Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for February 23

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 Main slate for Saturday, February 23rd 2019.

Friday night’s slate was pretty money again. Playing Patrick Kane was a no-brainer, and he rewarded us with 32.8 FanDuel NHL points thanks to his career-tying 13 shots on goal and one goal. Kane will continue to be a dominating fantasy hockey presence for the rest of the season.

I was high on two value plays from the Avalanche, Carl Soderberg and J.T. Compher. Boy did that work out! Carl and J.T. each had two of the Avs five total goals, and combined for a total of 72.9 FanDuel NHL points. Frankly, they carried my team to an easy 3X night, along with decent picks like Bernier and MacKinnon. Well, and Kane of course.

The Saturday NHL schedule is split up all over the play and FanDuel NHL decided to have smaller two game Early Only (1pm ET only), some Afternoon options, and Main slate of only four games. That alone makes the lineup builds challenging. To make matters worse, we have several teams who are pulling players throughout the day due to trades.

So even after reading this post, you shouldn’t feel like you can ‘set and forget’ your lineups. You’ll likely need to keep an eye on NHL news throughout the day, in the case that you need to make a NHL DFS pivot move.

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 Saturday, February 23rd:

Canadiens at Maple Leafs 7pm ET ESPN+

Penguins at Flyers 8pm ET NBC Sports Network

     Note: 2019 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia) 

Islanders at Canucks 10pm ET

Ducks at Oilers 10pm ET

Oh, and another thing. The Flyers are hosting the Penguins in Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night (Philadelphia Eagles American Football Stadium). Unfortunately, there is a chance rain could eventually postpone the game. That presents a massive problem considering there are only eight teams in this slate.

So you must keep an eye on the Penguins/Flyers game status as well. I do like a few options from that game, but I’m trying hard to avoid it, somewhat. That game aside, the Islanders, Ducks and Oilers all have strong NHL DFS optimal lineup options. And the Maple Leafs and Canadiens may have some match-ups we can exploit.

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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

If I was married to any of the cheaper options at the center position, I’d file divorce papers right now. They’re not great. Even worse, the expensive options within the position are fantastic. So, my likely strategy is going to spend big at this position, and find value in the winger and defensive spots.

We won’t find a ton of value there, which we’ll get to later, so I need to make sure I get some dynamic fantasy hockey options at this position. That being said, there are two value plays I MIGHT consider for Saturday.

Two young guys, Nolan Patrick ($4,800) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi ($4,700) have been playing better hockey lately and are worth a least some consideration for Saturday night.

Kotkaniemi is an 18-year-old Finnish center playing in his rookie season for the Habs. In 61 games, the rookie has 11 goals and 19 assists, for 30 total points. Frankly, that’s impressive for an 18-year-old, or any rookie really. But in his last two games, he has a goal and two assists.

That’s appealing, considering his nearly 15 minutes of ice time per game are yielding at least two goals a a lock shot for some points, before scoring.

IF, Jesperi can exploit the Leafs third line or gets enough time with Tatar and Gallagher on their second power play to score, this will be a great value play. There’s just a decent amount of risk for that to happen against a good Maple Leafs team in Toronto on Saturday night.

Patrick is was on fire until he seemingly cooled off over the last three games. However, Patrick had more difficult match-ups in at least two of those three games. He could catch back on fire in the open air. But, the Penguins also always have a strong top three, which Nolan must contend with. Similar risk/reward factor here.

That being said, I keep coming back to an expensive top center play for Saturday. Auston Matthews ($8,200) is likely to land over 20 points against the Leafs weaker second line. He’s almost a must play in all formats.

For a second top play, take your pick from Sidney Crosby ($9,000), Evgeny Malkin ($8,600), Sean Couturier ($7,300), or Elias Pettersson ($7,100). Paying up for both Crosby/Malkin and Matthews is going to put you in the poor house for the other positions, and with a four game (potentially three game) slate, that could crush you.

For that reason, I’m likely going to play Couturier, to get a piece of the Stadium Series action, with Pettersson as my pivot play in the event the open air game gets postponed to Sunday. Regardless, I’m spending big at this position, but may throw a few GPP lineup fliers out there with a value play or two.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

Believe it or not, I found some rock-bottom value nuggets at the winger and defense spot that I’m comfortable enough playing. That allows me to at least consider some expensive and mid-salary range top plays at the winger spot, further improving my odds at getting over 150 FanDuel NHL points on Saturday night, which I think could be a winner across the board.

Flipping through the options, I must have Leon Draisaitl ($8,100) in my lineup on Saturday. This is a Matthews (at center) type of play considering the match up, but it’s better given how dominate Leon’s offense has been lately.

Draisaitl has a goal in seven of his last nine straight games, nine total in that time, along with three assists in his last two games. Even better, six of those goals came during the power play. Hosting the Ducks in Edmonton shouldn’t slow Draisaitl down.

My second favorite overall play at winger happens to be below $7K, and that’s Tomas Tatar ($6,500). The former Red Wing has four goals and two assists in the last six games, is firing shots on goal at a high volume, and is throwing in blocked shot as well. Tatar is a clear shot at around 20 FanDuel NHL points, even against the Leafs in Toronto.

I played around with $4K to $5K options until I realized Sam Gagner ($3,000) was a rationale option at winger. The Canucks traded Gagner to the Oilers last Saturday, and since then he’s been on the ice for over 15 minutes a game in the new uniform. Sam has seven shots on goal in two games, along with a goal. That’s plenty of ice time for a guy worth only $3K of FanDuel NHL salary.

Now I know I can get some more Stadium Series action into my lineup. Bryan Rust ($5,300) is another mid-salary range option I love on Saturday. Rust had an assist on February 11th against the Flyers, who is hosting the Penguins on Saturday, and he’s playing with Crosby on the Penguins top line.

If we have to bail from the Stadium Series game, I’m moving to Kasperi Kapanen ($5,000) on the Leafs second line while hosting the Habs. Kapanen plays on Matthews second line and is very involved in scoring, and is just a tad below Rust in fantasy hockey value on Saturday.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

Defense is a bit of a conundrum. I would love to play Kris Letang ($7,400) as a top d-man. Letang is easily our best shot at over 20 points in the position and already had a goal and assist against the Flyers earlier in the month.

Letang also has 14 shots in the last three games, and 27 over the last six games. I love it. But, if we have to pivot from Kris later in the day, we basically have to re-build our entire lineup. Also, if we play Kris, our top picks in the center and winger position are seriously limited. So, while I love the play for fantasy hockey, in general, I don’t like it for FanDuel NHL.

Unfortunately, after Letang, I don’t like many of the more expensive picks. In fact, as I drop through the list, my next favorite plays are Ivan Provorov ($4,600), Oscar Klefbom ($4,400), Ryan Pulock ($4,400), and Travis Sanheim ($4,400).

All four of those guys are double-digit FanDuel NHL point candidates without having to spend much salary. You could play one or both. If you’re only playing one, I have two value plays to attach them too.

However, for the example lineup, I’m also going to demonstrate what it would look like if you played the two value plays, who I think have a decent amount of risk but could also get us over ten points per play.

Johnny Boychuk ($4,000) has eight or more points in six of his last seven games, and an assist in two of the last three. Boychuk has a solid match up in Vancouver on Saturday night.

Also, Hampus Lindholm ($3,900) is in a similar position in Edmonton. But, Lindholm has a longe career history of consistent fantasy hockey points. With the Ducks playing better hockey recently, he could even exceed 20 points on Saturday.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

I love Carey Price ($9,000) and Frederik Andersen ($8,800) in fantasy hockey. However, I hate playing them against each other. Either could be a great play on Saturday, although Andersen is giving up more goals recently, but I don’t know who’s going to get the win and they have some challenging offenses to defend. No, thanks.

Matt Murray ($8,800) is a solid play against a Flyers team he stopped 50 times on February 11th. But, I’m nervous about playing Murray or Brian Elliott ($7,500) in a unique environment, and during a rivalry game. These things tend to have some very unpredictable results, and I don’t want to be a part of that.

I’ve considered Mikko Koskinen ($7,300), considering his solid play lately and FanDuel NHL value. However, the Ducks are playing better hockey lately, and therefore this feels like a trap.

What I feel most comfortable doing is grabbing either Thomas Greiss ($8,700) or Robin Lehner ($8,500). They’re both struggling on this Canadian road trip, but they’re each having fantastic seasons minding the net for the stingiest defense in the NHL. History tells us Trotz will have Greiss out there tonight, as he’s been swapping them each game. But that hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays February 23rd 2019 Early Only and Main Slates Summary

I’m going with Greiss or Lehner in net, expecting a solid low-scoring win from the Islanders over the Canucks in Vancouver on Saturday. There’s a bit of risk there, but compared to there rest of the slate, this is easily the least risky play.

I’d love to have Letang as my top defensive pick, but he’s just too darn expensive for FanDuel NHL. So I’m looking at Provorov, Sanheim, Pulock, or Klefbom as much cheaper top D-man plays. And Boychuk and Lindholm are great value plays at the defense position.

At center, I hate the value so I’m likely doing some combination of Matthews with Couturier or Pettersson. And at winger, I love Draisaitl and Tatar as my top plays. I’ll likely play Rust or Kapanen as a third winger. To make all of this affordable, Gagner may seem like a throw-away pick, but he has a solid chance at over ten points on Saturday night.

But again, make sure you’re trading trades on Saturday and you’re aware of the Stadium Series status by game time.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Early Only and Main slates on Saturday, February 23rd 2019:

C       Auston Matthews ($8,200)

C       Sean Couturier ($7,300)

W     Leon Draisaitl ($8,100)

W     Tomas Tatar ($6,500)

W     Bryan Rust ($5,300)

W     Sam Gagner ($3,000)

D      Johnny Boychuk ($4,000)

D      Hampus Lindholm ($3,900)

G      Thomas Greiss ($8,700)

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!