Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – January 2, 2014

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.

Nashville Predators at Boston Bruins

The Predators have won back-to-back games but they are just 1-3 away from home since December 1 and lost to this very Boston team, in Nashville, just before the Christmas break.

Boston has lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time since the end of October, a stretch that has seen them go 18-8-2 in the 28 games since. That first loss was a second game of a home-and-home with the Senators. The second one was a poor performance on the penalty kill, that saw them give up four power play goals to the New York Islanders. Boston’s penalty kill had been pretty solid all season, so I consider that a blip more than a trend.

Nashville’s penalty kill unit itself had trouble the last time around against Boston, as they went 0-3 on the PK in the 6-2 loss. If Nashville wants to have any chance of success tonight, they’ll need to stay out of the penalty box as the Bruins now have eight power play goals in their last seven games.

I would expect Boston to take the game tonight, and probably handily. Besides the dominating game they already had  dominated against Nashville, the expectation is that Boston will get Carl Soderberg and Dougie Hamilton back tonight. While not game-breakers so to speak, they are part of the Boston depth that is needed for them to consistently win hockey games. Niklas Svedberg is also in net for Boston, who could make a good option (though not available yet on Draft Day).

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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