Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for March 11

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 Monday, March 11th 2019.

Saturday’s fantasy hockey plays were hit or miss again. Our goalies landed over 20 points, Claude Giroux continues to doll out double-digit FanDuel NHL points, and Alexander Radulov had yet another goal for over 23 points. Pageau was also a tremendous value play with a goal at center and a low $3,500 FanDuel NHL salary.

But, Sidney Crosby fell flat, Mitch Marner and Alexander Edler only had eight points, and Shea Theodore seemed to be cooling off a bit. The bigger problem for the Saturday night slate was that it was harder to win, even with a decent lineup.

While I didn’t write a post for Sunday, I still played a couple minor tournaments and several cash games. Ironically, I landed around 15 points for almost every single pick, yielded less points than Saturday, but somehow won more money. I’m guessing less sharks were on the water during that Sunday night Main slate.

We may have an similar situation for Monday. It’s typically a quiet night for NHL and big night for the NBA. However, there are seven games on the NHL schedule, so we have a ton of great options to play and we may have more cash on the table than we typically see for this slate.

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 Monday, March 11th:

Lightning at Maple Leafs 7pm ET ESPN+ (Total Projected Goals: 6.5)

Blue Jackets at Islanders 7pm ET (Total Projected Goals: 6)

Senators at Flyers 7pm ET (Total Projected Goals: 7)

Sharks at Wild 8pm ET NBC Sports Network (Total Projected Goals: 6)

Coyotes at Blackhawks 8:30pm ET (Total Projected Goals: 6.5)

Hurricanes at Avalanche 9pm ET (Total Projected Goals: 6)

Rangers at Oilers 9pm ET (Total Projected Goals: 5.5)

Before I even looked at some of the, early, projected goal totals, I was already interested in the Flyers and Senators games. The Flyers are in a desperate spot, somehow fighting for that final playoff position in the Eastern Conference after a horrendous first half. They’ve lost few games recently, but continue to pile up goals at a solid three to five per game rate.

The Coyotes and Blackhawks are another game I already had pegged as a must play. The Hawks offense is attractive but, like the Flyers, the Coyotes defense is playing significantly better this half of the season and it’s really their offense I want a piece of for Monday night.

I’m on the fence about whether the Oilers will be chalky on Monday night. On the one hand, they have a very low 5.5 projected goal total and there are some other more attractive games in the slate. But on the other hand, the Oilers also have a great match-up on home ice, with some hot offensive talent to pay up for the slate. I may need to investigate that game.

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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

This Monday night slate is a unique one for the center position. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a situation, this season, where there was a clear gap between the top center play, who also happened to be the most expensive, compared to so many other great plays.

Nathan MacKinnon ($8,200) had a goal and two assists on home ice yesterday, but while the Avs are back on the ice Monday night, they’re facing a better defensive and net-minding Hurricanes team. I doubt MacKinnon gets out of the game with more than 15-ish FanDuel NHL points for the night.

Steven Stamkos ($8,600) salary is way to expensive for his daily output. I still have yet to understand why FanDuel continues to give him such an expensive price tag. Especially against the Maple Leafs in their own arena.

Both Auston Matthews ($8,100) and John Tavares ($8,100) have a very difficult defensive and goaltending position to contend with against the Bolts in Toronto Monday. That puts Sebastian Aho ($7,700) and Sean Couturier ($7,500) in the best position to unseat the obvious best play of the night, Connor McDavid ($9,200).

I may use the value in some lineups from either, or both, Aho and Couturier on Monday night. But, while I typically fade the 20 point-per-game average McDavid, I can’t find a reason not to play him in most lineups.

For starters, there’s great value to be had at this position as well. But also, hes coming into this game with a point in each of his last eight-straight games, and two or more assists in his last four-straight games. The Rangers likely won’t end either of those streaks.

Fortunately, there are two value picks I love, Jean-Gabriel Pageau ($3,500) and Christian Dvorak ($3,100). Pageau only had one shot for us on Saturday, leading the Senators top line, but he scored with that shot. He’ll continue to be in a great fantasy hockey position through the rest of the season, and with this FanDuel salary he’s still dirt-cheap.

Dvorak has a little bit more risk around his fantasy hockey value, but he could also have some higher upside. Pageau doesn’t have a great match up against the Flyers, on road ice, while Dvorak may be on road ice, the Blackhawks are giving up a ton of goals at home.

Christian isn’t a name you’re likely familiar with, if you’ve been playing FanDuel NHL this season. Dvorak spent the vast majority of the season off the ice with an injury, but after four games back with no points, Dvorak has two goals and an assist in the last two games for the Coyotes. He could continue to roll against the Hawks, in Chicago, on a dirt-cheap salary.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

It’s funny, after grabbing McDavid, I just assumed I needed to find a ton of value at the winger position in order to get two of the winger top plays. But, went I went through the rest of the lineup, I realized the top winger plays don’t need to be that expensive, and the top plays at defense and goalie aren’t that expensive either (we’ll get to that shortly).

Still, in case you need it, there are some solid value picks for Monday, some of these likely aren’t new names for you. Scott Laughton ($3,400) has been heating up for the Flyers offense and should see decent ice time with Jakub Voracek suspended for the next two games.

In the same game, while the Senators likely won’t score too often, Brady Tkachuk ($4,700) might be, only, a rookie but he’s the fire in that Sens offense this season. Even after trading away most of it’s top veteran talent, Brady continues to find a way to provide significant offense for their top unit.

And, Sam Gagner ($3,400) is an affordable way to climb your way to an Oilers stack. Wait, why stack the Oilers if they’re in the lowest projected goal total game? Well, for starters I think the Oilers score the vast majority of those goals.

But also, this is part of the strategy for the night. I think the Oilers can produce enough offense to drive toward 20+ points in several players while maintaining a lower ownership percentage, giving us an advantage in all formats, including GPP’s.

Speaking of, that’s why I also love Leon Draisaitl ($8,300) playing on the top power play unit with McDavid and spreading the points over the top two lines of the Oilers, with Draisaitl playing on the second regular line.

Leon has been a goals machine over the last two months, but he’s also beginning to pile up those assists. For that same reason, I also love Claude Giroux ($7,100).

With Voracek out of the game due to a suspension, the Flyers will need Giroux’s veteran talent and he’s had to step up with Jake out for injury recently too. That went well, and it should continue to go well with G facing a weak Sens team on home ice. With at least one assist in each of the last seen games, Claude has nine total and two goals in that time. He continues to roll Monday!

Finally, how in the world is Timo Meier ($5,300) so darn cheap for FanDuel NHL still? We’ve been talking about Meier since early October, as a sleeper for fantasy hockey. Well, in 65 total games, Timo now has 57 points, just under a point-per-game, and 26 goals.

In the last four-straight games, Meier has a goal in each game and five total. He stays hot in Minnesota with a very high FanDuel NHL point potential, between 20 and 30. Alright, let’s finally look at a few top picks on defense…

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

Brent Burns ($7,300) had a solid fantasy hockey run for a period of time this season. But for the most part, he continues to be over-valued by FanDuel’s salary machine (however that works). I’m not paying over $7K for a defensive player who likely does me no better than 15 to 20 points.

That’s an outcome you can get from many of these options. Also, while Burnsy is typically a good play because he’s closer to a lock for double-digit points, Morgan Rielly ($6,600) is just as good of an option for $700 less in FanDuel NHL salary.

But, I don’t think you need to pay that much for this position on Monday night. You’re likely to get ten to 15 points, with the upside potential of 20+ assuming more than one goal or assist involvement, from guys like Ivan Provorov ($4,600), Travis Sanheim ($4,400), and Kris Russell ($3,800).

The salary FanDuel NHL gives Shayne Gostisbehere ($4,900) makes you wonder if demand drives results, over performance. Because Provy and Sanheim are on the Flyers top defensive unit, and they’ve been the best fantasy hockey options for defense, from that team, especially lately.

In fact, Sanheim has landed double-digit points in nine of his last 14 games, and a couple of those ten-point misses were 9.6 points, still solid for this salary. For that reason, I’ll continue to play either play, but always lean toward Travis.

Russell isn’t a name we’ve discussed often lately, but with the Oilers offense playing better lately, and with Kris playing often with Draisaitl, he’ll continue to be a solid fantasy hockey play at this position. He won’t be able to maintain that 16 blocked shots over the last two games kind of d-man volume, but he’s still a decent shot at ten-plus points with a helper on Monday night.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

Unlike most Monday nights, we have plenty of options at goalie. With 14 starting goalies, we know at least seven game the 12 FanDuel NHL points for the win. Unfortunately, several teams have failed to announce their starting goalies at the time of writing this position, and several are in a position where they could start one of two. So our field expands a little bit.

Brian Elliott ($7,600) seems like the logical start for the Flyers on home ice against the Senators. For some odd reason, people (especially Flyers fans) have it in their minds that Elliott isn’t a good goaltender.

Yet, he has one of the best goalie stats this season, he just hasn’t played that many games due to injury. In fact, aside from maybe two or three bad starts, Elliott is one of the most consistently good fantasy hockey plays at the position this season.

I’m leaning toward starting Elliott; however, we also know it’s possible that the Flyers roll out Carter Hart ($8,400) on home ice, who could be back from an ankle injury. That, is a riskier move.

Yes, I get it…he’s a young stud in the cage. But for this salary, there’s too much risk. Hart didn’t look great around the time of his injury, we don’t know how well he’ll bounce back, and, well…he’s still young. Although, that makes him a solid GPP consideration.

But, for those reasons, if Hart starts I’m likely moving to Petr Mrazek ($8,400). This, too, could be a low ownership position. Most FanDuel NHL players know you shouldn’t play a goalie on road ice, unless they’re in an obvious winning position.

I think that’s the case for the Hurricanes on Monday. The Avs are struggling right now and the Hurricanes continue to roll. Also, Mrazek has looked fantastic in his last two starts, both road-ice games in Nashville and Florida.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays March 11th Main Slate Summary

I want to start Elliott in goal for the Flyers, but if they start the rookie Hart, instead, I’m either rolling the dice with Carter in GPP’s or I’m playing Mrazek in all formats. All things considered, Petr is the safer play, even given the road-ice risk.

On defense, there’s just too much value to make it easy to pass on the top salary plays. So I’m very comfortable paying for guys like Provorov, Sanheim, or Russell. That and the value we get from Dvorak or Pageau at center make it very easy to load up with top plays at center and winger.

For the first time, in a long time, I love the idea of playing McDavid at center. I think we can pile up a ton of points with a lower ownership percentage. And for top three wingers, I like fellow Oiler Draisaitl, Flyers captain Giroux, and hot-scoring Meier.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Monday, March 11th 2019:

C       Connor McDavid ($9,500)

C       Christian Dvorak ($3,100) 

W     Leon Draisaitl ($8,300)

W     Claude Giroux ($7,100)

W     James van Riemsdyk ($5,400)

W     Timo Meier ($5,300)

D      Travis Sanheim ($4,400)

D      Kris Russell ($3,800)

G      Petr Mrazek ($8,400)

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 NHL, NBA, MLB, EPL, GOLF, College Basketball, and NASCAR this Spring!