Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – December 28

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.

Boston Bruins at Ottawa Senators

The second game of a back-to-back is one the Senators need; last night’s 5-0 loss at the hand of the Bruins should be a wake-up call for this team (amid a season that’s been full of wake-up calls). They essentially gave up in the second half of the game last night after they couldn’t beat Tuukka Rask, and didn’t put their foot back on the pedal until they were down 3-0.

The assumption tonight is that last night’s back-up goalies, Craig Anderson for Ottawa and Niklas Svedberg for Boston, will be the starters. It would be nice to have Svedberg available on DraftDay, but he’s not on their rosters yet.

I would expect a bit of a better game out of Ottawa tonight. They already hold a victory of Boston this year, from back in November, so it’s not unreasonable to think they can win again. This probably will be a bit more high-scoring and a bit of a closer game than last night.

A friendly note: Reilly Smith just keeps rolling for Boston (9 G and 4 A in his last 10 games). His DraftDay price is finally going up, so it’s not much longer that he’ll be a tremendous value. The next guy in line for this distinction is Ryan Spooner.

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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