Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – January 18th

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.

Columbus Blue Jackets at Buffalo Sabres

The Blue Jackets are coming off a 5-1 win against Washington and are playing their second game in as many nights. Their power play is starting to heat up as it’s converted four times in their last 10 chances and they have seven power play goals in seven games to start 2014. Columbus is 5-2-1 in the second of back-to-back games this year with their regulation losses coming against Pittsburgh and Boston.

Buffalo has been off since Wednesday but have just one regulation win in their last seven games, having gone 2-3-2 since New Year’s Eve. Their problem has been goal scoring (which has been a problem for them all year); Buffalo has scored just 10 goals in those seven games with six of them coming in their last two. Their power play has been pretty stellar in those seven games, having given up just three goals on 25 chances (88-percent efficiency).

I anticipate tonight being a low-scoring game as the Sabres can’t score to save their lives, with Columbus coming out on top. I don’t feel overly confident about that, so I won’t be taking Curtis McElhinney in many spots (or Sergei Bobrovsky if he gets the nod in back-to-back games). There are still some nice value plays on both sides, though.

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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