Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – February 1

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.

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Games are color-coded as follows:

Green means load up. Yellow means grab a couple of players. Red means value plays only.

Edmonton Oilers at Boston Bruins

Professional athletes are creatures of habit and the Oilers get a 1 p.m. start time after being on the West Coast for most of the week might. Not that this is a team that doesn’t have its problems defensively already, but I’m not too keen on a Western team getting that early of a game, especially against a Stanley Cup contender.

The Oilers are riding a three game winning streak with the most recent one being Ben Scrivens’ historic 59-save shutout performance. Other than that, there’s not a lot that’s going right for this team. Their three-game winning streak has seen them get outshot by over 12 shots per game and that’s not winning hockey.

Boston came out flat a couple of nights ago against the Habs, a game in which Tuukka Rask was pulled after allowing three goals on 18 shots. Boston didn’t play particularly poorly after the first 10 minutes of that game but they just couldn’t score. That seemed like a blip rather than a bad game overall.

I’m essentially doubling down here and stacking the Bruins in my lineups. I don’t think this is a good situation for Edmonton and Boston is still playing some pretty good hockey.

If I were to pick a line, I would look at the Boston third line if only for value in the pricing.

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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