DFS Daily Fantasy Hockey Update – December 20

I will mention that I generally do not pick two players playing against each other in the same game for a daily fantasy hockey lineup. The same applies for a goalie and a player from opposite teams. You might see two players among the “value picks” from opposite teams, but that doesn’t mean you should take them both. No matter the value, you’re also likely cannibalizing points, so any gains made below a certain price point – the point where production and cost intersect – can be lost if production declines overall as well.

There are many things that determine value: The player’s history (both short and long-term), the price, recent production, opponent, line matching at even-strength, power play time and injuries are just some of the factors to consider. The “Top Value” doesn’t necessarily mean the cheapest player, either.

Finally, as far as goalies go, it’s the one position I’ll pay through the nose for if I really like the match-up. The same applies for back-ups with good match-ups. In a given night, with a full slate of games, I won’t have more than three different goalies across all my lineups, usually two. I’ll name the goalies I like specifically in the match-ups they appear in.

Here is today’s slate of games (and DraftDay values). Reminder: check Left Wing Lock for up-to-the-minute information on starting goalies.

Games are color-coded as follows:

Green means load up. Yellow means grab a couple of players. Red means value plays only.

Anaheim Ducks at New Jersey Devils

The Ducks, who are currently second in the NHL with 55 points and riding a six-game win streak, are in New Jersey tonight for their second and final meeting with the Devils this season. The first one was a 4-3 overtime win for New Jersey in Anaheim, which constitutes 50-percent of the Ducks’ home losses.

Anaheim is finally healthy, more specifically they got Jakob Silfverberg back in their last game after missing six weeks with a broken hand. His return helped propel the Ducks to a 5-2 win in Detroit, as he tallied Anaheim’s first goal of the game, and played just under 13 minutes. It’ll be a matter of easing him into the lineup, but he’s a talented winger who should be on your radar.

New Jersey has won the first two games of their mini three-game home stand but their toughest test comes tonight in the Ducks. The Devils are playing well of late, though, and have been good against the West over the last couple of months, going 3-4-1 against opponents from the Best Coast (which is much better than most teams from the East).

The scary thing about Anaheim is that they’ve scored 10 goals in their last three games, and none have come on the power play. The Devils are a good penalty kill team, and it’d behoove them not to take penalties. I think this is a close game like the one in Anaheim, so I would avoid both goalies, but I will be picking certain value plays along the way.

Michael Clifford

Michael Clifford was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and is a graduate of the Unviersity of New Brunswick. He writes about fantasy hockey and baseball for XNSports and FantasyTrade411.com. He can be reached on Twitter @SlimCliffy for any fantasy hockey questions. Follow @SlimCliffy !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

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