FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: February 26

Welcome to FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays. This is the Monday, February 26th 2018 edition. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.

Sunday night’s four-game FanDuel NHL slate presented some of the most exciting hockey we’ve seen in a while. Every game was within one or two goals throughout the night, and three of the four games went into overtime, with one game ending in a shootout.

While we had some solid picks yesterday, we missed on the Anaheim Ducks top line, on home ice, against the Oilers last night. First, one of our top GPP plays from that game was an obvious but expensive one, Connor McDavid ($9,100). For a hefty price, you landed 35.2 FanDuel NHL points with three assists and seven shots on goal.

However, as it turns out, that was the overall game to stack. Ryan Getzlaf ($7,300) had a goal, three assists including a power play assist, three blocked shots, and four shots on goal for a tremendous 47.7 FanDuel NHL points return.

Even better, Rickard Rakell ($6,500) added another 50.4 points with a hot-trick and nine shots on goal. And if you stacked the entire line by adding Corey Perry ($6,300), you earned another 28.8 FanDuel NHL points from three assists and three shots. Together, the line produced an amazing 126.9 points from just three players. With that stack, you were a lock for cash winnings and in play for all GPP winnings.

We even saw some lines play McDavid with one of our favorite wingers last night, Leon Draisaitl ($7,000) and the Ducks top line. Draisaitl added another 24.8 FanDuel NHL points to your lineup with a goal and assist, along with three shots on goal.

We like Jacob Markstrom ($7,700) over the last couple of weeks, but we were concerned about the match up against the Coyotes in Arizona. The Yotes have played better hockey lately. But, it turned out Markstrom was one of the best plays of the night, getting 41 saves and a win for 40.8 FanDuel NHL points.

So while we had solid returns from Draisaitl, over 16 FanDuel NHL points from Eric Staal ($7,200) and Derik Stepan ($6,000), another 22.4 points from Jason Zucker ($6,500), and awesome value from Alex Goligoski ($4,300) who had a goal and 18.9 points, we missed out on some better plays. So we’ll take what we learned yesterday, and move forward to another condensed slate for Monday night.

Now, let’s take a look at the NHL schedule for Monday, February 26th:

Capitals at Blue Jackets (7pm ET)

Flyers at Canadiens (7:30pm ET)

Maple Leafs at Lightning (7:30pm ET)

Canucks at Avalanche (9pm ET)

Golden Knights at Kings (10:30pm ET)

The Caps are in Columbus tonight, and the Blue Jackets have played questionable hockey on home ice lately. In their last ten games, the Jackets are 4-4-2 with a low 66.7% PK rate. That bodes well for the Caps who just stopped 2-5 skid against a Sabres team who appeared to be surging. On Saturday, the Caps hosted the Sabres and won convincingly, 5-1, and should continue to roll in Columbus tonight.

The Flyers have won nine of their last ten, despite injury woes and a goalie trade. They recently beat the Canadiens on home ice, but 3-2 in overtime. But the Habs are only 3-0-2 in their last five home games. However, Carey Price is now on the IR, so the Flyers have potential for another hot road-ice offensive game against Antti Niemi and the Canadiens.

The Maple Leafs have also won nine of their last ten games, including a 4-3 home ice win over the the Lightning. Now they’re in Tampa Bay where the Bolts won three of their last four games and are generally playing better hockey. The outcome of that one is a big question-mark, but we know there will be some offense from both teams tonight.

The Avalanche return home after a three-game road trip and are getting back to full-strength, health-wise. But they’re hosting a Canucks team who looked solid against the Coyotes last night. But the Canucks have been inconsistent, recently looking great in a 6-0 blowout of the Stars, only to to lose four of the next five games. So the Avs are in play tonight on home ice.

Finally, the Golden Knights take a short trip to Los Angeles tonight in what should be a great match up. The Kings haven’t looked great in their last two home games, but the Knights also haven’t play a game away from home since February 8th. So both teams are sort of a question-mark tonight, but we’re leaning toward the hot Knights 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 26th

Steven Stamkos ($8,700) is in play tonight on home ice. The Maple Leafs will have a very good Frederik Andersen in net, but as we’ve said all season he has poor defense in front of him and sees too many shots to not let a few goals in each game. Stamkos will be involved in at least one goal tonight. But, considering his salary, that may not be a great return and there is better value at center tonight.

The Canucks likely gave Markstrom a rest tonight and hand the goalie duties over to Anders Nilsson. That bodes well for the Avs offense, and Nathan MacKinnon ($7,900) well in play tonight. MacKinnon has two goals and three assists in the last three games, and should be involved in more than one goal tonight. We feel MacKinnon is a better top-value at center compared to Stamkos.

The Kings have struggled on home ice over the last week, and William Karlsson ($7,400) is on fire with three goals in his last two games, and four goals and four assists in the last seven Golden Knights games. Again, Karlsson could yield similar points as MacKinnon or Stamkos, making him a better value tonight.

But the obvious best value compared to Stamkos is Brayden Point ($6,400). With five goals in the last four games, and a point in each of the last seven games, Point has actually been more productive than Stamkos lately, and he’s $2,300 cheaper. Another second liner we like at this price-point is Evgeny Kuznetsov ($6,600), but between the two, Point has been more consistent lately. In fact, we feel Bradyen is a top pick tonight.

There is a plethora of mid-salary range picks to consider at center, and some interesting value picks, but Flyers rookie second line leader Nolan Patrick ($4,500) sticks out the most. For that reason, he may be a chalky value play tonight against a Price-less Habs team in Montreal. But Patrick has four goals in the last four games, and five points in the last five games, and is too hot to ignore at this price point. Nolan is a must-play value pick at center tonight.

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

Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Feb 26th

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve had several slates where we spent a lot on the center picks and found value at winger. We can still some value at the wing slot tonight, but our better plays at center are more value. So, with plenty of cash to burn at wing, boy do we love Nikita Kucherov ($9,200) on home ice tonight.

It’s hard to believe the Russian winger is only 24-years-old, as he’s debatable one of the best offensive players in the NHL right now. In just 62 games played, Kucherov has 33 goals and 49 assists for 82 points. That’s more than one goal or assist per game, which makes sense given his 19.07 FanDuel NHL point-per-game average. Even against Andersen, Kucherov should have a great night, which shouldn’t be a surprise given he had a goal and assist the last time they played the Leafs.

If you’re fading the Kucherov chalk, start your top picks at wing with Claude Giroux ($7,900). The Flyers captain is absolutely on fire right now. In the last night games, Giroux has seven goals and nine assists, or again more than one point per game. So in a way, Claude is putting up Kucherov-like numbers in the last two weeks. With the Habs struggling this season, this is another great time to grab him.

Regardless of who your top pick is tonight at wing, Giroux or Kucherov, you can also play Jonathan Marchessault ($7,600) at wing tonight. Or, if you’re going expensive at center like Stamkos, grab Jonathan first for your winger picks. The Kings are struggling on defense at home right now, and Marchessault has two goals and five assists in the last five games.

Especially if you’re also playing Karlsson, a great stack with Marchessault is another hot Knights winger Reilly Smith ($6,500). If you’ve been following along with us over the last couple of weeks, you’ve seen this name numerous times, as Smith is having a tremendous February this season.

Since January 30th, Reilly played in 13 games and has eight goals and 12 assists during that time. So 20 points in a 13 game slate, very good consistency. We like this match up for the Knights, and Smith stays hot.

For value picks at wing, we like two Caps and an Avs player, all three could be flying under the FanDuel NHL ownership radar tonight. Brett Connolly ($3,600) is playing on the Caps second line now and Andre Burakovsky ($3,900) is slated for the third line. Both are heating up. Burakovsky has a power play goal, two goals, and an assist int he last two games. He also has four in the last seven games.

Connolly is a 25-year-old winger who’s spent most of his Caps career on the third line. But with 14+ minutes in each of the last three games, Connolly’s production picked up with three-straight games of helpers. Finally, Tyson Jost ($4,000) stays on our radar as he’s had three goals in the last seven games, including a power play goal, and two goals and one assist in the last three games.

Top FanDuel NHL Defense: Feb 26th

If you’re going heavy, with at least two value picks at winger, then you can grab one of either Victor Hedman ($7,100), Shayne Gostisbehere ($6,700), or John Carlson ($5,900) as your top defensive pick tonight. All three have great match ups, and we’re likely playing teammates in other parts of our lineup, so they fit well in a stack with value.

However, if you’re playing expensive picks at wing, you’ll likely need to dig for some mid-salary range value, or cheap value at this position. Tyson Barrie ($5,400), Alexander Edler ($5,300), or Ivan Provorov ($5,000) are each solid mid-salary range picks. The Avs took time to work Barrie up the lines after coming back from an injury, but he had a goal and four assists against the Canucks last week, landing a monster 51.3 FanDuel NHL point return. We know Tyson has that type of potential, but since his injury he’s been inconsistent.

Between the three, we like Edler the most, but Alexander is one of those rare ice beasts who always sees well over 20 minutes of ice time each game, and can sometimes reach close to 30 minutes. With so much time on the ice, and given Edler’s defensive skills, he piles up blocked shots. So even if he’s not involved in the offense, he can give you over ten FanDuel NHL points.

Provorov is inconsistent, but also sees a lot of time on the ice. He had a goal on three shots in Ottawa over the weekend, and sometimes gets on heaters. This could be the start of that. However, in that game, we like Jeff Petry‘s ($4,800) value more. We’ve played Petry more often lately, and it’s because his consistency is surging. In the last seven straight games, Jeff has at least between nine and 20 points each game, regardless of offensive value.

Finally, for deeper value, we’re hoping the Capitals stay hot in Columbus tonight. Matt Niskanen ($4,200) eats up around 22 to 25 minutes of ice time on the Caps second lines. Niskanen has four assists in the last five games, which is pretty productive considering the Caps struggled to score goals in most of those games. He’s getting more involved in the offensive production and this salary is too cheap to ignore.

Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Feb 26th

Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,200) continues to win most of his games, but he’s given up four goals in two of the last five games. Also, while Vas is typically a solid 20+ FanDuel NHL point scorer, he’s playing a hot Maple Leafs team tonight, and he recently lost to the Leafs in Toronto giving players a terrible -0.8 result. For this expensive price, he should be a slam-dunk 30+ players and he’s not tonight.

The Caps likely win in Columbus tonight, but we’re concerned about Braden Holtby ($9,000). For a very expensive salary, you’re getting a goalie who has giving up more than three goals in four of his last five starts. In fact, he’s almost averaging zero FanDuel NHL points during that time. There’s no reason to play Holtby tonight, unless you’re playing GPP.

With Jonathan Quick ($8,800) is currently inconsistent and struggling at times in the past couple of weeks. Sergei Bobrovsky ($8,700) has been hard to predict lately and facing is facing a tough Caps team tonight. And while Frederik Andersen ($8,700) is an elite fantasy goalie, he’s got one of the worst match ups he’ll see this season on the road. Fade all three of those goalies.

With that in mind, Marc-Andre Fleury ($8,700) is you’re top pick if you’re willing to pay up for him. Fleury hasn’t given up more than three goals in his last eight starts, consistently keeping the Golden Knights in every match up. Meanwhile, the Kings have lost each of their last two home games, scoring a total of only three goals. Fluery is your best play today.

If you’re looking for better value, Petr Mrazek ($7,900) and Semyon Varlmov ($7,700) are your top value plays at goalie tonight. Mrazek is streaking and the Flyers skaters are getting used to his aggressive puck handling, but he’s been hot lately and so have the Flyers offense. Varly has admittedly been inconsistent lately, but so have the Canucks.

The last time the Canucks won a solid game on the road, they fell apart over the next week of games. He’s a riskier play, but with a solid win on home ice and a good offense facing a bad goalie for the Canucks, Semyon has a very good chance for 20+ points tonight.

So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Monday, February 26th:

C     Point (TB $6,400)

C     Patrick (PHI $4,500)

W   Kucherov (TB $9,200)

W   Marchessault (VGK $7,600)

W   Smith (VGK $6,500)

W   Jost (COL $4,000)

D    Petry (MON $4,800)

D    Niskanen (WAS $4,200)

G    Varlamov (COL $7,700)

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: NBA DFS Picks and Pivots

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!