FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: February 12
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays, the Monday February 12th edition. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
While the article writing took a the weekend off due to illness, the FanDuel NHL lineup plays continued. On Sunday, one of our favorite lineup plays performed well. Johnny Gaudreau ($8,100) had a decent 24.5 FanDuel NHL point return, with a power play assist, blocked shot and nine shots on goal. However, we were hoping for a better outcome.
Two players off our radar yesterday were Matthew Tkachuk ($6,500) and Ryan O’Reilly ($6,000). While he only had one goal in Buffalo against the Avs on Sunday, O’Reilly added two helpers during short-handed opportunities, two blocked shots, and his goal was during a power play. So for a modest $6K for Ryan at center, you got a fantastic 43.7 FanDuel NHL point return. Tkachuk had six shots on goal and got 33.6 FanDuel NHL points the normal way, with two goals.
One of the harder picks lately has been pinning down the right goaltender. We’ve had some surprise losses with great goaltenders in net, like the blowout win for the Canucks in Dallas yesterday afternoon. Ben Bishop was yanked after only 16 saves on 20 shots. Ben had been hot heading into the game. We had Anton Khudobin ($8,500) in our main slate lineup last night, and while he had 35 saves and the win for 28 points, he still gave up three goals to the Devils. So we’ll dig deeper into the goaltenders today.
After a robust weekend, we have a lighter three-game FanDuel NHL slate tonight. Let’s take a look at the NHL schedule for Monday, February 12th:
Lightning at Maple Leafs (7pm ET)
Panthers at Oilers (9pm ET)
Blackhawks at Coyotes (9pm ET)
Both the Lightning and the Maple Leafs have been hard to pin down lately. The Leafs offense has been hot, especially at home, but they are also inconsistent and disappoint from time to time. The Bolts have solid defense and goaltending, so we need to keep that in mind when considering the Leafs for our lineups. While the Bolts power play has been great at home lately, they’re riding a low 16.7% rate away from home, over eight road games. They also have a lower 72.4% PK rate over the same amount of time
The Panthers are only scoring 2.44 goals per game on road ice this season, but the Oilers have the worst penalty kill on home ice in the NHL. So we have a conundrum. Do we stack an Oilers team at home, who’s been hotter in this scenario lately, or do we focus on a likely uptick in scoring from the Panthers on the road? We may need to tap both.
While all nine road teams won on Sunday, and it’s looking likely we could have another three road wins on Monday night, we’re not as confident with the Blackhawks play in Arizona. The Coyotes are a young team beginning to resemble winning ways, and the Blackhawks continue to struggle to build any type of identity with Crawford on the IR. We may actually consider some Yotes tonight!
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 12th
We’ve been interested in playing Connor McDavid ($9,100) as the Oilers surged over the last couple of weeks. However, after McDavid’s ridiculous four goal, one assist, and 71.4 FanDuel NHL point game against the Lightning, we knew Connor would be a hot commodity for FanDuel NHL. We also suspected he wouldn’t score 50+ points every night. So, we’ve faded McDavid recently.
In his three games since the ‘big one’, McDavid has a goal and two assists. So with a modest 14.3 FanDuel NHL points-per-game average over the last three, Connor has likely disappointed some NHL DFS players, and his ownership should level off again. That is great for tonight’s match up.
The Panthers have given up 3.25 goals-per-game in the last four road games, and have a lower 72.7 PK%. Florida has solid center defenders on their top line, but McDavid is an elite player. We’re playing McJesus tonight in Edmonton.
The Oilers continue to have a great penalty kill away from home, 92.3% over the last five road-ice games. Meanwhile, they’re still struggling to kill penalties in Edmonton for some reason, 60% over the last five home games. That opens the door for some scoring from a normally terrible road-ice offense from the Panthers.
With that in mind, we love either Aleksander Barkov ($7,300) or Vincent Trocheck ($6,700). With McDavid on the ice against Barkov and the Panthers top line, we like Vinny more tonight. Trocheck also has a higher FanDuel NHL point-per-game average this season, 16 per game, as he’s consistently dishing out assists. It’s even possible, as we’ll see later, to play Trocheck and McDavid on the same line tonight.
For value we like the Coyotes Derek Stepan ($5,600), leading the Yotes top line on home ice against a struggling Blackhawks team. The 27-year-old from Minnesota has looked great lately, with a goal or assist in four of his last six games. Stepan drove in a goal against the Jets six days ago, and has four assists in the last four games, including against the Flyers on Friday in Arizona.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Feb 12th
Nikita Kucherov ($8,700) and Patrick Kane ($8,200) are chalky plays tonight. Kucherov has a goal in each of the Bolts last two games, and while Andersen is a solid net-minder for the Leafs, he has suspect defense in front of him and Kucherov is likely score again tonight. While Kane doesn’t have a goal goal or assist in his last two games he does have five shots in each, still leading to eight-pint FanDuel NHL results. With a match up against a terrible season-long statistical Yotes team, it’s tempting for anyone to grab Kane tonight. We’re fading both!
At those price-points, we don’t like grabbing Kucherov and Kane to play the chalk and limit our lineup picks tonight. Instead, we like the idea of playing Leon Draisaitl ($7,200) or Jonathan Huberdeau ($6,700) from the second lines, on different teams, in the same game. Huberdeau is having a solid season and is a good stack with Trocheck tonight. But Draisaitl is hot right now, with three goals and six assists in the last six Oilers games. With McDavid already in your lineup, Leon adds exposure to the Oilers second line on home ice.
For a cheaper top option, or if you can afford him as a second pick at wing, James van Riemsdyk ($6,500) has three goals in the last five games. Vasilevskiy has given up four goals in two of his last three road starts, all in Canada. van Riemsdyk could register his third straight goal tonight. But for a cheaper pick, consider Mitchell Marner ($5,900).
With 56.5 FanDuel NHL points after three assists and two goals against the Senators, in Toronto, on Saturday, Marner is likely a chalky play tonight, especially at this price-point. With five goals and three assists in his last six games, Mitch is hot lately and is must-play in all formats. Marner is easy to use in cash games, and still allows you to diversify your GPP plays.
Averaging over 11 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, and playing on their team’s top line tonight, Clayton Keller ($4,600) and Yanni Gourde ($5,200) are great value picks at winger. Keller had a great December and early January, but cooled off mid-January and into February. However, over the last two Coyotes games, Clayton logged over 20 minutes of ice time and had either a goal or assist in each game. For under $5K, we could be getting re-emerging double-digit FanDuel winger on a top line.
Gourde has quietly logged 20 goals in 55 games this season, ten each away from home and on home ice. With four game-winning goals and three power play goals, Yanni has done most of his damage on road ice. In 30 away games, Gourde has ten goals and 15 assists, logging almost a point in each game. For just over $5K, we’re getting a near lock for double-digit points, playing alongside Tyler Johnson ($6,100) and Stamkos. Yes, please!
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Feb 12th
While we identified some value plays tonight, many of our favorite plays are expensive. So it’ll be hard to fit your top defensive option into your lineup, Victor Hedman ($6,800). Because of a cold streak from the Bolts and injury to Headman early January, we’ve mostly stayed away from Victor in our lineups recently. But Hedman has two goals, one a power play goal, and two assists in the last four games. So now that we know Victor is back in early season form, he’s a a big play again each time he’s on the ice.
But, like we said, Hedman is expensive. To save money and still get a top three pick, grab either Aaron Ekblad ($5,700) or Keith Yandle ($5,200). While they don’t provide a goal or assist every night, with around 25 minutes of ice time each game, Ekblad and Yandle have been one of our favorite defensive combinations over the last two months. You consistently have a shot at around ten points each game, with a shot at close to 20 points with a goal and assist in play. And with the Oilers terrible penalty kill in Edmonton this season, they each have a shot at 20 points in the same game.
For value plays on defense, we like Alex Goligoski ($4,200) or Kris Russell ($3,900). Playing on the Oilers second line with Oscar Klefbom ($5,100), Russell’s offensive play has improved lately. Very much like Oscar, Kris is averaging just over ten FanDuel NHL points-per-game this season due to the high volume of assists. But unlike Klefbom, Russell scored recently, against the Ducks in Anaheim on Friday night.
Goligoski looked great on Saturday hosting the Flyers. The Yotes fell short in a shootout, but Alex had a goal earlier in the game, along with a blocked shot for 15.2 FanDuel NHL points. That’s Goligoski’s three straight game with offensive points. With nearly 25 minutes of ice time each game and improved play of late, Alex could have another great night against a struggling Blackhawks defense on Monday.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Feb 12th
Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,300) has been solid in goal lately, only giving up two or three goals in his last two starts, for wins. But in his last three road games, he gave up four goals, twice, but still with a 2-1 record on that road trip. The upside tonight against the Maple Leafs in Toronto will be a higher number of shots on Vas. But the downside is the Leafs have looked good at home lately, and Andrei is in danger of losing this one. He could be a top-pick, but considering the risk, the salary seems too pricey.
On the flip side, Frederik Andersen ($8,200) is cheaper, and has won three of his last four home starts, including a shutout of a good Islanders offense on January 31st. Andersen was spectacular against the Predators, giving up only two goals on 46 shots and providing FanDuel NHL players with 39.2 points. Again, there’s lots of risk with this match up against a very good Bolts offense, but the upside is around 40 points.
James Reimer ($7,300) has been unimpressive in his last several road starts, and given the Oilers horrendous penalty kill rate in Edmonton, we’re not inclined to pick Cam Talbot ($7,900) either. In fact, Talbot’s salary seems like a rip-off! Jeff Glass ($7,800) had a fun run in his first couple of NHL starts, but Glass has six losses in his last six games, and has provided no more than 15.2 FanDuel NHL points over that period of time.
With that in mind, Antti Raanta ($7,200) is a surprise value play at goalie tonight, and has the potential to be the top pick of the night in net. With a 1-2-3 record in his last six home starts, we were surprised to realize Antti only gave up 2.08 goals-per-game during that period and had a .927 save percentage. Also, the Yotes earned five points in those six home starts from Raanta, so really the starts were some of the best goaltending the Coyotes have seen all season. Against a struggling Hawks team with Glass in net, we’re betting on Raanta tonight!
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Monday, February 12th:
C McDavid (EDM $9,100)
C Trocheck (FLA $6,700)
W Draisaitl (EDM $7,200)
W Marner (TOR $5,900)
W Gourde (TB $5,200)
W Keller (ARI $4,600)
D Yandle (FLA $5,200)
D Russell (EDM $3,900)
G Raanta (ARI $7,200)
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!