FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays: March 7
By Matt Rogers
Welcome to the FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays column for Wednesday, March 7th 2018. We’re a daily fantasy hockey column focused on top FanDuel NHL plays for your lineups each day.
Once again we nailed some great plays, including some great value, but also missed some big FanDuel NHL plays last night. One of our top winger plays last night, and favorite plays on Tuesday in general, was Patrik Laine ($7,800). The 19-year-old Finnish native had a hat-trick on four shots on goal, and a blocked shot for 44 FanDuel NHL points, in a 3-0 shutout for the Jets over the Rangers, in New York.
One of our top plays in Boston was a reasonably priced Torey Krug ($5,800) who managed to pile up two goals, two assists, three shots, two blocked shots and 49 FanDuel NHL points. Krug manned the Bruins second line but was involved in a lot of man advantage opportunities.
But Boston is were we missed the biggest play of the night. With Patrice Bergeron off the ice due to an injury, Brad Marchand ($7,800) completely took over the game for the B’s and had a hat-trick on six shots, a power play goal and assist, and added another assist for a monster 64.2 FanDuel NHL point night on Tuesday.
If you had Marchand and either Laine or Krug in your lineup, or both, you were a clear cash game winner, and had a shot at taking down any GPP play. You win some and lose some, and it was hard to win last night without Marchand. So we move on to another FanDuel NHL slate. Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for Wednesday, March 7th:
Flames at Sabres (7:30pm ET)
Penguins at Flyers (8pm ET NBC SN)
Coyotes at Canucks (10pm ET)
Full disclosure, when I looked at this slate the first word that came to mind was, ‘ewwwww.’ The Penguins and Flyers rivalry game could be a good one, but it’s often difficult to play for FanDuel NHL because we’ve seen some very unpredictable outcomes from that one in recent past. However, tonight we have to play the game.
The Flames are a great offensive team on home ice this season, but the Sabres have also been inconsistent on home ice in the last couple of weeks. Ans while the Yotes are playing better hockey lately, they have a touch match up in Vancouver, where the Canucks have had some random offensive results leading to surprise wins in the last couple of weeks.
So we have a very challenging slate to handle tonight, but that also creates great opportunity. 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 7th
With Petr Mrazek giving up six goals goals to a very good Lightning offense and four to the Panthers, over the weekend, we have to consider Evgeni Malkin ($9,100) and Sidney Crosby ($8,800) on road ice in Philly tonight.
Between the top two Penguins centers, Malkin is currently the more consistent FanDuel NHL double-digit point producer. In fact, Evegni is averaging around 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game in the last couple of weeks, and is likely to hit around that number tonight.
However, Crosby has very good career numbers playing against the Flyers. In 61 games, Sidney has 37 goals and 51 assists, or 88 points and more than a point-per-game against the cross-state rival. Malkin has just 24 goals and 41 assists in 51 games against the Flyers. So while Evgeni seems like the best choice, Sidney may be the better play, and lower owned top center.
With the chalk addressed, we also like Sabres top-line center Ryan O’Reilly ($6,200) and the Canucks top-line center Bo Horvat ($5,900), each on home ice tonight. O’Reilly is enjoying a fantasy hockey surge since Jack Eichel hit the IR, and has at least one point in each of the last four games. Horvat also has to step up for the Canucks due to the Boeser injury, and has two goals and three assists in the last three games.
Finally, for value we also like the road-ice Flames and Mikael Backlund ($5,400) leading their second line, as well as Nolan Patrick ($4,900) leading the Flyers second line against the Penguins in Philly tonight. Patrick has four goals in the last seven games, and has some chemistry with fellow second line rookie, winger Oskar Lindblom.
Backlund is a more efficient point producer, and has a great match up against the Sabres second line tonight. You’re likely good with either pick, but we’re leaning with Backlund because of the better-bet from the veteran.
Now let’s take a look at the wings we want to stack along with our centers…
Top FanDuel NHL Wings: Mar 7th
Paying up for Phil Kessel ($8,200) likely yields 15 to 25 FanDuel NHL points tonight. However, if you’re playing Malkin or Crosby, and certainly not both, in your lineup with Kessel, you will be hard pressed to grab any more somewhat expensive players, and likely need to find a strong list of value plays. That being said, a Malkin/Kessel or Crosby/Kessel mini-stack is a solid way to start your GPP lineup.
We prefer to save $1,900 of salary and grab Patric Hornqvist ($6,300) instead. Since moving to the top line with Crosby and fellow winger Jake Guentzel ($6,100), Hornqvist has been piling up ten to 30 points on a more consistent basis, with nearly 20 minutes of ice time each game. You can stack Patric with Sidney if you’re big on the Penguins top line tonight, or play Malkin and Hornqvist to get exposure to both lines.
From there, we’re mostly looking for mid-salary range or value picks at winger to round out our four picks at the position. At the mid-range level, we like Travis Konecny ($5,700) and Sam Reinhart ($5,400).
We’ve talked about Sam many times over the last four weeks, and his salary is still slowly climbing while he consistently provides goals and/or assists almost every game. Konecny is a cheap way to get exposure to the Flyers top line, and he’s been a scoring threat since joining that group this calendar year.
We’ve mentioned the Flames road-ice offense several times, and a cheap way to get exposure to their time line is picking Micheal Ferland ($4,500). He’s been relatively quiet lately, but with more ice time in Buffalo tonight, Ferland could hit the ten-point mark and provide a 2x+ value at winger.
The two most exciting value options tonight are top-line wings for the Canucks, Jake Virtanen ($3,600) and Brendan Leipsic ($3,400). Jake had a goal and assist on home ice against the Islanders recently, and Leipsic had two goals and one assist for an awesome 36.8 FanDuel NHL points. With both getting more time on the ice recently, their DFS NHL value is rapidly improving.
Top FanDuel NHL Defense: Mar 7th
If you saved plenty of money with a mid-salary range pick at center, and grabbed a few value plays at wing, you can likely afford any defensive player you ant. We’re going to spend over $10K on the position tonight, with too many solid options and plenty of salary to play with tonight.
We like the Penguins on road ice in Philly, making top line defenders Kris Letang ($6,200) and Brian Dumoulin ($3,800) a great stack at the position. Dumoulin has quietly provided 20+ minutes of ice time over the last couple of weeks, and has a goal and three assists in the last seven games. Letang also had a goal and assist in that time, and the veteran is a solid 10+ FanDuel NHL point pick most times he’s on the ice.
If you’re fading the Penguins, consider the Flyers top-line stack with Shayne Gostisbehere ($6,300) and Ivan Provorov ($5,200). The pair dominate the ice and they each have a high 40-50 FanDuel NHL point ceiling on big nights.
A more consistent DFS NHL point contribution has come from Mark Giordano ($5,800) and Dougie Hamilton ($5,600), especially on the road. Giordano, the Flames captain, had a goal, seven shots on goal, and two blocked shots in Pittsburgh on Monday night. Mark will given you at least eight points each time he’s on the ice. Hamilton isn’t as consistently dominate, but is more likely to add a goal to the scoring sheet for the Flames.
Finally, if you’re not stacking any of these three pairs, consider grabbing one player from one of those pairs and playing him with Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,400). The 23-year-old Finnish defenseman has re-emerged as a star for the Sabres in the last two months. Rasmus has a goal and five assists in the last six games, and dominates ice time like the rest of this group.
Top FanDuel NHL Goalies: Mar 7th
With only three games on the ice tonight, we only have six starting goalies to pick through. Current expectation is for Tristan Jarry ($8,600) to mind the net against the Flyers Petr Mrazek ($7,800). Mrazek is inconsistent, and while Jarry has played well lately, he’s facing a very tough Flyers offense on their home ice. We recommend fading both goalie options from that game, and only targeting offensive production.
Chad Johnson ($7,600) is the cheapest pick of the night, and is tending the net on home ice. Chad has won his last three games, against the Bruins, Lightning, and Maple Leafs. That’s a difficult schedule to sweep three wins. Especially in GPP play, Johnson is worth the risk against a good Flames road-ice offense.
If you’re fading Johnson, David Rittich ($8,100) should be in goal for the Flames. However, keep in mind Rittich has given up 11 goals in the last two games, and has only won one of his last six starts. This is another reason to play Johnson in net, but the low odds for Rittich to win makes him an intriguing GPP play.
Yours last two pair of goalies should be Darcy Kuemper ($8,000) on the road against the Canucks and Jacob Markstrom ($8,300). Kuemper had a great run in Los Angeles, but since being traded to the Coyotes, Darcy has given up seven goals in two starting losses. That bodes well for Markstrom, who’s been a solid net-minder for the Canucks all season. Jacob had a 31 save win against a good Islanders offense on Monday, and could be a great cash-game pick for tonight.
So, after reviewing all of our favorite options, here’s an example of a lineup we put together for Wednesday, March 7th:
C Malkin (PIT $9,100)
C Backlund (CGY $5,400)
W Hornqvist (PIT $6,300)
W Reinhart (BUF $5,400)
W Konecny (PHI $5,700)
W Leipsic (VAN $3,400)
D Giordano (CGY $5,800)
D Ristolainen (BUF $5,400)
G Markstrom (VAN $8,300)
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.
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!