Braden Holtby figures to be a safe, solid option yet again

Last week my fears were correct as teams were coming off of a three-day break, which made it difficult to gauge performances since I like to ride the hot players when it comes to setting lineups. The best thing about playing daily fantasy sports is moving on to the next day and getting right back into the action. I have learned that even after a bad night, I will stick with my research and process and by the end of the season I will still have a profitable year.

Selections for Saturday, December 26

Points scored: 21.6

Contests entered 

• $5 NHL Double Up – Finished 1117-of-1363

Best Selections 

• Center –Anze Kopitar – Los Angeles Kings – 6.5 points

Worst Selections

• All of them!

Now for this week’s lineup.

Team matchups that I like this week for you to build your lineups around include San Jose hosting Winnipeg, Florida at home against the New York Rangers, Colorado hosting Calgary and Pittsburgh at home against the New York Islanders.

Enter tonight’s featured NHL contest at DraftKings. Free to new users! 

Goalie

Braden Holtby – Washington Capitals – $8,400
Last week I was reminded of a valuable lesson. When in doubt always play the top goalies in cash lineups. 

After Washington suffered its first loss in 10 games, Holtby will be back in the lineup against Columbus. Boasting a record of 24-4-1 and a save percentage of .939, he is always a good play.

Defense

Brent Burns – San Jose Sharks – $8,100
As pricey as Burns is, you get what you pay for. For the season, he is averaging 5.5 fantasy points per game, and he is playing great hockey right now with 20.5 fantasy points in his last three games. He is third in the league with 159 shots, and you know he will be heavily involved in the offense against a Winnipeg team that struggles on the road.

Kris Letang – Pittsburgh Penguins – $5,800
Averaging 3.6 fantasy points a game this season, he is also coming off a three-point game against Detroit. He has 19.5 fantasy points in his last three games played.

Center

Aleksander Barkov – Florida Panthers – $5,700
This is strictly a “play him while he is hot” selection. He has four goals in his last two games resulting in 18.5 fantasy points in that span. He will be centering the top line for a hot Florida Panthers’ team that has won seven-straight games.

Carl Soderberg – Colorado Avalanche – $4,600
Soderberg has been very steady lately posting 16 points in his last 18 games. He averages 3.6 fantasy points per game this season and is a good value play, getting close to 20 minutes per game on Colorado’s top line and second power-play unit.

Wing

Blake Comeau – Colorado Avalanche – $3,100
With Holtby and Burns in my lineup, there needs to be some value selections to offset their steep prices. Comeau plays close to 20 minutes a game and has 15 points in 38 games this season. He also plays on the top line with Carl Soderberg, so I am banking on them to get some points tonight against Calgary at home.

Tomas Hertl – San Jose Sharks – $4,400
Hertl is another one of my value selections for tonight’s lineup. He plays on the second power-play unit for the Sharks and has posted 9.5 fantasy points in his last two games.

David Perron – Pittsburgh Penguins – $4,000
If you haven’t noticed by now, I like players that play on the top lines of teams that have reduced salaries in matchups that I like. Perron has been moved to the top line in Pittsburgh with Sidney Crosby, and they had good results, posting a big 5-2 win in Detroit. Perron posted four fantasy points in that game and had 11.7 in his last four games.

Utility

T.J. Oshie – Washington Capitals – $5,800
Oshie is my selection for utility because he plays on the top line of the Washington Capitals, who are coming off of their first loss in 10 games. I look for him to benefit from playing with Alex Ovechkin, who is riding a three-game goal streak himself. Oshie has 24 points in 37 games this season.

Make sure to double check lineups, particularly the starting goalies, before the first puck drops as they can be subject to change.

Enter tonight’s featured NHL contest at DraftKings. Free to new users! 

Rob Klein is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Rob, check out his archive and follow him @RobK37.