Yesterday I prayed to the daily fantasy gods. In a disgraceful act of pure begging I sent my prayer over the Twitter airwaves. Maybe the daily fantasy gods actually live somewhere in the dark netherworld of Twitter as some of my prayers were answered. We went undefeated last night over at FanDuel—going 3-0 in head-to-heads, placing fourth in one 50-man league, fourth in a 20-man league, 38th out of 1,116 entries in the $2K NHL tourney and 24th out of 561 entries for the $500 NHL tournament. The gods were kind and I thank them.
But in daily fantasy you’re only as good as your last lineup and those merciful beings who allow us to win from time to time may crack the whip of utter despair at any moment. I feel good right now. I’ll feel good until about 7PM tonight when the next round of games begin.
Unfortunately, there are only three NHL games tonight. I’m sure many daily fantasy gamers find nights like these frustrating. It makes you question all that is good in the world. When you’re winning, nights like these can be the crash back to reality. The little voices start to creep into your head – “You aren’t that good. All of your forwards will break their legs during the National Anthem just after the rosters lock. Why are you even playing?”
I’ll dismiss those voices for now and go with the following lineup. May the daily fantasy gods be with you.
LW: Patrick Kane $8,900—Kane is expensive and hasn’t scored in four games. I know that doesn’t sound appealing but I’ve been in the habit of picking players who are getting the puck on net and Kane has six shots on goal over his past two games. He is also a plus-3 and has two assists over his past three games.
LW: Gabriel Bourque $4,000—Bourque had a goal and two shots on net against Detroit on the 19th. At $4,000 I’m going with Bourque as he has four goals and is a solid plus-6 on the season. These are the kind of gut wrenching picks you make when the player pool is so limited.
RW: Pascal Dupuis $6,000—Any player who skates alongside of Crosby will always have value.
RW: Tomas Kopecky $4,300—Kopecky has two goals over his past three games. Again, with such a limited player pool we have find value where we can.
C: Sidney Crosby $9,800—You know him. I like the pair of Crosby/Dupuis tonight.
C: Mike Fisher $5,200—I like how Fisher is trending. He only has seven points this season but three of those points have come in the past two games. He also has seven shots on goal and is plus-3 over the last two games.
D: Paul Martin $4,100—There’s no good reason not use Martin tonight. He has four points in his last two games and sees power play time. He’s a steal at $4,100.
D: Roman Josi $3,500—I’m really digging for value and Josi has seen over 22 minutes of ice time per game. He scored his first goal of the season on the 19th against Detroit and he gets power play minutes. We can’t ask for much more.
G: Ray Emery $8,200—All Chicago does is win games and Emery has six wins in six games.
