Daily News:

In a battle of terrible goaltenders (Mike Smith for Arizona vs. Cam Ward of Carolina), the Hurricanes Alex Semin is expected to be a healthy scratch. The benching stems from a stupid unsportmanlike conduct penalty that Semin took in the final period against the Vancouver Canucks in their last game. Obviously, despite the fact that Semin has just two points in eight games, this is a big loss for Carolina defensively.

Joffrey Lupul of Toronto has a broken hand, and will not be playing tonight against the Blackhawks. This game had blowout written all over it, and now it’s ten times worse.

Corey Crawford is expected to return between the pipes for the Blackhawks tonight against Toronto. He’s a decent GPP option, but I’m not enamored with him by any means, coming off an injury. Lupul is a big loss for the Leafs offensively, but any team that has Phil Kessel is still a threat.

Let’s get to the picks for today. Don’t forget, if you are a new user to Draft Kings please use this link to sign up!

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Bargain Bin Values:

As always, let’s begin with the value plays for today:

Mikkel Boedker | Arizona | $4,300 | Winger: Boedkker is incredibly cheap, due to the fact that his Coyotes have struggled mightily at times to score goals — as they come into the game 24th in goals per game. However, Cam Ward will cure all that ails them, because he is absolutely terrible. The 30-year-old goaltender comes into this one with a .840 save percentage. I also like a Antoine Vermette / Boedkker / Shane Doan line stack in a GPP. The trio is merely a combined $12,700, and in cash games I’d look to pair up Boedkker with either one of Doan or Vermette (depending on what works best for your roster construction).

Blake Comeau | Pittsburgh | $3,300 | Winger: The Penguins play the Buffalo Sabres today, in what should be an absolute butt-whipping. Comeau is still skating with Evgeni Malkin and today couldn’t be a better day to use Comeau’s money saving services. In addition to Comeau, Steve Downie ($3,300, W), Nick Spaling ($2,800, C), Simon Despres ($3,000, D), and Paul Martin ($2,800, D) are all excellent values as well.

Bryan Bickell | Chicago | $2,600 | Winger: Cue the “really, you’re suggesting third liners?” comment from skeptics. In reality, Bickell is a pretty decent player and the Maple Leafs are absolutely horrid defensively, especially their depth lines…. However…. SURPRISE… he’s skating with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa now. Bickell is by far the best value play on the slate, and probably the best value we’ve had all season.

Andrew Shaw | Chicago | $4,000 | center: Shaw will be centering Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane. It really doesn’t get much better than that, plus he’s on the top power-play unit.

After some deliberation, I’ve decided there’s really no reason to keep discussing these games. Chicago is so insanely underpriced that you should honestly just stack them completely, sprinkle them in with some Penguins, a goalie, and of course Damon Severson. 

I don’t really ever give away lineups completely, but today is just so obvious.. Here is how one of your lineups should look:

Chicago is just so amazingly cheap.

Other combos that work are Shaw/Malkin/Hornqvist/Kane/Boedkker/Crosby, and then fill them in with some value defensemen and a value goalie.

Goalies in play are:

Steve Mason | $6,200 | vs Florida

Cory Schneider | $6,900 | vs Columbus (The Blue Jackets are starting youngster Anton Forsberg, so Schneider getting a win here is a pretty darn safe bet)

Marc-Andre Fleury | $9,400 | Pittsburgh (A bit overpriced though)

Mike Smith | $6,200 | Arizona: This one is not for the faint of heart, as Smith isn’t very good. However, Cam Ward is much worse.

Corey Crawford | $7,700 | Chicago: A risk, as I mentioned before, but he’s really cheap and all but guaranteed a win.

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