Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays for March 12

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, March 12th 2019.

After several days of fantasy hockey lineup combinations landing us below or on the fence for cash in FanDuel NHL formats, we finally got back to a solid big night on Monday. Some of our value plays and even top plays were just OK, but three of our must-play points nailed it, skyrocketing our lineups into cash positions in most, if not all, Cash and GPP format plays.

Stacking Connor McDavid with Leon Draisaitl paid off big time, with McDavid scoring a power play goal, including five shots on goal, and providing a helper for 28.5 FanDuel NHL points. Draisaitl had a goal and power play assist, but added another assist for 33.3 points.

Timo Meier and Christian Dvorak also had assists, added additional points, but the Petr Mrazek play was the biggest. Minding the net for the Hurricanes, Petr was able to turn away all 38 shots on goal from the the Avalanche to secure a 3-0 shutout win in Colorado. That 50.4 FanDuel NHL point total helped most players cash in for Monday.

Like Monday, we have some decent value plays at goalie, again, for Tuesday night while taking a crack at another potential shutout. But more importantly, there are many affordable mid-salary range plays across the board we can use to build another 140 to 160 FanDuel NHL point lineup.

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 Tuesday, March 12th:

Stars at Sabres 7pm ET (Total Projected Goal Total: 5.5)

Capitals at Penguins 7pm ET NBC Sports Network (Total Projected Goal Total: 6.5)

Bruins at Blue Jackets 7pm ET (Total Projected Goal Total: 6)

Red Wings at Canadiens 7:30pm ET (Total Projected Goal Total: 5.5)

Coyotes at Blues 8pm ET (Total Projected Goal Total: 5.5)

Sharks at Jets 8pm ET ESPN+ (Total Projected Goal Total: 6.5)

Devils at Flames 9pm ET (Total Projected Goal Total: 6)

Predators at Ducks 10pm ET ESPN+ (Total Projected Goal Total: 5.5)

A few things jump out at me when looking at the NHL schedule and total projected goal total’s for Tuesday. First of all, we only have eight games. That may seem like a solid-sized slate, but that’s smaller than we typically see on a Tuesday, one game smaller than last night.

So, this isn’t as big of a slate as we were expecting. Also, looking at the total projected goal totals, do you notice this appears to be a lower-scoring total goal night? That’s not necessarily a bad thing. That should lower the cash-bar a bit, but also really help us as long as we grab the best offensive options for this FanDuel NHL main 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

At first glance, Sidney Crosby ($9,300) and Patrice Bergeron ($8,400) look like the top plays at center for Tuesday. They’re both consistently providing double-digit point lately, and we’ve used them a few times over the last two weeks.

However, we’ve also noticed a drop in fantasy hockey performance from Bergeron and Crosby in the last week, and neither has a good defensive and goalie match-up for Tuesday. For that reason, I started looking for better plays.

While there are a lot of ten to 15 FanDuel NHL projected point plays for Tuesday from the centers, I realized Tomas Hertl ($6,400) is probably the cheapest of that bunch with the possibility of scoring just as many points as a Tyler Seguin ($7,700) or Logan Couture ($7,400).

Again, Hertl is one of the few targets we had as sleeper candidates earlier in the season (early October posts), and Tomas continues to seemingly surprise fantasy hockey players, and tool owners.

Hertl’s salary is still fairly cheap, considering he’s providing near a point every game, including three goals and three assist in the last five games. Even better, the consistency is amazing. Tomas has been providing helpers and scoring goals against the better, or hotter teams in the NHL. So the Sharks playing the Jets in Winnipeg seems like a great time to nab some low-ownership Hertl for our lineups.

For the second pick, I’m either going with a mid-salary range Mikael Backlund ($5,500) hosting the Devils in Calgary, Kevin Hayes ($5,600) against the Sharks on home ice, or a red-hot David Krejci ($6,200) in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. Of that group, Backlund has the best value, but Krejci is the safer pick with a consistent scoring lately.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Wingers

Oddly, I found myself in the same position at winger, as I did after reviewing the center options. Paying up for someone like Alex Ovechkin ($9,000) seems to be a waste of FanDuel NHL salary on Tuesday night.

If I’m going to spend big, it’ll be on Brad Marchand ($8,800) or Blake Wheeler ($8,500). But, I don’t like either match up Marchand and Wheeler have in comparison to Alexander Radulov ($6,500).

Four goals in the last two games, including a hatty, and five goals and three assists in the last six games. Radulov is a key reason why the Stars offensive has a spring in their step again. It’s not a very deep offense, so we’ll see a lot of Alex on the ice against the Sabres in Buffalo Tuesday.

It’s possible Radulov could score as many, if not more, fantasy hockey points as Marchand and Wheeler, and likely more than Ovi.

Timo Meier ($5,700) was another one of the young Sharks wingers we really liked for a breakout season this year, and he’s also delivering.

As mentioned earlier, Meier was part of a good lineup last night, and he delivered with 14.4 FanDuel NHL points thanks to four shots and a helper while on the Sharks top line. With three to seven shots on goal each night, there’s a decent change Timo’s point streak continues to six tonight.

There more mid-salary range picks I like for Tuesday are Brayden Schenn ($6,300), Matthew Tkachuk ($5,600), and Jakob Silfverberg ($5,600). All three are playing in credible hockey lately, and have solid match-ups to exploit.

However, to make this all work, we’re still going to need some value. I didn’t dig too deep for value on Tuesday, because we’re getting it almost across the entire lineup. For that reason, I feel confident playing Jared McCann ($4,900) on Tuesday.

Playing on the Penguins top line with Crosby and Guentzel, McCann now has three goals and three assist in the last five games, including two goals on Sunday against the Bruins.

This is another opportunity to get some offensive goodness from that Penguins top line, while only paying around $5K. If this continues, this may be one of the last chances we get to grab that at such a cheap FanDuel NHL salary value.

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

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Defenders

Remember how I didn’t like the idea of paying so much for a Brent Burns ($7,300) play who may get into the low double-digit FanDuel NHL points for Monday? Well, he had five shots for eight points. Again, I don’t feel like Burnsy is a top play for Monday.

In fact, there’s a theme developing for Monday night. Letang and Karlsson are out, and Roman Josi ($7,100), Mark Giordano ($6,700), John Carlson ($6,500), and Torey Krug ($6,400) are all solid plays for a good 13 to 17 point night.

But, we can likely get just as many points from Shea Weber ($5,600) on home ice for the Canadiens hosting the Red Wings and Jacob Trouba ($5,300) hosting the Sharks in Winnipeg. So, why in the world would I pay that much for Josi, Giordano, Carlson and Krug? I won’t, it’s not worth it.

Seth Jones ($5,600), Ryan Ellis ($5,100), and Travis Hamonic ($4,400) are also great plays Tuesday. However, I like Weber over Jones, as Seth is likely to have a higher ownership. But, Ellis and Hamonic are great value tools to use, in the case that I want to pay up in one of the other positions.

Fantasy Hockey: NHL DFS FanDuel Power Plays Top Goalies

Well, by now you know the theme and it doesn’t end with goalies. Again, we have a long list of top goalie plays for Fantasy Hockey on Tuesday night. Of the to plays, the one I’m most comfortable with is Jordan Binnington ($8,800) on home ice.

But, Binnington has struggled in his last two outings, and the Coyotes are one of the hottest teams in hockey, right now, still bidding for a playoff spot (believe it, or not). While I typically don’t love road-ice goalies, Ben Bishop  ($9,200) has a shutout in his last two starts, and hasn’t given up more than two goals in a game since a win over the Coyotes (4 goals) on February 4th.

Bishop is another comfortable play. However, either David Rittich ($8,000) or Mike Smith ($7,900) will mind the cage for a good Flames team in Calgary against a bad Devils team. I worry a little bit about getting enough saves, more than 30, from this game for a huge point night.

But, either Smith or Rittich are in a VERY good spot for at least the 12 FanDuel NHL win points, and have a shot at more with a shutout. So, that could make up for the lack of shots on goal, and therefore saves. Whoever is ultimately listed as the starter, is the safest and potentially biggest point play of the night on Tuesday.

Fantasy Hockey: FanDuel Power Plays March 12th Main Slate Summary

We have expensive top plays to consider across the board for every FanDuel NHL position on Tuesday night. However, this is an odd night where mid-salary range plays for each position likely yields just as many, if not more, points for the night.

We love the stability the Flames starters give us, with the potential for a shutout. Weber and Trouba are top affordable plays for defense, but we should also consider Jones, Ellis, and Hamonic.

For offensive plays, Hertl, Backlund, Hayes, and Krejci are likely just as good as any of the other top plays for center. That affordability allows me to grab a bunch of other mid-salary range lays at winger like Radulov, Schenn, and Meier. We also consider Matthew Tkachuk and Silfverberg as top winger plays, and McCann makes this lineup affordable.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the NHL DFS FanDuel Main slate on Tuesday, March 12th 2019:

C       Tomas Hertl ($6,400)

C       David Krejci ($6,200)

W     Alexander Radulov ($6,500)

W     Brayden Schenn ($6,300)

W     Timo Meier ($5,700)

W     Jared McCann ($4,900)

D      Shea Weber ($5,600)

D      Jacob Trouba ($5,300)

G      Mike Smith ($7,900) / David Rittich ($8,000)

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, GOLF, College Basketball, and NASCAR this Spring!