Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for February 18

Welcome to another 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 Monday, February 18th 2019.

The Sunday Early Only slate worked out well with many of the fantasy hockey plays landing around 200 FanDuel NHL points, allowing us to easily earn income with Cash plays and most GPP plays. Vladimir Tarasenko continued his scoring team, and finishing our Blues stack with Jordan Binnington worked out very well.

We initially recommended Jake Allen, but news broke closer to the 3pm game time that Binnington would be back in goal. That seemed to be a common theme for the day, with late goalie announcements throughout the day.

Unfortunately I stuck with Braden Holtby for the Main slate, and wish I would’ve flipped to Carter Hart after we heard he was starting, again, against the Red Wings. Holtby and the Caps lost to a rebounding Ducks team, 2-5, in Anaheim. Meanwhile, Hart and the Flyers shutdown the Red Wings 3-1 in Detroit.

Still, we had several great scoring plays in our lineup for the Main slate, but not nearly as dominate as the Early only slate. I hope to re-create a similar 200 FanDuel NHL point outcome for the Main slate on Monday night, but there will be some challenges.

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 Monday, February 18th 2019:

Lightning at Blue Jackets 7:30pm ET NBC Sports Network

Senators at Blackhawks 8:30pm ET

Golden Knights at Avalanche 9pm ET

Bruins at Sharks 10pm ET NBC Sports Network

Capitals at Kings 10:30pm ET

There are two great games on NBC Sports Network Monday night. Each game has big DFS NHL impacts for the Main slate. We could have included the 4pm ET Coyotes and Flames game in Calgary, but the All Day slate doesn’t have appealing options and I don’t love what we’re getting from that game for Fantasy Hockey.

Looking at the Main slate schedule, the Lightning, Blackhawks, and Golden Knights have great match ups and I’ll likely target those teams for most of my lineup picks. I may also consider some Sharks and Bruins, but it feels like that could be a tight game with lower fantasy hockey impacts compared to the rest of the slate.

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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

My two favorite centers for the Monday Main slate are Steven Stamkos ($8,600) and Brayden Point ($7,700) leading the Bolts top two lines against the Blue Jackets in Columbus. The Blue Jackets have been playing so-so hockey lately, giving up too many goals.

Meanwhile, the Lightning continue to look like a clear favorite to win the Stanley Cup this season. Tampa already has 92 points in just 59 games, an obvious playoff team with only 15 losses this season.

Some of that success has been from defense and net-minding, but their offense is so dynamic it’s hard to keep up with the Bolts on the ice. Stamkos has been red-hot lately, with four goals and six assists in just the last five straight games.

Point had been the more dominate fantasy hockey player in the first half of the season, quieted down a bit, but is surging again, with a similar make-up in the last five games, two goals and seven assists.

You could play either as your top pick and you’ll likely have a 20+ FanDuel NHL point outcome. However, playing both is too expensive. So I need to grab a cheaper second center pick and I like either Dylan Strome ($5,700) or David Krejci ($5,300).

Both Strome and Krejci lead the second line of a good overall team offense. Strome’s second line has been stronger in the last month, but Krejci has three goals and five assists in the last six games. I like Strome’s match-up more, but Krejci should have lower ownership and could be a better GPP play.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

My favorite two wingers are the two most expensive, Patrick Kane ($9,300) and Nikita Kucherov ($9,100). Regardless of who you pick between these two, you need at least one of Kane or Kucherov in your lineup.

It’s essentially impossible to play both, unless you try Strome and Krejci as your top center picks. However, that adds lower FanDuel NHL point risk to your projection. I’d prefer to play Stamkos and Strome with Kucherov or Point and Strome with Kane. Most winning lineups will very likely have both combinations on Monday night.

However, from there, things get a little more complicated. We definitely need to find some value in the winger position. But I also want to get a mid-salary to high-mid-salary winger as my second pick in the wing position.

Again, this is tricky. Evander Kane ($7,400) should be a great play, but you likely can only afford him if you fade Stamkos and go fairly cheap at center. I prefer to stack Alex DeBrincat ($6,800) with Strome.

Yes, DeBrincat and Strome, along with Dominik Kahun ($4,400) burned us last week with weak play against the Devils and so-so returns against the Blue Jackets on Saturday. But on home ice against the Senators, the Hawks second line should bounce back on Monday night.

For value plays, I like two guys I think could be ‘off’ most FanDuel NHL players radars. J.T. Miller ($3,600) was a hot fantasy hockey play when he was on the Rangers last season, but he faded away when he was traded to the Lightning.

Miller helps to strengthen the Bolts 3rd line, but he’s also on their second power play unit and often gets nearly 15 minutes of ice time each game. J.T. has also been fairly hot recently, with a goal and three assists in the last five games.

There’s definitely risk with J.T. in your lineup, he could have only a few points on Monday. However, if also allows you to play a handful of big points plays, so in a way he’s worth the potential throw-away pick.

The other value pick has a better chance of returning double-digit points. He’s been in and out of the AHL this season, but the Golden Knights appear to be intent on keeping Brandon Pirri ($3,600) in their lineup now.

Pirri has been a sneaky value play most of this season because he has a high scoring percentage. Pirri has only played in 20 games this season, and has 54 shots on goal, but Pirri scores nearly 20% of the time and has ten goals and five assists in that time, or almost a point per game this season.

That’s quite a solid return for a guy who’s only $3.6K in DFS salary. I’m back on Pirri again Monday night. Alright, let’s finally look at a few top picks on defense…

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

Like ever position for the Monday Main slate, defense is also a tricky position. I want to play expensive top plays like Brent Burns ($7,600) or Erik Karlsson ($7,100), but if I do I’ll need to fade some of the better more expensive plays at center and winger, and there’s a big drop-off from those top plays.

Again, if I go with Burns or Karlsson, then I need to go with two cheaper centers and likely need to dig very deep for a super cheap second defensive pick.

John Carlson ($6,200) is tempting after continuing to hit the scoring sheet last night, but I think we could get just as many points from a pick like Erik Gustafsson ($5,500). Gustafsson is another one of these lesser known names, but is a guy who’s currently having a huge positive impact for fantasy hockey players.

Erik hits the ice over 20 minutes per game for the Blackhawks, and has registered two goals and three assists in the last six games, at least one per game in five of six. I love that level of consistency and I know he’ll also get me points from shots on goal and blocked shots. He’s a solid top play, especially if you’re spending a lot of money at winger and center.

There are a number of guys I like for value picks at defense, and my favorite three are Brent Seabrook ($4,600), Nate Schmidt ($4,300), and Charlie McAvoy ($4,000). Of these three, Seabrook is the more consistent points player, but McAvoy gets you nearly as many points as consistently while saving $600 in FanDuel NHL salary.

I’m likely going to plug McAvoy in all of my lineups, and may use him with Seabrook or Schmidt if I need more salary at the other positions. If not, I’ll upgrade to Gustafsson in one of the two spots.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

Once again, I’d love to go with Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,500), but his FanDuel NHL salary really limits your moves across the rest of the lineup. I was close to picking Vas on Saturday, and given I was already spending a lot of salary in the position, I wish I made some moves to upgrade.

That’s not really the case on Monday night. Tuukka Rask ($8,900) and Martin Jones ($8,800) effectively cancel each other out because I’m not sure who of those two gets the win, and I can’t afford Vas.

Many of the other goalie picks are fairly cheap, with several backup or struggling goaltenders likely starting on Monday night. So I know I’m going to have some risk in the net-minder position, but I’m also going to get some value here.

Fortunately, Marc-Andre Fleury ($8,000) has a great match up on Monday. So why is he so cheap? Well, Fleury has admittedly struggled recently, giving up 14 goals over his last three starts which were all losses. Fleury piled up a large amount of saves in that time too, but given how well he was playing before that three-game stretch, the outcomes have been disappointing.

Assuming he starts for the Golden Knights on Monday night, Fleury should bounce back against a struggling Avs team and is a great value at goaltender for the Main slate.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays February 18th 2019 Main Slate Summary

The only two goaltenders I really like on Monday night are Vasilevskiy and Fleury. I likely can’t afford Vas, so I’m going with Marc-Andre in goal. Fortunately, that gives me a decent amount of salary to spend.

That’s a good thing because I love some combination of Stamkos or Point at center and Kane or Kucherov as a top winger pick. Strome and Krejci each give us some value back as a second pick at center, and Evander Kane or DeBrincat are my favorite second picks at winger.

I dug for some value at the winger position and I’m likely locking in Pirri and Miller in most of my lineups so I can pivot between top plays across the rest of the lineup. Meanwhile, Gustafsson makes me comfortable fading away from Burns or Karlsson. Finally, one of McAvoy, Seabrook, or Schmidt will be a second defense pick in all of my lineups.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Monday, February 18th 2019:

C       Steven Stamkos ($8,600)

C       Dylan Strome ($5,700)

W     Nikita Kucherov ($9,100)

W     Alex DeBrincat ($6,800)

W     J.T. Miller (43,600)

W     Brandon Pirri ($3,600)

D      Erik Gustafsson ($5,500)

D      Charlie McAvoy ($4,000)

G      Marc-Andre Fleury ($8,000)

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 winter!