Joel Dorcas | January 1st, 2019
Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to my first installment of “Ice Picks” where I try to give some advice on selecting players for your Daily Fantasy lineups. DraftKings will be used as a reference for player prices. This is a short three-game slate with the big Winter Classic starting things off at 1 p.m. eastern.
At the Core
Patrick Kane CHI Wing/$8,000
Patrick Kane’s price has jumped $1,000 recently, and with good reason. Kane is one of the leagues hottest players right now and has been one of the main reasons the Hawks are playing better of late. Over Kane’s last five contests he has seven goals and four assists making him a lock for cash games.
Brandon Pirri LVK Wing/$5,900
Brandon Pirri was a favorite play of mine since he has been called up to Vegas. He has been playing on the second line with Paul Stastny and Alex Tuch and has been very effective with four goals and two assists in his last five games. Pirri was a steal about a week ago being priced $1,200 less but he is still a good play even at this price point. Pirri and the Knights get a home matchup against the bottom-dwelling Kings tonight.
Alex Iafallo LA Wing/$5,000
Alex Iafallo is featured on the first line with Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown and has been the most productive player during the Kings improved stretch of play of late. In his last 10 games, he has tallied four goals and six assists.
Stacks of the Night
1.Las Vegas Golden Knights Line 2-Pirri, Stastny, Tuch
2.Chicago Blackhawks Line 2-Anisimov, Strome, Kane, with Defenseman Erik Gustafsson
3.Boston Bruins Line 1-Marchand, Bergeron, Pastrnak
Value Plays
Ilya Kovalchuk LA Wing/$4,400
Ilya Kovalchuk’s stock is finally going up with more production(2 goals, 1 assist in last 5 games). Kovalchuk’s shot totals are improving and he is getting more opportunities as he is getting minutes on the Kings second scoring line instead of skating on the fourth line. Kovalchuk is also getting some power play time as well, a good time to buy in now at a friendly price point.
Dylan Strome CHI Center/$4,700
Dylan Strome has elevated his play quite a bit of late and has been extremely effective playing alongside superstar Patrick Kane and veteran, Artem Anisimov. Strome has seven points in his last five games and is also getting first line power play minutes.
Jake Muzzin LA D/$4,500
Jake Muzzin has played extremely well of late and is playing more minutes for the Kings as they have a couple injured D-men nursing injuries on the sidelines. Muzzin has found some offensive punch to his game of late notching three goals and four assists over the last 10 games.
Cam Ward CHI Goalie/$7,000
Cam Ward hasn’t played particularly well this season, 6-6-4, 3.90 GAA, but has contributed to the Hawks better play of late with two solid starts in his last three in wins against the Stars and Predators giving up less than two goals in each. Ward is the cheapest goalie on the short slate of games aside from the Kings starting goalie and giving the nature of the Winter Classic where the elements and poor ice conditions factor into the game, he stands just as good of a chance of keeping pucks out of the net and notching a win as anyone else on the slate today.
Hope you enjoyed this edition of “Ice Picks”, good luck with your lineups!
Questions and comments?
Follow us on Twitter @thescorecrow
Follow us on Reddit u/TheScorecrow
Follow Joel Dorcas on Twitter @Joel_Dorcas6
Main Image Credit:
[getty src=”1088065548″ width=”594″ height=”396″ tld=”com”]
