FanDuel NHL: February 24
By Matt Rogers
FanDuel NHL: February 24 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.
There’s four games on the schedule for Friday Night FanDuel NHL lineups. That’s more than we’ve seen lately on a Friday. There’s plenty of options for a few good lineups, and we’ll look for the optimal lineup here. We’re going to hit on each of the four games, fading the offense on our goalie pick game. Here is a look at the games we’ll target tonight:
Oilers at Capitals (7pm ET)
Flames at Panthers (7:30pm ET)
Senators at Hurricanes (7:30pm ET)
Coyotes at Stars (8:30pm 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
After a quiet streak of six to nine FanDuel NHL points-per-game over five straight games, Sean Monahan ($6,400) is heating up again. On Tuesday, Sean had three assists in route to a 25.6 FanDuel NHL point night. Last night, Monahan scored one of the Flames four goals in Tampa. Tonight, we expect Monahan to stay hot in Florida, this time against the Panthers.
The Arizona Coyotes offense woke up in February. For a while, the knock on their offense was they were better at home, but they’re beginning to score consistently on the road as well. Martin Hanzal ($5,300) leads the Yotes top line. Over the last five games, Hanzal has two goals and an assist, leading to three double-digit FanDuel NHL point nights in five games. Tonight, Hanzal should be involved in another lamp-lighter in Dallas against a terrible Stars defense.
Next: Top Wings
Top Wings
Before we go into our big plays for wing tonight, I’m stacking a hot Radim Vrbata ($5,700) with our Hanzal pick at center. The Coyotes have a reputation for not scoring often, especially on the road. But lately they’ve been bucking that trend and are becoming a dangerous team to play. Last night they netted three goals against a good Blackhawks team and tough net-minder in Crawford.
I’m expecting a shoot-out in Dallas between the Coyotes and Stars. Speaking of the shootout in Dallas, we’re also going to stack the Stars top-line wings, Jamie Benn ($8,400) and Patrick Eaves ($5,400). Benn has been absolutely on fire lately, and while he’ll be heavily owned, if you don’t have him in your lineup tonight, it’s going to be tough to win.
As a result of the Dallas offense getting hot in February, Eaves has poured in double-digit FanDuel NHL point nights more often. Tonight should be another one in a great match up for the Stars top line.
Even though we’re excited about the Coyotes and Stars game tonight, we can’t avoid the Caps v. Oilers. So we’re filling our last wing slot with one of the Caps hottest wingers now, T.J. Oshie ($6,900). Aside from a random cold night here-and-there, Oshie has been regularly scoring goals and handing assists. In the Caps last five games, Oshie had at least one assist and one goal in three games. So he’s a decent bet at 20+ FanDuel NHL points tonight.
Next: Top Defense
Top Defense
Oscar Klefbom ($4,800) is becoming a defensive star for the Edmonton Oilers this season, and the past two weeks are a good example of why. Also, Oscar is playing on the Oilers top line, which has been an offensive Juggernaut this season. Over the past five games, Klefbom has three goals and three assists, averaging around 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game.
Esa Lindell ($3,600) is a sneaky value play at defense. For only $3.6K, we’re getting a defender who’s almost a lock to land us around 8 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and is often involved in scoring results leading to double-digit points. I’ll take that every night!
Next: Top Goalie
Top Goalie
By now we’ve avoided plugging any Hurricanes into our lineup, and that should become obvious when we look at our goalie pick for tonight. Since returning to the ice for the Senators’ Craig Anderson ($8,500), has increasingly become locked in between the pipes.
Over the past four games, Craig has three wins, and one loss, and has only given up seven goals. Anderson shut out the Islanders on the 11th, and had nearly 30 saves per game since February 11th. While I typically avoid picking road-goalies, Anderson’s last two games were on the road, and he had 27.2 FanDuel NHL points on the 18th in Toronto, and 31.2 points in New Jersey. Anderson is a sneaky, low-ownership, pick for goalie tonight.
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!