Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – January 28

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 DraftStreet 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.

Florida Panthers at Boston Bruins

The Florida Panthers have done it. It’s been one month since they last scored a power play goal and the team has gone 0-for-40 with the man advantage since. Their power play on the season is down to a cool 8.8-percent which is one of the worst in recorded history. Amazingly, the team is 7-4-2 since they last scored a power play goal. A lot of that has to do with good five-on-five play and excellent goaltending from Tim Thomas of late.

Boston may be a bit tired tonight as the game with Florida is their third in four nights, even though they’ve dismantled their previous two opponents by a 12-4 margin. Over their previous six games, the Bruins are averaging over 35 shots on goal per game, a quite unusual offensive outburst for this team. The line of Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Reilly Smith just keeps rolling along (11 points in their last two games) and right now it’s hard not to take one or two of them every night.

This is the third meeting this year between the two teams and Boston has taken the first two while only allowing 53 shots against in the two contests. It’s always tougher to bet on a team playing the second game of a back-to-back but Tuukka Rask should get the nod tonight after having last night off so Boston gets a boost in net.

Dougie Hamilton is back to being the lone defenseman on Boston’s second power play unit with the Bergeon line and Loui Eriksson. He had an assist on a late goal last night and is in a good position to be able to produce with some consistency.

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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