Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for February 17

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 Early Only & Main slates for Sunday, February 17th 2019.

Like Friday, Saturday was littered with mixed results from our fantasy hockey lineup suggestions. On Saturday night, the Maple Leafs offense was shockingly shutout by the Coyotes in Arizona. Frederik Andersen was one of our top goalies, and he would’ve been a great play with the win.

Andersen only gave up two goals, which is solid, but the lack of a win eliminated, what seemed like, 12 easy points from our lineup. You were in better shape paying up for Andrei Vasilevskiy, who blanked a very good Canadiens team in Tampa.

Our defense picks were so-so, missing the double digit mark, unless you paid up for better options. And Kevin Labanc‘s goal-scoring streak ended, while Danton Heinen continued to be a value disappointment.

However, Brady Tkachuk continued to be a dominate rookie winger on the ice Saturday night, giving us 16.5 FanDuel NHL points from a power play assist and five shots.

Matt Duchene added another 29 points from a power play goal and assist, and Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews continued their tear, even though the Blackhawks only had two goals, with another 48.5 combined FanDuel NL points.

In the Early Only slate, Carter Hart should’ve had a better ending than 18.4 points, but the Flyers defense fell apart quickly in the 3rd period. Fortunately, the Blues continued to be a great stack, and Vladimir Tarasenko may be a winger we need to consider on Sunday, again.

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 Early Only and Main slates on Saturday, February 16th:

Early Only

Rangers at Penguins 12:30pm ET NBC

Blues at Wild 3pm ET NBC

Main

Sabres at Devils 6pm ET 

Flyers at Red Wings 6pm ET NBC Sports Network

Canadiens at Panthers 7pm ET

Capitals at Ducks 9pm ET ESPN+

Neither slate on Sunday is really that big. The Early only slate has two games, each on NBC at 12:30 ET and 3PM ET. We’re not going to write too much about this slate, but will quickly highlight the top plays. But be aware, small slates like this are a simple hit or miss. You either crush everyone or you get crushed, depending on which team you put your chips on.

The Main slate only has four games, but that’s similar to the format we saw on Friday night. We have another nationally televised game in Detroit, where the Red Wings host the Flyers. And each of the other three games offers great value and top play opportunities.

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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

Early Only

Honestly, this entire slate was hard to pick through, and I may spend most of my Sunday DFS NHL money on the Main slate. However, there are still some great plays on Sunday afternoon I’m excited to focus on.

The Penguins fell short in a comeback attempt on home ice against a very good Flames team on Saturday. Both Sidney Crosby ($8,700) and Evegni Malkin ($8,300) each had a fantastic game. Malkin specifically piled up over 43 FanDuel NHL points with two goals and one assist.

In fact, Malkin has a goal or assist in each of the last six games, two goals and seven assists in total during that time. While Crosby has been more consistent this season, Malkin is currently hot and has a history of staying hot for a long time, this time of year. He’s likely the best play at center on Sunday.

Both Mika Zibanejad ($7,300) and Ryan O’Reilly ($6,600) are great plays as well, which each team likely facing a vulnerable goalie and defense on Sunday. Logic tells you O’Reilly, who’s been the only consistent offensive force for the Blues this season, is the best play and value. However, I believe Mika is likely to have a great game on Sunday afternoon. I’d tilt my hand toward Zibanejad.

And this is the problem with the small slates. After that, the options…well, they suck. I was hoping to get a decent value play with my second pick, and I don’t like paying up for two expensive centers, because the value options at the other positions are limited. So I’m likely going to use a decent Kevin Hayes ($5,000) as my second center.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Centers

Main Slate

Picking your top center for the Main slate is quite honestly easy. You could go with Jack Eichel ($7,700), Evgeny Kuznetsov ($7,600), Sean Couturier ($7,200), Dylan Larkin ($7,000), or Claude Giroux ($6,900) in each of five separate lineups and get very similar results.

All five of these guys likely get you around 20 FanDuel NHL points on Sunday evening. However, having watched each, of these five, all weekend, I’m going to lean toward Sean Couturier as the best play.

Kuzy is decent but often gets overshadowed by big games from Ovechkin, which we’ll get to later. Larkin has been constantly getting double-digit points over the last month, but he has a tougher match up, Couturier’s top Flyers line, and didn’t give us much yesterday.

Giroux is playing well but had zero points yesterday and took a cheap shot from Mantha pushing his head into the boards. I’m a little worried about that hungover for Claude on Sunday.

That leaves me with Eichel and Couturier, and between the two Sean has looked a little more dynamic on the ice lately. The Flyers are on road ice, in Detroit, Sunday but I could see Couturier involved in multiple scoring results again for the Main slate.

My second pick at center could be one of two differently priced guys. Nico Hischier ($5,800) and Nolan Patrick ($4,800) were taken first and second, respectively, overall in the 2017 draft. Since then, Hischier has looked like the better NHL player, however Patrick’s play has improved significantly over the last month.

I would typically grab Hischier here, and I still may play him in some lineups, but Patrick is a better value play likely getting around the same amount of double-digit FanDuel NHL points. Also, Nolan just scored a goal and offered to assists against this same Red Wings team yesterday. He knows what he’s up against on Sunday.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

Early Only

Look, don’t get cute with the top Early Only winger play. It’s Vladimir Tarasenko ($8,400). Will Tarasenko eventually cool off and drop a zero? Unlikely. He is due for a non-scoring event after eleven in a row, but he’ll at least get you some points. However, Vlad is also well-known for going on long scoring tears, and he’s in the middle of one right now. The Wild won’t stop it today.

I like the idea of playing Jake Guentzel ($7,600), but you can play both Guentzel and Tarasenko in the same lineup Sunday without making a huge sacrifice across an entire position. It would be an interesting strategy, but likely a losing one.

However, if you’re looking to really differentiate your GPP lineup, drop Tarasenko and go with Guentzel. From there, you can go with a similar lineup and just knock one of your other mid-salary ranges guys, like Hayes at center, to a better pick.

For my next two winger picks, regardless of the rest of my lineup or format, I’m going with Mats Zuccarello ($6,300) and Bryan Rust ($5,500). The Norwegian Hobbit, Zuccarello, is a dominate offensive player and the Penguins defense and goaltending was atrocious yesterday.

Rust happens to be playing on the Penguins top line with Crosby, allowing us to get some goodness from that line without paying too much, and Bryan has two goals and two assists in the last four games.

Finally, I scoured the winger list for value and din’t find much. The best I could do was Pavel Buchnevich ($4,400). He’s a solid young 23-year-old skater on the Rangers second line, and gets minutes on the power play too. In the last two games, he has a power play goal, regular time goal, and one assist. It’s a decent shot at good FanDuel NHL value on Sunday afternoon.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

Main Slate

I don’t care that the Capitals are on road ice. They’re playing a terrible Ducks team in Anaheim on Sunday night and I expect the Caps to pile up some goals. The Kevin Boyle story does scare me a little, if he’s in the crease on Sunday night. But I think the Caps experience may overcome that momentum. Also, if Ryan Miller is in goal…giddy up!

For those reasons, I’m plugging Alex Ovechkin ($8,800) into every single lineup I play during the main slate. You could do another type of ‘GPP fade the type guy’ like we suggested for Tarasenko in the Early Only slate (btw, I’m not doing that), but I would prefer to take a shot at 30+ points from Alex.

Additionally, T.J. Oshie ($6,700) could be a solid second pick at winger if the Caps have a great offensive day. In San Jose, against a very good Sharks team on Thursday, Oshie had a power play goal, two goals total, and assist for 38.9 FanDuel NHL points. We may not be as lucky on Sunday night, but 20+ is a reasonable goal here as well.

Before I make my third winger pick, I looked for value in both the defense position and for a fourth winger. We’ll get to the defensive picks shortly, and we found two great values, but for the winger position Jesper Bratt ($3,700) continues to be a steal.

Despite a quiet game against the Blues in St. Louis, Jesper has a goal or assist in six of his last seven games. In Chicago and Minnesota, Bratt totaled over 21 points each game with eleven total shots on goal and three total assists.

With that in mind, I know I have plenty of salary for my third winger pick, and I’m grabbing Brendan Gallagher ($6,600) for the Canadiens in Florida against the Panthers. Gallagher doesn’t have a goal or assist in the last two games, but he still has nine shots on goal.

Prior to that, Brendan had three goals and three assists in three games. Gallagher has gone on scoring runs like this all season, and should get back to one in Florida as he continues to fire shots at a high volume, typically a sign a skater will get some picks into the net soon.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

Early Only 

Every lineup NHL DFS optimal lineup tool will tell you to use Kris Letang ($7,400) on Sunday because of his consistent scoring and hight shot volume. If you can afford it, he’s a decent play, but I don’t like how much salary you lose, and likely points, by paying up for Letang.

Those same optimizers have some horrendous value plays. Instead, I’d rather play Jared Spurgeon ($6,000) and Alex Pietrangelo ($5,600). Both Jared and Alex aren’t as consistently dominate this season on offense, but they’re playing similar hockey to Letang right now. Also, Spurgeon has a high shot volume while Pietrangelo can pile up blocked shots.

For an even cheaper top play, you can also consider Ryan Suter ($5,400), a great play we used on Friday. Ryan is a decent 15 to 25 point play, almost as great as the top three.

From there, there options aren’t great again, until a sneaky value play from Justin Schultz ($3,500). Schultzy has been injured most of this season and just came off the IR from a lower leg injury. Therefore, FanDuel NHL gives Justin a low salary, but he is one of the better plays on Sunday, for any slate.

Schultz has only played in five games this season, although considering when he got his injury against the Canadiens, I’d say he really only played four games. In that time, he has five assists, including one from yesterday’s failed comeback agains the Flames.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

Main Slate

I’m not paying up for John Carlson ($6,300) or Shea Weber ($5,800) on Sunday night because I can get just as many points from Shayne Gostisbehere ($5,300), Rasmus Ristolainen ($5,000), Ivan Provorov ($4,500), Jeff Petry ($4,200), or Travis Sanheim ($4,200).

Carlson has been consistently good all season, which is what you’re paying for at that price. Weber hasn’t been as consistent all season, but he’s currently on fire. However, you’re likely getting nearly as many points from Petry, on the same Habs team.

Ristolainen has been fairly quiet the past three games, but he’s still getting several shots on goal and typically has a few blocked shots. He was quiet against the Rangers, I expect he’ll bounce back against the Devils Sunday.

However, the Flyers Ghost-Bear, Provy, and Sanheim trio has been a great fantasy hockey combination over the last month. Gostisbehere had a goal and assist yesterday, and now has a goal and five assists in the last five games.

But Provorov also has a goal and assist in the last two games, and is getting a high volume of shots and blocked shots, making him a better value play. Sanheim continues to somehow fly under the radar, doing nearly as much as Ghost and Provy, but is a bargain.

Grabbing any combination of these three gives us tons of salary back with 20+ FanDuel NHL points.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

Early Only

One of the odd things about the Sunday slate is that many teams playing had just played on Saturday and they’re now resting their top goalie. Assuming Devan Dubnyk ($8,000) starts on Sunday, he’s likely the only top goalie from any team starting on Sunday.

Dubnyk would be a better play if he wasn’t facing a red-hot Blues offense. Alexander Georgiev ($8,100) could be a solid play, but I don’t like how decent the Penguins offense has been lately, especially in Pittsburgh.

Casey DeSmith ($7,800) and the Penguins defense have looked like a sieve lately. Which really only brings us to one good option, Jake Allen ($7,500). Like I mentioned, even on road ice, the Blues have a decent shot at a win on Sunday afternoon.

Also, while Allen looked miserable most of this season, Binnington’s solid play at the position seems to have reinvigorated Jake lately. He just shut out the Avalanche on Saturday, with 32 saves, and is scheduled to be back on the ice Sunday. He should stay hot and give us over 20 points at the position.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

Main Slate

Similar to the Early Only slate, it appears many of the starting goalies for Sunday evening will be backup options. It’s a little harder to confirm that at the time of writing this post, given many starters haven’t been confirmed yet, but we are confident in a few so far.

I’m still unclear who starts for the Flyers, but if it’s Mike McKenna ($7,000) he has some sneaky value on Sunday night. However, McKenna brings a lot of risk to the lineup as well. Cory Schneider ($7,200) is in a similar position, but has a better career to back up his pick.

All of that being said, I know for a fact Braden Holtby ($8,500) is starting against the Ducks in Anaheim. The Stanley Cup winner has been all over the place this season, performance-wise, but he’s playing better in goal lately.

On Thursday, Holtby only gave up one goal to a very good Sharks team in San Jose, winning the game with 25 saves and 28 FanDuel NHL points. We should see a very similar outcome Sunday, with a better possibility of a shutout. Holtby is my main goalie pick Sunday evening.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays February 17th 2019 Early Only and Main Slates Summary

Like yesterday, I won’t re-iterate everything we talked about for each slate. There’s just too much to address, and you can easily go back to each position, by slate, and review why we like what we like, and who your pivot options are.

In general, there are good top plays at center with limited value picks. I recommend grabbing one of each. For each slate, you have some great top winger picks, mid-salary range picks, and value plays.

On defense, for the most part I’m grabbing value on Sunday. However, the Early Only slate could allow you to play a more expensive D-man pick with value at goalie. Speaking of value at goalie, Jake Allen gives you that for the Early Only, but Holtby is worth paying up for in the Main slate.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Early Only and Main slates on Sunday, February 17th 2019:

Early Only Slate                                                                       Main Slate

C       Evgeni Malkin ($8,300)                                               C      Sean Couturier ($7,200)

C       Kevin Hayes ($5,000)                                                  C       Nolan Patrick ($7,200)

W     Vladimir Tarasenko ($8,400)                                     W     Alex Ovechkin ($8,800)

W     Mats Zuccarello ($6,300)                                           W     T.J. Oshie ($6,700)

W     Bryan Rust ($5,500)                                                     W     Brendan Gallagher ($6,600)

W     Pavel Buchnevich ($4,400)                                        W     Jesper Bratt ($3,700)

D      Jared Spurgeon ($6,000)                                             D      Ivan Provorov ($4,500)

D      Justin Schultz ($3,500)                                                  D      Travis Sanheim ($4,200)

G      Jake Allen ($7,500)                                                       G       Braden Holtby ($8,500)

Remaining Salary: $100                                                       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!