This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
As is often the case with daily fantasy sports, opportunity for value comes from a new opportunity for a player. A player's cost, almost regardless of the site, can take time to reflect a new situation for any player. Sometimes it takes a couple days, sometimes it takes a couple weeks. Below are some players that have very solid FanDuel values, either for large tournaments or cash games. They are also players that have limited downside, which makes them good cash-game targets for cap relief.
All skaters will be under $4000, with a cheap GPP goalie at the end.
Center
Stephen Weiss ($3,700)
It's been a rough few seasons for Weiss. Long hampered by injuries, he has had a resurgent season so far with 17 points in 28 games. At the most recent Detroit practice, Weiss was on the third line with Riley Sheahan.
Where Weiss will draw his value for this game is from the power play. In that practice, Weiss was on what is considered the top unit with Henrik Zetterberg and Gustav Nyquist. Both Zetterberg and Nyquist are in the top-15 among NHL forwards in points per 60 minutes on the power play, an ode to the wealth of talent they possess.
Arizona gives up the most shot attempts while short-handed of any team in the NHL, and by a good margin (from War On Ice). With a solid power play going up against a weak penalty kill, Weiss is a good target for salary relief in cash games, and a high-upside play in tournaments.
Left Wing
Daniel Winnik ($3,300)
It's undoubtedly been a tough stretch for the Maple Leafs. The recent slide has pretty much taken them out of the playoff picture, and the goals have dried up.
Despite the Leafs' slide, Winnik has been a plus-1 in the calendar 2015 year. A big reason for that is that he is a player who helps drive the play away from his net better than most other Leafs forwards. Even without the goals, Winnik's style helps limit the shots, and therefore the goals against. That's important when choosing a value play, because there isn't a lot of downside with FanDuel's scoring.
Winnik has been put on a line with Joffrey Lupul and Richard Panik. Normally I wouldn't pay much attention to the Leafs, but Edmonton coming into town presents a pretty good matchup. There's not much upside to Winnik, so he's not a good tournament play, but the limited downside makes him viable for cap relief in cash games.
Right Wing
Patrick Eaves ($3,800)
The Stars have been looking for a right winger to play with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Seguin himself has had nine different line mates (aside from Benn) to play at least 30 minutes with him at five-on-five, which is roughly at least two games. With that much inconsistency, it's left most of the wingers relatively inexpensive.
Eaves carries a good price tag, and going into Buffalo is about as good a matchup as any team can ask for. Buffalo does do much better at home than on the road – at least in terms of goals against, about a full goal – but they're so far behind that even that improvement doesn't improve their station very much.
Finally, it's a small sample, but Dallas takes 75 shot attempts per 60 minutes with Eaves and Seguin on the ice at five-on-five. For reference, Pittsburgh takes shots at a lower rate with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the ice together. A high rate of generating offense against a bad team creates a good floor for cash games. Also, with the price drops, the top line is very stackable in tournaments.
Defense
Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($3,800)
Carolina has improved as a team overall, especially since Eric Staal returned to the lineup at the end of October. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is Carolina's performance on the road: Since Nov. 1, Carolina is 21st in the NHL in puck possession at five-on-five. That's compared to 10th in the NHL in puck possession at home.
With Carolina not being able to do much on the road, using cheap Sharks defensemen is a good way to reach an easy value. At an expected cost of $1,700 per fantasy point, even a game as simple as going plus-1 with two shots on goal would get Vlasic to 80-percent value. That seems to be very doable for a Sharks team that is top-10 in the NHL in shots on goal per game at home this year. If Vlasic were to get any kind of point, he passes value, so it seems there's not a lot of downside to using him in cash games, especially with his power play time.
Goaltender
Thomas Greiss ($7,100)
Picking a goalie from a team playing a back-to-back is always a dangerous proposition. When it comes to picking one from a team playing a back-to-back with both games on the road, the proposition becomes a bit more dangerous. That's precisely why Greiss is a good large-field tournament goalie tonight.
The sample size is still too small to make a final determination on Greiss, but among 53 goalies with at least 2,500 minutes played since 2011, he is third in five-on-five save percentage. Again, that's not a final determination on his talent, but he's been very good when called upon so far in his NHL career.
Vancouver has been on a slide in the last few weeks. In their last seven games, the Canucks have scored just 14 goals, and five of those came against Buffalo. They're still managing to get shots on goal, so they're just in a dry spell, but that's part of what makes Greiss ideal to use tonight.
*Some stats courtesy of Hockey Analysis, Hockey Reference, Behind The Net, and War On Ice
