Hello folks and welcome to my NHL Positional Breakdown for Fanduel!
For those of you who are new to the DFS Army, new to NHL DFS, or just like to read different articles, my name is Matt Dell’Agnese and I’m an MLB and NHL coach and writer for the DFS Army. Hit me for a follow on twitter at mdellagnese14. If you are a DFS Army VIP member you will know that I’m fairly active in our NHL rooms and around to help coach for the amazing sport of Hockey. I was brought to the DFS Army in January and I wrote Painting the Black for baseball, analyzing pitching picks for the slates. If you’ve played MLB, NHL is very similar. The sports are both volatile and players can put up a 0 or low score at any time. Don’t get discouraged if you get cold, just keep with your process and the players will come around. For cash games, you want to correlate players who skate on the same line or same Power play line, in GPPs stack up the full lines. Thankfully, Chop has asked me to help out with our NHL content articles!
I will be breaking down each position with the players who I like with my reasonings for liking them on the slate! I am a Fanduel player, so these articles will include Fanduel pricing and scoring references! Remember to always check for confirmation of goalies and lines!
All Stats are over the Last 10 games unless noticed otherwise! THIS MAIN SLATE LOCKS AT 3PM EST WITH THE LAST GAME STARTING AT 7PM EST!
Goalies
Thomas Greiss (8.3k FD) (8k DK): Greiss, right now is my top guy on this slate and the Islanders are still playing great defense. Minnesota is playing good right now, but the Islanders play really good at home. In the last month, they have allowed the fewest goals in the NHL, despite losing last night. Greiss in his last 5 starts has been really good aside from one start against CAR back on Jan 8. Other than that, he’s 3-1-1 with a .961 sv% with 1 SO. He had 41 saves in a shootout loss to the lightning on Feb 1st and was great against the Devils his last start. He will likely be chalky, but is my guy right now. All Formats
Louis Domingue (8.1k FD) (8.1k DK): Domingue should see the start here on a B2B for the Lightning. Both of these teams are playing on back to backs and TB doesn’t have that far to travel. He doesn’t normally start that much since Vasil has been back, but when he does he’s normally pretty good. His last start was on Feb 2nd where he got the win and allowed just 2 goals with 31 saves. When he starts he has 30 point upside too. Florida ranks 26th in goals scored while TB ranks 26th in goals against in the last month. Fire him up with confidence on this afternoon slate. All Formats
Curtis McElhinney (7.4k FD) (7.6k DK): I’m not sure if he will start here tomorrow, but if he does I have interest. If Mrazek starts I still have some interest in him too. But, on both my sources I see McElhinney as the projected starter. When given the opportunity, the 35-year old has been great for Carolina. Aside from two games allowing 5 and 6 goals, he’s still been good. This matchup against the Devils is decent too. Carolina has an amazing chance to win here today and McElhinney should get the win. It’s tough on where to use him because the Devils shot volume is really low. I still like him as a cheap punt if you want to go there. GPP
Henrik Lundqvist (7.8k FD) (7.4k DK): Although I don’t love him as a goalie, I love the spot for the Rangers at home against Sparks. I like the Rangers offense and think they will do enough to get Lundqvist the win. He’s been much better at home this year allowing almost a full goal less per start. The matchup is very tough against Toronto, but my hope is that Toronto is tired after playing last night with NY more rested. GPP only
Centers
Patrice Bergeron: Love the spot for BOS in this game. I love a game stack here actually. Bergy has been on another level lately shooting much more than usual. In his last 5 games, he has 24 SOG to go along with 4 goals and 3 assists. The Bruins will see Grubauer this afternoon and should be able to light him up.
Nathan MacKinnon: As I mentioned, I love a game stack. Halak is starting for BOS and goals will not be hard to come by this afternoon. Nate has been shaky of late in the fantasy point column, so I’ll leave him more towards tournaments over cash, but he’s still one of the best in the game.
Jack Eichel: Eichel has been great since the calendar turned to February. Each game has been over 10 fd points, with his lowest being 10 yesterday. He still has shot upside today where the Jets are allowing the most SOG in the NHL in the last month.
Jonathan Toews: This dude has been on FIRE! He hasn’t scored under 10 fd points in his last 6 games and has a hat trick in his last 6 too. Dating back to hit hatty, he has 6 goals, 6 assists and 24 SOG in his last 6 games. The dude is on fire and has a good matchup with DET at home today.
Mika Zibanejad: The late-night hammer. I love pairing him with either Bergy, Aho, or Toews this afternoon. The Rangers will see Sparks in the net for the Leafs and that does not scare me. Zib was on fire before his game against the Hurricanes where the whole team was shut down. Look for him to feast against the Leafs who are on a back to back.
Sebastian Aho: WEEKEND AHO! But seriously, Aho seems to love playing on Friday-Sunday. In just his last 5 Sunday games, Aho has scored 7 goals and has 9 assists! That is unreal! In a matchup with Keith Kinkaid, I wouldn’t be surprised if he scored 2 goals here this afternoon. Fire him up in all formats paired with Zibanejad.
Dylan Larkin: Normally I like Larkin a lot for tournaments, but today i like him alot for cash too. The Blackhawks are playing great offense right now, but their D is shaky. They are middle of the pack in SA and GA in the last month, and Larkin has been on fire. He’s put up 18 or more fd points in 5 of his last 6 games with 5 goals in that time span.
Dylan Strome: Finally he’s a center on fanduel. The dude has been playing out of his mind lately and gets a good matchup here. In his last 6 games he has scored 3 goals and has 8 assists. He’s cheap and great value this afternoon.
Others to Consider: Carl Soderberg, Bryan Little
Wings
Patrick Kane: Always love me some Kaner! He’s the highest price wing on the slate and for good reason, he’s been a beast! He will consistently give you 4+ SOG and always has 2-3 goal upside.
Brad Marchand: I prefer Marchand over Pasta here because Pasta has been moved to the 2nd line. I’m not sure why, but Marchand has been playing much better of late too. He’s been racking up the assists and will likely shoot a bit more with Pasta off the top pairing for the time being.
Mikko Rantanen/Gabriel Landeskog: Love this pairing against Halak in Boston today. COL has been very cold of late, so lean more tournaments, but they can break a slate.
Alex DeBrincat: If I can’t go all the way to Kane, Cat will be in my lineups. His price in slowly going up, but for good reason. He has been putting up 20 point games left and right. In just his last 6 games, he has 4 over 20 fd points. He gets top PP time and has been on fire for CHI2.
Mats Zuccarello: Likely will be a chalky winger this afternoon and rightfully so. He had his worst game since coming back against Carolina, which their whole team struggled. He gets a good matchup against TOR and a backup goalie in Sparks. TOR is allowing the 10th most shots in the last month and the 8th most goals. Pair him with Zib in all formats!
Nino Niederreiter: Love this spot for CAR. Niederreiter has been on fire since coming over to Carolina. In his last 6 games alone he has 4 goals, 1 assist, and 28 shots! He’s shooting a ton and should be able to score one if he keeps his shot volume up. His price is rising, but he’s still a great play in this matchup.
Jeff Skinner: I like Buffalo as a sneaky stack here. The Jets are allowing the most shots per game in the last month in the NHL along with the 10th most goals. This game I can see being a shoot out. Skinner has been shooting a lot lately with 25 SOG in his last 5 games. He has upside to score 2 goals and could assist on more if Eichel gets it rolling.
Andrei Svechnikov: I wish he played in the top 6, but he still gets PP time. He’s been great for CAR of late and I actually love CAR3 in tournaments as a low owned sneaky stack this afternoon.
Danton Heinen: He’s really loving playing on the top line for Boston. It’s hard to ignore the value here in a plus matchup. 2 goals in his last two games with an assist too. Way too cheap if he’s going to play like this. Make sure he stays on the top line though!
Others to consider: Blake Wheeler, Teuvo Teravainen, Brandon McGinn (GPPs), Andreas Athanasiou
Defensemen
Jacob Trouba: Trouba has been the offensive D man for the Jets of late. His shots normally sit around 3-4 per game and he’s been getting assists and blocks of late too. This matchup against Hutton and the Sabres is pretty good too.
Morgan Rielly: He’s starting to find his stride again lately and Toronto needs it. He did just play last night but he is playing well of late. He has 1 goal and 4 assists in his last 5 games. Defense is not the greatest on this slate here, and I think Rielly has a solid floor.
Dustin Byfuglien: Another Jet I like here this afternoon. The Jets come into this game with the 6th most shots and 3rd most goals in the last month and they are healthy and rolling. The TOI is consistent for Byfuglien and he has scoring upside in this matchup.
Rasmus Ristolainen: Normally I’m not on the Riso train, but he’s been consistent over his last few games. In his last 10 games, he only has 2 under 10 fd points and has been racking up the assists. While the Jets are playing great on offense, their defense has been bad. Risto could grab a few more assists here today.
Rasmus Dahlin: The other Rasmus! He’s firmly in play here but has cooled off A LOT lately. Still, a great matchup and he’s very cheap so you can pay up for Wing and Center today.
Dougie Hamilton: I love Carolina this afternoon and Hamilton has been improving. He hasn’t scored in 3 games, but still is taking 3-4 shots per game. The upside against Kinkaid is there today and I think he gets in the point column.
Others to Consider: Tyson Barrie, Torey Krug, Justin Fault, Jacob Slavin,
Favorite Stacks
CAR1, CAR3 (GPP FOR CAR3)
NYR1
WPG1, WPG 4 (GPP ONLY FOR WPG3)
COL1, BOS1
BUF 1, BUF2