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This article will focus on NHL Daily Fantasy picks for both FanDuel and DraftKings. Using advanced hockey metrics, slate analysis, and line by line evaluation, this article will point you towards what we think are the best plays for the night! Good luck!
Friday 11/5 NHL Breakdown
Hey all, and welcome to November! This first Friday in November offers us a smaller, five game slate, that looks a little bit tougher at first glance. We have some weird matchups tonight, and the slate doesn’t lock until 8pm Eastern.
Goalies
John Gibson – Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks host the winless Coyotes tonight, and they should be able to handle them. The Coyotes are the worst team in the league right now, and this is a pretty solid opportunity for a win for Gibby. He is sporting a 2.57 GAA and 0.917SV% on the season, and will look to improve upon those numbers tonight. Expect a lower shot volume, limiting his upside.
Thatcher Demko – Vancouver Canucks: Vancouver hosts the Nashville Predators tonight, who are scoring just under 3 goals per game on the road in their last five road games. Vancouver at home is only giving up 1.8 goals against per game, which is a great combination for a shutdown performance for Demko.
Bonus GPP Goalie Pick – Karel Vejmelka – Arizona Coyotes: Vejmelka has numbers similar to John Gibson, and he really hasn’t been playing poorly. Unfortunately for him, the team in front of him is very bad at defense, so he has to stand on his head. Tonight should be no different, so the upside is there from a shot total standpoint. The hope we have with this play is that he doesn’t let it get out of hand. Maybe we get lucky and he snags his first win of the season tonight. Consider Mackenzie Blackwood as a GPP pick as well, as the goalie for the New Jersey Devils makes his season debut after returning from injury.
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).
Edmonton Oilers 1 – Leon Draisaitl/Connor McDavid/Jesse Puljujarvi/Tyson Barrie: How do we pass on these guys at this point? Edmonton has been steamrolling their opponents in the early part of the season, and tonight should be a fantastic display of hockey, as they face the New York Rangers on home ice. The Rangers come into this game allowing a measly 2 goals against per game on the road, but the Oilers have been scoring a whopping 4.33 goals per game at home. The way Draisaitl has been playing, you want to play him until the wheels fall off.
Anaheim Ducks Power Play – Ryan Getzlaf/Troy Terry/Trevor Zegras/Jamie Drysdale: The Ducks, as mentioned above, have a matchup with the worst team in the league tonight on home ice. They are in a fantastic spot and should carry some ownership, especially as people pair them with Edmonton. Because the scoring can be spread out, the power play is the best way to get access to both top lines. If Sonny Milano is in the lineup and on this unit, he is a fine piece to add to the mix in place of Troy Terry. Anaheim comes in at 5th on the power play this season, up against the Coyotes who are ranked 31st on the penalty kill.
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).
Vancouver Canucks 2 – Bo Horvat/Tanner Pearson/Nils Hoglander/Quinn Hughes: The Canucks second line matched up against the Rangers’ top line in their last home game, and we would expect them to follow the same line matching patterns. This puts them in a fantastic upside matchup against the top line for the Nashville Predators tonight. On top of that, Jusse Saros has a 3.34 GAA on the road this season in a small sample. On home ice, the Canucks have been pretty good defensively, but have had some trouble scoring, which is why they are higher risk. They have a chance tonight to break out of that scoring funk.
Chicago Blackhawks Power Play – Jonathan Toews/Patrick Kane/Alex Debrincat/Seth Jones: Feel free to replace Alex Debrincat for Ryan Carpenter in this look. Patrick Kane, since coming back from COVID, has been playing lights out, and this team got instantly better. Toews/Carpenter have been great as well, and they get to face Eric Comrie in net tonight against the Jets. This is a nice upside play that might be forgotten about with the likes of Edmonton on the slate.
Arizona Coyotes 2 – Johan Larsson/Phil Kessel/Dmitrij Jaskin: On a slate like tonight, there will be some weird things that will happen. This line has been producing chances and shooting the puck pretty nicely so far this season, at a 36.56 shots for/60, 32.34 scoring chances for/60, 11.25 high danger chances for/60, and a 2.76 expected goals for per 60 clip. This says that the chances are there, and the opportunity could be there tonight for them to pot a couple of goals. This is the definition of risk, but if you are looking to get a little different, these rates say enough to play them on a short slate. On a slate any bigger, they would not be in play.
Honorable mentions: Winnipeg Jets 1, Los Angeles Kings Power Play, New York Rangers 1, New Jersey Devils 2
Value Options – DraftKings
Center: Jonathan Toews ($3700) – Chicago Blackhawks – Tazer is a big power play component and a big piece of the Hawks’ team still. The fact that he is only $3700 is pretty surprising, even with his limited production lately. He can still shoot the puck and any points are a bonus at this point.
Wing: Arthur Kaliyev ($3400) – Los Angeles Kings – Kaliyev spends time on the top power play, and at $3400, that is enough opportunity to give him a look
Defense: Kale Clague ($3600) – Los Angeles Kings – Clague is a great punt, but he is getting a little pricier each game. He still gets power play time and is logging around 20 minutes per game, which gives him plenty of upside for his price.
Value Options – FanDuel
Center: Ryan Johansen ($4200) – Nashville Predators – Johansen has not had the production over the last couple of seasons like he had before, but as a top line, power play center, this is a good price and spot to consider if you need to go here.
Wing: Sonny Milano ($3800) – Anaheim Ducks – Sonny has a nice value to him, IF, he is on the top power play. Keep an eye on the line rushes through the day and make sure he is on that top unit.
Defense: Tyler Myers ($3600) – Vancouver Canucks – A top pair D man logging anywhere from 19-25 minutes per game, and blocking shots each game except 1? This is a great, near minimum price for this production. He may not light up the scoreboard, but down here, we don’t need him to.
Cash Considerations – DraftKings
Leon Draisaitl – C – Edmonton Oilers
Kyle Connor – W – Winnipeg Jets
Adam Fox – D – New York Rangers
John Gibson – G – Anaheim Ducks
Cash Considerations – FanDuel
Leon Draisaitl – C – Edmonton Oilers
Kyle Connor – W – Winnipeg Jets
Adam Fox – D – New York Rangers
John Gibson – G – Anaheim Ducks
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.
