Top Budget Plays

Centers

Christian Dvorak $3500 – The center is a punt play at the least. However, playing against Winnipeg may set up very good as the center will draw depth Jets match-ups which are below Corsi relative. He is going to get decent opportunities. Dvorak has points in seven of his last ten games. More importantly, Winnipeg is due for a regression. They are allowing just 2.29 goals per game on the road.  

Wingers

Benoit Pouliot $3400 – Keep in mind that Pouillot is taking full advantage of his increased role (thanks to some roster ineffectiveness). He has four points in his last three games and will draw decent depth match-ups against Montreal. Do not expect much power play time but his speed will cause much frustration. Danton Heinen is a viable option for only a few hundred dollars more.

Defensemen

John Moore $3000 – Florida has been giving up a lot of scoring chances and shots lately. They also are having issues with special teams and five-on-five alike. Florida nearly allows four goals a game on the road and has allowed the most daily fantasy points to defensemen in the league. Moore has points in his last two games. The Panthers’ depth or lack thereof can make for some intriguing value plays. Moore is just too low priced on DraftKings to pass up. There are at least a half-dozen players in the $3400-$3600 range to consider if there is a little more room in your budget.
 

Goalie

Antti Raanta $6900 – This is a dangerous GPP play but Winnipeg is playing over their heads right now. Their expected goals for is modest but again Arizona will give up over 30 shots a night. The other construct is this: Raanta turned in a gem against Carolina last week. He could do it again this week. His save percentage is a solid .920 while facing over 33 shots per 60. The Jets can be inconsistent in shot output but the chance of a win may be better than expected.                        

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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

Sean Couturier $6800 – People will run to this as it will be a semi chalky play that still has to be used in at least a few lineups. The center has a prime match-up against a Minnesota team that does not excel at special teams. Couturier carries some risk as Minnesota at times has a good penalty kill but does allow over three goals a game on the road. It is not that super ideal match-up. On the other hand, ownership should be a little bit lower.

Wingers

Vladimir Tarasenko $7600 – Tarasenko has been on fire with six points in the last three games. St. Louis and the Islanders could play a rather entertaining style of game. Moderately high event outcome is possible. St. Louis will be the rested team as well. The top scoring line for the Blues has been hugely popular in GPP stacks over the last couple weeks aside from Tuesday in New Jersey. All they did was account for each goal in the 3-1 win. Lesson learned for the masses as they say. Projected ownership could be 15-20%+.                    

Defenseman

Brent Burns $6900 – Again this could be moderately owned, but Burns has moderate to high point potential on Saturday. Vancouver has won five of their first seven games on the road. This just cannot continue. Every metric indicates that the defenseman should not have a good night. However, the dam has to break at some point. Zero goals this far into the season just seems insane. The shots and chances have been there. It could be a case of coming back to the mean.

Goalie

Jake Allen $8000 – There may be better choices, but this has potential to work well. He just keeps on winning. Allen is 9-3-1 in 13 decisions with a solid .921 save percentage. This has a little risk, but St. Louis has a good chance to win as the rested team. It could be more of a cash play as no one knows how the Islanders will come out pace wise. Projections suggest somewhere in the range of 26-30 shots. That means Allen would need a quality start to hit value. Anything better exceeds that.

Chris Wassel has been playing DFS for the past couple years and has played Fantasy Hockey for three decades. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS. We are targeting the ten game main slate to give readers more of a range on what to go on. Finally, please note that Saturday’s slate has several options. Thanks for reading and enjoy the slate daily fantasy hockey fans!