DraftKings NHL: Wednesday Picks

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Updated on January 2, 2019 2:09PM EST

GOALIE

MacKenzie Blackwood, NJ at DAL ($7,100): We're going with the flavor of the week with Blackwood, who is coming off back-to-back shutouts against Carolina and Vancouver. It's not uncommon for teams to buckle down defensively when an inexperienced goalie is in net, so if the defense holds, Blackwood might forge a fourth straight win.

CENTER

Sidney Crosby, PIT at NYR ($7,400): This feels like a good price for Crosby, who has 10 points in his past four games, and throughout his career has played very well against the Rangers with 81 points in 63 contests. Since returning from injury in mid-November, he's scored 39 points in 20 games, which is a higher rather than Kucherov, Rantanen or McDavid.

Elias Pettersson, VAN at OTT ($6,500): He had no points in a shutout loss to New Jersey but definitely had a few scoring chances. The Canucks should fare much better against the Sens, who are starting Marcus Hogberg (two career starts, .883 save percentage) and are without Thomas Chabot.

WING

Elias Lindholm, CGY at DET ($6,600): He's coming off a three-point game against the Sharks in which the Flames' top line absolutely dominated. Matt Tkachuk ($6,700) is more expensive because he's scored more points this season, but Lindholm gets the cushier job with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. Jimmy Howard is low-key having a pretty good season, but the Flames offense will be tough to contain for a young Wings blue line.

Sven Baertschi, VAN at OTT ($4,200): He's been gone for two months, so he's still getting into a groove, but through two games it looks like Baertschi is healthy and ready to contribute. Starting on the third line, it should be a matter of time before Baertschi finds himself back on Bo Horvat's wing, a spot the underachieving Loui Eriksson currently holds. If Baertschi re-unites with Horvat, his production should surge. He has seven points in 12 games this season.

Jesse Puljujarvi, EDM at ARI ($3,300): He's scored just once in his past five games, but Ken Hitchcock trusts him more than any other past Oilers coach, and in three games last season Puljujarvi managed to score a goal. Here's hoping that the familiarity will help him, as well as the Coyotes starting Darcy Kuemper, who allowed five goals against the Knights and has lost eight of his past nine appearances.

DEFENSE

Erik Karlsson, SJ at COL ($5,800): Karlsson scores at a near point-per-game pace yet doesn't have the $6,000-plus price tag that Brent Burns, Mark Giordano and Kris Letang have. That makes Karlsson, who has a 10-game point streak going and eight points in his past three games, a great bargain at this price. Colorado's defense is not an issue, and the Sharks have scored 21 goals in their past five games.

Alexander Edler, VAN at OTT ($5,200): He's a low-floor fantasy defenseman because he gets the plum assignment on the top power-play unit and also blocks a ton of shots on the top pairing, which Travis Green relies on heavily. At 32 years old, Edler is having one of the best seasons of his career with two of his four goals coming from the power play.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire.