This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
When the football season ends, many fans suddenly find themselves with more time to dedicate to other sports. If perhaps the NHL has largely escaped your attention for the last few months, now's a good time to start getting more into hockey. There are 11 games Tuesday, so there is plenty of puck action to keep you entertained. Here are some players who look like particularly good daily fantasy values.
GOALIE
Sergei Bobrovsky, CLM at DET ($8,500): Bobrovsky has allowed four goals in each of his last four games. That's not good. However, this is still a guy who ranks in the top five in both GAA (2.19) and save percentage (.926). Let's not overreact to a couple off nights, although the drop in Bobrovsky's price seems to indicate that's what has happened. Plus, the Wings have only scored 2.42 goals per game, so this is a nice matchup for Bob to get back on track.
CENTER
Nicklas Backstrom, WAS vs. CAR ($6,800): The Capitals have been red hot, and that includes Backstrom. Since the beginning of January, he's tallied 23 points in 18 games. Of course, given Backstrom's track record, it doesn't take a lot to trust him. While Washington has been outstanding recently, Cam Ward has cooled down considerably since his hot start, and his .907 save percentage is more in line with his career numbers.
Alex Galchenyuk, MON at COL ($6,500): Galchenyuk has missed quite a bit of time with injury, but he's been good when available. Overall, he's averaged a healthy 12 fantasy points per game. And you shouldn't need much prompting to select somebody going up against the Avalanche. Colorado has given up a staggering 3.41 goals per game, far and away the worst average in the league. (For comparison, 29th-ranked Dallas has allowed 3.17 goals per game.)
WING
Phil Kessel, PIT vs. CGY ($7,300): If a penalty kill isn't among the elite in the league, you worry about how they will manage against Kessel. The Pittsburgh winger has a whopping 23 power-play points, and he's averaged 3:41 per game with the extra man. The Flames, for their part, have the 20th-ranked penalty kill, so there's no reason to expect anything other than business as usual for Kessel.
Zach Parise, MIN at WPG ($6,600): Parise may only have 10 goals this season, but injuries have limited him to 42 games, and his 8.0 shooting percentage is unusually low for him. He's put 125 shots on net, so at least he's definitely been offensively active. The Jets have allowed 3.11 goals and 30.8 shots on net per game, so perhaps now is the time that 'luck' will return to Parise's side.
Mark Stone, OTT vs. STL ($6,300): The Blues were in action Monday, which means they will be playing on the second of back-to-back nights. Of course, none of their goalies have been any good, so Ottawa's advantage may not be as great as it would be with a different opponent. Nevertheless, St. Louis has a team save percentage of .888, and Stone has notched 18 goals in 49 games.
Tomas Hertl, SAN at BUF ($4,900): Hertl has been pretty solid since returning from injury, tallying two points and seven shots on net in four games. Like St. Louis, Buffalo will be on the second of consecutive nights, and the Sabres have been very lenient defensively when it comes to allowing shots. In fact, heading into Monday's game they were giving up a league worst 33.6 shots on net per contest. Hertl put 202 shots on goal in 81 games last season, so we know that he can be quite productive offensively when healthy. He's also quite cheap, so he looks like an excellent buy-low candidate in this matchup.
DEFENSEMEN
Seth Jones, CLM at DET ($5,100): You may not have noticed, but Jones actually is now averaging more fantasy points per game (12) than Zach Werenski (11.3). He's really picked up the offensive output recently, notching seven points and 22 shots on goal over his last seven games. The Wings have allowed 2.92 goals and 30.7 shots on net per game, although there are some murmurings that Jimmy Howard may be returning soon, perhaps for this game. Even if Howard does return, Jones has tallied 100 shots and 78 blocks in 45 games, so he can still have a good fantasy day regardless who is in net for Detroit.
Jeff Petry, MON at COL ($4,800): As previously mentioned, the Avalanche have given up the most goals in the league per game by a wide margin. They also have allowed 32.3 shots on net per contest, and their penalty kill ranks 25th, which actually makes it a relative strength for the league's worst team. Petry already has a career high in goals (eight) and he's one off his high in points (24), but there's good reason for that. He's playing a career-high 22:33 per game, and his 122 shots on net in 52 contests is also a personal best. Petry is more involved than ever, and that's a great sign for fantasy players against a team like Colorado.
