Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for February 20

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 Wednesday, February 20th 2019.

Tuesday was an interesting slate. You didn’t need quite as many FanDuel NHL points to be a fantasy hockey cash champion as Monday. However, some of the more expensive plays, like Kucherov and Tarasenko, were a waste of your FanDuel NHL salary.

Ironically, many of the mid-salary range and value plays we made turned out to be some of the best fantasy hockey plays of the night. We loved Aleksander Barkov and he logged a goal and two assists for 37.6 FanDuel NHL points. Bozak was only around 1-5% owned and added another 21.3 points thanks to two assists, one during a power play.

Frank Vatrano continues to be a dominating fantasy hockey option, especially for FanDuel NHL. For some reason he continues to be a bargain, sub-$5K, play, while giving us over 20 points many of the time.

Travis Sanheim also stayed hot for the Flyers, even during their 2-5 loss to the Bolts. His four blocked shots and two shots on goal helped to elevate his eight-point assist to 17.6 FanDuel NHL points. And Jonathan Reimer and the Panthers were victorious on home ice, giving us another 29.6 FanDuel NHL points.

For Wednesday, while I think we can find many value plays like we did on Tuesday, I’d also like to nail down some better top plays. At the same time, I think we can find a goalie with lower ownership, further boosting our GPP outcomes.

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 Wednesday, February 20th 2019:

Blackhawks at Red Wings 7:30pm ET NBC Sports Network

Jets at Avalanche 8:30pm ET ESPN+

Islanders at Flames 9:30pm ET

Bruins at Golden Knights 10pm ET NBC Sports Network

There’s only four games in a usually small slate for a Wednesday night of hockey. But two of the games are on nationally, NBC Sports Network, and another is on ESPN+, which I use often to stay close to NHL action.

Fortunately, all four of these games have awesome fantasy hockey plays. However, some of the goalie picks may be more challenging. I don’t love how the Islanders and Flames are facing off in a match-up of two great teams this season.

I also think the Jets and Avalanche are two teams in similar positions this season, at least at this point in the season. The Blackhawks appear to have a great match-up at first glance, but if Howard is in goal for the Red Wings, they could be a tough team to beat on home ice. But the Bruins…the Bruins are VERY intriguing.

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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 I first built my lineup for the Wednesday slate, starting on Tuesday night, I immediately grabbed Patrice Bergeron ($8,200). The B’s should be in a good spot, even on road ice, facing a Golden Knights team who’s only one three of their last ten.

However, the Knights haven’t been giving up too many goals while losing. Their biggest problem has been their offense (we’ll get to that later). So we’re certainly fading the Knights. But to that point, do I really want to pay this much for a top play center who may only be involved in one goal, at best?

This reminds me of why I hesitated playing some of the top Lightning players against the Flyers. It’s more likely the Bruins lower lines are successful against the Golden Knights. For that reason, I’m actually more inclined to play David Krejci ($5,600).

The other reason I don’t love grabbing Bergeron here, is the limiting factor it has on my salary. I’ve already glanced at my goalie salaries and they’re expensive. I also know I likely want at least one expensive top play winger and mid-salary range winger. Spending wisely at center makes more sense for Wednesday.

That being said, I also toyed with the idea of playing Jonathan Toews ($7,600) or Dylan Larkin ($7,000) in what could end up being another high-scoring affair for a Blackhawks game. But, again, I also don’t love that Toews and Larkin are mostly on the ice at the same time facing each other.

I think the Red Wings second line is more vulnerable, and the red-hot Hawks second line is lead by Dylan Strome ($5,700), who’s still relatively cheap. You could grab one of the more expensive guys with Strome or Krejci, which is a standard strategy for NHL DFS optimal lineups. But this is a situation where I think I can still get 30+ FanDuel NHL points by just playing Krejci with Strome.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

OK, assuming you went with the cheaper, value-play, move at center, then your next move should be snagging a red-hot Patrick Kane ($9,400) against a team he’s already torched with a goal and assist earlier in the month.

It’s funny, Tarasenko and Kucherov are getting a love of media attention lately, but that’s mostly because Kuch is currently playing the highest level of hockey possible and Tarasenko is just FINALLY playing to his potential this season.

Meanwhile, Kane is…well, Patrick is just doing Kane things. In the last nine straight games, Patrick has at least two points (goals and/or assists) in six of those games. So he’s averaging well over 25 FanDuel NHL points-per-game lately.

In fact, during that times, he has seven goals in 12 assists! That’s in just nine games! And Kane’s scoring streak goes all the back to January 3rd, when he scored a goal against the stingy Islanders, in New York, after not scoring during the New Year’s Day event against the Bruins in South Bend. Convinced yet?

I realize Alex DeBrincat ($7,100) can’t pull off the three goals and two assists every game, like he did while hosting the Senators on Monday night. But, DeBrincat has show some consistency of piling up multiple-point games in consecutive games, and this is another opponent that could allow him do to that. Also, remember, we love the Hawks second line tonight.

Now I need to find some value. And if you’ve been following this column, you know I like to lean toward line/team stacks in smaller slates. It’s an all or nothing approach, but if you stack your chips in the right place, boy is it easy to bring home the cash.

With that in mind, we can easily afford to complete our Blackhawks second line stack (I know, I know…I keep doing this) with Dominik Kahun ($4,400). Also, Jake Debrusk ($5,100) is on Krejci’s second line and Jake has been enfuego lately (got tired of writing ‘fire’).

You know who my top two wingers are, but regardless of who you pick there, I recommend using Kahun and DeBrusk as your value anchors for the wings part of your lineup.  Alright, let’s finally look at a few top picks on defense…

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

OK, I didn’t spend too much at the center position, but I didn’t really find a value play either. I also spent a lot of cash at winger and I’m going to spend a lot at goalie. So, I really can’t afford to spend much at the defense position, unless I find some sub-$4K guys, and that’s not happening on Wednesday.

I looked at Torey Krug ($6,500) and I don’t love Mark Giordano ($6,100) against the Islanders. They’re just too expensive and not worth the price. Aside from maybe Erik Gustafsson ($5,500), I also don’t love any of the guys in the $5K range.

Ironically, the further I did into salary, the more I like the fantasy hockey options. I’ve moved off the Golden Knights, the Flames, and Duncan Keith ($4,500) is allergic to scoring now. So that landed me with some pretty sweat value plays.

I still don’t get why Ryan Pulock ($4,400) is so cheap right now. Again, if you follow my column often, you know I’ve been playing Pulock almost every time he’s on the ice for over a month, with great results.

Ryan is getting over 20 minutes of ice time per game, and double digits is now more of his normal. He also has the ability to score goals, and is on the ice during power plays. So we expect around ten points from this play, but 20 to 30 points wouldn’t surprise me.

In a VERY similar position, Charlie McAvoy ($4,200) appears to be shaking off his rookie year jitters and is now heavily involved in the Bruins offense. That’s great, because he’s also been one of their best defenders.

This is a guy who can normally get you around ten points a game, but considering his three goals and two assists in the last six games, we also know he has a shot at over 20 points every night as well.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

OK, the goalie position. This is where I had the most trouble with my lineup since Tuesday night. Frankly, there are several good options, and several terrible options, so it wasn’t too hard to narrow them down. But, it took some time to realize who the better plays were.

The Islanders are the stingiest defense in the NHL this season. They’re barely giving up two goals per game, which if you’re new to hockey is a VERY low average. That’s partly due to Thomas Greiss ($9,000) and Robin Lehner ($8,500), but also due to the great coaching from Barry Trotz (who just won the Stanley Cup in DC late year) and the Islanders defense.

The Islander are facing Mike Smith and the Flames in Calgary. I don’t like that for several reasons. First, Smith is actually playing better hockey lately. But also, the Flames are the best team in the Western Conference (79 points) and second best team in the NHL, only behind the Lightning. Oh, and they’re 18-5-5 at home (shouldn’t be a surprise).

So, I’m not in love with the idea of playing either Islanders goalie, regardless who’s on the ice Wednesday night. Also, most FanDuel NHL players will go this route, because of the obvious low goals against average.

I don’t like the Blackhawks or Red Wings in net because I’m expecting a lot of scoring from that game. I also don’t love the Jets or Avalanche…neither team knows who they are right now. But remember, the Golden Knights have been horrendous on offense lately, especially on home ice.

That, is likely the best play in goal on Wednesday. Jaroslav Halak ($8,600) isn’t cheap, for a good reason. The dude has only given up one goal in his last 66 shots on goal, and two wins. Halak is hot right now, as are the Bruins. And they’re in a fantastic situation where Jaroslav should have a solid 30-ish saves and a win, with the potential for a shutout.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays February 20th 2019 Main Slate Summary

The Islanders goalies are tempting, but we hate the match up. Fortunately, the Golden Knights are currently allergic to scoring, and Halak is guarding their failed attempts at scoring. He’s expensive, but seems to be a great play for Wednesday night.

Also, we can find plenty of value at the defense position, with guys like Pulock and McAvoy. I also like the value Kahun continues to give us, and DeBrusk is a smoking hot $5.1K FanDuel NHL-salaried winger.

This allows us to load up with the top two winger spots, but grabbing Kane and DeBrincat. Fortunately that’s affordable, because Strome and Krejci are great mid-salary plays at center. But wait, that leaves us with $500 left to play with. What are we doing?!

I rarely leave this much FanDuel NHL salary on the table. But with only four games on the slate, and the way these guys are priced, this appears to be the best play of the night.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Wednesday, February 20th 2019:

C       Dylan Strome ($5,700)

C       David Krejci ($5,600)

W     Patrick Kane ($9,400)

W     Alex DeBrincat ($7,100)

W     Jake Debrusk ($5,100)

W     Dominik Kahun ($4,400)

D      Ryan Pulock ($4,400)

D      Charlie McAvoy ($4,200)

G      Jaroslav Halak ($8,600)

Remaining Salary: $500

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!