Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for March 1

Welcome to NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays. This is a fantasy hockey post focused on top lineup plays each day. We are talking about the Main slate for Friday, March 1st 2019.

Thursday night’s fantasy hockey picks worked out very well, almost regardless of the combination you used. If you played the example lineup, like I did, you likely have a nice 4X to 5X return playing a combination of GPP and cash games on FanDuel NHL.

How did we get there? Well, for some reason, fantasy hockey players continue to fade Travis Sanheim ($4,300), who had two goals and a blocked shot for 28.8 FanDuel NHL points. Sanheim is hot and should continue to be on your NHL DFS radar.

Ryan Pulock continued to be a solid double-digit 14.4 point play, and Darcy Kuemper took the win for the Coyotes, along with 37 saves for 33.6 FanDuel NHL points.

The offense essentially did mostly what I had hoped. Barkov continued to stay hot for the Panthers, scoring a goal and providing a helper for 24.6 points, and while Nugent-Hopkins didn’t score points, he did have five blocked shots and a shot on goal for 9.6 points.

Leon Draisaitl only had an assist, but Reilly Smith made up for Draisaitl’s lack of points by scoring two goals. Alexander Radulov had a solid night with an assist, four shots on goal, and two blocked shots for 17.6 points. But, I was disappointing with Marcus Johansson‘s 1.6 points.

Our value plays for NHL DFS have been hit or miss over the last couple of months. If we hit the right value play last night, we likely would’ve taken down most tournaments. If you’ve been following along, I hope you did that last night!

We’re going to take a similar approach with our lineups for Friday, as we did on Thursday. I believe there’s plenty of consistent value plays available on Friday to leverage big points plays with high-salary picks in several positions.

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 Friday, March 1st 2019:

Penguins at Sabres 7pm ET

Flyers at Devils 7pm ET

Capitals at Islanders 7pm ET

Canadiens at Rangers 7pm ET

Blues at Hurricanes 7:30pm ET

Predators at Jets 8pm ET

Golden Knights at Ducks 10pm ET

Avalanche at Sharks 10:30pm ET

The Penguins and Sabres game has the potential to be high-scoring, but I don’t know what to make of the Flyers and Devils, as the Flyers are rolling out Talbot for the first time, since their trade with the Oilers.

The Caps have an interesting, and tough, match up against the Islanders in New York on Friday. After seeing the Isles slam the Maple Leafs last night, I’d imagine the Caps know they have a steep hill to climb tonight.

I love how the Hurricanes are playing recently, but I don’t like the match up against the Blues, even on home ice. The Predators and Jets don’t have many attractive fantasy options for Friday, but the Golden Knights and Avalanche have some appealing value, and chalk-fades I like.

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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

I almost feel like a broken record each time the Penguins are on the ice. We’re approaching playoff time and while Sidney Crosby ($9,000) and Evgeny Malkin ($8,400) are fantasy hockey relevant all season, this is when they’re at their best.

The problem with playing either of them is the high FanDuel NHL salary, and they’re each very well known so their ownership is always sky-high. I do have some other expensive picks I’m targeting, so Crosby is like ‘out’ of my lineup. However, Malkin is affordable and one of my favorite top picks.

However, in the same game, I think Jack Eichel ($8,200) may actually be a better play. The Penguins offense has been ramping up lately, but their defense isn’t helping. In fact, their offense is really the sole reason they’re winning games.

In the last ten games, the Penguins are averaging 3.3 goals against per game. It’s likely the Sabres will score around four, potentially more with a win, goals on Friday night. Eichel is one of the best players on the ice for this slate, and he has a point in each of his last six games.

Also, Jack has at least four or more shots in each of the last six games, and 29 total over that time. When any player is shooting that often, we know the odds are them scoring ramps up.

When a player of Eichel’s caliber is firing shots off at that high of a volume, I’m even more confident they’re going to score. With three goals and two assist in the last three games, Jack likely continues his scoring surge against the Penguins on Friday night.

Nathan MacKinnon ($8,100) is also a healthy consideration, even against the Sharks, but I prefer the value we’re getting from Carl Soderberg ($4,700) on that Avalanche second line. The match up is better for Soderberg, against a good team, and Carl (like Jack) has been ramping up his shot volume lately, getting him more involved in scoring.

I’d even argue Soderberg is one of the key reasons the Avalanche are beginning to re-emerge as a playoff team this season.

If you’re looking for a really off-the-radar type of center, Max Domi ($6,300) is a well known player who’s salary and FanDuel NHL point-per-game average typically blends into the rest of the lineup options in a slate like this. Domi likely gets 15 to 20 points for you without having to spend too much salary, and is a great fit with Soderberg if you’re looking for bigger plays at winger.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

I realize the Islanders are stingy. I mean, I’m constantly talking about how I like to avoid offensive players against the Isles this season. By the way, considering how terrible their defense was last year, this season feels bizarre. Also, I do realize they stomped the Maple Leafs last night.

However, Alex Ovechkin ($8,900) is the rare type of hockey player who can transcend great teams. Mostly because he’s a great scorer, one of the best in league history. Ovi is also a popular fantasy hockey option.

But, even though many FanDuel NHL players will grab Ovechkin purely due to name recognition, some of the ‘researchers’ will realize the Islanders have a tough defense. I hope they do! That should knock Ovi’s ownership down a bunch of %’s, and makes him worth playing a top pick at center on Friday.

Yes, there’s risk playing any offensive players against the Islanders, but Ovi, like Eichel and Soderberg, is firing off a lot of shots lately and has solid success scoring even against good teams. In fact, I’d argue he does better in these types of situations.

The Caps have only played the Islanders twice so far this season. In that time, Ovi averaged three shots on goal and has one goal against the Isles. He’s a good shot at over 20 points for Friday night, with the lowest ownership we’ll see for Ovi in a while.

I realize I just spent a ton of my salary on a top winger pick, and I likely will spend a decent amount of my salary on at least one center pick. So before I grab a second winger, I’m looking for value options. If I don’t find many, I may have to reconsider Ovechkin in my lineup.

Fortunately, I found two picks I love. I’ve been watching a lot of Penguins games lately, and one name I’ve heard called many times is Zach Aston-Reese ($3,700). He’s not in a power play unit, yet, but he has been playing with Malkin and Phil Kessel ($7,400) on their second line.

Playing with the caliber player of Malkin and Kessel has allowed Aston-Reese to get more shots off on goal. In fact, he has nine over the last two games. It’s also allowing Zach to pile up more ice time, averaging around 15 minutes per game now. So this is a confident shot at around 15 FanDuel NHL points while saving a ton of salary.

Andrew Shaw ($4,600) is an older value play I’ve used several times this season. The Canadiens offense has been all over the place this year, but they’re heating up. Especially Shaw!

Including a hat trick this week against the Red Wings, in Detroit, Andrew has four goals and two assist in the last four games. With a favorable match-up against a depleted Rangers team, especially after the trade deadline, and Shaw in the top two lines for Habs, this is another confident double-digit point shot while saving salary.

Alright, now that I’ve saved a bunch of FanDuel salary dollars, I can look at a more expensive second winger pick. And I think I can get 15 to 25 points from any of the following; Mark Stone ($7,400), Gabriel Landeskog ($7,100), Mikko Rantanen ($6,900), and Tomas Tatar ($6,400).

Don’t over-think that group. Pick the one who makes the salary work, as you should be confident any of that group should have a solid night. In fact, it’s a great pivot position to use for your lineup building on Friday night.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

Brent Burns ($7,400) is a decent play against the Avalanche. He’ll like land around 20 points in this situation. But, I don’t want a decent play from Burnsy if I’m spending that much FanDuel NHL salary. Especially if I can get around the same amount of points from cheaper picks, and I think I can on Friday.

That starts with John Carlson ($6,500) against the Islanders. While I’m not confident Carlson will have a big scoring night, I do know he’ll likely be involved with anything Ovi sets up or executes. Also, he’ll pile up decent points with blocked shots and shots on goal.

If I have enough salary to spend, he’s my favorite option. But, for the example lineup, and in most of my lineups, I’m likely going with even cheaper options because they’ve been too consistently good.

Look, if you’ve been following this post all week, none of these should shock you. But, that’s also why they’re such great plays. I keep playing Ryan Pulock ($4,600), Rasmus Dahlin ($4,500), and Travis Sanheim ($4,300) because they keep giving me double-digit points (most of the time) and for some reason FanDuel continues to allow them to be dirt-cheap.

Also, for some reason, their ownership continues to be very low. In some formats last night, Sanheim’s ownership was as low as around 1%. That is crazy considering he’s consistently giving you double digit points under $4.5K salary. And nothing the Flyers are doing now tells you that should change (barring injury).

But, if you’re worried others are catching on to our dominance at the defense position, you can also consider a pair of Golden Knights, Nate Schmidt ($4,700) and Shea Theodore ($4,100). They should each get you over ten points per person, but keep in mind the Golden Knights are still a popular team among hockey fans.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

OK, so…full disclosure, I HATE the goalie position for fantasy hockey on Friday night. We have eight games, or 16 goalies to consider. I went through every single goalie, slowing down my ability to get this post out earlier, and concluded that no one goalie made me feel like I had a solid win with 20+ points.

So, that’s not a great start. I mean, it’s great for the offensive side of my lineups, but I know there’s definite risk in the goalie spot, no matter who I plug in there.

Jordan Binnington ($9,300), in theory, is a great play. Right? Well, remember in Dallas how Jordan gave up four goals and had zero points? That could happen against in Carolina. The Hurricanes are a hot team right now, especially on home ice, and I like Petr Mrazek ($8,200) almost as much as Binnington. Which tells me to stay way from this goal at this position.

I won’t go through every single game, but I can summary by saying this. Henrik Lundqvist ($7,800) is still one of the most talented net-minders in the game. However, the Rangers aren’t a good team right now and they just traded away several of their best players.

So it wasn’t a surprise the Lundy gave up nine goals in the last two games. Especially when we saw his reaction to losing his teammate Mats Zuccarello.

You’d think that would make picking Carey Price ($9,000) an easy move, right? It’s not. The Canadiens are a good team at home, but they’ve been shaky away. Also, that’s a hefty amount of my salary for a risky position.

But, I simply can’t find another goalie option I like as much as price. And while Lundqvist is one of the most talented goalies in the NHL, so is Price. It feels like a bit of a dice-roll, but I’m going with the talented vet tonight, hoping Lundy is still vulnerable.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays March 1st Main Slate Summary

I don’t like the goalie position on Friday, and I hate his price tag, but I’m going with Carey Price and I’m just going to have to deal with the consequences. However, I love the rest of the lineup options for the Friday night FanDuel NHL Main slate.

Eichel is the most exciting pick at the center position, but I could just as easily pivot to Malkin or MacKinnon. If I want to get salary-savvy, I will grab Domi and play any one of these guys with Soderberg as my value play.

I’m hoping the ownership for Ovechkin takes a dive against the Islanders, because this is one of the rare times I want to pay up for Ovi. I love the value that Aston-Reese and Shaw give me in the winger position. And that allows me to pick one of Stone, Landeskog, Rantanen, or Tatar.

At the defense position, I’m grabbing Carlson if I can afford him. But Pulock, Dahlin, and Sanheim continued to be incredible value plays at the position. If you’re stale on those picks, consider Schmidt or Theodore.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS Main slate on Friday, March 1st 2019:

C       Jack Eichel ($8,200)

C       Carl Soderberg ($4,700)

W     Alex Ovechkin ($8,900)

W     Mikko Rantanen ($6,900)

W     Andrew Shaw ($4,600)

W     Zach Aston-Reese ($3,700)

D      Rasmus Dahlin ($4,500)

D      Travis Sanheim ($4,300)

G      Carey Price ($9,000)

Remaining Salary: $200

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 NHL, NBA, MLB, EPL, PGA, and NASCAR this Spring!