The best options for Daily Fantasy Hockey this Saturday, October 17.

Top Budget Plays

Centers

Mattias Janmark $3,000 – Values are all over the place on Saturday with a ten game slate but Janmark has points in all four games for Dallas. He played 17 minutes against Tampa Bay and looked like he did not miss a beat by the end of the game. The center just does not show signs of slowing down and he really does not try to do too much. He will get more and more opportunities on special teams and how long he remains at $3,000 is laughable actually. That dollar value will go up. Get it while you can!

Wingers

Daniel Winnik $2,900 – With value abound, Winnik is another category filler that blocks shots and gets shots on goal. Goals and assists are a bonus really. Toronto can score goals against some defensively suspect teams. Pittsburgh has Ottawa’s number but the Maple Leafs are a strange animal. Winnik is the type of hard-nosed player that could cause the Penguins fits. Checking line players have had some success in the early going against them so it cannot hurt to see if Winnik can do something.

Defensemen

Jason Demers $3,000 – There is a Dallas defenseman that is playing above expectations and it is not John Klingberg right now. He does have three points in four games and suddenly Demers is getting almost 21 minutes a night. That had to have been unanticipated as far as Dallas. However, his value is still rather low on DraftKings and that means he becomes a play when you get right down to it. Occasionally he sees power play time too which elevates his status as well.

Goalie

Craig Anderson $6,800 – Alas Nashville is a rather tough match-up but the Predators do not exactly score a lot either. Anderson has a stellar .931 save percentage on a team that does make defense a bit of an adventure. Yes, the team he is going up against has Pekka Rinne on the opposing side but this could be one of those games where goals will be very much at a premium. Then again it is also a high risk GPP play as well. Sometimes it is worth to try it anyway as they say.

Since we saved some money on the budget plays let’s look at the few of the pricey options that are worth paying up for today.

Centers .

Steven Stamkos $7,500– With the triplets struggling a bit, Stamkos may be the guy to play on Saturday night among high priced centers. Though Tyler Seguin is very tempting, Tampa is playing Buffalo at home and that is usually a recipe for success. Jonathan Drouin has been a great catalyst in reviving the play of the center a little bit. Yes, the Sabres are a little better offensively but defensively they still have some holes and Tampa just outplayed them badly earlier in the week in Buffalo. It may be worth your while to play the center while he is not super expensive.

Wingers

Alex Ovechkin $9,000 – This is a pretty safe pick considering the fact that Carolina is on a back to back and the “Great Eight” has looked good this year aside from losing a battle with an alarm clock. He is a player who has averaged over four minutes of power play time per contest and Nicklas Backstrom is close to coming back. That being said, Ovechkin has fared just fine with Evgeni Kuznetsov and either way you spend up to get the play with lots of point potential.

Defensemen

John Carlson $6,100 – Oh yes Carlson has four points in three games and the funny part is he actually could have more. His goal came on a spin-o-rama and there is no doubt his shot is quite good. The prospect of Washington having a full complement of players is bad news for the Hurricanes and great news for Carlson. He plays about 25 minutes a night and has improved defensively which means more blocked shot opportunities. Filling categories helps in DFS and the defenseman will be a very nice play.  

Goalie

Ben Bishop $7,600 – Think about it this way. Bishop and Tampa Bay had a disastrous effort against the Dallas Stars the other night. These games are going to happen even at home but getting Buffalo on a Saturday has to be considered a bit of a relief. The Sabres also average a few more shots a game which should help as far as looking at this from a how many points perspective. Bishop will be one of the higher owned players on Saturday night.

Chris Wassel has been playing DFS for the last year and has played Fantasy Hockey for over two decades. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS. Please note the expansive entries on a big Saturday slate. We are targeting the thirteen game night slate, we will have day game breakdowns on Twitter.