Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for February 5

Welcome BACK to the NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays column. This is a fantasy hockey post focused on top lineup plays each day. This edition is focused on the Main slate for Tuesday, February 5th 2019.

Our fantasy hockey lineup options had some hits and misses over the weekend. Connor Hellebuyck was a solid goalie option against a dreadful Ducks team on Saturday and Frank Vatrano continues to be a great value play.

Bo Horvat was a decent mid-salary range value play at center on Saturday, but the Canucks offense was mostly muted against Carter Hart and the Flyers last night. So we may pause on the Canucks for Tuesday.

We had a slew of misses on Sunday, Ovi and the Caps were shut out by the Bruins in a low-scoring one-goal affair, and the Flames weren’t as dynamic as we hoped. But the Canadiens gave us some hope with Carey Price in net and Max Domi playing well at center. Each are options we should consider for Tuesday night.

Before we get there, a reminder to never take a NHL DFS optimal lineup as ‘bible’ for your personal lineup each day. Use the suggestions as guidance. Also, make sure you follow final lineup thoughts throughout the day on our twitter account @FantasyCPR or me @MattyMcMatt17 look for late breaking lineup news.

Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for the Main slate on Tuesday, February 5th 2019:

Islanders at Bruins 7pm ET

Wild at Sabres 7pm ET

Blues at Panthers 7pm ET

Kings at Devils 7pm ET ESPN+

Hurricanes at Penguins 7pm ET

Canucks at Capitals 7pm ET

Ducks at Canadiens 7:30pm ET

Golden Knights at Lightning 7:30pm ET ESPN+

Coyotes at Predators 8pm ET

Sharks at Jets 8pm ET

Blue Jackets at Avalanche 9pm ET

Blackhawks at Oilers 9pm ET

Yes, that’s twelve games. Likely Saturday, but compared to most other days in the past couple of weeks, that may seem overwhelming for DFS NHL. You have so many different combination options it’s sometimes hard to focus on which picks make the most sense and avoid those picks which can handicap your lineup.

We’ll, hopefully, help you get where you want to be for winning FanDuel NHL plays in cash and GPP. Our strategy for Tuesday will be narrowing down the best goalie options, and finding the best players with the best match ups. From there, we’re simply going with the biggest horses we can afford. It’s not a fool-proof method, but I’ve had solid success over the last couple of DFS NHL seasons.

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So, let’s start building our NHL DFS optimal lineup by looking at the top centers for this slate…

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Centers

When there’s a large slate like Tuesday’s, you typically have many juicy top center and winger options. Unfortunately, Tuesday’s slate present a top option in literally every positional category. We could go with one or a few of those top plays and dig for value, but there are too many great picks closer to the mid-salary range level.

So, I’m fading expensive picks like Sidney Crosby ($9,000) and Connor McDavid ($8,800) and I’m going to start looking at more affordable, but just as great, options like Jonathan Toews ($7,400) and Ryan O’Reilly ($6,800).

While guys like Crosby and McDavid are consistently dominate, O’Reilly and Toews are also in the middle of consistent hot streaks, Ryan more than Jonathan, and their team’s offense is playing better lately.

Also, the Blackhawks has a favorable match up against the Oilers in Edmonton and the Blues have a solid shot at piling up goals in Florida against the Panthers. Each is on the road, but that shouldn’t impact the outcomes in this situation.

Between the two, I think O’Reilly is the better play and, frankly, I’m a little surprised that he’s $600 cheaper than Toews. That makes Ryan essentially a FanDuel NHL bargain for Tuesday.

For my second center pick, I have a similar situation. On the one hand, Bo Horvat ($5,800) is playing great hockey lately and the Canucks solid offense is playing a vulnerable Caps defense lately. But, I’m worried about the impact of the Edler injury, from last night, on the Canucks and they didn’t produce much offense against 20-year-old Carter Hart.

Still, Horvat skated quite well at times. But, that draws my attention to Max Domi ($6,000), who’s now averaging around 13 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, thanks to double-digit points in six of his last seven games. Also, with Domi on home ice against a Ducks team playing some of the worst hockey we’ve seen in a long time, Max could be in for a big night with a reasonable salary.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

We didn’t go crazy with the spending at the center position, we picked two reasonably priced centers and expect 30 to 40 FanDuel NHL points in return. That leaves us with a decent amount of cash to spend across the rest of the lineup options, but I know we may need to make some expensive options at defense and goalie.

With that in mind, my first move is to take a look at the value plays at winger for Tuesday. Fortunately, there are several.

First of all, don’t look at the FanDuel NHL point-per-game average for Jack Roslovic ($3,700). Just under five per game is misleading, considering his current output. The 22-year-old is now playing on the Jets second line averaging nearly 15 minutes of ice time per game.

Jack has a goal or assist in four of the last six games, with a total of five goals and two assists. In a crazy outcome against the Ducks on Saturday, Roslovic had a hat-trick with three power play goals and plugged over 50 FanDuel NHL points into lineups.

I doubt he’ll have that big of a night on home ice against the Sharks, but he’s hot right now and the confidence could continue to make him a sneaky value play.

They’re not nearly as cheap as Roslovic, but I can’t understand why Frank Vatrano ($4,500) and Timo Meier ($5,500) are still so cheap. Within the first couple days of the season, I talked about how Meier is a potential sleeper for fantasy hockey, and boy has he been one.

Playing on the Sharks top line now, Meier is averaging over 15 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, has been a very consistent contributor, and currently has a goal and five assists in the last five games. The Jets are a tough team to play, but they’ve given up plenty of goals lately. Meier is a great play again on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Vatrano hit our radar in December as a similar type of play. Frank has now elevated to the Panthers top line and recently scored his 17th goal of the season. In fact, Vatrano has four goals in the last five games, and he’s beginning to look like a constant FanDuel NHL value play until they finally bring his salary well over $5K.

For a top winger play, I like several options and it will depend on how you want to play the rest of the lineup. It’s completely reasonable to afford Artemi Panarin ($8,000) on Tuesday night. As trade talks for Panarin emerge in Columbus, he seems to be getting more confident. He’s another great play for Tuesday.

But if you want to use more salary across your lineups, two other great options are Blackhawks top young winger Alex DeBrincat ($6,700) and Canucks Brock Boeser ($6,300). For the same reason I like Horvat but I’m concerned about Vancouver tonight, I’d go with Alex over Brock. But either is a great play at this FanDuel NHL salary.

Alright, let’s finally look at a few top picks on defense…

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

At the defense position, I’ve been mauling several options and it has a lot to do with which wingers I end up picking. Brent Burns ($7,500), John Carlson ($6,700) and Victor Hedman ($6,500) are all great top picks at the defense position.

Even better, you could actually afford to play Burns or Hedman with Carlson, who I think is the top play of the night. But I’m struggling with that move, because there are also several great mid-salary range and value play picks at the position too.

So it ultimately depends on where you think you’ll get the most points, two defense picks or your top two winger picks. History typically tells you winger, but the defense position is one of the easiest to avoid goose-eggs.

If you want some cheaper options, the Canadiens top line has two great mid-salary range picks with Jeff Petry ($5,000) and Shea Weber ($5,100). Between the two, I like Petry’s consistency more and I’m not really sure why Weber is $100 more expensive.

Also, Jacob Trouba ($5,400) has been hot for the Jets and you’re getting nearly the same value as Petry and Weber.

For even cheaper value, you have someone like Andy Greene ($3,800), who we’ve touted a few times in the last two weeks, facing a vulnerable Kings team on home ice in New Jersey. In fact, Green makes it easier to own Burns, in the case that you like him more than Carlson (I still like Carlson more).

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

At the time of writing this post, many of the 24 starting goalie options are still not confirmed. That makes for a bit of a predicament, until they’re locked in. Stay close to our twitter accounts for updates as we track beat writers, who typically break the news.

In the meantime, there are a couple of games I’m locked into, and the starting goalie result unfortunately could have a big impact on who you can pick within the rest of your lineup. But at least I gave you options, right?

So who do I like? My favorite two goalies for FanDuel NHL on Tuesday are Devan Dubnyk ($8,800) and Carey Price ($8,700).

Sure, Tuukka Rask ($9,100) is absolutely on fire, but they’re hosting an almost equally tough Robin Lehner ($8,700 and New York Islanders team on Tuesday. I don’t love the risk you’e taking spending that much of your FanDuel NHL salary on either play, only to watch them lose game.

The problem we have is that neither goalie is confirmed. However, that could end up being a solution, at least in the case of a Habs switch. If Dubnyk isn’t between the pipes, I’m more focused on who the Canadiens are putting out on the ice.

The Ducks are an absolutely dreadful hockey team right now, and either Carey or Antti Niemi ($7,700) are set up not only well for a win, but have a decent shot at a shutout. Considering the $1K savings for Niemi, he’d be my favorite pick of all goalie options. We just don’t know if Price gets a night off yet.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays February 5th 2019 Summary

At the goalie position we’re going with Price or Dubnyk. But if Niemi ends up starting for the Habs, he trounces all other options with that value. And the value is intriguing, because at the defense position we’re either digging down for a cheap Greene play or two mid-salary range picks with Petry or Weber, assuming Price or Dubnyk is our goalie.

If Niemi starts, then it’s easy to have a monster stack at defense with a Burns or Hedman next to Carlson. That won’t even impact how we play the rest of our lineup.

At the center position, I’m going with Horvat or Domi with O’Reilly or Toews as my top center. This should get us 30 to 40 FanDuel NHL points without giving up too much of our salary.

From there, I’m looking for some cheap and mid-salary range options at winger who can also get me consistent double-digit points. Fortunately, Roslovic makes that very easy, assuming he stays hot, and Vatrano and Meier are excellent mid-salary range picks.

From there, I’m grabbing either Panarin, DeBrincat, and/or Boeser as a top (or two) winger pick. With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Tuesday, February 5th 2019

C       Ryan O’Reilly ($6,800)

C       Max Domi ($6,000)

W     Artemi Panarin ($8,000)

W     Timo Meier ($5,500)

W     Frank Vatrano ($4,500)

W     Jack Roslovic ($3,700)

D      John Carlson ($6,700)

D      Jeff Petry ($5,000)

G      Carey Price ($8,700)

Remaining Salary: $100

Note: This is a recommended lineup after discussing our top options for the slate. You should use this as a guide, and provide your own input when building NHL DFS FanDuel lineups.  We are not telling you, or selling you, to use this lineup.

Best of luck in your NHL DFS FanDuel contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across College Football, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, EPL, PGA, and NASCAR this fall!