Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Updates – January 30

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.

Sign up for DraftStreet to create your own Daily Fantasy Hockey lineup.

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 Boston Bruins

The Habs were able to break out of their losing streak with a 3-0 win against Carolina on Tuesday. Before the parade gets planned, the ‘Canes were on a back to back and the Canadiens were not. They still allowed 36 shots on goal, if that gives you an indication of the level of play the Habs have had for a while now. Essentially, this team is a mess from top to bottom right now and I wouldn’t bet a single dollar on them in any way shape or form until something drastically changes.

Boston is 5-2 at home since Christmas and has won four straight overall going into tonight. The offense has absolutely exploded for them of late with six goals in three straight games and averaging 3.5 goals for/game for the month of January. Part of it is the power play that has gone along at a 26.1-percent rate over their last six games; part of it is that they have all three lines contributing to the offense so the opposition cannot key in on one specific line to shut down. It’s a blessing and a curse: Boston seems ripe for scoring 4-5 goals tonight but it’s not easy to pinpoint which line will factor in the most.

This is only the second meeting this year with the Habs taking the first one at the start of December by a score of 2-1. That game essentially came at the end of the Habs’ winning streak and it’s been downhill since then. I would assume the Plekanec line gets the Bergeron line, so I would look elsewhere for Boston’s scoring. That’s just based off their last game and a lot has changed in the nearly two months since.

This game seems like a good spot to stack the Bruins and I’ll be doing exactly that.

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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