This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
SLATE PREVIEW
Can we please spread it out? After 13 games were played Thursday (with one postponed), there's only one measly matchup on Friday with the Blue Jackets visiting the Blackhawks. That means FanDuel will run modified entries where no goalies will be available for selection and a Captain can be designated for 1.5x fantasy points.
Travel and fatigue could be factors for the Jackets, who hosted the Panthers on Thursday. Scoring has been a problem for John Tortorella's squad, and Blackhawks goaltenders have been surprisingly good. Both teams will have key offensive players out of the lineup: Patrik Laine is still in Canada working on his visa, while both Alex DeBrincat and Adam Boqvist remain in COVID protocol.
(All fancy stats courtesy Natural Stat Trick.)
GOALIES
No goalies can be picked, but look for Joonas Korpisalo to start for the Jackets and Kevin Lankinen for the Blackhawks - the latter who's started four of eight games and emerging as their No. 1 with a .931 Sv% and 2.18 GAA. The Jackets scored just two goals against the Panthers on Thursday and needed a ballsy Alexandre Texier shootout attempt to secure the win. Their 2.50 GF/GP ranks 23rd in the league.
VALUE PLAYS
Alexandre Texier, CBJ at CHI ($9,000): The French sensation has six points this season and looks like a solid fit as Tortorella's preferred center. Texier's offensive ceiling is capped because the Jackets aren't a high-scoring team, but represents the better value play than Max Domi ($10,000) who scored a goal Thursday but once again trailed Texier in ice time.
Pius Suter, CHI vs. CBJ ($8,000): Suter has only managed four shots in two games since his hat trick, but two things remain constant: he's playing with Patrick Kane and gets more ice time than Dylan Strome. The Jackets are stingy, so there probably won't be many goals. But it's a decent bet Kane's line is the one that manages to score simply based on the talent.
LINE STACKS
Blackhawks vs. Blue Jackets
Dylan Strome (C - $11,000), Dominik Kubalik (W - $14,000), Philipp Kurashev (W - $7,000)
We'll default to the numbers on this one. In a low-scoring encounter, this line should be a good bet because Strome and Kubalik play on the top power-play unit and they're tied for the team lead in power-play points with four. Their possession numbers at even strength are not pretty, but Kubalik is also the only Hawks' top-six forward whose xGF (4.45) suggests he's been unlucky (3 GF). One slight problem: the Jackets are quite disciplined with 23 penalties taken, which ranks them sixth-lowest in the league and also boast the seventh-best penalty differential at plus-5.
DEFENSEMEN
Zach Werenski, CBJ at CHI ($10,500): I think Werenski's offensive upside is a little higher than Seth Jones even though Jones edges him in PP TOI/GP (2:36 vs. 2:26). Werenski's CF% is slightly better at even strength (46.74% vs. 45.21%), but loads better on the power play (96.00% vs. 81.58%).
Duncan Keith, CHI vs. CBJ ($9,500): Choose Keith because he's on PP1, but otherwise he plays a pretty quiet game. He'll log tons of quality minutes for the Hawks, but his focus will be on playing well in the defensive end rather than generating offense and jumping up in the play like he used to.
Connor Murphy, CHI vs. CBJ ($7,000): Murphy doesn't score a lot (career-high of 19 points), but receives plenty of ice time and leads all Hawks' defenders with 23:22 per game. He's also their leader in points at five (tied with Keith), shots (16), and ranks second in blocked shots (17). Murphy fills just about every category even if he doesn't find the scoresheet.
