Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – January 22

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.

Montréal Canadiens at Pittsburgh Penguins

The Habs have been alternating wins and losses for three weeks now and part of that is giving up 26 goals in eight games – this has been by far Carey Price’s worst month statistically – and part of it is that this is a team that gets a lot of problems hidden because of a Vezina-calibre goalie and a Norris-calibre defenseman. Despite their 5-3 loss to Toronto on Saturday, the Canadiens power play has connected in back to back games for just the second time in a month.

Pittsburgh is coming off a 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Monday night, a game that I’d like to just kind of erase from memory. Any game where Scott Clemmensen (and no offense to him, he’s had a fine career) outduels the most potent offense in the NHL, you just tip your hat and move on. What’s a little more worrisome is that Pittsburgh’s power play went 0-for-3 and is now 0-for-9 in their last three games. Every team has a downturn in production eventually, but going 0-fer against the 21^st, 23^rd and 28^th ranked penalty kills is a bit absurd.

These two teams met back on November 23^rd and that resulted in a 3-2 win for Montréal (in la Belle Province). In that game, the Plekanec line was lined up against the Crosby line and pretty much held them in check (even possession rates, no points). I would expect that same matchup tonight, meaning there should be a little bit of extra room to skate for Evgeni Malkin’s line. One last thing about that game; the score was 1-0 going into the third period and the Penguins needed a late goal to get it within one. I don’t think tonight will be really high-scoring but there should be enough goals to pick away at a couple of skaters (most notably, on the second line).

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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