FanDuel NHL: February 14
By Matt Rogers
FanDuel NHL: February 14 is a daily fantasy sports column focusing on the best FanDuel NHL player and value options for your daily lineups. The salary options are based on the daily salaries set by FanDuel. We’ll review the best options at each position, and help you afford an ideal lineup for your big FanDuel NHL paydays.
It’s Valentine’s Day, and for those who love FanDuel NHL, there is a slate of seven games. Unlike Monday, we have plenty of options for our lineup picks tonight. All of the games kick off between 7pm ET and 9pm ET. Here’s a look at the schedule, with games we’ll focus on in bold:
Avalanche at Devils (7pm ET)
Canucks at Penguins (7pm ET)
Islanders at Maple Leafs (7:30pm ET)
Sabres at Senators (7:30pm ET)
Ducks at Wild (8pm ET)
Stars at Jets (8pm ET)
Coyotes at Oilers (9pm ET)
Before we review the top options for each FanDuel NHL lineup position, let’s review the FanDuel NHL scoring rules:
Forwards/Defense
- Goals = 12pts
- Assists = 8pts
- Shots on Goal = 1.6pts
- Short Handed points = 2pts
- Power Play Points = 0.5pts
- Blocked Shots = 1.6pts
Goalies
- Win = 12pts
- Goals Against = -4pts
- Saves = 0.8pts
- Shutouts = 8pts
Next: Top Centers
Top Centers
The Dallas Stars defense and goaltending has struggled this year. As a result, I often stay away from picking Stars for my lineup, and usually try to target whomever is playing them, given their bad defensive and goaltending pay.
However, the Stars do have some dynamic offensive players on their top two lines, including Tyler Seguin ($8,600). Fortunately, FanDuel NHL doesn’t deduct points for a negative +/- for each player. If they did, Stars players would be less attractive. Seguin’s line gives up a healthy portion of goals, but Tyler consistently yields double-digit FanDuel NHL points-per-game.
In the last fives Stars games, Seguin has three over 20 points, and over 30 points on Sunday. In fact, over the past month, Tyler exceeded 30 points three times. The Stars are playing the Jets tonight in Winnipeg. The Jets have recently struggled to defend well, and the goal tending has been struggling as well. This is a great night to stack some top line Stars into our lineups.
The New Jersey Devils have the enviable task of playing the Colorado Avalanche at home tonight. Adam Henrique ($5,300) had a goose-egg against a good Sharks team on Sunday. But with good match-ups in the previous five Devils’ games, Henrique racked up double-digit FanDuel NHL points in each. I’m looking for Adam to bounce-back tonight with a great match up, and give tremendous value at Center.
Next: Top Wings
Top Wings
Completing our Stars stack, we’re plugging Dallas Captain Jamie Benn ($8,400) into our lineup as the top winger. Since returning to the lineup on January 12th, Jamie has been absolutely smoking hot. Over the last twelve Stars games, Benn had ten double-digit FanDuel NHL points. He’s almost a lock for 15 points per-game. Six of those ten double-digit games were 20+ points. Benn stays hot tonight in Winnipeg, and likely drops 18+ points tonight.
The hot New York Islanders are back on the ice tonight in Toronto, so I’m stacking Anders Lee ($5,500) and Ryan Strome ($4,800) until they finally disappointment me. But they probably won’t. Lee is coming off a 30.9 FanDuel NHL point effort on Sunday, and has five 19+ point games in the last six games for the Isles. Lee is in the top line tonight.
Strome will be winger for the Isle 2nd line and two goals and five assists in New York’s’ last six games. Ryan isn’t putting up 19+ points every night like Anders, but Strome is still averaging close to 12-15 points. I’ll definitely take that tonight!
Nino Niederreiter ($5,700) started heating up early last week and we’ve used him a few times since. Now, over the past five Wild games, Nino has four games above 14 FanDuel NHL points. The loan sub-14 point game was 9.6 in Vancouver. So we’re going to stick with a hot Niederreiter at home in Minnesota against the Ducks tonight.
Next: Top Defense
Top Defense
I have stayed away from picking the Canucks lately. Aside from Bo Horvat who unfortunately may now be out for some time, pending MRI results. But Alexander Edler ($4,500) is heating up and we need to jump on this pick tonight. Edler now has a goal and three assists in the last four Canucks games.
Vancouver is playing the Penguins in Pittsburgh, which is normally a bad match up. But the Penguins have been struggling lately, losing games they should like a recent loss in Pittsburgh to the Coyotes. We’re looking for Edler to stay hot tonight, while he’s still relatively inexpensive.
After hearing criticism for not providing many assists for the Islanders during their hot offensive streak, Dennis Seidenberg ($3,700) dished out three helps in the last five games. Seidenberg is also getting around three shots and blocked shots per game, leading to a roughly 13 FanDuel NHL point average in the last five games. Assuming the Islanders stay hot tonight, Dennis should be involved in scoring and this is a tremendous value play.
Next: Top Goalie
Top Goalie
I always stay away from offensive picks facing hot goalies. And I look for hot goalies for my goaltending pick each day. The Colorado Avalanche are visiting New Jersey tonight, and Cory Schneider ($8,400) is on fire. So we’re staying away from all Avalanche offense and plugging Cory into our lineup with a hot match up.
Schneider now has six-straight double-digit FanDuel NHL games, even with only three wins in that time. Schneider’s seeing over 30 shots per game lately, but he’s saving roughly 95% of those shots, leading to 10+ points before he’d get the additional 12 points for a win. Tonight, I expect Cory to land somewhere around 20-25 FanDuel NHL points for a big cash play.
Next: FanDuel NBA Picks & Pivots
Always check NHL lineups throughout the day when playing FanDuel NHL. As a fan, you likely know the league isn’t overly forthcoming with injury news, and players are often scratched at the last-minute with little information. Also, goaltenders are never a sure-thing. Good Luck today FanDuelers!