FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: March 24
By Matt Rogers
Welcome to the FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column. We took a few days off this week, but we’re excited for the Friday, March 24th edition. We’re going to highlight several top plays for Friday night, and peg a few value options for affordability. Keep in mind, all salaries mentioned are for FanDuel NHL this Friday night only.
After a big Thursday night schedule, last night, the NHL has a mild four game schedule for Friday night. But there are several juicy opportunities with games starting between 7pm and 10pm ET. Here’s a look at the schedule. We’re going to target players from all four games:
Islanders at Penguins (7pm ET)
Lightening at Red Wings (7:30pm ET)
Sharks at Stars (8:30pm ET)
Jets at Ducks (10pm ET)
The Penguins have a decent match up at home, but the Islanders are fighting for a playoff spot and could be dangerous. The Lightening are visiting a terrible Red Wings team in Detroit, and we may look to exploit the Bolts surging offense against a terrible Wings defense.
The struggling Stars are hosting a Sharks team who has been solid on road ice. And the Jets are visiting the Ducks in Anaheim. While the Jets have had some impressive home performances, they’ve struggled on the road and we are likely going to load up on Ducks tonight.
Next: Top Centers
Top Centers
The Anaheim Ducks top-line center, Ryan Getzlaf ($7,800), is having an incredible March. Over ten games in March, Ryan has three goals and thirteen assists. That’s well over one point (goal or assist) per game. In that time, Getzlaf is averaging around 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and has four of the ten games over 23 points.
Tonight, the Ducks have a favorable match up against a Jets team struggling to defend the net. Winnipeg is rotating through goalies this season, struggling to find their future net minder. The Ducks played in Winnipeg on January 23rd, their last match up, and Getzlaf had a power play goal, an assist, and four shots on goal totaling 26.9 FanDuel NHL points. We should see between 15-25 points tonight.
With the Bolt’s top line leader, Johnson, still on the mend, Brayden Point ($4,300) continues to be a unique value option at center. Playing with top NHL players like Kucherov, Point is on fire lately. Over the last five games, Brayden has two goals and three assists, and is averaging nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game. With a favorable match up in Detroit tonight, Point should continue to roll.
Next: Top Wings
Top Wings
We’re going to continue stacking Ducks players at wing with Rickard Rakell ($6,200) and Corey Perry ($5,500). Rakell is a true stack along with our top center option Getzlaf. And like Ryan, Rickard is on fire this March. Over the last six games, Rakell has five goals and three assists. Rickard is averaging over 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game in the last six games, and with the match up tonight is a solid bet to exceed 20 points again.
Perry is the top scorer on the Ducks 3rd line, but hasn’t been as hot as Getzlaf and Rakell. Still, on March 12th against a good Capitals defense, Perry had two goals and an assist, totaling 40.5 FanDuel NHL points in one game. Corey sees 16 to 18 minutes per game and should score at least 10 points tonight, in a favorable match up for the Ducks 3rd line.
Completing another stack, we’re grabbing top play Nikita Kucherov ($8,300) to stack with Point. Kucherov is clearly the best player on the ice tonight, and has been absolutely on fire since the start of the new year. Over the last three games, Nikita has an awesome six goals and one assist. Kucherov is averaging OVER 30 FanDuel NHL points-per-game in the last three games as well. Nikita and the Bolts top line should continue to stay hot in Detroit tonight.
Finally, while he’s not cheap, I sometimes consider 37-year-old Sharks veteran Patrick Marleau ($5,900) to be a value play with the right match ups. On Tuesday night in Minnesota, Marleau had two goals and 30.4 FanDuel NHL points. The Wild are struggling lately, and the Sharks took full advantage. Tonight, the Sharks are in Dallas against another struggling team, the Stars. Marleau may not get another two goals, but he’s likely to be involved in one or more scoring results serving the top line for the Sharks in a great match up.
Next: Top Defense
Top Defense
Our top defense play tonight is a fourth, and final, Anaheim Duck, Cam Fowler ($4,700). Fowler is a 3rd top line stack from the Ducks and the top defensive-man on the team. Cam is one of my favorite defense plays. We’re getting a guy who is on the ice around 25 minutes per game, scores a floor of 6 FanDuel NHL points, and typically averages around 15 points per game for under $5K.
On Wednesday night against the Oilers, without a goal or assist, Fowler still had eight shots on goal and three blocked shots, for a total of 17.6 FanDuel NHL points. That’s typical Folwer play.
Ian Cole ($3,900) is a value pick at defense and one of only two Penguins we’re picking tonight. Cole man’s the Pengs 2nd line, and spends around 20 minutes of each game on the ice. Over the last five games, Cole averaged around eight FanDuel NHL points-per-game. I’ll take that every time for under $4K.
Next: Top Goalie
Top Goalie
With the outstanding goalie play of young Murray for the Penguins, there are rumors that days are numbered in Pittsburgh for Marc-Andre-Fleury ($8,400). But the Penguins held onto Fleury during the trade deadline, and Marc-Andre continues to be a rock solid option for the Penguins in goal this season.
Over his last five starts, Fleury is 3-1-1. While Marc-Andre has two losses in the last five games, he’s only giving up under two goals per game in that time, and has two shuts outs. Fleury is typically getting around 25-30 saves per game, and is a solid candidate for around 30 FanDuel NHL points with a win tonight. The Penguins do have a tough match up on home ice tonight, against an Islanders team pressing for a playoff spot. But the Isles are on the outside looking in, and the Penguins are still playing for top seeding as well. I like the Penguins tonight.
Always check NHL lineups throughout the day when playing FanDuel NHL. The NHL 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. Follow us on twitter, @fantasycpr, for updates as we get closer to lineup lock time. Good Luck today FanDuelers!