Welcome to NHL DFS Man Advantage for Saturday night February 9th! Tonight we are back with a manageable 6 game slate tonight. After that huge 14 game slate on Thursday it is nice to have a smaller slate to work with, there is actually a 7 game slate for the afternoon starting at 1pm. I won’t be writing about the early slate, but if you want to hit me up on twitter I will try to give you some advice if you so desire.
NHL DFS Schedule:
7PM:
San Jose @ Edmonton
Toronto @ Montreal
Pittsburgh @ Tampa Bay
Florida @ Washington
10PM:
Calgary @ Vancouver
Columbus @ Vegas
NHL DFS Goalies:
My top netminder tonight is David Rittich ($8,000) on the road in Vancouver. Rittich has been playing well recently with an 8-0-1 record in his last 10 appearances. While his record has been stellar, his stats leave much to be desired with a 3.13 GAA and a .900 SV %. Vancouver is a team that does shoot the puck a lot averaging 28.4 SH/G and 3 G/G.
If you are unsure of Rittich, my next pick might be more of what you are looking for. Martin Jones ($7,800), taking on Edmonton on the road, is 8-2-0 in his last 10 and has won 4 straight starts as well. Edmonton averages less than 3 G/G and takes 30.3 SH/G.
Lastly, I like Frederik Andersen ($7,700) at Montreal in one the longest running rivalries in all of professional sports. In one start against the Canadiens this season Andersen stopped 34 of 36 shots earning the win and 7.8 fantasy points on the night. One thing that could keep me off Andersen is the recent history when these meet with 28 combined goals being scored in their last 5 games against each other.
NHL DFS Top Forwards:
High Tier:
Connor McDavid ($7,100)/ Leon Draisaitl ($6,800) : Instead of placing them in the line stack section I wanted to highlight just how good these two players have been playing of late. McDavid comes into tonight’s game on a 6 game point streak with 2 goals and 8 assists during his streak. In 3 games against San Jose this season the Oilers captain has 3 goals and 3 assists and is averaging 7.3 FPPG. Draisaitl has 8 goals and 2 assists in his last 6 games and has goals in 3 straight (5 total). In 3 games against the Sharks Draisaitl has 3 goals and 2 assists.
John Tavares ($6,600) – In the 2 games since I wrote up Tavares saying he would break out of his slump he has responded with 2 goals and 2 assists and is averaging 7.5 FPPG, I’m not saying I’m the reason he’s started heating up, but if the shoe fits. JT also has 18 goals in 24 road games this season and did score in his previous contest with Montreal earlier this season.
Mid Tier:
Tomas Hertl ($6,100) – Hertl comes into tonight’s game against Edmonton with points in 3 of his last 4 totaling 5 goals and 3 assists. It would seem Hertl enjoys playing the Oilers with 1 goal and 3 assists in 3 games this season and is averaging 4.3 FPPG. Hertl centers the Sharks 2nd line with Evander Kane and Joonas Donskoi as his wingers, as well as seeing time on the top PP unit.
Aleksander Barkov ($5,600) – Barkov has 2 goals and 6 assists in his last 5 games and has 5 points in 4 games since the All Star break. It looks like Florida tries to roll their second line against their opponents top scoring line so that could be the reason we are seeing the sudden point outburst from Barkov.
Jonathan Drouin ($4,900) – Drouin seems severely under priced based on his current form, but I won’t complain and just jam him into my lineup and move on. In home games this season Drouin has 31 points as opposed to just 15 on the road, and has 12 goals to just 5 on the road. In his last 3 games Drouin has 3 goals and 6 assists.
Value Tier:
Jakub Vrana ($4,500) – Vrana has 1 goal and 3 assists in his last 4 games and is averaging 3.75 FPPG. In 1 game against Florida this season Vrana had 1 goal and an assist and picked up 5.5 fantasy points, which is definitely something I would sign up for from Vrana again tonight.
Zach Hyman ($3,800) – Hyman has been playing some of his best hockey alongside the aforementioned John Tavares on the Leafs top line. In the Leafs last 3 games Hyman has 2 goals and 3 assists while averaging 5.5 FPPG which is almost 3 points higher than his season average
Derek Ryan ($2,800) – Ryan comes in with points in 3 straight games, 1 goal and 3 assists, while centering the Flames 4th line, but he also plays PP minutes on the teams second unit. For his price Ryan is definitely worth a look either as a one-off or maybe a stack with some of the Flames 2nd PP unit, specifically James Neal ($3,700) who has assists in back to back games, and defenseman TJ Brodie ($4,000) who has a goal and 5 assists in his last 4.
NHL DFS Top Defensemen:
Pay Up Dman:
Brent Burns ($6,600) – Burns is arguably the best offensive defenseman in the league. In 3 games against the Oilers this season Burns has 1 goal and 4 assists and is averaging 5.7 FPPG. Burnsy is riding a 5 game point streak as well with 2 goals and 7 assists during this streak.
Other options: Mark Giordano ($6,200), Darnell Nurse ($5,300)
Pay Down Dman:
Unfortunately there is not too much in the pay down section tonight. There are a couple of guys worth a look like Colin Miller or Deryk Engelland from Vegas, or Brian Dumuolin or Marcus Pettersson from Pittsburgh, as well as Mike Reilly.
NHL DFS Line Stacks
Top 1st Lines:
Calgary 1
Tampa Bay 1
Pittsburgh 1
Columbus 1
Top non-1st Lines:
Montreal 3 ( LOVE Jesperi Kotkaniemi ($3,500) tonight as a one-off as well)
Toronto 3
Vegas 2
Top PP unit:
Washington 1
Also remember to check out my Introduction to NASCAR DFS to get you ready for the NASCAR Season beginning one week from Sunday, February 17th with the Daytona 500!
Thanks for reading NHL DFS Man Advantage today and make sure you follow me on twitter @MVecchio81 and @FantasyCPR for all your NHL, NBA, PGA and more for all 100% FREE content!!! Also keep a look out for my NASCAR and MMA pieces!