NHL Daily Plays: Friday, October 24th
If you played daily fantasy hockey last night, you likely had a blast. And if you read my article yesterday, it should have been a successful night. It was certainly an entertaining night as the Predators remained undefeated, the Blue Jackets and Red Wings pulled off stunning comebacks and of course another Sabres loss. Three goalies came away with shutouts Thursday night (Darcy Kuemper, Jonas Hiller & Jonathan Quick) and the Islanders continued to surprise.
Turning our attention to tonight, we have 10 teams in action, with the Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks and Columbus Blue Jackets all playing on consecutive nights. Friday night’s short slate (five games) is the calm before the storm (11 games Sat), but it’s well worth playing both cash games and GPPs. Now let’s get to the Daily Picks!
GOALTENDERS
Frederik Andersen – Andersen has been brilliant this season (1.32 GAA, .951 SV%) and will face a Blue Jackets team that is in the middle of a West Coast road trip and playing on back-to-back nights. Anaheim is a tough team to beat at home and I think they roll again tonight.
Other Goalies To Target (Cash Games) – Ben Bishop, Kari Lehtonen
Other Goalies To Target (Tournaments) – Cory Schneider, Anton Khudobin
CENTER
Tyler Seguin – Seguin is absolutely on fire right now with five goals and ten points in his last four games. Seguin has become one the NHL’s elite forwards and a great play in any format, regardless of the opposition. It appears Dallas will move Jason Spezza off the top line, but I doubt it slows Seguin down. His all-star winger Jamie Benn is more than enough to help Seguin keep producing on a nightly basis.
Nathan MacKinnon – MacKinnon may not be the best cash game play tonight, but I like him as a value play in GPPs. The Avalanche looked much better offensively in their overtime loss to Florida Tuesday night. MacKinnon’s linemates Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan O’Reilly both had solid games and I expect this line to explode one of these nights. MacKinnon is way too talented to stay quiet for much longer and I think he breaks out with a multi-point game tonight versus the Canucks, who are playing consecutive road games.
Other Centers To Target (Cash Games) – Steven Stamkos, Ryan Getzlaf, Henrik Sedin
Other Centers To Target (Tournaments) – Matt Duchene, Bryan Little, Travis Zajac
WING
Corey Perry – Perry is off to a great start this season (8 G, 10 PTS, 25 SOG in 7 GP) and he just had a huge game Wednesday night against those lousy Sabres (3 G, +3, 6 SOG). Perry won’t come cheap, but he is the best power forward in the NHL and he rarely has an off night.
Taylor Hall – Edmonton is a decent sized home favorite tonight as they face a Hurricanes team that may be a little tired after playing last night in Calgary. Hall is one of the few Oilers who has been productive so far this season (4 G, 6 PTS, +2, 25 SOG in 7 GP). Edmonton has re-united Hall with linemates Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and this line is certainly capable of a big game. On a short slate in a good matchup, I think Hall is in play for your cash games tonight and he has huge GPP upside.
Radim Vrbata – Vrbata has been very good to start the year (4 G, 3 A, 7 PTS in 6 GP), and has found instant chemistry with the Sedin twins. The Canucks might not light it up tonight, but Vrbata and his linemates have been extremely consistent (scoring in 5/6 games this season) and I expect them to get on the score sheet again this evening.
Devante Smith-Pelly – As long as Smith-Pelly plays on the Ducks’ top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, he is going to be a tremendous value play in all game types. Smith-Pelly had a solid game in his debut with the number one line (1 A, +3) and even saw a decent amount of time on the powerplay.
Other Wingers To Target (Cash Games) – Jamie Benn, Daniel Sedin, Ondrej Palat, Gabriel Landeskog, Jarome Iginla, Jordan Eberle
Other Wingers To Target (Tournaments) – Jeff Skinner, Andrew Ladd, Ryan O’Reilly, Jaromir Jagr, Blake Wheeler, Alexander Semin
DEFENSE
Trevor Daley – Daley has shot out of the gates to start the 2014/15 season (3 G, 3 A, 6 PTS in 6 GP), and is becoming one of the better offensive defensemen in hockey. The Dallas Stars will be one of the highest scoring teams in hockey this year and Daley will set career highs. Daley quarterbacks this lethal Stars powerplay and it’s hard not to like him again tonight.
Sami Vatanen – Vatanen continues to leads the Ducks defensemen in powerplay time and is off to a good start with five points in his first seven games. Columbus could be a tired bunch after a hard fought win in San Jose last night, and I expect Vatanen and the Ducks to take advantage of that.
Other Defensemen To Target (Cash Games) – Anton Stralman, Tobias Enstrom
Other Defensemen To Target (Tournaments) – Marek Zidlicky, Tyson Barrie, Justin Schultz
Good Luck Grinders!
Pepsi7