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NHL Plays will highlight the best and the most underrated daily fantasy options among forwards, defensemen and goaltenders.
Please note, these players were chosen early in the day, so make sure to check NBC Sports EDGE’s player news for any lineup changes, injuries and potential changes in the crease for starting goaltenders.
Additionally, it is worth reminding everyone that FanDuel allows you to roster nine players (2C, 2W, 2D, 2UTIL 1G) with a salary cap of $55,000, while DraftKings has a cap of $50,000 for nine players (2C, 3W, 2D, 1G, 1UTIL) and Yahoo has a $200 budget for nine players (2C, 3W, 2D, 2G).
There are five games scheduled for Wednesday night.
Forwards:
Connor McDavid (Edmonton) – C - $9,500 FanDuel, $9,000 DraftKings, $37 Yahoo
McDavid was far and away the best player last season and so far he’s been just as impressive in 2021-22. He’s recorded multiple points in each of his first five games, giving him six goals and 13 points. While he’s expensive, the price more than makes sense. In FanDuel for example, he’s averaging 33.33 FanDuel points per game. Brad Marchand, who is having a strong start in his own right, is averaging 22.12 points per game at a price of $8,900 while Evgeny Kuznetsov is at 21.09 points per game at a price of $7,800. So while McDavid is more expensive than either of them, he’s provided proportionally more value and the same can be demonstrated for most of the other high-end forwards when compared to McDavid.
Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington) – C - $7,800 FanDuel, $6,400 DraftKings, $22 Yahoo
As mentioned above, McDavid compares favorably against Kuznetsov, but I focused on Kuznetsov specifically because he’s also having a great start to the season. Besides, you need more than one center on your team and for as good as McDavid is, not every team composition can afford him. In any scenario, Kuznetsov provides considerable value for his price point. He already has four goals and nine points in six contests this season.
Mitchell Marner (Toronto) – W - $6,900 FanDuel, $6,200 DraftKings, $32 Yahoo
Marner has gotten off to a terrible start to the campaign, but that’s also resulted in his price dropping tantalizingly low for a player of his caliber. He started the season at $7,700 in FanDuel, $6,900 in DraftKings, and $33 in Yahoo, so in FanDuel and DraftKings at least, he’s now at a considerable discount. Granted, he has just an assist in seven games so far, but he’s still the same player who finished fourth in the league’s scoring race last season. At this price, it seems worth it to bet on him bouncing back.
Bargain Bin: Sam Reinhart (FLA) - $6,800 FanDuel/$4,200 DraftKings/$18 Yahoo, Sean Couturier (PHI) - $6,800 FanDuel/$6,300 DraftKings/$21 Yahoo, Sam Bennett (FLA) - $6,600 FanDuel/$5,500 DraftKings/$21 Yahoo, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM) - $6,400 FanDuel/$5,000 DraftKings/$22 Yahoo, Dylan Larkin (DET) - $6,200 FanDuel/$7,000 DraftKings/$19 Yahoo, Claude Giroux (PHI) - $6,100 FanDuel/$6,500 DraftKings/$17 Yahoo, Zach Hyman (EDM) - $6,000 FanDuel/$5,100 DraftKings/$22 Yahoo, Jesse Puljujarvi (EDM) - $5,800 FanDuel/$5,900 DraftKings/$22 Yahoo
Defensemen:
Aaron Ekblad (Florida) - $7,000 FanDuel, $6,600 DraftKings, $23 Yahoo
Ekblad is entering tonight’s action on a three-game point streak. He’s gotten off to a great start to the season overall with three goals and six points in six contests. That puts him in a seven-way tie for fourth place in the defensemen scoring race at this early stage of the campaign.
Seth Jones (Chicago) - $6,300 FanDuel, $6,400 DraftKings, $19 Yahoo
The Blackhawks still haven’t won a game this season, but Jones has done fairly well in spite of that. He has four assists in six contests this season. He’s averaging 25:54 minutes per game and he should continue to be leaned on heavily and serve as a great all-around blueliner.
Bargain Bin: Miro Heiskanen (DAL) - $6,200 FanDuel/$5,100 DraftKings/$19 Yahoo, MacKenzie Weegar (FLA) - $5,200 FanDuel/$4,800 DraftKings/$19 Yahoo, Keith Yandle (PHI) - $4,800 FanDuel/$3,600 DraftKings/$15 Yahoo
Goaltenders:
Mikko Koskinen (Edmonton) - $7,800 FanDuel, $8,100 DraftKings, $25 Yahoo
Koskinen has didn’t have a particularly good 2020-21 campaign and his tenure with the Oilers has been mixed at best, but right now he’s doing well. He has a 3-0-0 record, 2.03 GAA, and .943 save percentage in three contests this season. He’s not an ideal goalie to take all the time, but he’s worth gambling on when he’s hot.
Bargain Bin: Laurent Brossoit (DAL) - $7,500 FanDuel/$7,700 DraftKings/$27 Yahoo
