Daily Fantasy Hockey Update, November 29

I will mention that I generally do not pick two players playing against each other in the same game for a daily 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 goalie’s 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.

Pittsburgh Penguins at Tampa Bay Lightning

The Penguins had a big comeback the other night against Toronto, bringing Pittsburgh’s power play to 7-for-16 in their last four games. They also have at least 30 shots on net in their last five games. They put up five against Tampa back in October, and who knows what their goaltending will be like. Expect quite a few goals.

Tampa Bay is sliding. If the options you want aren’t cheap, avoid the Lightning. This just doesn’t feel like a good game to start either goalie, and that means you could see quite a few minus players.

Detroit Red Wings at New York Islanders

The Wings stomped the Bruins a couple of nights ago, but it was an aberration for the month as Detroit’s other wins this month came against Buffalo, Carolina, Edmonton and Winnipeg. On the flipside, they haven’t allowed 30+ shots in five straight contests.

As always, I really worry about the plus/minus of anyone from the Islanders, which means I worry about their daily upside. Not only that, their power play is 1-for-15 over their last four games, while allowing four power play goals over that stretch.

Calgary Flames at Anaheim Ducks

Don’t even think of starting Reto Berra from Calgary in this game. I don’t care what he did last game.

Other than that, I have a hard time taking any Flames, especially on the road. Their streak of allowing 2+ goals against in every single game this season remains intact, after they allowed three goals in the final 11 minutes of their last game.

Anaheim already has a 3-2 win over Calgary this year, and that was over a month ago when the Flames were winning a lot of games. The Ducks have at least two power play goals in four of their 13 games this month and haven’t allowed a power play goal in three straight games.

St. Louis Blues at San Jose Sharks

This should be the game of the day, and what a match it is.

Much like Boston and New York, I don’t want to pick a winner in this game, thus I don’t want either goalie. The Blues could win 3-1, so could the Sharks, and pretty much every other outcome is on the table. And St. Louis is stingy on the PK, having not allowed a power play goal against in five straight games and only three all month in 14 games to date.

Not a lot of point in picking out the strengths/flaws of the Sharks. The usual suspects are always dangerous, but again, this game is such a toss-up, good luck picking out who gets points.

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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