Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – January 3, 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.

Chicago Blackhawks at New Jersey Devils

The Blackhawks are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss last night on Long Island, making tonight a back-to-back situation. What’s curious about that game is they ended up with even shot attempts in close situations, something that doesn’t happen frequently for a strong possession team like Chicago when playing a poor team like the Islanders. What that means is they essentially didn’t show up to play last night, and I am hoping for a better effort tonight.

The Devils are playing their first game of 2014, so they should be well rested. To end last year, they won back-to-back division games against the Islanders and Penguins, garnering four much-needed points in a suddenly-contestable Metropolitan Division.

One bright spot for the Blackhawks last night was that they converted on their only power play opportunity, making it 18 power play goals in their last 16 games and having at least one goal on the man advantage in 14 of those games. Also, after allowing two power play goals against in Toronto on December 14, they have now killed off 23 of their last 25 times shorthanded, bringing their penalty kill efficiency on the year up over 3-percent on the season and out of the basement.

The Devils are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games, but (for the most part) those losses came from teams they “should” lose to and wins from teams they “should” beat. These two teams met less than two weeks ago, with Chicago holding New Jersey to just 12 shots and the ‘Hawks won 5-2. While I’d hope the Devils manage more shots than 12, I see a similar result tonight.

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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