Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – January 11

Jeff Carter
Jeff Carter
Dallas TX USA Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen 32 makes the save against Los Angeles Kings center Jeff Carter 77 during the first period at the American Airlines Center Jerome Miron USA TODAY Sports

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 Montréal Canadiens

The Blackhawks have lost four of their last six games, going 2-1-3 in that stretch. The ‘Hawks have also lost three of their last five on the road with the most recent loss coming on Long Island. One thing that has been surprising about their run of late is the lack of goal scoring; Chicago has scored two or fewer goals in four of their last five games.

The Habs, meanwhile, have also lost four of their last six games and have gone goalless on the power play in three straight. They are also averaging four short-handed chances against per game over their last 10, a trend that will need to correct itself if they hope to stay in this game against the defending Cup champs.

One thing about the Habs this year is they are generally getting crushed by the better Western Conference teams: Montréal beat Anaheim 4-1 at home at the end of October but have losses to Colorado, St. Louis (twice), and Los Angeles in the meantime. In general, the Habs have been very up and down for a couple months now, making them a gamble.

I would avoid both goalies in this game because I’m not sure how it shakes out, but I will have Chicago players sprinkled across my lineups.

Top RW Value

Top LW Value

Top C Value

Top D Value

Bargain Bin

Patrick Kane

(CHI)

$13,350

Kris Versteeg

(CHI)

$7700

Marcus Kruger

(CHI)

$5000

Nick Leddy
(CHI)

$5350

Daniel Brière

(MTL)

$5000

author avatar
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. !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');