FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: February 17 Main

Welcome to the FanDuel NHL Blue Lines Power Play column, the Saturday, February 17th Main edition. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.

If you ‘faded’ the FanDuel NHL Early slate and didn’t read our recap from last night, here you go:

We had a so-so FanDuel NHL night last night. Our example lineup wasn’t great enough to win cash games, but we had several suggestions, like stacking the Jets, which worked out perfectly. Kyle Connor ($5,100) was a cheap way to get a play on the Jets top line, and he worked out well. In Winnipeg, the Jets crushed the Avalanche, as expected, but they piled up a 6-1 win, more goals than we anticipated.

Still, Connor had a goal on four shots, and with 18.4 FanDuel NHL points, he was a great value. But Blake Wheeler ($7,300), one of our top picks at wing, was the play of the night. Yes, Blake was expensive, and chalky, but with two goals and one assist, along with five shots on goal and a blocked shot, you were in trouble if you didn’t have Wheeler’s 43.7 FanDuel NHL points in your lineup.

One value play at center which was missed, was Andrew Copp ($3,600). For some odd reason, the Jets put Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers, two of the Jets top goal scorers, on the third line with Andrew. But that worked out in Copp’s favor, and increased his value significantly. Cop had two shots on goal, a short-handed goal (additional two points), and a blocked shot for a total of 18.8 FanDuel NHL points.

On defense, we had modest returns. While the Flyers won 2-1, it was lower scoring than we expected. Shayne Gostisbehere ($6,600) assisted in one of the goals, and had three blocked shots, but 14.4 FanDuel NHL points felt like a rip-off for his salary.

At goal, Thomas Greiss was a surprise start and shocked us with the Islanders second-straight shutout. Greiss and Halak had back-to-back shutouts which were the only two shutouts they’ve had all season. That is bizarre! But we did nail Connor Hellebuyck ($8,100) and his 30 saves and win for 32 FanDuel NHL points. However, Connor was chalky last night, a 75% play in nearly all cash games.

Moving on to Saturday night, Let’s take a look at the NHL schedule for ‘Main’ slate on Saturday, February 17th:

Devils at Lightning (7pm ET)

Maple Leafs at Penguins (7pm ET)

Canadiens at Golden Knights (7pm ET)

Red Wings at Predators (8pm ET)

Capitals at Blackhawks (8:30pm ET)

Panthers at Flames (10pm ET)

Bruins at Canucks (10pm ET)

With seven games on the NHL schedule for tonight’s main slate, we have an overwhelming number of options at each position, much like a Tuesday or Thursday night slate. The Devils have been so-so at home but they’re struggling significantly on the road. In their last eleven road-ice games, the Devils are only scoring under three goals per game, and allowing almost four goals per game. That bodes well for the strong Lightning top-six offensive players in Tampa.

The Maple Leafs and Penguins resemble to good teams on great runs facing off in Pittsburgh, so we’re likely fading those lineups. The Habs travel to Vegas to play a Golden Knight team who’s struggled lately, but likely bounces back against a bad team from Montreal.

The Red Wings organization talks about building a good team, but they haven’t so far. They’ll struggle against a very good Predators team, and stacking the Preds in Nashville will be another priority for us. The Caps are the latest team to get a fun offensive shot at a terrible Blackhawks team, even in Chicago.

The Flames have great offense on the road, but struggle in Calgary, while the Panthers have a great offense in Florida, but struggle on the road. Something has to give today, and we think the Panthers offense will continue to roll, even away from Florida. Finally, the Canucks are actually a sneaky solid team, so the Bruins my struggle in Vancouver, but both teams have solid plays on their top three lines 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 17th Main

With Frederik Andersen playing so well, even in Pittsburgh we don’t love playing Evgeni Malkin ($9,100) or Sidney Crosby ($8,800). When you’re paying that much for a player, you need an assurance of high levels of scoring. While they’re both consistently great NHL DFS options, their risk increases tonight, making their plays less valuable.

If you’re willing to spend that much money tonight, grab Steven Stamkos ($8,800) at home against the Devils instead. In a similar scenario against the Red Wings on home ice, Stamkos scored two goals, one during a power play, on five shots and snagged two blocked shot for 35.7 FanDuel NHL points. We could see a similar outcome, in a different way, tonight.

Patrice Bergeron ($8,200) is one of several reasons the Bruins continue to roll lately. The Canucks are fairly solid on home ice this season, but Bergeron has seven goals in his last seven games, home and away. We don’t love fading Stamkos for Bergeron, but if you’re $600 short of picking Steven, grab Patrice before anyone else.

While the Flames have a solid 84% PK rate in their last nine home games, they’re still giving up around three goals per game in Calgary. And, they’ve only scored 24 goals in their last nine home games. So we are definitely fading the Flames offense, but we’re still targeting the hot Panthers lines, even away from Florida tonight. Vincent Trocheck ($7,300) and Aleksander Barkov ($7,100) are the top two offensive options from the Panthers and playing one or both, tonight, is feasible. If you have to pick one, Barkov has been more productive recently and Trocheck has been more efficient all season. Go with Aleksander for now.

Either Brayden Point ($5,800) or Bo Horvat ($5,500) are solid mid-salary range picks if that is your price point for the second center spot, or if you’re looking to build cheap centers with top value. But our favorite value pick at center tonight is Nick Bonino ($3,600). The former Penguins third line center is heating up with 15+ minutes on the ice lately. In his last six games, Nick has a goal and four assists. His goal occurred on Thursday night in Nashville against the Flames.

Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…

Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Feb 17th Main

Sticking with a similar theme for top picks at wing, Nikita Kucherov ($8,900) or Brad Marchand ($8,200) are great plays at wing tonight. Marchand has a point in the last eight-straight games for the Bruins, and has a favorable match up on the top line for the B’s tonight. But Kucherov is a ‘must play’ in all formats tonight.

Kucherov has 9.6 more more FanDuel NHL points in each of the last seven straight games. During that time, Nikita has four goals and eight assists. On Thursday night, Kucherov had a power play goal and three assists, along with six shots for 46.6 FanDuel NHL points.

Nikita is averaging nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game and after a period of inactivity, Kucherov is heating up again. In fact, Kucherov has four to six shots on goal, along, in each of the last six straight games. He’s getting more confident in scoring and has a great match up tonight.

For cheaper top picks, you have tons of great options. We like Jonathan Marchessault ($7,500) against the Habs in Vegas, Filip Forsberg ($7,300) on home ice against the Red Wings, David Pastrnak ($7,200) as a cheaper Marchand fade for the B’s, and Jonathan Huberdeau ($7,000) in Calgary, especially if you want to stack with Trocheck.

If you need more a mid-salary range pick, consider Viktor Arvidsson ($6,800) or Mitchell Marner ($6,600). While Arvidsson is still a solid play, if you’re spending this much on a top two winger pick, go with Marner. He’s better on home ice, but Mitch is playing out of his mind, suddenly, after a slow first half of the season. In his last six games, Marner has five goals and five assists, eight of those points coming within the last three games.

To make your center and top two wingers affordable, you’ll need to find great value for your last two wing picks. Evgenii Dadonov ($5,200) is a great third winger pick whether your stacking the Panthers, or not. In his last two road-ice games, Dadonov has three goals, two in Edmonton and one in Vancouver. It’s conceivable Evgenii logs a fourth goal in Calgary.

Finally, we’re grabbing a sneaky play for our top value at wing tonight. Zach Aston-Reese ($3,800) is a relatively unknown 23-year-old from Northeastern University.  Zach has only played in six games this season, his first on February 3rd.

But the Penguins have Aston-Reese playing with Sidney Crosby, for 10 to 15 minutes of ice time each game. Zach had two goals against Ottawa, and while we don’t expect that outcome, it’s very possible to see Aston-Reese log more than 10 FanDuel NHL points playing on one of the most productive offensive lines in hockey this month, on a very cheap salary.

Top FanDuel NHL Defense: Feb 17th Main

Victor Hedman ($7,100) isn’t a surprise top pick on defense with so much interest in the Lightning tonight. The problem with Victor’s play tonight is his salary. We already have several top players, and often expensive, players mentioned for other positions, so Hedman is only a great play if you can grab more mid-salary range players at center and wing.

Instead, if you’re playing guys like Stamkos, Bergeron, and Kucherov already, we like Aaron Ekblad ($5,900) as a top defensive pick. Aaron has three goals and four assists in the last five games, and while he’s averaging just over 11 FanDuel NHL points-per-game this season, he’s been landing mostly above 18 FanDuel NHL points over the last two weeks. With another great offensive match up for the Panthers in Canada tonight, Ekblad is a great play.

If Ekblad is a tad too expensive, dip down the salary list and grab Keith Yandle ($5,400). He’s been more inconsistent, but Keith has two assists in three of his last six games. Yandle can be risky with some three to six point nights, but he’s also capable of jumped to 20 to 35 points for several straight games.

For value picks on defense, grab Ryan Ellis ($4,900) or Jeff Petry ($4,500). This pair can also provide a lot of salary for all of salary for all of the expensive players at the other positions. While the Canadiens have played terrible hockey lately, and Petry has struggled defensively, his DFS NHL value is incredible lately. Jeff has no assists or goals int he last two games, but has seven total shots and five total blocked shots.

Ellis is a tad more expensive than Petry because he can offer great offensive potential tonight. Playing on the top Predators defense line with Roman Josi ($6,100), Ryan has a knack for providing helpers many games. Ellis recently provided two or more blocked shots in four straight games, and can pile up as many as five shots in a goal, let along the assist value.

Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Feb 17th Main

Roberto Luongo ($7,600) is finally back on the ice for the first time since December 4th. Luongo’s hiatus was due to an injury, but the Panthers now feel comfortable starting Roberto against the Flames in Calgary. Given the lack of offensive production we’ve seen from the Flames lately, this could be a sneaky great value play at goalie.

We love the Predators odds against the Red Wings in Nashville. At the time of writing this article, it’s unknown who’s starting in goal for the Predators. So, we recommend considering either Pekka Rinne ($8,800) or Juuse Saros ($8,000) in net tonight. Obviously Saros provides greater value, but Pekka has been sharp around the crease lately.

If you’ve got some cash to burn at goalie, consider either Tuukka Rask ($9,200) for the Bruins in Vancouver, Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,400) against the Devils in Tampa, or Marc-Andre Fleury ($8,600) on home ice against the Habs. Of the three, we like Fleury the most, and he offers the better value.

So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Saturday, February 17th Main:

C     Barkov (FLA $7,100)

C     Bonino (NSH $3,600)

W   Kucherov (TB $8,900)

W   Marner (TOR $6,600)

W   Dadonov (FLA $5,200)

W   Aston-Reese (PIT $3,800)

D    Ekblad (FLA $5,900)

D    Ellis (NSH $4,900)

G    Rinne (NSH $8,800) / Juuse Saros ($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.

Next: Perfect Landing Spot for Kirk Cousins?

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!