FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: March 25
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to the FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column. This is the Saturday, March 25th edition. After a light Friday night, we’re going to look at a robust NHL schedule and identify top plays for tonight, and value options for affordability. All salaries mentioned are FanDuel NHL for Saturday, March 25th only.
After a mild four game NHL slate on Friday, we have twelve games to pick through today. But we’re only going to focus on the FanDuel NHL MAIN slate of games, which includes ten of the twelve games scheduled. Narrowing down further into the games, we’ll focus on just three games, using two teams for stacking. Here’s a look at the three games we’re focused on, with the two stack games highlighted in bold.
Hurricanes at Devils (7pm ET)
Coyotes at Capitals (7pm ET)
Avalanche at Oilers (10pm ET)
The Devils have a favorable home match up against the Hurricanes and New Jersey has played well, at times, on home ice. But this is going to be a close match up, and we don’t want our lineup exposed to many of the unknowns in this one.
The Capitals and the Oilers are each hosting terrible Coyotes and Avalanche teams. The Yotes and Avs have surprised some teams on home ice, but are close to a slam-dunk to get blown out on the road. We’re going to heavily favor the Caps and Oilers in our lineups tonight.
Let’s start with our Centers.
Next: Top Centers
Top Centers
We’ll start with our value play of the day at Center, Adam Henrique ($4,300). We already talked about how don’t want too much exposure to the Hurricanes and Devils tonight. But Henrique could be a sneaky value pick leading the second line for the Devils against a struggling Canes defense.
The Devils have shown some flashes of brilliance, from time-to-time, on offense this season. The problem is consistency. Henrique has been quiet the last two games against the Maple Leafs and Rangers, but before those games, he had three goals and an assist in a three-game run against the Flyers, Penguins, and Blue Jackets. Over the last five games, Adam is averaging close to 15 FanDuel NHL points and he could hit around 15 again tonight, in a good bounce-back match up.
Next, we start with one of our stacks tonight, grabbing the top offensive option for FanDuel NHL, Connor McDavid ($9,100). Nicknamed ‘McJesus’ by Edmonton fans, Connor is leading the NHL in total scoring (goals and assists) with 87 points in only 74 games. So McDavid is as close to a lock for double-digit FanDuel NHL points each night as you’re going to find across the entire league.
Tonight, the Oilers complete a back-to-back match up with the Avalanche. In Colorado on Thursday night, McDavid had two assists and a total of 19.2 FanDuel NHL points. But over the last five games, Connor is actually averaging well over 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game and is a solid candidate for 20+ points tonight.
Next: Top Wings
Top Wings
Continuing with the Oilers stacking theme, we’re grabbing top line winger and McDavid line-mate Patrick Maroon ($5,300) and an Oilers 2nd line value stud Milan Lucic ($5,600). Maroon was flat-out cold on Thursday night, scoring zero FanDuel NHL points with 14 minutes of ice time in Colorado. I’m hoping that’ll cause many FanDuel players to pause before playing him, or avoid him all together for low ownership. In the four games before Thursday, Maroon was averaging nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game and is a strong bounce-back candidate tonight.
On the other hand, Lucic had a goal and 16.8 FanDuel NHL points on Thursday night. But Milan is a lesser known winger on the Oilers and is often overlooked. But Lucic is a consistent double-digit FanDuel NHL point scorer, and should continue to roll on home ice against a terrible Avs team tonight.
We only have one more Oiler spot available, three of four, in our lineup. But instead of continuing to stack Oilers with our next two winger picks, we’re going to start our Capitals stack with top line FanDuel NHL stud T.J. Oshie ($7,100) and 2nd line veteran Justin Williams ($4,500).
On the D.C. local radio show,106.7 FM The Sports Junkies this week, Capitals Coach Barry Trotz listed his top five MVP candidates on his team. There were a few before Ovechkin, and Oshie was one of them. T.J. is now a fan favorite in D.C. and for good reason. Over the last three games, Oshie has four goals and two assists. In Tampa on the 18th, T.J. had an amazing 52.5 FanDuel NHL points. Oshie has an incredible upside and could see another big night on home ice against a struggling Yotes defense.
After winning a Stanley Cup in L.A., Williams flew to the east coast to sign with the Capitals. The veteran is a quite but effective winger on the Caps 2nd line. Over the last five games, Justin has three 9+ FanDuel NHL point games. Williams is averaging around 15 minutes of ice time per game, and should have another double-digit FanDuel NHL game tonight against the Coyotes.
Next: Top Defense
Top Defense
With our first pick on defense, we’re completing our Oilers stack with 2nd line defender Andrej Sekera ($4,500). Sekera is an underrated veteran spending around 20 minutes of ice time for the Oilers. Andrej had six straight double-digit FanDuel NHL point games, including a goal and two assists against the Avalanche in Colorado on Thursday Night. Lucic and Sekera should be a good 2nd-line pairing from the Oilers against the Avs on home ice tonight.
For our third Capital, we’re going back to the top line and grabbing underrated value pick John Carlson ($4,800). Carlson has two goals and two assists in the last six games, and double-digit FanDuel NHL points in four of the last six games. On Thursday night, John only had 3.2 FanDuel NHL points on only two shots on goal. But Carlson should bounce back tonight on home ice against the Yotes.
Next: Top Goalie
Top Goalie
Finally, to complete our Capitals stack, we’re going with top FanDuel NHL option Braden Holtby ($9,500). I typically like to avoid the expensive goalie options, because they usually suck the value out of your lineup. Most expensive goalies yield about as much points as several cheaper options. And using more salary for a similar result can cap your value on offense and defender.
But looking through the scheduled games tonight, I’m nervous about most of the goalie options. For example, while we think the Oilers should have a good offensive night tonight, they have struggled on defense and the Avalanche could surprise us. The Capitals struggled recently after a long break, but in the past couple of days, they’re showing signs of a strong turnaround at the right time. The Caps are the least likely to be upset tonight and we were still able to build a robust lineup with Holtby.
Next: March Madness Elite Eight Picks
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!