Today is the first day back off the Christmas break. Last year, by my count, the home team outscored the road team 36-24. Remember, the CBA prohibits team travel before the 27th, so road teams will have spent a good chunk of today flying. There isn’t more of a sample to work with – thanks for the lockout, guys – so it may be an anomaly. It does seem to make intuitive sense, though, that the home team would have an advantage today. It’s not across-the-board applicable, but is a good tie-breaker in seemingly close matchups.
Tampa Bay and the New York Rangers are the biggest favorites on the board right now, via Covers Experts. With Ben Bishop’s price having dropped so much on DraftKings since his injury, and with him expected to get the start tonight, he’s a pretty good cash game play in net. Be wary of late scratches and the like tonight, there’s still a lot of uncertainty in the NHL coming out of the Christmas break.
Play Daily Fantasy Hockey on DraftKings Tonight!
That DraftKings link is for the $2, $8000 guaranteed prize pool game tonight on DraftKings.
As always, check Left Wing Lock for goalie confirmations.
Players will be in order of perceived value, by position, and there should be enough to mix-and-match for each type of game available on Draft Kings. Some positions might only have a few plays, some might have several. It all depends on the day, the matchups, and the price.
Remember: players are in order of value, not necessarily in cost. Just because Sidney Crosby is $8000 one day doesn’t mean he’s a better value than Andrew Shaw at $4000.
Cash Games
| Centre | Wing | Defense | Goalie |
| Stepan (NYR) – $4800 | Sharp (CHI) – $7300 | Keith (CHI) – $4300 | Bishop (TBL) – $6700 |
| Tavares (NYI) – $6200 | Hall (EDM) – $6300 | Brodie (CGY) – $4500 | Rinne (NSH) – $9000 |
| Johnson (TBL) – $5900 | Neal (NSH) – $6200 | Jones (NSH) – $3400 | Allen (STL) – $7300 |
| Ribeiro (NSH) – $4400 | Hornqvist (PIT) – $6400 | Hamilton (BOS) – $4700 | |
| Lehtera (STL) – $3900 | Gaudreau (CGY) – $5400 | Bouwmeester (STL) – $3600 | |
| Zetterberg (DET) – $5800 | Tarasenko (STL) – $8300 | ||
| Monahan (CGY) – $4700 | Abdelkader (DET) – $3300 | ||
| Carter (LAK) – $6700 | St. Louis (NYR) – $4600 | ||
| Smith (BOS) – $3900 |
- There are a lot of good values at center tonight, as well as in goal, so spending extra on the wing and on defense is a good spot. There are also good values on the blue line.
- Tarasenko’s price has gone up despite a dry spell of late. Even with the price increase, he is in a very good matchup tonight.
- The New Jersey Devils are a bit disheveled with the firing of a coach and the hiring of three others. That would seem to put the New York Rangers in a good place tonight.
- It appears Ribeiro may be out tonight. If he does indeed miss the game, Colin Wilson would be the replacement to use.
Guaranteed Prize Pools/Tournaments
| Centre | Wing | Defense | Goalie |
| Lehtera (STL) – $3900 | Tarasenko (STL) – $8300 | Shattenkirk (STL) – $6200 | Hiller (CGY) – $6700 |
| Kopitar (LAK) – $6600 | Porter (STL) – $2500 | Muzzin (LAK) – $4400 | Kuemper (MIN) – $6600 |
| Carter (LAK) – $6400 | Gaborik (LAK) – $7800 | Jones (NSH) – $3400 | |
| Smith (NSH) – $5500 | Neal (NSH) – $6200 | Ristolainen (BUF) – $4000 | |
| Wilson (NSH) – $4100 | Moulson (BUF) – $5200 | Boyle (NYR) – $3000 | |
| Ennis (BUF) – $5100 | St. Louis (NYR) – $4600 | ||
| Girgensons (BUF) – $4000 | Hagelin (NYR) – $4100 | ||
| Stepan (NYR) – $4800 | |||
- St. Louis and Nashville both have very good matchups tonight. With new members on the respective lines, they are both relatively cheap.
- I think Los Angeles will be a good contrarian play tonight just because most of the public won’t be on them. With Gaborik’s extravagant price, though, just using the duo of Carter/Kopitar might be ideal.
- Buffalo is facing a New York Islanders team that is starting Kevin Poulin for his second game in as many days. That’s never a good idea, and gives tournament value to the Sabres.
Slim’s Pickins (bargain plays)
All three punt plays come from the Lightning, though obviously taking all three isn’t the way to go here. More than one punt play in a cash game lineup isn’t ideal, anyway.
Cedric Paquette (TBL-C, $2500) – Paquette will be on the top line in Tampa Bay in the absence of Jonathan Drouin.
Brett Connolly (TBL-W, $2500) – Connolly carries more value than Paquette, if only because of expected power play time.
Anton Stralman (TBL-D, $2500) – With Jason Garrison still out, that should mean a bit of extra time for the Tampa Bay top defensive pairing, and Stralman is still running the second power play unit for Tampa Bay.
Good luck!
