Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for February 15

Welcome to NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays. This is a fantasy hockey post focused on top lineup plays each day. This edition is focused on the Main slate for Friday, February 15th 2019.

We’ve been on a fantasy hockey hot streak over the last two weeks, and that either continued or ended depending on the route you took last night. I mostly continued to stack the Blues with the second line of the Blackhawks.

Unfortunately, while Tarasenko was a great play from the Blues, O’Reilly and Schenn really weren’t worth the play. Also, the Blackhawks offense continued to fire, but most of the scoring came from the Kane and Toews lines. Strome, Kahun, and DeBrincat weren’t worth it.

However, if you did play some of the pivot options like Larkin at center and a very awesome value play, again, from Jesper Bratt, you likely had a great night. Our defensive plays were still solid. We talked up Delia, who ended up not starting. But if you simply flipped to Ward, the Blackhawks starter in place of Collin, then you still had a great goalie play with over 36 FanDuel NHL points.

For Friday night, we’re going to look at some stacking options again, which works better with smaller slates like Friday. But, we’ll also spread out some of our picks to get some goodness from each of the best offensive options on Friday 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  to catch late breaking lineup news.

Here’s a look at the NHL schedule for the Main slate on Friday, February 15th 2019:

Rangers at Sabres 7pm ET NHL Network

Oilers at Hurricanes 7:30pm ET

Devils at Wild 8:30pm ET

Bruins at Ducks 10pm ET ESPN+

Compared to the eleven-game schedule on Thursday, the Friday slate seems pretty small. But frankly, for the NHL this is a fairly big slate for Friday. The NHL typically has the heavier slates on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, during the week, followed by big slates on Saturday’s and Sunday’s.

However, thanks to the NBA All-Star Break, we may see more hockey than usual, each day, over the next week.

Quick Plug: You may have noticed a lot of NHL games are now aired on ESPN+. I have a subscription so I can watch more sports in general, but enjoy the coverage from ESPN+ for Hockey as well. If you’re looking for a cost-effective way to follow more live coverage of the NHL, you can get a trial-subscription here.

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

If you’re new to Fantasy Hockey (and you’re playing because of the NBA All-Star Break), you may take a look at the list of players in each position, listed as FanDuel NHL outlines them (usually starting by Salary) and notice in the center position the top play is Connor McDavid ($8,600).

McDavid is in fact one of the best players in hockey. Unfortunately for Connor, the Oilers have done a poor job of building around him. Although, we’ll get to some exceptions at the winger position. But, for Friday night, he’s not a great play.

Connor could be involved in some scoring, but you’re spending the most amount possible at the center position, when there are some other plays which could yield higher FanDuel NHL point returns for a cheaper salary.

You won’t be saving much by paying less for Patrice Bergeron ($8,400) or Jack Eichel ($8,000), but both Patrice and Jack have a better projected point outcome of around 20+ FanDuel NHL points on Friday.

Of the two, Bergeron is the best play. In Fact, Bergeron should be one of the best Fantasy Hockey plays on Friday, of any position. A very good Bruins offense is facing one of the worst teams in hockey right now. The Ducks have the lowest scoring offense in hockey this season, a point we’ll get to later, and are giving up 3.16 goals per game (10th worst in the NHL).

Bergeron’s nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game has been a consistent metric this season. Even when he’s not scoring goals or dishing assists, he’ll get you points from shots on goal and blocked shots.

But in the last five games, Patrice has four goals and five assists, nearly a goal and assist per game. He’s hot and plays a vulnerable defense and goalie Friday.

Eichel is also red-hot, with a goal or assist in each of his last six games. Jack has two goals and six assists in that time, and is firing off a bunch of shots each game while also giving us eight blocked shots in the last four games. He’s a great play, but with a hot Georgiev in goal for the Rangers Friday, there’s some risk too.

As you’ll see later, we’ll need to find some value in every position on Friday. Many of the top picks, like Eichel and Bergeron at center, are fairly expensive. Fortunately, Evan Rodrigues ($3,700) and Travis Zajac ($3,700) are both great plays with very cheap salaries.

Rodrigues has been the more consistent of the two, although Zajac just had a power play goal on four shots against the Blackhawks in Chicago last night. Also, Travis plays a Wild team in Minnesota who’s really struggled lately. You’re likely good with one of these two picks at center on Friday.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

Before we get to the top pick at winger, remember how we said the Oilers are doing a terrible job of building around McDavid? Well, there’s currently an exception.

While everyone in Edmonton is whining about how terrible team management is, and they are lately, for some reason many Fantasy Hockey players aren’t talking about Leon Draisaitl ($8,000), at least not enough, right now.

Frankly, the Oilers have a few decent offensive plays, they’re just missing some big pieces and depth. Draisaitl has always been a great offensive player, and was even at the NHL All-Star event. But in the last month, Leon has been especially great for fantasy hockey players.

Draisaitl’s DFS NHL points-per-game continue to climb as he’s piling up goals. In his last five games, Leon has six goals, three of which are power play goals adding additional FanDuel NHL points to your lineup.

The last time Draisaitl and the Oilers played the Hurricanes was on home ice, they’re in Carolina tonight, but he had two goals (a power play goal), and one assist in that game for 37.3 FanDuel NHL points. We may not see that big of a point return on Friday, but he’s certainly likely to land around 20 points.

Looking back to the top play at the winger position, I love Brad Marchand ($8,700). Especially if you’re stacking Marchand with Bergeron, these two usually pile up around 20+ points each, playing together, thanks to trading goals and assists between the two of them.

Marchand has an insane three goals and nine assists in the last five games. Against the Ducks, that tear likely continues.

Fortunately, a top line B’s stack is easy to afford Friday because with David Pastrnak on the mend, Danton Heinen ($4,100) likely plays on the Bruins top line and he could add another nearly 20 points to your lineup while only spending $4.1K in salary.

Also, remember how well Jesper Bratt ($3,400) played last night? Well he’s back on the ice in Minnesota Friday and should continue to give you double-digit points with a bargain salary. In fact, I’d recommend using Heinen and Bratt in all of your lineups, while you pivot between top plays.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

Defense is sort of a tough position to pick through Friday. Torey Krug ($6,400) is, in fact, a great play and would be a fun way to finish your Four-Man (max) stack for FanDuel NHL lineups. Krug is a solid shot at double-digit points and has the best odds of getting you over 20 points at the position.

But, Krug really limits your salary with the second defense position and may force you to find cheaper top plays at center and winger. I think that’s a good way to play yourself out of cashing in all formats.

I’d rather find a cheaper top play on defense like Jared Spurgeon ($5,800), Darnell Nurse ($5,600), or Ryan Suter ($5,200). You may look at the list by salary and think, well ‘duh’ you’re just listing the next three most expensive defensive plays. But, if you follow this column often, you know that isn’t always to best move. It just so happens on Friday, this list makes better sense.

I like Spurgeon the most, and I’ll likely try to find a way to fit him into my lineup Friday, but for the purpose of the example lineup, I’m going with Suter as he’s easier to afford. Especially if I don’t want to get too cheap with my second pick, and I like someone in the range of Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,100).

To afford Spurgeon, you should go with Ristolainen, Rasmus Dahlin ($4,400), Oscar Klefbom ($4,300), or Charlie McAvoy ($4,200). But, I wouldn’t try to get any cheaper than that at this position. If you do, you’re trying to get too cute with your lineup and i’ll likely bite you with a low scoring pick.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

The goalie position is generally one of the more difficult positions to nail down for Fantasy Hockey each day. Yesterday I like the Blues net-minder Binnington, who had a shutout and was a great play. I also touted Blackhawks young goalie Collin Delia.

At the time, it appeared the Hawks were going to start Delia, but they ended up going with Cam Ward instead. Ward is who I ultimately used and he was a great play, but that’s not always the case. So, I highly recommend keeping a close eye on the goalie situation as the day progresses.

Fortunately, on Friday, we have a good sense for who most of the starters are going to be. Generally, most teams are going with their backup goalie option, with the exception of Devan Dubnyk ($8,300).

Typically, I’d recommend playing Dubnyk, especially at this salary. Dubnyk is one of the best skilled goalies on the ice Friday night. He’s a solid play. However, I don’t love how the Wild are playing lately, even against a team they should beat like the Devils.

Jaroslav Halak ($8,400) is only $100 more expensive on FanDuel NHL and he’s in a better position. The Ducks are vulnerable, even on home ice, and the Bruins are playing great hockey right now. We also know Halak is a ‘lock’ in net Friday.

Halak may not pile up over 30 saves, which does present some risk of getting close to 30 FanDuel NHL points. However, he does have the best case for a shutout, and is the highest odds to win. So we’re still getting a solid shot at over 30 points from this play, the best of all goalie options Friday.

The only issue with this pick, he limits your stack of the Bruins offense to three, across the rest of the positions.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays February 15th 2019 Main Slate Summary

The only true four-man FanDuel NHL stack I like for Friday is the Bruins. With Halak likely as my top goalie, although Dubnyk makes a solid case as well, I’m going to grab Bergeron, Marchand, and Heinen from the B’s top line.

If you don’t like that option, you could move to Eichel as your top center, and grab someone like Zach Parise ($6,800) as your top winger pick. I just think Marchand is the clear best play at the position.

Regardless, you should have goal-scoring Leon Draisaitl in all lineups, as he’s consistently providing goals lately. It’s easy to afford all of these expensive picks, because we have value plays at center like Rodrigues and the Devils’ Zajac. New Jersey also has a dirt-cheap Bratt at the winger position. Jesper has been a smoking hot value play for fantasy hockey lately.

At defense, I’d love to afford Krug, but I don’t think he’s worth it on Friday. Instead, I’d prefer Spurgeon, but could also make a solid case for a cheaper Nurse or Suter as the top D-man play. And for the second pick, you should go with Ristolainen, Dahlin, Kelfbom, or McAvoy.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Friday, February 15th 2019:

C       Patrice Bergeron ($8,400)

C       Evan Rodrigues ($3,700)

W     Brad Marchand ($8,700)

W     Leon Draisaitl ($8,800)

W     Danton Heinen ($4,100)

W     Jesper Bratt ($3,400)

D      Ryan Suter ($5,200)

D      Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,100)

G      Jaroslav Halak ($8,400)

Remaining Salary: $0

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 winter!