Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – January 31

I generally 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.

Sign up for DraftStreet to create your own daily fantasy hockey lineup

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.

New York Islanders at New York Rangers

For the third time in 10 days, these two teams will face one another. In those two games, each team won a game in the other’s barn, though the Rangers win was at Yankee Stadium so I think we can call that neutral territory.

The Islanders have lost four games in a row, though, aside from the Rangers, they have faced the Bruins, Blues, and Penguins so there’s not a lot to get overly concerned about. The big worry is their power play which has failed to convert in four straight games. This team has one power play goal in their six losses this month, an indication of the team not being able to keep the puck out of their own net on a regular basis (so they have to fill the other net). There’s no way to predict how a power play will do on a given night, but the Islanders are just 1-for-12 against the Rangers this year and the only game they won was the only game they had a power play goal.

With a win tonight, the Rangers can give themselves a 10-win month and give themselves a five point cushion on their playoff spot. Part of the Rangers turn-around is finding the back of the net consistently; if the Rangers score two goals tonight then that will mean January has the fewest number of games with one goal scored or less for the Rangers this year. When a team can consistently put a couple of goals on the board it gives them a good chance of winning games. That’s what the Rangers are doing.

I do expect the Rangers to take the game tonight thought I think it will be the high-scoring nature of games earlier this year. For that reason, I’ll avoid both goalies and go with skaters from both sides (particularly the Rangers’ third 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');

See Full Bio