FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: March 1
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to the FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column, for Thursday, March 1st 2018. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
Yesterday we pegged Nathan MacKinnon ($8,300) as our top play, over Steven Stamkos ($8,800). That worked out well. Not only did Stamkos and the Bolts offense have a quiet night, but MacKinnon had eight shots on goal, a power play goal, and an assist for 33.3 FanDuel NHL points. The Lightning were also heavily owned, in comparison to the Avs, so if you played Nathan and faded Steven, you immediately had an advantage.
One of our favorite value plays at center was Bo Horvat ($5,800). There were some other value plays we missed as the Rangers surprised us with a 6-5 overtime win in Vancouver. However, Horvat had five shots on goal, a blocked shot, a power play goal, and two assists for 38.1 FanDuel NHL points. In fact, if you played MacKinnon with Horvat, you totaled 71.4 points on a model total salary.
We missed a great opportunity from Canucks rookie Brock Boeser ($6,200) and Tyson Barrie ($5,400). Boeser had six shots on goal and two goals for an awesome 33.6 FanDuel NHL point return, and Barrie added four blocked shots, two shots on goal including one goal, and a power play assist for 30.1 points.
But, we nailed a great goalie situation with Antti Niemi ($7,600) who was a low below-5% owned goalie in most plays, yet he had 27 saves, gave up only one goal, and took the win for the Canadiens and gave us 29.6 FanDuel NHL points. Also, Matthew Tkachuk ($6,800) was a solid 16 points play and Andreas Athanasiou ($4,000) was a solid 18.4 point value at the wing position.
Hopefully we can keep some of these great picks rolling, and avoid missing some of the top value for tonight’s slate. Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Thursday, March 1st:
Penguins at Bruins (7pm ET NBC SN)
Hurricanes at Flyers (7pm ET)
Devils at Panthers (7:30pm ET)
Lightning at Stars (8:30pm ET)
Predators at Oilers (9pm ET)
Wild at Coyotes (9pm ET)
Blue Jackets at Kings (10:30pm ET)
Blackhawks at Sharks (10:30pm ET NBC SN)
With eight games, and 16 teams, on the ice tonight, we’ll have plenty of names to pick through for lineups. Goalie will especially be difficult, as we have likely six to eight great plays on the board tonight.
We’re going to target the red-hot Wild offense, as they’re in Arizona tonight, playing a Yotes team who’s fared well lately, but will be vulnerable to the Wild’s offensive power. The Flyers look to continue to role on home ice with a good match up against the Hurricanes. And the Devils will duel with the Panthers in Florida, were both offenses look attractive.
The Oilers are back on home ice in Edmonton where their penalty kill rate is dreadful. So that bodes well for the Predators offense, which has some new pieces and is playing great hockey right now. We may also see if we can grab some value from the Penguins or Bruins in Boston 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: Mar 1st
There’s a long list of top center plays who are expensive tonight. We had a similar situation last night and focused on the more expensive picks at center and found value at the wing position. We’re not doing that tonight.
Several of the expensive plays at center have difficult match ups, making them very risky for that price. Instead, our top two picks are two of the hottest centers in hockey right now, Kings top-line leader Anze Kopitar ($7,600) and Eric Staal ($7,500).
Kopitar and Staal also have tough match ups, but each is a better center compared to their counterparts. Anze has two goals and four assists in the last three games, and four goals and five assists in his last seven games. Kopitar is suddenly entering the Hart Trophy conversation for the season with his consistently dominate play this year.
Meanwhile, if you’ve been playing FanDuel NHL DFS lately, you’re not surprised to see Staal as a top play. In the last four games, Eric has seven goals and four assists. Staal has more than 53 FanDuel NHL points in two of his last four games, and double-digit points in 14 of the Wild’s last 18 games. There is no center in the NHL hotter than Staal right now.
At a similar price-point, Aleksander Barkov ($7,300) is usually a safe bet on home ice. In his last three straight home games, Barkov has a goal and four assists and FanDuel NHL points of between 12 and 30 during that period of time. The Devils are a tough match up tonight, but the Panthers play better offense in Florida.
A cheaper play as a top center is Jeff Carter ($6,300), who finally returned to the ice on February 24th after a hiatus starting on October 19th. In the three games since returning, Carter has two power play goals and an incredible 18 shots on goal. In fact, he’s a solid lock for ten-plus points each night.
Our two favorite value picks tonight are Kyle Turris ($4,900) on the ice in Edmonton tonight, and Flyers rookie Nolan Patrick ($4,500). Both lead the second line, Turris for the Predators, and have plenty of talent around them for 15 to 20 minutes tonight. They each have a solid match up, and are likely to land above ten points on dirt-cheap salary.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Mar 1st
While we didn’t grab any Devils at center, Taylor Hall ($8,200) is a unique talent who consistently provides nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points each time he’s on the ice. Hall now has a point in each of his last 22 straight games. That’s an incredible run, and it’s likely to continue in Florida tonight. Better, Taylor has also provided more productivity in the power play lately, and has 20 shots on goal in his last five games.
Stacked with Hall on the top line, we also like Kyle Palmieri ($6,000) whose been playing a complimentary role with Hall over the last two months. In his last three games, Kyle has three goals and one assist, and 20 shots on goal. Palmieri is another shot at over 20 FanDuel NHL points in Florida tonight.
For mid-salary range wingers, we like Panthers top-line winger Evgenii Dadonov ($5,700) and Predators second-line winger Craig Smith ($5,600). Evgenii only had two shots on goal and two blocked shots the last time we played him, against the Maple Leafs in Florida on Tuesday night. But Dadonov had a hat trick last weekend against the Penguins,and has five goals and three assists in his last seven games.
Smith is quietly on fire for the Predators, and his salary may climb quicker soon. Craig has a point in each of his last eight games, four goals and five assists during that time. Also, with around 15 minutes of ice time each game, Craig is managing around four shots on goal lately, and is heavily involved in the power play. On the ice in Edmonton, where the Oilers have a terrible sub-70% PK this season, we love the Predators power play, and Smith is a steal at this price.
Some other value plays at winger we like are Smith’s Predators second line mate Kevin Fiala ($5,300), Wild’s second line winger Charlie Coyle ($5,100), and the Sharks top line winger Joonas Donski ($4,400).
Fiala is a sharp-shooter who can be inconsistent but goes on scoring runs and creates enormous NHL DFS value. Coyle is quietly moving into the Wild’s top six, which has been hugely productive over the last couple of weeks. And Donski is playing with Pavelski and Evander Kane ($6,600) on the Sharks top line, which is heating up now that Kane has joined them after a trade-deadline move by the Sharks.
Top FanDuel NHL Defense: Mar 1st
Brent Burns ($6,900) is a great play on home ice against the Blackhawks tonight. Burnsy’s salary has dropped a bit, making him a better value. Meanwhile, Roman Josi‘s ($6,700) has climbed because of his consistently dominate offensive and defensive play lately. We like either as a top play, but Josi has the higher ceiling tonight.
If you want an expensive defender like Burns or Josi, but can’t quite afford them, don’t be afraid to grab Shayne Gostisbehere ($6,400). The young Flyers defensive star was quiet in Montreal, but most of the Flyers were. Before that game, Ghost-Bear had a goal and 16 assists in just twelve games. Shayne also gets plenty of shots on goal and piles up blocked shots each game. On home ice against he Canes, he’s definitely a top three play.
Not nearly as expensive, but also hot and playing with Roman Josi on the Preds top line, Ryan Ellis ($5,200) should have 15-20 FanDuel NHL points with this match up tonight. Ellis has been in our columns consistently over the last two weeks because he continues to provide decent double-digit point value each night, regardless of the match up. Ellis only had 6.4 points against the Jets in Winnipeg, but he has nine-plus points in seven of his last eight games.
Finally, two value plays we love tonight, we’ve have in several articles over the last two weeks. Charlie McAvoy ($4,100) is heating up on the Bruins top line over the last week, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($4,100) has a solid match up on home ice against the Hawks. Between the two, we like McAvoy most, who had a goal and assist against the Canes on Tuesday, piling up over 31 FanDuel NHL points.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Mar 1st
If you’ve got some cash to burn for the goalie position, Devan Dubnyk ($8,900) very likely lands between 25 and 30 points tonight in a road win over the Coyotes. But we’d rather save some salary and get a better result from Pekka Rinne ($8,800) or Jonathan Quick ($8,800).
Rinne is averaging over 30 saves per game, lately, and is getting the offense he needs for the 12 FanDuel NHL point win even when he gives up a few goals. Quick is giving up three or less goals at home, and has a solid shot at a wing over the Blue Jackets tonight.
Martin Jones ($8,500) also has a very good shot at a win on home ice. The problem with Jones this season is the Sharks are playing solid defense, and often have the puck in the neutral zone, limiting shots, and therefore saves, on Jones. But, Martin has reached over 30 saves in four of his last six starts.
Finally, for value, we love former Red Wings backup net-minder Petr Mrazek ($7,900) blocked the crease for the Flyers tonight. Mrazek has been inconsistent this season, but was getting hot again for the Red Wings before being traded to the Flyers.
Since then, Mrazek is 3-0 for the Flyers, giving up only four goals in three games, and averaging around 25 saves per game. He was recently involved in a shutout shoot-out win over the Canadiens in Montreal. He stays hot tonight on home ice against the Hurricanes.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Thursday, March 1st:
C Staal (MIN $7,500)
C Patrick (PHI $4,500)
W Hall (NJ $8,200)
W Palmieri (NJ $6,000)
W Dadonov (FLA $5,700)
W C Smith (NSH $5,600)
D Ellis (NSH ($5,200)
D McAvoy (BOS $4,100)
G Mrazek (PHI $7,900)
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!