Fantasy Hockey Picks 1-31-15
These fantasy hockey picks will lead you to victory on tonight’s great slate of NHL action!
Congratulations to greylorn for taking down the Ice Throne Thursday night. Today we have a large slate with 11 games on tap. The 3 games before 7PM EST I am going to ignore as most contests have the later start time. Let’s end the month right and get some cash to pay off those taxes from last years winnings.
Goalies:
Jonas Hiller ($15,150) - Calgary is a huge favorite tonight as EDM has only won 4 games on the road this entire season. Taylor Hall is a game time decision and if he is out Hiller gets an even bigger bump up the rankings as he is EDM’s best scorer.
Ben Bishop ($18,100) - The last time my Blue Jackets were in Tampa I was all over the Lightning and it burned me. Columbus went in and won the game 3-1. I don’t see this happening again and I will be all over Tampa Bay tonight. With Bobrovsky out of the lineup Tampa should feast on Curtis McElhinney. Bishop should be picking up those bonus points for the win with ease tonight.
Others: Henrik Lundqvist
Centers:
Tyler Johnson ($11,300) - Any time Tampa is at home you have to look at the top 6 forwards. This team scores in bunches leading the league with 3.22 goals per game and with their home record of 20-4-1 I see them scoring enough goals this game to win easily. Anytime McElhinney is in net you must target him.
Tyler Bozak ($9,050) - At some point Toronto is going to break out of their scoring slump and a matchup against the Flyers is a great way to make that happen. Bozak is back to centering JVR and Kessel on both the teams top line and top power play unit. The Fylers penalty kill is awful and this should be the night that the Leafs get their scoring going again.
Others: Jeff Carter, Sean Monahan
Left Wing:
Rick Nash ($14,500) - Cam Ward was expecting to get the night off last night but ended up going into the game after 3 minutes and 25 seconds due to a very fast 2-0 lead for the Blues. I am not sure who will be in net for Carolina as nothing is confirmed yet but it is either a tired Cam ward or a bad Khudobin. Either way is fine to roster Nash tonight.
Patrick Sharp ($12,400) - Now that he is skating with Patrick Kane on even strength as well as the power play his value goes way up. The matchup is not great today but the price is right and the position is thin. Anytime he is on one of the top two lines for Chicago he is in play for me.
Others: Johnny Gaudreau, Brayden Schenn
Right Wing:
Patrick Eaves ($6,950) - Still skating with Benn/Seguin and now appears to be with them on the top power play too. Dallas scored 6 goals in their last game without Seguin in on the scoring. He had two shots off the crossbar and was visibly angry about it. He should come out on fire and Eaves should benefit greatly.
Jakub Voracek ($15,000) - It is certainly easy to suggest the most expensive and league leader in points this season but right wing is so bad tonight that I am going to do it anyways. He is on a 5 game point streak and a home matchup with Tornoto should provide many chances for goals in this game. This could turn into a shootout very easily and he should pay off the expensive asking price.
Others I like are Ryan Callahan, Jiri Hudler
Defense:
Anton Stralman ($7,450) - I keep going back to the value play as long as he is on the top power play unit for Tampa Bay. Anytime you are out there with Stamkos on the power play your chance to pick up an assist is great. He won’t need much to pay off the salary and I think he exceeds it tonight against the poor penalty kill of Columbus.
Dan Boyle ($6,900) - Similar to Stralman, he is a cheap defensemen that gets the ice time on the power play with the teams best offensive players. The price tag is simply too low and hard to ignore when that is the case.
Others: Duncan Kieth, Jake Gardiner