FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: February 14
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays. This is the Wednesday, February 14th edition. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
Even without Justin Faulk ($4,600) we had a great night of FanDuel NHL lineups last night. But first, a quick recap of Faulk’s impressive night. For the first time in his NHL career, Justin had a hat-trick. Two goals were during the man-advantage, and with five shots and a blocked shot added to his score, Faulk had an awesome 46.6 FanDuel NHL points on a very cheap $4,600 salary.
We didn’t focus on Faulk last night, but he’s on our radar now. One key point we missed on Faulk’s season, he has a career 6.2% scoring rate per shot. This season, he was running at about 2.6%, meaning he has a huge gap he’ll likely begin to fill the rest of the season. He’s now at 3.8%, but expect that figure to continue to climb over the balance of the year.
Two of our favorite picks last night were Patrice Bergeron ($8,100) and Zach Werenski ($5,000). between the two, obviously Bergeron was the more popular option, but there was risk even with his play. Boston was facing a goalie is newer to the NHL, but had yet to give up more than three goals in a game. Last night, the hot B’s were able to pile up five goals against the Flames, in Boston. Patrice had two goals on six shots, and 35.7 FanDuel NHL points.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have been tough to figure out this season. After a great year, last year, they’ve struggled to develop much offense, even though they still have solid defenders and, in theory, good goaltending. But even in Brooklyn, NY, the Islanders have struggled to defend the puck all season, and we felt confident picking some Jackets for our lineup. Still, Werenski had been relatively quiet lately. But that’s exactly why we liked him last night.
The 20-year-old Michigan native is in his sophmore season, and we know he has a lot of offensive awareness. So last night, we were expecting a goal and assist. Instead, we got six shots on goal and three assists, two assists during power plays, for a total of 34.6 FanDuel NHL points. We’ll take that too!
So with continued positive momentum, we’re looking at another three-game slate for Wednesday night, much like Monday’s slate. Let’s take a look at the NHL schedule for Wednesday, February 14th:
Blue Jackets at Maple Leafs (7pm ET)
Canadiens at Avalanche (9:30pm ET)
Panthers at Canucks (10pm ET)
It’s tempting to want to keep targeting Blue Jackets players tonight, but the Maple Leafs are 5-1 in their last six home games. Worse for the Jackets, the Leafs have a 90% PK rate in Toronto over the last couple of weeks, further limiting their offensive potential.
However, the Leafs 12.9% power play rate during that time isn’t great for their offense either. Although, on the road the Blue Jackets have a 53.8% PK in the last five games, so we should still see some offense from the Leafs, even during the man-advantage, tonight.
The Canadiens power play has been very effective lately, 33.3% in their last six home games and 27.3% away from Montreal in their last four road-ice games. But the Avalanche have been very difficult to beat in Colorado. The Avs have won nine of their last ten home games, have a 90.6% PK rate on home ice, and 28.1% power play rate. Advantage goes to the Avs in this one, but the Habs have some sneaky value to tag, too.
Finally, the Panthers offense looked spectacular against the Oilers in Edmonton. But before we get too excited, almost every offense looks great in Edmonton this season. The Canucks are 3-2 in their last five home games, with a 22.2% PP and 80% PK. Meanwhile, the Panthers are 3-2 in their last five road-ice games, and have a 72.7% PK, but an awesome 38.9% man-advantage scoring rate. That last stat was inflated in Edmonton, but it’s still worth noting tonight. We have to grab some Panthers in Vancouver 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 14th
The Canucks have given up 90 goals in 27 home games, the fifth most goals on home ice in the NHL. So with a 3.33 GA average in Vancouver, we know the Panthers are, once again, a great offensive target tonight. On Monday, the Panthers piled up seven goals against the Oilers in Edmonton. The Cancuks are having similar woes on home ice this season. The Canucks actually have a solid 80.4% PK on home ice, but they’re giving up too many goals during regular time.
Vincent Trocheck ($7,300) was one of our big targets on Monday night, and he rewarded our pick with a hat-trick and 48.2 FanDuel NHL points. We may not see another 40+ game from Vinny tonight, but he’s been around around 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game over the last couple of weeks, and even when scoring Trocheck is providing helpers, seven in the last twelve games.
Even better, it’s feasible to stack Trocheck with the Panthers top line center Aleksander Barkov ($7,100) tonight. Barkov only had one assist and 16.5 FanDuel NHL points in Edmonton, but he also has three goals in the last four games, including a two-goal result against the Canucks in Florida. It’s reasonable to expect over 40 FanDuel NHL points from this stack tonight, while being able to afford plenty of other great plays at the other positions.
Another team-stacking option at center is Auston Matthews ($8,300) and Nazem Kadri ($6,100). With a 53% PK over the last five away games for the Blue Jackets, we know Matthews and Kadri have a strong shot at power play points tonight, on home ice. You’re paying the same total salary for the Leafs pair as you’re paying for Barkov and Trocheck, but Matthews and Kadri may not be as obvious a stack for FanDuel NHL players, or not as chalky. Still, they also have the potential to provide 30 to 40 combined points.
Finally, although he’s not really that cheap, for value we like Bo Horvat ($5,600). In 81 games during his rookie season, Horvat had 20 goals. Many of those goals came during the later part of the year. Bo has been off the ice due to injury for part of this season, but he has 13 goals already in just 38 games. Horvat has a 15.1% scoring rate, an increase from his 12.7% last season. While the Panthers are scoring well on the road, they’re also allowing too many goals during the penalty kill (72.7%) and are giving up 3.14 goals in this scenario, perfect for Horvat’s situation tonight.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Feb 14th
At the wing position, we have to consider Mitchell Marner ($6,600) on home ice tonight. Mitch has five goals and four assists in the last seven games, and two goals and four assists in the last two home games. Because of his incredible production over the last two weeks, we’ve seen Marner’s salary climb from the mid-$5K range to the mid-$6K range. Still, getting nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game over the last couple of weeks for a sub-$7K salary is worth a pick tonight. And we know the Leafs have a solid match up against the Jackets tonight.
If you happen to have an extra $400 in salary when you’re done with your lineup, you should consider grabbing a red-hot William Nylander ($7,000). In his last four games, Nylander has two games with two goals, and at least one assist in five of his last seven games. While we also like the Panthers tonight and Jonathan Huberdeau ($7,000) had two assists in Edmonton, between he and Nylander, we like William more given the goal-scoring potential.
The Avalanche have been rock-solid in Denver Colorado over the last ten home games. Giving up only 1.7 goals per game and with a 90.6% PK, the Avs aren’t typically a team you want to pick an offense again. But, the Canadiens have a 27.3% power play rate over the last four road games and have some hot wingers providing solid contrarian picks in the position.
Brendan Gallagher ($6,500) has quietly provided a point in eight of the last ten games, including four goals and five assists. With MacKinnon still off the ice, the Avs could be exposed to some scoring from the Habs tonight, and Gallagher is one of a few sneaky plays at winger.
Evgenii Dadonov ($5,100) had two goals in Edmonton on Monday, and he’s still dirt-cheap. Along with Marner, Nylander, or Gallagher as a top two pick tonight, Dadonov provides plenty of salary left for other positions, while still stacking expensive picks at center and goalie. There’s risk with this pick due to inconsistency, but the upside is enormous.
Our two favorite value picks tonight are Nick Bjugstad ($4,500) and Artturi Lehkonen ($4,300). Between the two, Bjugstad is an obvious play on the top line of the Panthers, but Lehkonen is another under-the-radar Habs pick with sneaky upside. Nick has an assist in four of the last five games, and has seen 15+ minutes of ice time lately. Artturi has quietly provided three goals int he last three games, and had two assists against the Predators on Saturday.
Top FanDuel NHL Defenders: Feb 14th
On defense our likes are fairly limited. On Monday we were high on Aaron Ekblad ($5,900) and Keith Yandle ($5,400) and they’re our top plays on defense again tonight. Ekblad had 28.5 FanDuel NHL points with a power play goal on four shots, a blocked shot, and assist against the Oilers in Edmonton. Yandle was involved in two goals, providing two helpers, and had three shots on goal for 21.8 FanDuel NHL points against the Oilers. They’re both in a similar situation tonight, so if you can’t stack them on defense, at least play one.
While we liked Zach Werenski ($5,000) last night, we actually would go with Seth Jones ($5,600) against the Maple Leafs if you’re keen on picking a Jacket defender. But a safer, and likely better value, pick is Alexander Edler ($5,500). As already mentioned, the Canucks have a nice scoring match up tonight, and while Edler mostly provides assists, his hot shot and blocked shot value often leads to consistent double-digit scoring.
Tyson Barrie ($5,300) has finally been back on the ice for the last couple of weeks and his offense is finally heating up. Barrie has a goal and assist in the last two games. On home ice against a struggling Habs defense, Tyson should be a solid pick for double-digit points on a reasonable salary. Another value pick, in the same game, is Jeff Petry ($4,700) playing the top line for the Canadiens. In the last seven games, Petry has four goals and three assists. Against the Ducks, Jeff had two goals on February 3rd, and recently had a three-point night against the Hurricanes.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Feb 14th
At the time of writing this article, we only have two confirmed goalies, Frederik Andersen ($8,500) and Semyon Varlamov ($7,700). We’re expecting Carey Price ($8,600) to face off against Valry, and Joonas Korpisalo ($7,400) is the likely net-minder for the Blue Jackets against Andersen and the Leafs.
Finally, we’re expecting Harri Sateri ($7,700) to go between the pipes for the Panther against Jacob Markstrom ($7,600) and the Canucks in Vancouver. With those starters in mind, Andersen is our favorite play. Varly may seem like your better value, but we’re not confident the Canadiens lose tonight. And while Sateri has played well, he’s done most of his damage on home ice.
Markstrom is likely to give up too much scoring tonight, as is Korpisalo. Andersen doesn’t have great defense in front of him, but he’s still able to win six of his last ten starts, with 2.61 goals per game and a .919 save percentage. Frederik also has a shutout in one of his last ten starts. With the Blue Jackets offense struggling on the road, but Andersen likely piling up many saves, we like the Leafs net-minder for around 30 FanDuel NHL points tonight.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Wednesday, February 14th:
C Trochek (FLA $7,300)
C Barkov ($7,100)
W Marner (TOR $6,600)
W Gallagher (MON $6,500)
W Bjugstad (FLA $4,500)
W Lehkonen (MON $4,300)
D Yandle (FLA $5,400)
D Petry (MON $4,700)
G Andersen (TOR $8,500)
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!