NHL DFS Slate Summary: Tuesday, January 9th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders NHL DFS Slate Summary. In this article, we’ll concentrate on the key elements of DFS success while delivering analysis on the upcoming slate of NHL games for DraftKings and FanDuel. We’ll discuss today’s NHL DFS player projections, player correlations and NHL stacking, NHL starting lineups, differentiation tactics using NHL projected ownership, and recommendations on ways to create lineup diversity if entering multiple lineups using LineupHQ.
NHL DFS Picks: Slate Summary for Tuesday, January 9th
Today’s Games
Slate Overview
This is probably the hardest slate of the year so far. There are two teams with implied totals of 4.5+ (the Oilers and Maple Leafs) and two more with totals of 4.0+ (Predators and Jets). There’s a sizeable dropoff after that, so I expect these four teams to soak up the majority of ownership, but trying to prioritize them will prove to be a challenge. I’ll try to provide my thoughts below on how I’m planning on handling it. Finding value will be essential, and there seems to be a decent number of quality options. There aren’t any free squares, but enough options that a stars and scrubs build will be extremely popular tonight.
On a night like tonight, lineup construction (especially as it relates to contest selection) is extremely important. If you’re someone maxing out a smaller dollar entry, you might decide to go overweight on the balanced-build lineups and hope that the McDavid/Matthews do well, but don’t break the slate. In larger dollar stuff, I’d guess a huge percentage of lineups will have either McDavid or Matthews, so it’ll come down to which one you build around (or potentially even fade both and pray?). No matter what, it should be one of the most interesting slates of the year with the potential to be one of the highest-scoring ones too.
Let’s try and sort through this glorious goodness.
Top Skaters
Connor McDavid
DraftKings $9,500
We had a similar decision between Matthews and McDavid on Saturday, and fortunately, we decided to go with McDavid, who ended up with 20 DK points compared to 4.3 for Matthews. Tonight is a lot closer, in my opinion, as the Maple Leafs will be at home while the Oilers will be on the road. The matchups are easily juicy from an opponent standpoint, but the home ice component does matter. Here’s what I said on Saturday: “I know it sounds sacrilegious to say this, but McDavid is borderline unplayable on the road right now, at least at his DK price tag. At home, however, he’s been electric, with 34 points in 16 games.”
Pricing is a factor, though, and the $600 isn’t insignificant. Pairing with McDavid is also easier as his linemates will almost always be brought along, whereas Matthews can get there on his own sometimes. While the matchup is similarly beautiful for each, I give the slight nod to McDavid due to the bevy of injuries Chicago has experienced this season, while San Jose is relatively healthy. The lineup Chicago will roll out there looks like a glorified AHL roster. You can’t go wrong with either, but give me McDavid by the slightest of margins.