Jake Gardiner Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

With Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin certain to see a bulk of the traffic on defense, Jake Gardiner emerges as a nice contrarian option for this two game slate. Jake Muzzin erupted last time out for three points while Morgan Rielly was quiet. Of course, these two are far superior defensemen to Gardiner, but Jake's price is down to $3,500 on DraftKings. In a game where every Leaf is capable of scoring, saving some money and taking a lower-owned option like Gardiner could pay off.

With Auston Matthews back and Mike Babcock's decision to split up the team's top power play unit, Jake Gardiner gets a big value boost. Last season Jake set a career-high with 15 points on the man-advantage, but so far this season he has just three power play points. With Matthews back on the second unit, Gardiner will be in a good spot to produce for the remainder of the season. Although Gardiner has not been shooting much, this game should be played at a nice pace, giving Jake a chance to thrive. While too volatile for cash games, Gardiner makes for a likely overlooked tournament play.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will host the Vancouver Canucks tonight, who will be without their talented rookie Elias Pettersson. While the Toronto’s top line is in play, I will be getting plenty of exposure to Toronto’s second line of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Andreas Johnsson. Nylander finally got the monkey off his back and scored his first goal last game out. Nylander’s has posted an impressive 74.23 CF/60 and 15.09 HDCF at even strength in his 12 games played this year. Keep in mind many of those games he was skating on the third and fourth line without Auston Matthews. This line has the potential to post a multi goal game at reasonable ownership. I prefer to use defenseman Jake Gardiner as an addition to this stack, as he correlates the most at even strength and on the second power-play unit with this line.

There are few decent defensemen that you could target this evening but going back to Toronto may be the wisest choice here. I mean why not, the team is one of most prolific scoring teams in the league that boast two decent blue liners that jump into the action. Morgan Rielly is having a career year with 11 goals and 29 assists but we can’t forget about the other guy that contributes on the blue line either. Although Jake Gardiner has 19 fewer points than his fellow defenseman he has been able to stand with him toe-to-toe over the last 10 games. Rielly leads the league with 11 points since the beginning of the month where defensemen are concerned but Gardiner’s goal and nine assists has him right on his heels. Either one of these players would make a good compliment to Matthews if you were to choose him as a one-off this evening.

If you are looking for an overlooked defenseman for your Toronto stacks, look to Jake Gardiner who has taken a back seat to Morgan Rielly this season. However, with Matthews back, Gardiner should see a boost in production as he often skates with Auston at even-strength. Gardiner's price really stands out on DraftKings at $3,300. Jake did have three assists in four games against the Sabres last season, and it's easy to forget that Gardiner tallied 52 points in 82 games. A matchup with a thin Buffalo team playing on consecutive nights could be the game for Gardiner to shine.

Morgan Rielly has been in the spotlight this season thanks to his torrid start. He is a fantastic play tonight in himself as he skates on Toronto's loaded top power play unit. The Leafs should see their fair share of time on the power play tonight as Winnipeg has been the most penalized team in the National Hockey League this season. Furthermore, they are playing on back to back nights. Gardiner doesn't see the same power play time with Matthews anymore like last season, but he still sees time with the man-advantage. Gardiner, who has six assists in 10 games, makes for a low-owned option at a cheap price tag.

As Jake Gardiner often is out there on the ice with the dynamic duo of Auston Matthews and William Nylander, his opportunity to produce is increased. Gardiner has put together a solid 2017-18 campaign with 46 points in 77 games while logging over 20 minutes of ice time. The defensive woes of the New York Islanders are no secret, and where Gardiner can make them pay is on the power play. After all, the Islanders sport (nearly) the National Hockey League's worst penalty kill at 74.6%, just a tenth of a percentage better than the Montreal Canadiens. Gardiner checks in at a nice price, a sliver or two cheaper than Morgan Rielly, which makes him a viable route in tournaments as a solo play or in combination with Matthews and Nylander.

With the worst defensive team in the National Hockey League visiting the Air Canada Centre tonight, it should come as no surprise that both Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly are at the top of my list tonight for blue liners. The New York Islanders are a defensive disaster (ranking 30th overall in CA/60 and 31st overall in both HDCA/60 SCA/60), and their penalty killing happens to be the second-worst in the league, which certainly provides Gardiner and Rielly with both a solid floor and high ceiling in this extremely favorable matchup on home ice.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have the highest projected goal total on the slate and I expect them to score at least four goals tonight in this plus matchup on home ice, putting both Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner in play tonight across the board. Making the Maple Leafs defensemen even more intriguing tonight is that the Florida Panthers lead the National Hockey league in penalty minutes per game, and they own a weak penalty kill, ranking 22nd overall. Both Rielly and Gardiner have multi-point potential this evening, and they are moderately priced industry wide.

I am heading back to the Air Canada Centre tonight for my top defensemen. The Toronto Maple Leafs should be the highest scoring team on the night, which means both Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly have multi-point potential in this favorable matchup. In cash games, I would look to roster one or both of the Maple Leafs offensive rearguards, and as for GPPs, you will want to pair Gardiner with Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs top line, and Rielly with Mitch Marner and Nazem Kadri on Torontos second power play unit.