FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: February 19 Main

Welcome to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays for Monday, February 19th. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.

Last night Blake Wheeler ($7,400) was one of our must-have picks in all formats and boy did he pay off. Even though he had no goals last night, he still had five shots, two blocked shots, and three assists including one during a power play. So for a modest $7.4K salary, we saw a 35.7 FanDuel NHL point return.

We’ve seen higher scoring from players, but the consistency of the results by stacking the Jets and Panthers, with Curtis McElhinney ($7,700) in goal was tremendous. Zach Aston-Reese was our value play of the night, again, and for the second straight time we recommended Zach, he scored a goal.

We continued to plug in Mitchell Marner ($6,600) into our lineups even though he’s a popular fade on road-ice, but Marner had another goal on four shots and provided 18.4 FanDuel NHL points. Mark Sheifele ($8,100) was a favorite in the Jets stacks, and with a goal and three shots, Mark justified his high salary with 20 FanDuel NHL points.

Nick Bjugstad ($4,600) was another one of our value plays and while the Panthers were boat-raced to a 2-7 result against the Jets, Bjugstad was one of a few Panthers who still played out nicely, getting a power play assist and a blocked shot for 10.1 FanDuel NHL points. And on defense, Dustin Byfuglien ($5,400) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($4,500) combined for another 20+ FanDuel NHL points last night.

So we’ll stay focused on what’s working, keep learning from what is not working, and try to help you build another winning cash or GPP FanDuel NHL lineup for the Main slate on Monday night.

Now, Let’s take a look at the NHL schedule for ‘Main’ slate on Monday, February 19th:

Senators at Predators (8pm ET)

Kings at Blackhawks (8:30pm ET)

Ducks at Golden Knights (10pm ET)

Before we review the ‘Main’ slate, we should acknowledge there are three games played this afternoon, so FanDuel NHL has an ‘Early’ and ‘All Day’ option. This article will focus on the ‘Main’ slate, but we do have some thoughts about the first three games of the day.

The Islanders have a tough match up against the Wild in Brooklyn, NY at 1pm ET today. While the Wild have solid defense and goaltending, we’d still suggest playing Islanders on offense, especially rookie Mathew Barzal ($6,500).

The Capitals and Bruins each have ideal match-ups on road ice. The Sabres and Flames are two of the worst defending teams when at home, which is odd. But we’ve been successful targeting offenses against these home teams all season.  If you can afford him, grab Patrice Bergeron ($8,200) at center for the Bruins. But we also like the idea of playing Barzal with Sabres top-line leader, until Jack Eichel is back, Ryan O’Reilly ($6,400).

From there, any Capitals player, Bruins player, or Islander is a solid play. Specifically, consider Jordan Eberle ($6,000) at wing, along with value plays Anthony Beauvillier ($4,600) and Brett Connolly ($3,600) from the Caps. John Carlson ($5,800) and Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,100) are a great defense combination, and Tuukka Rask ($8,800) is our favorite net-minder this afternoon.

Now, for tonight’s Main slate, two obvious stacks tonight are the Kings and Predators. The Preds are hosting a Senators team whose offense struggles on the road. Meanwhile the Predators offense and goaltending is more effective in Nashville.

The Kings have had inconsistent outcomes over the last two weeks, but the play of Anze Kopitar has been consistently awesome. The Blackhawks are struggle in every phase of the game, and the Kings should be able to be the next team up to exploit the Hawks troubled times.

While the Ducks are a respectable 6-5-2 in their last 13 road games, the Golden Knights are not an ideal team to play in Vegas this season. In their last eight home games, the Knights are 5-2-1, losing only to hot offensive teams, have a solid 85.7% PK rate and are scoring 26.1% of their power plays. So both teams are in play tonight, but we’re leaning toward the Golden Knights of Vegas.

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 19th Main

He’ll be chalky for the Main slate tonight, but Anze Kopitar ($7,500) is a must-play even if it’s obvious. In twelve of the last 13 games, Kopitar has at least 11+ FanDuel NHL points, even when he’s not scoring goals or providing assists.

Still, in the last seven games, Kopitar has six goals and four assists. In his last outing, in Buffalo, Anze had four shots on goal, with two goals, and two blocked shots for 33.6 FanDuel NHL points. Given the match up in Chicago against a Blackhawks team spiraling out of control, Kopitar could have another two-point (two goals or assists) night.

The Ducks play solid defense, and defend the goal well, even on the road. But the Golden Knights are having an epic season and should have four or more goals on home ice in Vegas tonight. With that in mind, William Karlsson ($7,300) and Erik Haula ($6,500) are great plays, again, at center.

With 30 goals in 58 games this season, Karlsson is tied with John Tavares for fourth in the NHL. In 23 home games this season, Haula has nine goals and eleven assists, for 20 total points or nearly one point per home game. Erik’s scoring per shot percentage drops from 21.7% away to 15% at home, but that’s still incredible efficiency.

If you need some more value, even though he’s been cold lately, we’re expecting Kyle Turris ($5,100) to put on a show for his old team, even in Nashville. Kyle is leading the Predators second line, and will see around 15 minutes of ice time today. Also, against poorly defensed teams, Turris has been showing up on the stat sheet, like the Islanders and Blackhawks lately.

Finally, with the expectation of a high-scoring game from the Kings, Adrian Kempe ($4,800) or Torrey Mitchell ($3,200) are two very cheap center options each playing on the Kings second line, or among the top-six. There’s some risk with this play, as neither has scored in the last couple of games, but given the match up, their odds are better and their value potential is enormous tonight.

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

Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Feb 19th Main

Jonathan Marchessault ($7,700) hasn’t been as productive lately as we’d like for his salary, but with three assists and two shots against the Canadiens in Vegas on Saturday, he could be heating up and is in play tonight. That being said, we think Reilly Smith ($6,400) is a better, and more valuable, top play at winger.

Reilly has a point in each of the last seven games, five goals and seven assists during that time. Smith’s FanDuel NHL point-per-game average is approaching 13 for the season, but he’s been averaging over 20 points per game in the last two weeks. It’s likely Smith stays hot tonight, on a very reasonable salary.

If you’re playing Kopitar tonight, Dustin Brown ($6,100) is a solid top-line Kings stack. In Buffalo, Brown was on the ice for 20 minutes, had three shots on goal, and provided two assists, to Anze, for a total of 20.8 FanDuel NHL points. But for value on the Kings top line, we’re grabbing Alex Iafallo ($3,800) again. He’s cheap because there’s often risk of Iafallo only providing around 5-7 FanDuel NHL points in a game, but over the last seven games Alex has two goals and three assists.

Lost in the Blackhawks woes over the last month, is incredible play from 20-year-old Michigan native Alex DeBrincat ($6,500). In the last seven games, DeBrincat has four goals and two assists, two power play goals, several shots on goal, and several games with multiple blocked shots. There’s risk with his play, as he’s on the 3rd line and doesn’t typically see time in the power play, but with 13 to 16 minutes of ice time each game, Alex is efficiently involved in scoring lately.

We may not be entirely sold on the Ducks tonight, but another random flier is Ondrej Kase ($5,600). We’ve been high on Kase for weeks and consistently suggest to play him. That won’t stop until he cools off. Bur right now, Ondrej is on fire. In his last seven games, Kase has a power play goal, five total goals, and four assists. He’s averaging nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game in the last two weeks, on a very reasonable salary.

Like Kase, Craig Smith ($5,300) has been a very active offensive player on a reasonably cheap salary. In the last three games, Craig has a power play goal and two assists, averaging nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points. In Ottawa earlier in the month, Smith didn’t have a goal or assist, but logged 11.2 FanDuel NHL points with seven shots. We expect a heavy dose of shots again tonight, but with some scoring involvement.

Top FanDuel NHL Defense: Feb 19th Main

We’re not expecting a lot of Senators scoring tonight, so paying up for Erik Karlsson ($7,200) could be a rip-off with only 11 to 15 points on an expensive salary. So on defense, we love the Predators tonight.

Roman Josi ($6,100), PK Subban ($6,000) and Ryan Ellis ($4,900) are all in play tonight. Josi plays with Ellis on the top line, but Roman and PK are typically most involved in all phases of the Preds game. However, Ryan has spent 23 to 25 minutes of ice time each game lately, and has four assists in the last seven games. Even when not involved in scoring, Ellis is becoming one of those defenders, like Josi and Subban, who can provide double-digit FanDuel NHL points with high volumes of shots and blocked shots.

We’ve mentioned the Kings stacking potentially a few times, and for defense we like Drew Doughty ($5,700), Jake Muzzin ($4,800), or Dion Phanuef ($4,600). Phanuef has only played two games for the Kings this season, both on the second line, but he’s provide four shots and a power play goal already. Doughty is the Kings top defender, and the team’s ice-beast, and Muzzin has been more effective on offense in the last two weeks.

If you’re trying to get top-line play from the Golden Knights on defense, between Nate Schmidt ($4,300) and Brayden McNabb ($4,200), we like Schmidt the most. Stacking them could work, but if you have to pick one, you’re only spending $100 more in salary to go from a potential three FanDuel NHL point result to a very likely ten-plus result.

Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Feb 19th Main

With only three games on the ice tonight, we’re narrowing our goalie search down to the three most likely to win tonight. Pekka Rinne ($8,800), Marc-Andre Fleury ($8,700), and Jonathan Quick ($8,500) each have the best odds of winning tonight. Rinne and Fleury are each top-ten NHL goals on home ice, facing opponents who don’t match up well against them. Quick has struggled lately, but he’s defending the crease against the Blackhawks who are 1-3 in their last four home games.

While Rinne probably has the highest odds of winning, we do expect some scoring from the Senators, so a shutout is unlikely. However, we don’t expect a high volume of shots on goal, minimizing his FanDuel NHL point potential.

Fleury should see a higher volume of shots, 30 to 40 tonight, and hasn’t given up more than three goals in his last five starts. In fact, in his last four home games, Marc-Andrea has only given up nine total goals. Fleury is a solid 25-35 FanDuel NHL point play tonight. Fleury also has a higher probability of a shutout with the Ducks offense on the road.

But for value, Quick is our man. While the Blackhawks are struggling, they’re still getting over 30 shots on goal each game. quick has only given up more than two goals once in the last give starts. So with a win, Quick could land around 35 FanDuel NHL points tonight.

So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Sunday, February 19th Main:

C     Kopitar (LA $7,500)

C     Karlsson (VGk $7,300)

W   R Smith (VGK $6,400)

W   Kase (ANH $5,600)

W   C Smith (NSH $5,300)

W   Iafallo (LA $3,800)

D    Subban (NSH $6,000)

D    Schmidt (VGK $4,300)

G    Fleury (VGK $8,700)

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: NHL Trade Deadline Activity

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!