This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
Welcome to December. Thursday opens the month with 11 games on the slate. Let's kick December off right. Here are some players to target, and to avoid, for your DFS lineups.
SLATE PREVIEW
Two teams are on the second leg of a back-to-back. The Sabres are hosting the Avalanche, but were in Detroit on Wednesday, and the Oilers are visiting the Wild. Both teams offer great opportunity. Buffalo because its goaltending is entirely questionable, and Edmonton because Stuart Skinner started Wednesday, which means Jack Campbell in net Thursday. I'll be delving into that later. In the line stacks section, to be specific.
GOALIES
Jake Oettinger, DAL vs. ANA ($8,000): Oettinger missed Dallas' last game with an illness, but he's recovered and presumably will be in net Thursday. This is a night matchup to return to, given that the Ducks have averaged a mere 2.48 goals per game. Oettinger, for his part, has a 2.52 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TAM at PHI ($7,500): We're still waiting for Vasilevskiy's numbers to stabilize. It's surprising to see him open December with a 2.88 GAA and .906 save percentage. On the silver-lining front, the Russian goalie does have a 2.41 GAA and .922 save percentage over his last five starts. Just as importantly, the Flyers rank last in goals per game at 2.43.
Dan Vladar, CGY vs. MON ($6,700): Are the Flames beholden to Jacob Markstrom? It doesn't seem like it right now. Vladar has started three of Calgary's last four games. He has an 1.96 GAA and .943 save percentage in those outings. Maybe Calgary will ride the hot hand in net, and that could yield an opportunity for DFS players. The Canadiens have only averaged 2.82 goals per game, and the Flames provide defensive support for their goalies. Calgary has given up a mere 28.7 shots on net per contest.
VALUE PLAYS
Artturi Lehkonen, COL at BUF ($6,800): The Avalanche need secondary scoring, but it just isn't happening. As such, I can't look beyond the first line, but at least Lehkonen provides something approaching value salary wise compared to Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, two established point-producing machines. This year, Lehkonen has benefitted big time from being associated with Colorado's healthy superstar duo. He only just saw a nine-game point streak come to a close. Getting the Sabres, who are in the bottom-six in GAA, on the second leg of a back-to-back definitely helps.
Tyler Seguin, DAL vs. ANA ($5,900): Seguin has started 60.2 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone, most on the Stars. That's helped him tally 18 points in 23 games, even though he has an 8.7 shooting percentage. Pucks on net are frequent when the Ducks are involved, as they've allowed 37.2 shots on net per contest. A lot of them go in as well, as the Ducks have a league-high 4.13 GAA.
Sam Reinhart, FLA at VAN ($5,300): Sevens are wild with Reinhart. He has seven goals, seven assists, and most importantly here, seven power-play points. Why is that what sticks out to me the most? The Canucks are 31st on the penalty kill after finishing last in their prior season.
LINE STACKS TO CONSIDER
Wild vs. Oilers
Sam Steel (C - $3,500), Kirill Kaprizov (W - $9,900), Mats Zuccarello (W - $7,500)
I deliver on my promise. The Oilers aren't just on the road for the second night of a back-to-back. Campbell will presumably be in net, and he's had a brutal campaign. In his debut season with the Oilers, Campbell has a 4.04 GAA and .875 save percentage. Edmonton's defense is far from iron clad, and with a porous goalie in net, it bodes well for the opposition. The Wild have been moving players around recently, so I decided to go with the two standout wingers with the young guy at center for my stack.
Steel never broke through with the Ducks, and he was only recently moved up to centering Minnesota's top line. However, it earned him his fourth goal of the season in his last game, and he also played over a minute on the power play for the first time this year as well. That would definitely raise his upside as well. Kaprizov really needs to be talked about as a top-five forward in the league at this point. He's carried Minnesota's offense recently, as he is on a nine-game point streak wherein he's totaled 14 points. Zuccarello has benefited hugely from Kaprizov's presence. He had 79 points last year, and the Norse forward has 20 points in 21 games this year. That includes 11 points with the extra man, and the Oilers have a bottom-10 penalty kill.
Coyotes at Kings
Travis Boyd (C - $4,800), Clayton Keller (W - $7,300), Nick Schmaltz (W - $5,700)
Heading into the year, the expectation was that the Coyotes would be a team to target night in and night out and sure, they've been iffy defensively. On Thursday, though, I am turning to the 'Yotes, because man the Kings have issues in net. Los Angeles has only allowed 29.7 shots on net per game, which is the only thing salvaging it. The Kings still have a 3.60 GAA as a team. Jonathan Quick has an .890 save percentage. Cal Petersen was just waived. The penalty kill is in the bottom eight as well. Maybe a ton of pucks aren't getting on goal, but the ones that do are counting.
Boyd doesn't shoot much, which was even true when he scored 17 goals last season. However, he still has 10 points in 20 games, and he's averaged 3:33 per contest with the extra man. Keller has a three-game point streak, but he's been consistent all year. Only three times in his last 17 outings has he been held without a point. Schmaltz recently returned to the lineup and has joined forces with his linemates to wreak some havoc. In four games since returning, Schmaltz has four points and 15 shots on net.
DEFENSEMEN
Brent Burns, CAR at STL ($6,700): Burns started the year on fire with the extra man, which is why he has seven power-play points through 23 games. He's still playing a ton of minutes with the extra man, though, and I trust his track record. Maybe what he needs is a matchup like this, as the Blues have the 29th-ranked penalty kill.
Noah Hanifin, CGY vs. MON ($6,000): Hanifin started slow, but he has 10 points in his last 13 games. He's put 55 shots on net this season but only has one goal, and his 1.8 shooting percentage will almost definitely improve. If Jake Allen is in net, he has a 3.57 GAA and .890 save percentage. If he isn't, well, the Canadiens still have allowed 32.9 shots on goal per game.
Jared Spurgeon, MIN vs. EDM ($4,900): I wanted a Wild defenseman, and I went with Spurgeon over the younger Calen Addison, a power-play specialist who is particularly reliant on playing with the extra man. Spurgeon gets a bit of power-play time, but all-in-all he's averaged 20:54 in ice time, and more time against this Oilers defense, and Campbell, appeals to me. Spurgeon also has seven points and 36 shots on net after having 40 points and 116 shots on goal in 65 games last year.
