Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for March 8

Welcome to 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 Friday, March 8th 2019.

Unfortunately, my fantasy hockey night played out on Thursday night, much like it did on Wednesday night. The right combination of plays landed easy NHL DFS winnings, but I often had the wrong mix.

We had hits and misses. My favorite goalie option of the night turned out to be the best, with Ben Bishop and the Stars shutting out the Avalanche on home ice. It seemed liked the safest move, and it paid off big, landing over 44 FanDuel NHL points into my lineups.

The Jared McCann and Ryan Thomas value plays also paid off, mildly. They added a combined 25.6 FanDuel NHL points into my lineups, although I honestly was hoping for a bit more. Speaking of missing expectations, the Eichel and Crosby play at center didn’t quite work out the way I wanted.

Crosby had a decent night, scoring a goal with three shots and blocking a shot for 18.4 points. That’s a solid fantasy hockey night for any center, but I was hoping for a bigger night on home ice against a team who looked vulnerable lately.

But Eichel was a much bigger disappointment. He had five shots, and added 1.6 points with a blocked shot, but that only totaled me 9.6 points in a game where nine goals were scored. Considering Jack’s caliber of play, that was a fantasy hockey disappointment for us.

Ekman-Larsson and Dahlin weren’t ideal at the defense positions, and Bailey and Tkachuk weren’t great picks at the winger spot. Hopefully you snagged a better mix of wingers, at least. For Friday night’s slate, I plan to turn toward the wave of rising high players.

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 8th:

Wild at Panthers 7pm ET ESPN+ (Projected Goals Total: 6)

Devils at Capitals 7pm ET NHL Network (Projected Goals Total: 6.5)

Jets at Hurricanes 7:30pm ET (Projected Goals Total: 6.5)

Canadiens at Ducks 10pm ESPN+ (Projected Goals Total: 5)

That’s right, a four game slate. Frankly, it’s not a bad schedule for a Friday night, when the NHL is typically quiet. This is usually one of the NBA’s big nights. But that’s also why I love playing NHL DFS on Friday.

We have eight goalies to pick through, some teams to consider stacking, and some hot players to maybe ride. Speaking of, the Wild are heating up at the right time and play a poorly defensed Panthers team in Florida.

The Capitals looked like a better team in Philadelphia this week, and fortunately for them a good chunk of the Devils top talent is off the ice on Friday night. That presents some value options, but I’m more likely to avoid them.

The Jets and Hurricanes are two good teams clashing, and the Ducks are a hard team to figure out right now, playing a better, but similarly baffling, Canadiens team in Anaheim.

Our DraftKings NHL DFS writer Matt Vecchio started adding projected total goals to his daily posts, something I’m now doing as well. It’s a great stat to consider; one we often look at but haven’t always communicated. I’ll try to considering adding this data in the future.

For Friday, the Jets, Hurricanes, Devils, and Capitals are involved in the top total projected goals games. I’m definitely fading the Devils, but the other three offenses are a strong play for this 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

I realize playing two expensive picks at center didn’t work out well for the Thursday night slate. That doesn’t mean it won’t work out for the Friday night slate. Also, our top center picks are as FanDuel Salary costly as the picks we have to choose from on Thursday.

Aleksander Barkov ($7,600) continues to be one of the hottest fantasy hockey centers in the league, and he’s on the ice Friday night. However, as you’ll see later, I don’t like his match-up even on home ice. Also, we have better options.

Mark Scheifele ($8,000) and Sebastian Aho ($7,700) are the two most expensive centers in this slate, and at the same time they’re actually affordable to play together. It may seem like an odd play because they’re each on their team’s top lines and they’re facing each other in the same game, in Carolina Friday.

But, they both have been offensively consistent over the past month, and likely can still yield 15 to 25 points Friday. Even better, with more than one goal or assist, they each have a solid shot for 30+ points in this slate.

I don’t really like the value plays for this slate, so if you’re going to mix it up more, you definitely need to consider the top two Capitals centers, Evgeny Kuznetsov ($7,400) and Nicklas Backstrom ($6,600).

Any two-man combination of these top four should be fantastic NHL DFS plays for Friday, but of the four; my favorite combinations are Aho with Scheifele and Aho with Kuzy. Backstrom is more of an assist guy, and Scheifele likely had stronger headwinds, against the Hurricanes on road ice (pun intended) than Aho for Friday night.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

The top two wingers for Friday night is frankly very easy to peg. Alex Ovechkin ($9,100) is in a very good situation to score multiple goals on Friday night. My only worry is they go up big, quickly, and lean on their back two lines to finish the game.

Another obvious play, Blake Wheeler ($8,300). In three of his last six games, Blake has at least two goals and/or assists. In his last three straight games, Wheeler has at least one goal per game and a total of six goals. Even against the Hurricanes, this is an exciting play. Between the two, Wheeler obviously generates more value, but does have more risk.

From there, I suggest we go snag value plays from our top two scoring teams. First of all, Tom Wilson ($4,900) is back on the Caps top line and his scoring page has been picking up as well. That makes Wilson a cheap mid-salary range play, like he was earlier in the season.

With three goals and one assist, one power play goal, over the last five games, Wilson is starting to develop that double-digit FanDuel NHL point return which drew us to playing him so often back in the early part of this winter. He’s back!

Finally, I’ve been avoiding the Wild’s recent scoring surge, expecting them to fall flat again, as they have looked over the last couple months. But, now I’m regretting it. I had Jason Zucker ($5,100) on my list of possible hot plays on Thursday night, which I create before I look at the opponents.

Frankly, when I saw the match-up against the Lightning in Tampa, I immediately crossed him off my list. Boy, was that a HUGE mistake. First of all, Zucker is still a low-salary % play. He will be on Friday night too, against a tough Panthers team on home ice. But also, he’s scoring like crazy lately, and ended last night’s game with a Hatty against the best team in the NHL, right now.

I can’t avoid Zucker any longer, and while I may be buying in at the down-swing, this run may still have legs, and I’m willing to take the low-ownership risk on Friday. Speaking of, Ryan Donato ($3,600) is also on the Wild’s top line with Zucker, and has been a consistent top value play the last two weeks. I’m all in on the Wild against the Panthers tonight.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

I’ll be surprised if you have a lot of salary left over for the defense position, but it’s possible if you took a cheaper route with the top four centers. If that’s the case, I love John Carlson ($6,500) on home ice against a horrendous Devils hockey team Friday.

If you can’t quite afford Carlson, which is likely my problem, Shea Weber ($5,500) is one of the few pieces of action I’d like to get from the Habs game against the Ducks in Anaheim. Weber is firing shots on goal at a high volume over the last couple of weeks, always a good sign for a scoring surge, but is also getting double-digit points just from shots on goal and blocked shots.

From there, I like grabbing a value play, or two value plays to pay up at the center and winger positions. Specifically, I like Jared Spurgeon ($5,000), Aaron Ekblad ($4,600), and Tyler Myers ($3,900).

If you’re bought into the Wild’s surge, Spurgeon is a good way to march toward that four-man Wild stack. Ekblad and Myers should be able to get nearly double-digit points from shots on goal and blocked shots, and scoring would just be gravy.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

Goalie is always easier in smaller slates. Simple math will tell you that. We have only eight, at most, goalie picks. Granted, at that the time of writing this post, not all of the starters are known. So, it’s possible some of the guys I’m considering may end up sitting. Stay close to twitter and other hockey new outlets to track updates throughout the day.

In theory, either Carey Price ($9,100) or Antti Niemi ($7,400) should have an easy win against a dreadful Ducks team this season. But, the Ducks have bounced back recently, and they’re playing on home ice. So, it makes sense that Vegas is basically calling this game a 50/50 to win. That, makes me want to back off either player.

The obvious play for a win is Braden Holtby ($8,900). The Caps are -325 to -330 favorites. We know we’re at least getting the 12 FanDuel NHL points for the win. But, the lack of saves, due to the likely low volume of shots, scares me off of this play a bit. It’s definitely the safer play, but we have to have a better option.

The Jets and Hurricanes game is hard to pick from, but, I do think the Wild should have an advantage over the Panthers, in what could be a tough win. Vegas seems to think the same thing, give a slight edge to the visiting Wild in Florida.

For that reason, and the fact that he just shutout the Lightning last night, I love the idea of starting Devan Dubnyk ($8,500) on Friday night. Dubnyk is one of the best goalies in hockey and he’s clearly heating up at the right time for the Wild.

I haven’t seen a starter announced for the Wild and Panthers game yet, so we may need to swap to another option. However, it’s also possible Alex Stalock ($7,600) starts for the Panthers, providing a bigger value opportunity, although, more risk.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays March 8th Main Slate Summary

At goalie, Holtby is the obvious low-risk play. But I prefer to grab either Dubnyk or Stalock for a Wild win on road ice. Dubnyk has less risk, but either should pile up shots, giving up a low amount of goals, and give us the win.

On defense, Carlson and Weber are your top two plays of the Friday night slate. You can pair them if you have enough salary, but you likely need to find a value play like Spurgeon, Ekblad, or Myers. If you need greater value, you could also pair Spurgeon, Ekblad, or Myers together and fade the top plays.

For top offensive plays, at center I love Scheifele and Aho in the same game. But Kuznetsov and Backstrom also make great plays against a bad team, on home ice. Ovi would be a solid two-man stack with Kuzy or Backstrom, but Wheeler could have a bigger night. Fortunately, guys like Zucker, Wilson, and Donato make all of these top offensive plays affordable.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Friday, March 8th 2019:

C       Mark Scheifele ($8,000)

C       Sebastian Aho ($7,700)

W     Blake Wheeler ($8,300)

W     Jason Zucker ($5,100)

W     Tom Wilson ($4,900)

W     Ryan Donato ($3,600)

D      Jared Spurgeon ($5,000)

D      Tyler Myers ($3,900)

G      Devan Dubnyk ($8,500)

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!