FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: February 8
By Matt Rogers
Welcome to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays. This is the Thursday, February 8th edition. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
We faded Connor McDavid ($9,100) last night after his 70+ FanDuel NHL point result earlier in the week. For many, Connor was a must-play especially for cash games. However, we were concerned about the solid Kings defense from Anze Kopitar. It turns out, McDavid was still a solid play, yielding 25.3 FanDuel NHL points on a goal and assist.
However, that being said, our two biggest plays at center were Patrice Bergeron ($8,100) and Anze Kopitar ($7,200). Related to return for salary, they were still better plays. Bergeron had two goals and seven shots for an awesome 38.8 FanDuel NHL points while saving $1K compared to McDavid. Also, Kopitar had a goal and assist, along with two blocked shots and two shots for 26.4 FanDuel Points. So if you picked Bergeron and Kopitar, and faded McDavid, you were in a better position than most FanDuel NHL players last night.
Anton Khudobin ($8,500) was our top goalie play, and with the 6-1 win over the Rangers, Khudobin was a solid 24.8 FanDuel NHL point play. However, the Rangers offensive woes continued, even at home, providing only 22 shots on goal and allowing Anton to only build up 21 saves during the game. We were expecting more than 30 shots, and a 30 to 40 point night, so the result was solid but disappointing.
We whiffed on some plays too. Mitchell Marner ($5,900) put up a big fat zero points, even though he was 15-20% owned. Kevin Fiala ended up playing, with an illness, but only had one shot on goal for 1.6 FanDuel NHL points. Craig Smith ($5,300) and PK Subban ($6,200) also each had less than five points, really hurting our GPP odds. Jake Muzzin ($4,900) was still a solid 9.6 return on a cheap salary, but Chara would’ve been the better value pick on defense. If you played cash games, especially double-ups, you were OK. But if you used most of these picks in GPP, you struggled to win money.
Let’s take a look at the NHL schedule for Thursday, February 8th:
Islanders at Sabres (7pm ET)
Flames at Devils (7pm ET)
Canadiens at Flyers (7pm ET)
Predators at Senators (7:30pm ET)
Canucks at Lightning (7:30pm ET)
Avalanche at Blues (8pm ET)
Coyotes at Wild (8pm ET)
Stars at Blackhawks (8:30pm ET)
Golden Knights at Sharks (10:30pm ET)
The Islanders are struggled, especially on defense and with goaltending, so some Sabres offense on home ice may be a cheap and easy win tonight. The Flames offense is top-ten in the NHL on road ice, and they’re in New Jersey tonight facing a vulnerable Devils offense. We can grab some expensive Flames picks, but there’s plenty of value on their offense as well.
The Canadiens are in Philly tonight, if they can make it around the Super Bowl parade, and will likely deal with a rowdy crowd and an even tougher top-line offense. We see some great potential from the Flyers but, again, there’s plenty of easy value in the game.
We loved the Predators offense last night, and they fell short. It’s unlikely the Preds fall short on offense against the Senators in Ottawa, were most road teams have created the greatest offensive production this season. The Canucks are good on the road too, and the Bolts have struggled in Tampa lately, but either team is in play there.
The Avalanche and Blues are likely a pair of teams we’ll avoid, due to solid defense and goaltending lately. The Blackhawks have struggled to find identity without Crawford, and even in Chicago the Stars should be a great offensive play. Meanwhile, the Sharks offense has emerged in the middle part of this NHL season, but playing the Golden Knights anywhere is a tough draw. Will Fleury bounce back? Likely.
As always, we’ll look to update our picks and final lineups prior to lock on our twitter account @FantasyCPR so make sure to give us a follow for all the late breaking lineup news.
Now let’s start building our NHL DFS optimal lineup by looking at the top centers for this slate…
Top FanDuel NHL Centers: Feb 8th
We’ve narrowed our top plays at center down to Tyler Seguin ($8,000) or Jack Eichel ($8,000). Stamkos and Tavares have each seen struggles on their top lines over the last couple of weeks, and Seguin and Eichel have better match ups tonight.
The Blackhawks are 1-4-1 in their last six home games. Given recently history, that’s a shocking result at this point of the season. Since Corey Crawford left the ice with an injury, which is rumored to be season-ending, the Hawks have struggled to find their team identity. The Hawks had been inconsistent, but lately they have played terrible on defense and tending the net. Meanwhile, the Stars have won four of their last five away games, and have a great 23.5% Power Play scoring rate.
That bodes well for Seguin, who’s leading the Stars top line, and has four goals and three assists in the last six games. In fact, Tyler has a goal in each of the last three Stars games, and is averaging around five shots per game lately. It’s very likely Seguin will have over 20 FanDuel NHL points tonight.
Eichel has been more inconsistent than Seguin, all season. But when Jack gets hot, he has a very high ceiling, scoring over 40 FanDuel NHL points several times this season, including recently against the Oilers in Edmonton on January 23rd. The Islanders defense and goaltending has been terrible all season, but they’ve played worse lately, giving up around four goals per game and with a penalty kill below 80% over the last ten games. If you can afford Eichel and Seguin, that’s an ideal play at center, but try to have at least one in your cash and GPP plays tonight.
Two other groups of centers we like tonight are Sean Monahan ($7,700) and Mikael Backlund ($5,800) leading the top two lines for the Flames and Sean Couturier ($7,300) and Nolan Patrick ($4,300) from the Flyers. Of this group, Couturier has the great ceiling and best ROI potential, but Monahan has a goal in each of the last three games.
Backlund and Patrick each provide tons of value, buying the potential for 20+ points below a $6K salary. In the last five games, Backlund only has one goal, but he also has four assists and several shots on goal with nearly 20 minutes of ice time each game. Since getting promoted to the second line, rookie Patrick had three 14+ FanDuel NHL point games in the last four games, and two goals and two assists. With Backlund or Patrick paired with Seguin or Eichel, you have plenty of opportunity in the option positional picks.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Feb 8th
With Monahan and Backlund as great picks from the Flames for center, Johnny Gaudreau ($8,000) also has to be a strong consideration for winger. While Johnny only has one goal in the last seven games, he also has six assists and is consistently averaging over 14 FanDuel NHL points-per-game over the last two weeks. The only issue with Gaudreau is the pricey salary.
With a goal and assist in two of his last seven games, Jamie Benn ($7,700) has the potential for another two-point scoring night against the Blackhawks in Chicago. If you have a cheap pick identified with Seguin, like Patrick, it’s feasible to stack Benn with Seguin to maximize your Stars offensive production in your lineup tonight.
From the Flyers tonight, you could go with Claude Giroux ($7,500), Jakub Voracek ($7,200), Wayne Simmonds ($5,800), or Travis Konecny ($5,000). Giroux has a high ceiling with his goal-scoring potential, but Voracek is the NHL’s leading in assists (52 in 53 games) and consistently provides double-digit points. For value, speeding Konecny’s point-per-game average is climbing now that he’s promoted to the top line, but Simmonds has two goals and two assists in the last four games likely thanks to the improved production from new center Patrick on the second line.
With Forsberg out due to a suspension, Viktor Arvidsson ($7,000) is emerging as a top winger option, even with Kevin Fiala ($5,000) biting at his heals for leading Predators scoring this season. Fiala was recovering from an illness last night and struggled to produce after four goals in two games. So we prefer Arvidsson over Fiala, as Viktor has a goal or assist in six of the last seven games, a total of five goals and three assists in that time.
We haven’t talked about the Golden Knights much yet, but Reilly Smith ($6,100) has played tremendous hockey lately and is a solid pick in San Jose tonight, even though the Sharks have had stingy defense this season. Smith has four goals and three assists in the last five games and has a solid shot at double-digit points again tonight.
Finally, for one more value pick, we’re looking at the Bolts 26-year-old Canadien second liner Yanni Gourde ($4,900). In the last seven games, Yanni has a tremendous five goals and three assists, with at least a goal or assist in six of seven games. The Canucks have solid offense on the road, but their defense has been horrible.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Feb 8th
With Brent Burns ($7,400) on the ice and, even with a 9.6 FanDuel NHL result on Tuesday, we like Burnsy again tonight. In his last eleven games, Brent has a goal or assist in eight games. Often when Burns is involved in scoring, Brent has more than one point, a goal with an assist or two of both. Minus the offensive production, Burnsy gets three-plus points per game and provides several blocked shots. He’s as near a lock for double-digit FanDuel NHL points as you’re going to get on defense.
With the Stars in play today, John Klingberg ($6,700) is another obvious play tonight. John has seven assists in the last seven games, and has been Burnsy like with his high shot and blocked shot rates per game. With the match up in Chicago, Klingberg is an even better play tonight.
Like last night, we think the Predators defenders are each a great pick tonight. Roman Josi ($6,400) and PK Subban ($6,200) each had quiet nights against the Maple Leafs last night, but with the offensive doors opening against the Senators tonight, they’re both in play again with a higher ceiling.
With the Flames a hot stacking pick tonight, Captain Mark Giordano ($5,700) could fly under the radar with so many other great picks on the board tonight. But if you can’t afford any of these expensive options, a sneaky value pick is Ryan Pulock ($4,000). The 23-year-old has a goal and two assists in the last two games and piled up for assists and a goal against the Blackhawks in Chicago on January 20th. The Sabres offense is a target tonight, but their defense hasn’t been great at home either, putting Pulock well within play for a top value pick.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Feb 8th
Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,200) will be a popular goalie pick against the Canucks on home ice. But, we’re fading Vas. Over the last three home games, Andrei has given up an average of 4.34 goals per game and is 1-2. Vasilevskiy’s save percentage is a low .849 recently in this scenario lately. The Canucks aren’t an offensive imposing team, but Andrei could give up at least three goals tonight.
Devan Dubnyk ($8,700) has been playing well lately, but the Coyotes have surprised some teams on the road this week. Also, while Carter Hutton has been hot, the Avalanche offense has been solid, even without Nathan MacKinnon.
Several of the other goalie match ups cancel each other out, but Brian Elliott ($8,000) is an appealing option. Carey Price ($8,300) is a great goalie and has played better lately, but mostly to lesser opponents. When Elliott is on the ice, the Flyers appear to be a completely different team, tougher to beat. In his last three starts, Brian has given up only a total of four goals, and has six wins in his last seven games. Given his salary and the likelihood Elliott will see close to 30 shots today due to poor penalty kill and defense tonight, Elliott should be a solid value.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Thursday, February 8th:
C Seguin (DAL $8,000)
C Backlund (CGY $5,800)
W Arvidsson (NSH $7,000)
W Smith (VGK $6,1000)
W Konecny (PHI $5,000)
W Gourde (TB $4,9000)
D Subban (NSH $6,200)
D Pulock (NYI $4,000)
G Elliott (PHI $8,000)
Note: This is a recommended lineup after discussing our top options for the week. You should use this as a guide, and provide your own input when building FanDuel NHL lineups. We are not telling you, or selling you, to use this lineup.
Best of luck in your FanDuel NHL contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across NHL, NBA, EPL, and NFL this fall!