This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Hockey series.
Tuesday's NHL slate is a large one, with 12 games on tap after 7:00 PM Eastern time. Read on to see which players stand out from the multitude of available options as guys to target and which ones are best avoided at their respective valuations.
GOALIE
Jordan Binnington, STL vs. NJ ($34): Binnington's 5-0-0 with seven goals allowed in his past five starts and 9-1-1 with 17 goals allowed in 11 starts this season. Despite that incredible success, the rookie netminder is still priced below three other projected starters in this slate. Expect another excellent outing against a Devils team that's a dreadful 7-17-3 outside of New Jersey.
GOALIE TO AVOID
Darcy Kuemper, ARI at VGK ($33): Kuemper snapped a three-game losing streak in his last start, and he's now given up multiple goals in 20 of his last 21 appearances, including three-plus in 12 of those games. The career backup doesn't have a particularly high ceiling while his floor is quite low against a Vegas club that's 16-7-3 in its own building.
CENTER
Bryan Little, WPG vs. NYR ($17): Little has performed at a point-per-game pace over the past 16 games, and half of those points have been goals. Winnipeg's tremendous home record (20-6-3) makes the Jets heavy favorites against a Rangers team with a 9-14-2 mark on the road. If Winnipeg prevails as expected, the team's red-hot second-line center is likely to have a hand in the result.
CENTER TO AVOID
Mathew Barzal, NYI at BUF ($22): Barzal's sophomore season is running out of steam -- you have to go back to Jan. 10 to find his last multi-point game, and he has just three goals, four assists and a minus-1 rating in 13 subsequent contests. The Islanders are playing -- and winning -- a lot of tight-checking games, which don't lead to much fantasy production for either team.
WINGS
David Pastrnak, BOS vs. CHI ($31): Just like his linemates Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, Pastrnak has home/road splits that skew significantly toward using him at TD Garden. He has 41 points (18 goals) in 30 home matches compared to just 25 points (13 goals) in 26 road games. Pastrnak is also tied with Tampa Bay's Brayden Point for the league lead in power-play goals (15), and he gets a great opportunity to break that tie against a Blackhawks club that features the league's most vulnerable penalty kill (73.9 percent).
Frank Vatrano, FLA vs. DAL ($17): Vatrano has thrived in a top-six role alongside Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Huberdeau, and he's unlikely to get moved from that spot any time soon after producing eight goals and 13 points in the past 13 games. He's rounded out his stat line over this strong stretch with 37 shots, 12 blocks and a plus-3 rating. The Stars aren't pushovers, but they've been much less fearsome outside their own building, posting a meager 10-14-3 road record.
WINGS TO AVOID
Matthew Tkachuk, CGY at TB ($23): Tkachuk's price was boosted by a torrid 11-game stretch in which he scored eight goals and 15 points, but he's gone cold with a five-game point drought since. Getting back on track won't be easy against a Lightning club that's outscoring opponents 3.80 to 2.77 on average this season.
Chris Kreider, NYR at WPG ($20): It's going to be hard for Kreider to live up to his $20 valuation -- the highest of any Rangers winger -- against the heavily favored Jets. If you insist on deploying a winger from the Blueshirts, Mats Zuccarello makes more sense at $18. Zuccarello has five goals and 12 assists in 11 appearances starting with Jan. 12, while Kreider has four goals and four assists over that span despite appearing in one more game than Zucc.
DEFENSEMEN
Dougie Hamilton, CAR at OTT ($17): Hamilton got off to a slow start after recording 42-plus points in each of the previous four seasons, but he's turned the page since the calendar turned to 2019 with seven goals and five helpers in 18 games during the new year. Ranked third in the league in shots among defensemen, Hamilton has a great chance of turning all that rubber on net into more 2019 offense against a Senators team that's allowing a league-high 3.65 goals per game.
Zach Werenski, CLS vs. WAS ($15): Werenski's chugging along at his usual productive pace -- his season average of .54 points per game is exactly in line with the third-year blueliner's career scoring rate. He's become more of a high-risk, high-reward play due to a minus-12 rating after finishing with plus-17 and plus-8 marks in his first two campaigns, but Werenski can also be had for cheaper than in the past at just $15. His upside is astronomical at that price against a Capitals team that has allowed 52 goals in its last 12 games and is playing the second leg of a back-to-back.
DEFENSEMEN TO AVOID
Jamie Oleksiak, DAL at FLA ($18): Oleksiak's price just won't drop from $18 no matter how unproductive he remains. The big-bodied blueliner is mired in a 17-game point drought, and his average of 3.4 fantasy points is the lowest among all defensemen that cost at least $14.
Erik Johnson, COL vs. TOR ($18): Johnson doesn't offer much upside on the offensive end, as he's on pace to come up short of the 30-point mark for the fifth consecutive season. Meanwhile, facing the Maple Leafs' fourth-ranked offense (3.55 goals per game) gives him plenty of downside in the rating category.
