Erik Zingg | Sat, Nov 17th 2018, 12:42am EST

FanDuel NHL Lineup Advice: Saturday (11/17)

Injuries are a reality in fantasy sports as much as in real life sports. This week the bell tolls for thee: Sidney Crosby, PIT; Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB; and P.K. Subban, NSH, to name a few. Auston Matthews is still out as well so some of the biggest names in the game are on the shelf. Raising the value of the remaining studs like the MacKinnons, McDavids, and Malkins up some notches. As well, with these injuries come opportunities for the fill-ins to get time on higher profile line assignments. These players become sleeper picks for your taking on the sly.

Saturday always brings opportunities to reel in the big bucks with an abundance of games equaling an abundance of dollars to be earned in FanDuel. Some games with potential for high scoring to watch are the Ottawa Senators vs. Pittsburgh Penguins. Even without Crosby you still have the likes of Evgeni Malkin, Thomas Chabot, Matt Duchene, Kris Letang to light the lamp. In another high point potential matchup, you have the Carolina Hurricanes vs. Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets have been an offensive powerhouse of late. Watch out for the likes of Cam Atkinson, Anthony DuClair, Seth Jones, etc. in this game. In addition to these matchups here are some names to put into your lineup to strengthen your chances of winning on Saturday.

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Center

Matt Duchene (OTT): $6,300 vs Pittsburgh
Duchene seems to have rekindled the magic he displayed from his early years with the Colorado Avalanche. Duchene, a former first-round pick, had a career of 70 points in 2013-2014 and hasn’t cracked the 50 point mark since. In his second year with the Ottawa Senators Duchene seems to have hit his stride. Duchene has scored 2 goals and 7 assists in his past 5 games and has 6 goals and 15 assists through 19 games on the season. Duchene has a 14.9 FPPG in FanDuel and is a bargain at $6,300. Duchene has a matchup against a Penguins team that has lost one of its leaders in Sidney Crosby and has an undefined netminder situation with Casey DeSmith and Matthew Murray alternating games in net. If Murray is the starting goalie than Duchene could put up big numbers.

Ryan O’Reilly (STL): $6,700 vs. San Jose
O’Reilly is having a breakout season so far this year. The former Av and Sabres has really come into his own with the St.Louis Blues this season. Fostering a strong connection with linemate, Vladimir Tarasenko, O’Reilly has put up some impressive numbers thus far. O’Reilly has 8 goals and 13 assists through 16 games as of Friday evening (11/16). O’Reilly has 5 goals and 1 assist in his last 5 games. O’Reilly has a robust 18.3 FPPG in FanDuel and at $6,700 is a bargain. O’Reilly has a matchup on Saturday against a San Jose Sharks team that lets up a good amount of goals so be confident that O’Reilly will put some points on the board as he has most of this season

Wing

Cam Atkinson (CBJ): $6,300 vs Carolina
The mighty mite from Connecticut has been lighting nets on fire of late. Cam Atkinson is a purely offensive player and for your DFS purposes that is more than enough. Atkinson is getting top line duty at even strength and on the power play. Besides Artemi Panarin he has been one of the most prolific scorers on the Blue Jackets the past year and a half. Atkinson has 9 goals and 7 assists through 18 games this season and has 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games. Atkinson has a strong 16 FPPG in FanDuel and a reasonable price of $6,300. With a Carolina team that is not too strong in net Atkinson should put up some points for your Fanduel squad on Saturday.

Teuvo Teravainen (CAR): $5,000 vs Columbus
Double T has been part of a strong Finnish connection on the top line of Carolina with fellow Finn Sebastian Aho. Teravainen is on both the ‘Canes top even strength and power play line. On the year Teravainen has 4 goals and 11 assists in 18 games. Teravainen has been hot of late with 1 goal and 3 assists on a 3 game point streak. Teravainen has 12.3 FPPG in FanDuel and is available for $5,000. Teravainen is a “glue” player to fill in the gaps between your higher priced players without much of a drop-off in production. Teravainen gets a bit of a tall order in going up a Columbus team that has been hot of late led by in-form goalie Sergei Bobrovsky but still, Teravainen should be able to team up with Aho and grab you some points in this contest.

Mike Hoffman (FLA): $5,700 vs New York Rangers
Hoffman has found success with his new team in South Florida early on. Hoffman has been a dependable 50-60 point player for most of his career with the Ottawa Senators. That looks like it won’t change and could possibly get better with Florida. Hoffman is on the top even-strength line and second power-play unit so he is getting prime scoring opportunities and has made the most of it thus far. Hoffman has 7 goals and 9 assists through 16 games this year for a point-per-game pace so far. And Hoffman is on a 14 game point streak currently. Hoffman has 15.8 FPPG in FanDuel and is an absolute steal at $5,700. As well, Hoffman goes up against a Rangers team that just gave up 7 goals to the New York Islanders and neither Henrik Lundqvist or Alexandar Georgiev have looked strong this year. Play Hoffman for the win!

Brady Tkachuk (OTT): $3,900 vs Pittsburgh
Tkachuk has been a boon to the Senators organization after an off-season that produced a lot of front office criticism with the trade of Erik Karlsson. Tkachuk has been a vision of future possibilities for the Senators. Tkachuk has given the Senators more than they could’ve asked for from the 19-year old first round pick. Tkachuk is on the Senators top even-strength line and second power-play line so he is getting every chance to be productive and succeed and so far he has done just that. Tkachuk has 4 goals and 4 assists through 8 games. Although Tkachuk has gone two games without a point his FPPG still sits at a solid 15.6 and at $3,900 is worth a gamble to free up some salary in other areas of your team. Tkachuk will be going up against the Penguins on Saturday. If Matt Murray is in net go all in on Tkachuk as Murray’s play has been colander-like this season.

Defense

Brent Burns (SJS): $7,200 vs St. Louis
By choosing players like Brady Tkachuk and Teuvo Teravainen you can now grab a blue-chip defenseman. The premier defenseman in the league this year has been Brent Burns. Actually, Burns has arguably been the premier defenseman in the league for a few years running. Burns needs no introduction to anyone who has followed hockey the past 5 years or so. What Burns has done this year is just scoring 3 goals and 19 assists through 20 games for over a point a game. Not bad, right? You pay a higher price for him but you get forward production in 16.8 FPPG for your $7,200. To top it off, Burns goes up against a St.Louis Blues team that has had absolutely abysmal goaltending between Jake Allen and Chad Johnson this season. Pay the extra dollar and get the extra production from Burns.

Kris Letang (PIT): $6,300 vs Ottawa
Letang when healthy is a top 5 offensive defenseman. The problem is that Letang has had a myriad of injuries throughout his career. So far this season, Letang has been healthy and productive. Letang as always gets top line duty across the board so with the likes of Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel out there with him he will get his chances. On the season, Letang has 4 goals and 9 assists through 16 games. Letang has a 15.8 FPPG in FanDuel and is available at an affordable $6,300. The big draw with Letang, and other Penguins, on Saturday is the matchup against the Ottawa Senators. The Senators have been successful so far but it has not been due to strong goaltending. Craig Anderson has been one of the worst starting goalies in the league this year short of Jake Allen. Put your money on Letang to cash in on this matchup.

Goalie

David Rittich (CGY): $7,600 vs Edmonton
The battle of Alberta will feature two hot new starting goalie on Saturday night. Mikko Koskinen for the Oilers and David Rittich for the Flames. For your purposes, the focus will be on Czech netminder David Rittich. He has seemed to grab the starting goaltender position from Mike Smith early on this year. Rittich has a won-loss record of 5-1 with a flashy 1.91 GAA to go along with a stingy .935 save percentage. This will be a true test of Rittich’s mettle as he goes up against a high powered Oilers offense but one that he should be up to the task for in this intense provincial rivalry.