This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
SLATE PREVIEW
This Red Wings-Avalanche rivalry hasn't been interesting in about two decades, and no matter how you look at it, the Avs should be the heavy, heavy favorites.
The Wild are coming off a 7-0 shellacking of the Stars and the Panthers are equally inconsistent, but they boast more firepower and the Wild are actually an impressive 13-5-4 at home. I'm not confident in the Panthers even though they should be winning this game.
GOALIES
Phillip Grubauer ($8,600) will be a popular pick and seems like the surest bet. He's won two straight and the Avs should provide plenty of goal support. I feel bad for Jimmy Howard ($7,100), who was actually in both of his most recent starts but ended up losing both. He has just two wins this season.
My bet is that Alex Stalock ($8,000) starts after coming off two straight wins against Dallas and Tampa. Devan Dubnyk hasn't been playing well and he's also dealing with some personal issues, so perhaps the Wild will let Stalock make his third straight start. I think that gives the Wild a better chance to beat Sergei Bobrovsky ($8,500), who has now posted save percentages above .908 in December and January. It's an improvement even if it's still not very good, and I'd be more inclined to pick him if he didn't cost only $100 less than Grubauer.
VALUE PLAYS
Linemates Andre Burakovsky ($4,300) and Valeri Nichushkin ($3,600) are worth taking a look playing on a line centered by Nazem Kadri. Nichushkin played 18 minutes against the Blues after scoring against San Jose, and Burakovsky has scored six points in his past five games. He's also blocked a shot in four straight games, providing some additional value on a line that can score and defend.
Jordan Greenway ($4,100) has an assist in two straight games, one of which came on the power play. The Wild offense is pretty spread out so it's hard to pinpoint who will do the bulk of their scoring, but Greenway has some additional value as a power-play option.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Florida Panthers (TOTAL: $21,900)
C – Aleksander Barkov ($7,600)
W – Jonathan Huberdeau ($7,700)
W – Evgenii Dadonov ($6,600)
The Avs linestack with Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen is slightly more expensive, so we're going with the Panthers' top line. Huberdeau has quietly emerged as an elite scoring winger and Dadonov help keeps the price low even though he's on a four-game point streak with goals scored in six of his past eight games.
DEFENSEMEN
I still don't like Ryan Suter ($5,700) very much even though he's scored three points in two games because this just doesn't happen very often. His upside is very minimal. Instead, look to power-play specialists Cale Makar ($5,500) and Keith Yandle ($5,100), especially Yandle, who leads the league's sixth-best power play.
If you really like the Wild, Jared Spurgeon ($4,500) is the better pick. He doesn't play as many minutes but his offensive upside is greater than Suter's. Filip Hronek ($4,000) also can chip in offensively, the problem is that he plays on Detroit and has just one PPG this season.
Trade talk regarding Jonas Brodin ($3,800) seems to be heating up. When that happens, some teams may elect to "showcase" them, putting them in more offensive situations matchups so they look good. He's playing more minutes right now than at any other point in the season. He's not a bad source of blocked shots. Carson Soucy's ($3,700) stock is going up right now, too.
