FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: February 23

Welcome back to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays for Friday, February 23rd. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.

While we did fairly well with picks last night, it was a tough slate to win even cash games. Because of the many variations of lineups, even a solid score landed you below the cash level in some cases. Our example lineup had over 130 FanDuel NHL points, which on many nights would do well, but it was challenging to cash with that score last night.

Connor McDavid ($8,900) was an expensive home-ice option against a solid Avalanche team. Still, with eight shots on goal, an assist, and a goal, he was worth the pick for 32.8 FanDuel NHL points. Also, Leon Draisaitl ($6,800) would’ve been a great stack with McDavid, if you could afford it, as he added another goal and assist on five shots for an awesome 28 points.

But the real stack we missed was the Flames. We know the Flames are a great offensive team away from Calgary, but we also knew the Coyotes have been hot lately, especially at home. So we faded the Flames offense.

That was a mistake! Sean Monahan ($7,700) had one of the Flames five goals and added an assist. His goal was of the power-play variety and he totaled a solid 25.3 FanDuel NHL points. Meanwhile, his line-mate star winger Johnny Gaudreau ($8,000) topped that with 31.7 points on a goal and two assists. One of those assists was to Monahan on the power play.

Still, we made some solid calls last night. Vincent Trocheck ($6,800) was our favorite Florida Panther center and he should a goal against the Caps top penalty kill line to win the game. Brayden Point ($6,300) had a goal against the Senators in Ottawa, and Nikita Kucherov ($9,100) added two assists for just under 20 FanDuel NHL points.

Mitch Marner ($6,400) bounced back at home as we expected with another goal. Ryan Ellis ($5,300) remained a value play with over 20 points on an assist and a tremendous five blocked shots. And Frederik Andersen gave up three goals to the Islanders solid offense, but still grabbed 32 saves and the win for 25.6 FanDuel NHL points. If you used those suggestions and pivoted some other picks into your lineup yielding 10 to 20 more FanDuel NHL points, you had a good night.

Now, let’s take a look at the NHL schedule for Friday, February 23rd:

Wild at Rangers (7pm ET)

Penguins at Hurricanes (7:30pm ET)

Jets at Blues (8pm ET)

Sharks at Blackhawks (8:30pm ET)

Canucks at Golden Knights (10:30pm ET)

The Wild are traveling to Madison Square Garden to play a Rangers team who’s publicly thrown their hands up on the season. Teams have scored at-will against the Rangers, even with Henrik Lundqvist in goal. The Wild’s scoring has picked up lately, and we’re interesting in targeting their offense.

Similarly, while the Penguins are on the road, they’re facing a Hurricanes defense who struggles at times on home ice. That being said, Cam Ward hasn’t given up more than three goals in a home-ice game since January 12th, but the Penguins offense is firing right now. So we may still pick some of their top players.

The Jets offense is appealing, because it’s currently so effective. However, playing Carter Hutton on his home ice isn’t deal. We may grab some value players from the Jets but are also considering fading them. Although fading the Flames bit us last night.

Finally, the Sharks have a solid advantage even on the road against the reeling Blackhawks in Chicago. And the Golden Knights host a Canucks team who has talent, but isn’t really a threat to the Knights winning ways right now.

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 23rd

There are, somewhat unfortunately, many great expensive top plays at center tonight. We’re hard-pressed to avoid playing Evgeni Malkin ($9,200) or Sidney Crosby ($8,800) against the Hurricanes tonight. The entire Penguins offense is firing right now, but Malkin and Crosby are also consistently rock-solid DFS NHL players this month. They’ll be chalky, but hopefully their price scares some players off. Regardless, we’re playing one of the two in almost every lineup, and love Malkin the most tonight.

Mark Scheifele ($7,900) is on fire since returning to the ice after an injury-related hiatus. Many DFS optimal lineup optimizers may return with Scheifele as a top play for tonight. We respectfully disagree. Carter Hutton is only giving up an average of around 2.22 goals on home ice lately. The Blues have been difficult to beat in St. Louis all season, and the Jets offense isn’t the same away from Winnipeg. If, for some reason, you’re fading Hutton, load up on the Jets and start with Mark. We won’t be doing that!

For better value out of your top picks, consider William Karlsson ($7,200) and Eric Staal ($7,000). A former Blue Jacket, Karlsson has quietly been a top goal-scorer in the NHL all season for the Golden Knights. Over the last seven games, William has three goals and three assists, including two power play goals. With the match-up on home ice against the Canucks, Karlsson is likely to be involved in one or more goals tonight.

Staal has generally be hot lately. Over the last seven, Eric has four goals and two assist. Even when not involved in scoring, Staal is slapping several shots at the net and even getting a few blocked shots. So for $7,000, you’re getting nearly a lock for double-digit points and consistently. The Rangers are struggling, and the Wild are rolling, so Staal should have a great night.

For some cheaper and value plays at center, Erik Haula ($6,400) is still somewhat expensive but also has a great match up tonight. Bo Horvat ($5,600) has four goals in the last five games for the Canucks and is a great GPP play. And likely off the radar for many players, Chris Tierney ($4,100) has a goal and three assists in his last four games. The Blackhawks are struggling in all measure of the game right now, and Chris will have 15-20 minutes of ice time tonight.

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

Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Feb 23rd

If you’re playing Scheifele and fading Hutton tonight, stack Mark with red-hot Blake Wheeler ($7,800). Other than that, with so many great expensive options at center, and after reviewing the winger list, we’re mostly focused on value at this four-player FanDuel NHL lineup position.

At the top of our list is Jason Zucker ($6,700). He plays on the Wild’s top line and has been streaky all season, but when hot, Zucker is a must own. While Jason was quiet with only one shot and blocked shot in New Jersey last night, Zucker has three goals in the last three games. And with the Rangers playing uninspired hockey lately, and especially if you already have Staal in your lineup, we love Zucker’s likelihood to get one or more goals again tonight.

Speaking of hot wingers, Reilly Smith ($6,300) as been in our write-up each time he’s on the ice over the last two weeks. In the last five games, Reilly has four goals and over the last seven games has six assists. The Canucks are 3-8-1 on the road in the last twelve games and are giving up a solid three goals per game. In Vegas, they likely give up more, and Smith stays hot.

Canucks rookie Brock Boeser ($6,300) is a great stack with Horvat, but we’re only playing him with Horvat tonight as he’s likely to most focus on assists. If you need a winger at that price point and aren’t into the Canucks tonight, grab David Perron ($6,200) instead, and stack him with at least Karlsson, ideal also with Smith.

Nino Niederreiter ($5,600) and Tomas Hertl ($5,200) are both streaky players who have mostly stayed off the stat sheet in the last couple of weeks. But any time they have a favorable match up, they pop up on the stat sheet. If you need a mid-salary range value play, you can pick either, but we prefer Niederreiter.

For value, while we’re mostly recommending Jets against if you’re fading Hutton tonight, we actually like Mathieu Perreault‘s ($4,600) value in all formats. While Perreault tends to score more on home ice, he’s had some great success on the road against very good goaltending in the past two months. This is a sneaky way to get points on a cheap salary, likely with lower ownership.

Finally, Alex Tuch ($3,500) snuck onto the Vegas second line lately and is seeing minutes climb back toward 20 per game. Tuch has been a great DFS NHL option this season when Golden Knights suffer temporary injuries. However, in the last two months he quietly faded, until Wednesday night. Against the Flames on home ice, Alex had one shot on goal, it scored, added an assist, and provided a blocked shot for 23.2 FanDuel NHL points on a cheap salary. That result is feasible again tonight.

Top FanDuel NHL Defense: Feb 23rd

Brent Burns ($7,200) is an offensive defender who’s certainly in play against a terrible Hawks team in Chicago. However, we’d rather save some salary and play a hot Kris Letang ($6,500) instead. Kris now has a point in the last four straight games, and five of the last six. During that time, Letan has two goals and five assists, including a power play goal. In Carolina, even without a goal, he’s likely to land over ten FanDuel NHL points, but we expect closer to 20 tonight.

Ryan Suter ($5,600) and Duncan Keith ($5,600) have been solid contributors on their team’s top line defense lately. But between the two, Keith has quietly been more consistent. Still, we like either play tonight for different reasons. Ryan has a juicy match up, and should have a good night. Regardless of the Blackhawks outcome, we know Keith will be heavily involved and likely has 12+ FanDuel NHL points whether he’s involved in scoring or not.

For a second mid-range salary pick on defense we’re on the fence between Jared Spurgeon ($5,300) and Alexander Edler ($5,300). If you need more value, though, Jets top-liner Tyler Myers ($5,000) or Sharks Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($4,600) are both getting 20+ minutes of ice time lately, and are heavily involved in their team’s offense over the last two weeks.

Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Feb 23rd

Unlike last night when we easily narrowed down our goalie options, tonight is difficult. We like four goalies, of the five games, and they’re all nearly identically price. And, using our value picks at each position and grabbing even some of the most expensive players, we can still afford each option.

So who are they? Matt Murray ($8,800) is a likely winner on the road tonight. Matt has been very sharp in goal since returning from his sudden bereavement time-off. Even in a tough St. Louis environment recently, Murray had 33 saves, only gave up one goal, and snagged yet another win. We worry about the Hurricanes being able get enough shots on goal to make Murray worth it, but he should be a good 25 to 35 FanDuel NHL point play.

Likewise, Devan Dubnyk ($8,800), Marc-Andre Fleury ($8,700), and Martin Jones ($8,400) are similar plays to Murray. The Blackhawks and Rangers should be able to get a stable number of shots on goal tonight, so Dubnyk and Jones are probably the top two plays of the group, but any of these four is nearly a lock for 25+ points.

So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Friday, February 23rd:

C     Malkin (PIT $9,200)

C     Tierney (SJ $4,100)

W   Zucker (MIN $6,700)

W   R Smith (VGK $6,300)

W   Perreault (WPG $4,600)

W   Tuch (VGK $3,500)

D    Letang (PIT $6,500)

D    Spurgeon (MIN $5,300)

G    Dubnyk (MIN $8,800)

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.

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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!