Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – April 6

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.

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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 stack for GPPs. Yellow means targets for cash games. Red means value plays only.

St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks

St. Louis was shut out in their last game 4-0, and it’s been a curious trend: they are the fourth-highest scoring team in the NHL and have been shut out three times in their last nine games. They have also scored two goals or fewer in seven of their last nine games. The team had been riding a pretty high shooting percentage most of the season and it seems that it’s coming crashing down in the final three weeks. Alex Steen has also been ruled out for this game, which means Chris Porter will probably continue his role on the top line.

Chicago has been without Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane for each of the last two games, and they have managed to win both of them (and they were both teams occupying playoff positions). This one will make three games in four day for the team so we’ll see how much they actually have left in the tank for this one.

I have no idea where to go with this one, and neither does Vegas (most online books have the game as an exact coin flip). I don’t think it’s necessarily a good idea to stack either side and will be avoiding both goalies as well. Both teams have essentially been reduced to one line, so it might not be a bad idea to just look for a value skater from each side to help round out GPP stacks.

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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