the Glendening line to the opposing top line, setting up this very nice depth matchup.
Minnesota Wild 2 – Frederick Gaudreau/Matthew Boldy/Kevin Fiala/Matt Dumba: A lot of folks will be on the top Minnesota line, and for good reason. The top line looks good as well here, but this second line should be more of a focus, simply based on even strength matchup. The Wild second line should be in for some very good looks tonight, as they face mostly the second line for the Rangers.
Pittsburgh Penguins 1 – Sidney Crosby/Jake Guentzel/Bryan Rust/Kris Letang: the Penguins host the Red Wings tonight, and frankly this game could go either way. The Pens played last night, and are starting a bad goalie in Desmith. With Nedeljkovic likely starting for the Wings, expect a lot of goals tonight, giving this line an opportunity to slide under the radar with Boston and Colorado on the slate.
Detroit Red Wings 2 – Pius Suter/Tyler Bertuzzi/Robby Fabbri/Moritz Seider: The second line for the Wings has been very good recently, and tonight sets them up with a chance to continue that. The Pens loosely match their top two lines against opposing top 2 D pairings, setting this line up for plenty of chances tonight. They will likely carry little ownership, so they are a very nice target for value tonight.
Honorable Mentions: WSH2, NYRPP, MIN1
Value Options – DraftKings
Center: Pius Suter ($3400) – Detroit Red Wings
Wing: Matt Boldy ($2500) – Minnesota Wild
Defense: Samuel Girard ($3600) – Colorado Avalanche
Value Options – FanDuel
Center: Frederick Gaudreau ($4500) – Minnesota Wild
Wing: Craig Smith ($4000) – Boston Bruins
Defense: Esa Lindell ($4500) – Dallas Stars
Cash Considerations – DraftKings
Center: Nazem Kadri – Colorado Avalanche
Wing: David Pastrnak – Boston Bruins
Defense: Miro Heiskanen – Dallas Stars
Goalie: Pavel Francouz – Colorado Avalanche
Cash Considerations – FanDuel
Center: Nazem Kadri – Colorado Avalanche
Wing: David Pastrnak – Boston Bruins
Defense: Miro Heiskanen – Dallas Stars
Goalie: Pavel Francouz – Colorado Avalanche
Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Jon and the NHL team will be there answering questions right up until lock! Be sure to be on the look out for future articles at https://windailysports.com/daily-fantasy-hockey/
All line combinations are courtesy of www.dailyfaceoff.com, and the advanced rates referenced in the above article are pulled from www.naturalstattrick.com.
