DailyFaceoff DFS Cheat Sheet – November 4th

Below I have listed my favourite centres, wingers, defensemen and goalies for tonight’s slate of Daily Fantasy action. Each player is listed with their prices from both of the Daily Fantasy giants—DraftKings and FanDuel—prices are listed as (DraftKings / FanDuel)

Centres

Rickard Rakell – vs. ARI – (DK-$5,300 / FD-$5,100)

With Ryan Getzlaf not expected to play on Friday, Rakell will once again skate on the top line with Corey Perry. Rakell played 19:46 on Wednesday and has one goal, two assists and eight shots in his first two games back. The matchup should be a giving one for a struggling Ducks team. Arizona currently sits at the bottom of the NHL in goals against.

Henrik Zetterberg – vs. WPG – (DK-$5,000 / FD-$5,200)

Zetterberg eats up massive minutes on the Red Wings’ top line and finally picked up his first goal on Wednesday. Playing with Tatar, makes Zetterberg a strong play tonight vs. a Winnipeg team that is playing their fourth game in six nights. Zetterberg is averaging 4.25 shots per game over the last four and if he and Tatar constantly look dangerous. Stack em up.

Alex Wennberg – vs. MTL – (DK-$4,700 / FD-$4,700)

Montreal has not lost in regulation, but they’ve mostly been carried by the stellar play of Carey Price, but he will get the night off. Al Montoya has been fine in Price’s absence, but Montreal isn’t a great team and they’ve been outshot in three straight games. Wennberg might be the most underrated player in the NHL, but won’t be for long. The trio of Wennberg, Saad and Foligno has been hot and the young centre comes in with one goal and seven assists in eight games. He is reasonably priced and his owned percentage should remain low with a “tough” opponent.

Wingers

Corey Perry – vs. ARI – (DK-$6,900 / FD-$6,700)

Without Getzlaf in the lineup, people might shy away from Perry, but Rakell is perfectly capable of being a quality running-mate in the short-term. Perry has four goals and four assists in 11 games, but it is his 35 shots (t-16th in the NHL) that is the most reliable. Plug him in against a weak Coyotes’ netminder, whoever it may be, and reap the rewards.

Brandon Saad – vs. MTL – (DK-$5,200 / FD-6,500)

Saad picked up two assists in the Blue Jackets’ OT win over Dallas on Tuesday, to give him a four-game point streak and six points over that stretch (3G / 3A). He is the Blue Jackets’ best goal scorer and as I mentioned, playing on a red-hot line vs. a team that was just badly outshot by the Canucks.

Tomas Tatar – vs. WPG – (DK-$4,700 / FD-$4,600)

Tatar is playing more and shooting more than he ever has in his career, yet he has just one goal in 11 games. He is shooting a measly 3.2 percent, which pales in comparison to his 12.2 career shooting percentage. It is only a matter of time before he breaks out in a big way and that could be tonight vs. a fatigued Jets team that is banged up and allowing 3.00 goals per game.

Nick Foligno – vs. MTL – (DK-$4,600 / FD-$5,300)

You’ll rarely see me pumping Foligno’s tires, but I will in this instance. He’s off to a great start, picking up nine points (2G / 7A) in his first eight games and I’m all about this Blue Jackets’ line tonight. Foligno has also seen his shot totals from the first five games triple over the last three games.

Defensemen

Zach Werenski – vs. MTL – (DK-$5,600 / FD-$4,600)

If you’re going to be all-in on the Blue Jackets then you’re all-in on Werenski too. The rookie defenseman is averaging point-per game to go along with three shots per contest on the young season and deserves you consideration tonight.

Cam Fowler – vs. ARI – (DK-$5,200 / FD-$4,400)

Fowler plays insane minutes on the Ducks’ top pair and is having the best offensive season of his career so far. Fowler has picked up four goals and four assists as well as two-plus shots per game through 11 contests. There are minimal options in Anaheim right now, but Fowler is one of the good ones.

Niklas Kronwall – vs. WPG – (DK-$3,600 / FD-$4,100)

Kronwall might not be healthy for long, so you might as well use him while he is healthy. I expect the Red Wings to get their goals tonight and Kronwall will make his debut on their top power-play unit next to Mike Green. He is extremely cheap for a defenseman who has offensive upside on a top unit.

Goalies

John Gibson – vs. ARI – (DK-$7,900 / FD-$8,400)

It was surprising to see Gibson come off of the ice first this afternoon, I thought Jonathan Bernier would start this game for sure, but it looks like it will be Gibson. He is coming off of a rough outing vs. the Penguins, which was to be expected. He has been OK, not terrible, not great, but I’ll take him on home-ice vs. the Coyotes on the tail-end of a back-to-back.

Petr Mrazek – vs. WPG – (DK-$7,800 / FD-$8,200)

Mrazek has given up eight goals in his last two games sure, but the game-tying goal on Wednesday he was being sat on and the OT winner was a 2-on-1. That could have just as easily been a 3-2 win and we’re not concerned about Mrazek. His numbers are a case of the Red Wings, not as much poor goaltending. Detroit wins this game at the very least and Mrazek picks up the win bonus.

Sergei Bobrovsky – vs. MTL – (DK-$7,300 / FD-$8,900)

All-in right? Bobrovsky has been great recently. He back-stopped the Blue Jackets to an OT win on Tuesday, stopping 38 shots and has won four of his last six starts with a 1.50 GAA, .954 SV% and two shutouts. He’s as hot as they come right now and the matchup isn’t as terrible as it looks.

Ideal Lineups

DraftKings

C – Wennberg ($4,700)
C – Zetterberg ($5,000)
W – Saad ($5,200)
W – Tatar ($4,700)
W – Perry ($6,900)
D – Werenski ($5,600)
D – Fowler ($5,200)
U – Rakell ($5,300)
G – Bobrovksy ($7,300)

FanDuel

C – Wennberg ($4,700)
C – Zetterberg ($5,200)
W – Tatar ($4,600)
W – Saad ($6,500)
W – Perry ($6,700)
W – Foligno ($5,300)
D – Byfuglien ($5,300)
D – Ekman-Larsson ($6,600)
G – Bobrovsky ($8,900)