Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for February 26

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 Tuesday, February 26th 2019.

As the day went on, Monday, I was admittedly nervous about some of my fantasy hockey picks. The more I dug into the Panthers and Avalanche game, the more I realized the Avs were playing significantly better defense over the last two weeks.

However, the Panthers continue to have one of the highest shot and scoring rates on road ice, and that proved out in their 4-3 win over the Avs. So we ended up getting points from each team.

After the Derick Brassard trade was announced, I also flipped him into my lineup, assuming he’d be amped-up about the trade. Boy did that work out. With three shots on goal, Brassard added an assist and 16.8 FanDuel NHL points to my lineup, while only spending $3,800 in FanDuel salary.

Andrei Vasilevskiy was an OK play at goalie. Somehow, the Kings surged in the 3rd period to pile up three goals against Vas. But the Bolts held off the surge and maintained a 4-3 win, for 24 points dumped into most of my lineups.

Auston Matthews continued his scoring, adding an additional 21.6 FanDuel NHL points. Sam Reinhart also stayed hot with a power play goal and assists, for 27.4 points.

And somehow Rasmus Dahlin continues to only cost us $4,200 at the defensive position while he continues to provide helpers, shots on goal and blocked shots. On Monday, he gave me 23.4 FanDuel NHL points.

I had a 3x return, mostly from cash games, but also some cash from GPP as well, with only around 120 to 140 points per lineup. Tuesday will be different.

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 slates on Tuesday, February 26th:

Sharks at Bruins 7pm ET

Flames at Islanders 7pm ET

Sabres at Flyers 7pm ET NBC Sports Network

Senators at Capitals 7pm ET

Kings at Hurricanes 7pm ET

Penguins at Blue Jackets 7pm ET ESPN+

Canadiens at Red Wings 7:30pm ET

Predators at Blues 8pm ET

Wild at Jets 8pm ET

Panthers at Coyotes 9pm ET

Stars at Golden Knights 10pm ET

Monday felt like a bit slate for a Monday. But Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are hockey’s big weeknights each week. So, it’s no surprise we have another eleven games for the FanDuel NHL Main slate this Tuesday. That’s 22 teams to pick through, and likely means we need more points to cash out Monday.

A few games I’ll likely target are the hot Sabres offense traveling to play an equally hot Flyers offense on home ice in Philadelphia. The Caps have a great advantage on home ice against a Senators team who essentially traded away their next two years. And the Hurricanes should have a clear advantage over the Kings on home ice.

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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

Even against Columbus, Sidney Crosby ($8,700) and Evgeny Malkin ($8,400) are hot offensive NHL DFS plays on Tuesday. But, I don’t love the match-up against a Blue Jackets team who just beefed up their top two lines. Also, it seems like we can get as many points from several other options on Tuesday night.

Jack Eichel ($8,100), for example, is just as hot as Crosby and Malkin lately, and plays against a Flyers team who’s given up top-five goals against most of this year. The only reason I pause a big with Eichel, though, is that Brian Elliott (while not on the ice much this season) has actually had a solid season and looked great against the Penguins during the Stadium Series on Saturday night.

Still, Eichel should be a solid shot at around 20 FanDuel NHL points. Aleksander Barkov ($7,600) will likely continue his scoring surge, on the road in Arizona. However, I do think we have better cheaper options. The Coyotes actually have a fairly stingy defense this season.

Mikael Backlund ($5,500) is a sneaky value play. Typically you don’t want to pick much of an offense against the Islanders this season (boy what a difference a season/coach makes).

But Backlund has a point in each of his last five straight games, including a goal and assist against this same Islanders team. He’s a great value to use to pivot between other top options at the center position.

That being said, another play I may take and one you see in the example lineup, is grabbing both Sean Couturier ($7,300) and Matt Duchene ($7,000). It appears the Blue Jackets are going to allow Duchene to play on their top lines, and against the Sharks on Saturday, Matt had a goal and assist for 22.1 FanDuel NHL points.

The Penguins defense isn’t as great as the Sharks, especially with current injuries. I suspect Duchene has another 20+ night on Tuesday. Likewise, aside from a 3.2 FanDuel NHL result against a tough Canadiens team, Couturier has averaged over 20 points per game in the last seven games.

Sean is leading the Flyers second regular line with Lindblom and Voracek and they appear to be gelling lately. Also, Couturier is heavily involved in the Flyers top power play unit. The Sabres are a solid team this season, but they’re also giving up 3.1 goals per game, in the bottom half of the NHL.

Playing Couturier and Duchene together has a higher 50 to 60 point ceiling, but you can also swap in Backlund and still likely get over 40 points form the position and use the salary elsewhere.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

I know we’ve been on a hot streak riding Vladimir Tarasenko ($8,600), but I don’t like his match up against the Predators. Even on home ice, Vlad will likely continue to cool off a bit, recording another sub-20 point play. And that’s entirely too much FanDuel NHL salary to spend with that risk.

Fortunately, Alex Ovechkin ($8,800) and the Capitals are in a great spot hosting the Senators in Washington, DC. I’d stack my lineup with Caps players, but they’re expensive. And the one Caps skater I want the most in my lineup is Ovi.

Averaging nearly 20 FanDuel NHL points-per-game, Ovi has been consistently providing nearly over that amount each game, over the last six straight games. Meanwhile, Alex and the Caps play a Senators team who just traded away several of their top players and is already averaging 3.68 goals against this season, second worst in the NHL.

I’m likely either going to play Alex in all, or many, of my lineups, or I’m going to pay down at the top winger position for two wingers in the $7K range. If I go that route, I’m intrigued by Mark Stone ($7,600) production in his new home arena (for the next eight years) along with either Cam Atkinson ($7,100) or Patrik Laine ($6,700).

Atkinson is the safer bet, but Laine has a history of going on massive scoring streaks. The problem with Laine is that his scoring has also proven to be very unpredictable. That being said, we’ve seen three goals from Patrik in the last two games, after moving back into the Jets top line. It’s possible that scoring continues on home ice against the Wild.

If I go with Ovechkin, I’m likely going to grab Justin Williams ($6,000) next. The Hurricanes veteran has a fairly easy match-up on Tuesday night, and he’s red-hot with four goals and four assist in the last six straight games.

If I go the $7K split route, I’m likely grabbing Sam Reinhart ($5,600) as a third winger, or you could consider Reinhart as a third after Williams as well. Again, we have a hot scorer against a bottom five goals-against defense. However, I don’t love that Brian Elliott is net-minding on Tuesday for the Flyers. He’s likely the most underrated goalie in hockey right now.

Finally, there are two sneaky value plays I like for this slate. Oskar Lindblom ($4,600) is playing very well on the Flyers second line but it often under the radar for fantasy hockey players.

Also, while the Senators are trading away their present, Brady Tkachuk ($4,500) is rapidly moving into a future star role for the team. Tkachuk should be on the Sens top line, be involved in any scoring, and will see his ice time increase on Tuesday.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

I see Brent Burns ($7,600) and Roman Josi ($7,100) in my list of defensive pick options and I know they’re both generally great picks for NHL DFS. However, I don’t love how expensive they are on Tuesday compared to their non-ideal match-ups. In fact, I’m fading both as I’m maybe getting close to 20 points for a big chunk of my FanDuel NHL salary.

John Carlson ($6,300) seems like a better deal. The top offensive, and defensive, option at the D-man position for the Capitals has a shot at exceeding 30 FanDuel NHL points in a favorable match-up against the Senators.

But, you can only afford Carlson if you saved some salary in either the Center or Winger positions, or each. There are two cheaper plays you could stack together, or grab one if you can afford Carlson.

Travis Sanheim ($4,300) and Rasmus Dahlin ($4,200) likely won’t be on the ice at the same time, but they’re both highly underrated NHL DFS options on Tuesday. At least for FanDuel NHL they’re incredibly cheap.

Between the two, Dahlin is the more dominate and consistent fantasy hockey option. We talked up Rasmus for Monday and that played out nicely in a tough match up. I think Dahlin should have similar results against the Flyers.

Sanheim is a player I’ve also used often for value at the defense position, and for some reason his salary just doesn’t seem to climb, even though his points have been fairly consistently hovering in the double-digit mark since the start of this calendar year.

I’m entirely comfortable playing Sanheim with Dahlin. The value there is tremendous. But I’m more excited about paying up for Carlson, along with Dahlin, in most of my lineups.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

Jordan Binnington ($9,200) has somehow become one of the few goalies you’ll consider each time he’s likely starting. That’s amazing, considered he was called up in the middle of the season and is only a rookie. However, as I mentioned earlier, I don’t love the Blues match up against the Predators, even on home ice.

Carey Price ($8,900) would be a strong consideration against the Red Wings in Detroit, but as of now it doesn’t appear he’s starting. And I don’t like playing Tuukka Rask ($8,800) against Martin Jones ($8,800) in Boston.

Brayden Holtby ($8,600) likely gets the win, but he continues to be incredibly inconsistent. And while I love the Islanders defense and goalie play from Robin Lehner ($8,500), I don’t like the match up against the Flames.

So, as I continue to scan through the list of goalies, I realize I’m likely getting a lot of solid value out of this position. Connor Hellebuyck ($8,100) and Petr Mrazek ($8,000) give me very good chances for a win, with 20 to 30 saves, low goals against, and a shot at a shutout.

Mrazek, assuming the Kings don’t pull the three-goal surge like they did against the Bolts in the 3rd last night, also has a sold shot at a shutout. Petr is the lowest risk, highest reward, play of the night so I’m going that route in many of my lineups.

But, Darcy Kuemper ($7,800) and Brian Elliott ($7,500) are also solid considerations. Kuemper is hot and will be a popular value play at the position for many NHL DFS players. Elliott is going to fly under the radar, and is more risky, but he looked fantastic on Saturday night and his history, when not injured, this season is forgotten but solid.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays February 26th 2019 Main Slate Summary

The goalie position has some great players for fantasy hockey, typically, but their match-ups aren’t great on Tuesday. I feel more comfortable paying for Hellebuyck, Mrazek, Kuemper, or Elliott. That’s great, because that allows me to start off with a ton of FanDuel NHL salary left over, while likely getting over 20+ points in the position.

The defense position hinges on how I want to play the rest of my lineup. I love Carlson, but can I afford him. If I can, I’m playing him with Dahlin. If now, then I am also comfortable playing Dahlin with Sanheim.

Brady Tkachuk and Oskar Lindblom provide a ton of value at the winger position. Tkachuk may be a popular play and Lindblom’s ownership should be low. But each should land between ten and 20 points.

From there, I’m considering Reinhart or Justin Williams. I may even play both depending on how I’m spending at the position. Regardless, I love having Ovechkin in my top winger spot, in all lineups and formats.

At the Center position, Backlund is a cheaper sneaky play at the center position and goes well with Eichel or Barkov. You could also play Backlund with Couturier or Duchene. However, I’m also considering playing Couturier WITH Duchene, as it’s affordable on Tuesday night.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS Main slate on Tuesday, February 25th 2019:

C       Sean Couturier ($7,300)

C       Matt Duchene ($7,000)

W     Alex Ovechkin ($8,800)

W     Justin Williams ($6,000)

W     Oskar Lindblom ($4,600)

W     Brady Tkachuk ($4,500)

D      Travis Sanheim ($4,300)

D      Rasmus Dahlin ($4,200)

G      Petr Mrazek ($8,000)

Remaining Salary: $300

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!