NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, SuperDraft (3/6): Value Plays, Goalies, Stacks

Welcome, RotoBallers. Hockey season is back and I am thrilled to be covering this sport over at RotoBaller! As always, I will do my best to give you the stats and info you need to build the best lineups possible for your GPP and cash game NHL contests on DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft.

If you are new to playing NHL DFS, there are several things to know that will help you get caught up to speed. The first thing to know is that stacking lines is important and correlating your plays can pay off. In hockey, if someone scores a goal, there's a good chance that some on his team will receive an assist on that goal, so you want to build lineups around players skating together. The second thing is to make sure you look at the two sites and see the different ways to obtain points. On DraftKings, you get bonus points for 5+ shots or 3+ blocked shots so someone like Alex Ovechkin who is a volume shooter tends to be a better play there just because he can rack up additional points based on his style of play.

Today I'll be bringing you my NHL lineup picks, analysis, and advice for NHL DFS contests on DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft for Saturday, March 6th, 2020 at 7:00 PM. Be sure to also check out our awesome NHL tools including our Lineup Optimizer, Research Station, Projections, and DFS Cheat Sheets! Feel free to follow me on Twitter @jorgepucks as I am happy to engage with readers and try to answer your questions. Good luck RotoBallers!

NHL DFS Analysis and Picks for 3/6

• • Toronto Maple Leafs (-190) vs Vancouver Canucks - 6.5U
  • Minnesota Wild (-139) vs. Arizona Coyotes - 5.5U
  • Winnipeg Jets vs. Montreal Canadiens (-145) - 5.5O
  • Anaheim Ducks vs. Colorado Avalanche (-245) - 5.5U
  • Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Dallas Stars (-135) - 5O
  • St. Louis Blues (-122) vs. Los Angeles Kings - 5.5U
  • Calgary Flames vs. Edmonton Oilers (-130) - 6.5U
  • Vegas Golden Knights (-250) vs. San Jose Sharks - 6.5U

NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix

The matrix above takes the averages of four categories and creates a rating scale to help you decide which goalies to use, which goalies to target against, and conversely which teams could be viable from a stacking standpoint. It looks at four categories: Goals Allowed (GA), Shots Allowed (SA), Goals For (GF), Shots For (SF). The higher the overall rating in the last column indicates that it is a more dangerous matchup for that team's goalie while it might be beneficial to stack against him. I match and sync this every day to the actual opponents that they are facing every slate so this is always slate specific.

NHL DFS Power Play Matrix

The Power Play matrix is to help locate matchups that can be exploited should there be an odd-man advantage during the game. Just like the goalie matrix above, the teams are matched up based on their own power play percentage rank and their opponent's penalty kill percentage. When looking at this matrix, you will want to look for teams that succeed in the power play rank while their opponent has a poor penalty kill rank.

Did you know RotoBaller has a Premium NHL DFS subscription? Like what you read today? You can show your support for Jorge by using promo code JORGEPUCKS when purchasing an NHL DFS Premium Pass. You get 10% off, and exclusive access to all of our Premium NHL cheat sheets, DFS research tools, Premium Slack Chatrooms, Stack Builder, Correlation Matrix and Lineup Optimizer!

NHL DFS Core Plays

The Core plays below are the players that you should focus on incorporating into your cash game builds and tournament builds. When it comes to cash games, you want guys that offer high floors that rack up peripheral stats (shots, blocks, etc).

When it comes to tournaments, it is best to take a core play and see who their linemates are and build line stacks based on that. I will give 2-3 plays (varies on slate size) at each position at different pricing ranges so that you can have a variety of plays to choose from when building your cash builds.

NHL DFS Center Picks

• Auston Matthews, TOR ($9,200 DK / 8,800 FD) - Even though Matthews did not generate a single point against the Canucks on Thursday night, he took five shots on goal and recorded two blocked shots. While the price tag is high, his involvement in the offense is still high which makes up for those nights where he can't get on the scorer's sheet. Matthews has fared well against the Canucks this season as he has scored five goals in just four games and has taken a total of 18 shots against them in those four games.
• Nazem Kadri, COL ($5,700 DK / $6,600 FD) - It looks as if Nathan MacKinnon will miss a few games which means Kadri will slide up to the top forward line for the Avs. Kadri has recorded 15 points in 21 games played but should certainly see a bump in production as he will be skating with the likes of Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog.
• Mikael Backlund, CGY ($4,500 DK / $4,300 FD) - Backlund has found some success against Edmonton this year as he has scored a goal and notched two assists in just three games so far against them. Backlund isn't a high-volume shooter but is a skilled center and sees plenty of meaningful ice time while also centering the second power-play unit so there is some upside to rostering Backlund in tournament builds.

Other centers to consider: McDavid, Draisaitl, Couture, Kopitar, Lindholm, Miller, Suzuki, Karlsson, DuBois, Stephenson, Danault, Vilardi, Glass, Henrique, Kotkaniemi, Texier, Bjugstad

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Max Pacioretty, VGK ($7,800 DK / $7,800 FD) - Pacioretty has been on fire lately as he has scored four goals over his last three games while also accruing seven total points during that stretch. In addition, Pacioretty has taken 19 shots during that three-game span and has hit the shot bonus on DK in five of his last six games.
• Kevin Fiala, MIN ($5,600 DK / $5,900 FD) - Fiala was on a bit of a cold streak but finally broke out of it on Friday night as he recorded his seventh goal of the season on five shots. The pricing on Fiala has come down quite a bit but now is the time to invest in him as he tends to be streaky and his hot streaks can be quite beneficial for your fantasy lineups.
• Paul Stastny, WPG ($3,900 DK / $5,600 FD) - Stastny has joined Wheeler and Scheifele on the top line for the Jets and has done pretty well skating alongside those forwards. Since late February, Stastny has produced a point in five of six games played and has generated four goals during that six-game stretch.

Other wings to consider: Marner, Toffoli, Ehlers, RNH, Tkachuk, Connor, Stone, Kane, Boeser, Gallagher, Brown, Gaudreau, Meier, Benn, Keller, Marchessault, Kaprizov, Tatar, Tuch, Bjorkstrand, Puljujarvi, Iafallo, Labanc, Greenway, Dube

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Brent Burns, SJS ($6,600 DK / $6,300 FD) - Burns has one of the better floors of all NHL defensemen due to his involvement on the offensive end as well as the massive amounts of ice time that he sees per game. Burns is skating for over 27 minutes per game and is coming off of a two-point outing against Vegas where he notched both a goal and an assist.
• John Klingberg, DAL ($4,800 DK / $6,000 FD) - Klingberg is a steady play on almost every slate and now with his price dropping a tad, he seems like an even better value over on DK. He is seeing over 21 minutes of ice time per game and is almost playing on a point per game basis as he has 15 points in 18 games this season.
• Erik Karlsson, SJS ($3,800 DK / $4,500 FD) - While Karlsson got off to a slow start, he has really picked it up ever since he returned from injury. He has produced double-digit DK points in three of his last four games played and is finding ways to hit value through generating points, shots on goal, and blocked shots.

Other defensemen to consider: Petry, Nurse, Theodore, Giordano, Barrie, Toews, Doughty, Girard, Klingberg, Brodin, Muzzin, Myers, Suter, Bouchard, Fowler

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Frederik Andersen, TOR ($8,400 DK / $8,200 FD) - Andersen has really looked good over his last three starts as he has won all three games and only allowed five total goals in that three-game span. Andersen is 12-3-2 on the year with a 2.59 goals allowed average and a .909 save percentage and is 3-0 against the Canucks this year as well. In his three games against Vancouver, Andersen has only allowed five total goals and is carrying a 1.67 goals allowed average against them.
• Hunter Miska, COL ($8,300 DK / $8,100 FD) - There is a solid chance that Miska gets the start in net so make sure to check on this news before puck drop on Saturday night. Grubauer started for the Avs on Friday night and stopped 26 of 28 shots faced and picked up his 12th win on the season. With these teams being on the end of a back-to-back, Grubauaer could get some rest which means Miska could slide into the net against Anaheim. Miska is 1-1-1 on the year with a 3.03 goals allowed average and a .883 save percentage and is coming off of his first win of the year against the Coyotes where he stopped 16 of 18 shots faced in a 3-2 win.
• Cam Talbot, MIN ($8,000 DK / $7,300 FD) - Kaapo Kahkonen drew the start for the Wild on Friday night which means there is a solid chance that CamTalbot gets the start Saturday night against the Coyotes. Kahkonen had a strong outing last night as he stopped 24 of 25 and held Arizona to just one goal and we should see a similar effort from Talbot tonight in the same matchup. Talbot is 4-3-1 on the year with a 2.73 goals allowed average and a .910 save percentage and has yet to face Arizona this season.

Other goalies to consider: Hellebuyck, Quick

Note: If you do roster a goalie listed above, it is sometimes best to make a hedge lineup in tournaments and take the opposing offense against them incase he gives up a few goals while that opposing team carries lower ownership.

Favorite NHL DFS Line Stacks

• EDM 1
  • Nugent-Hopkins/ McDavid/ Puljujarvi (Barrie, d-men add on)
    • The Oilers have struggled lately as they have only scored one goal as a team over their last three games played. McDavid has gone pointless in that stretch and this could be a get right kind of game as McDavid has registered seven points against the Flames in just three games this year. This line on the season has a 3.29 expected goals for rate per 60 while also generating 37.52 scoring chances for and 16.68 high danger chances for per 60 minutes of ice time. This could be a good pivot line to stack as Toronto's top line should see heavy ownership in tournaments.
• SJS 1 
  • Kane/ Couture/ Labanc (Burns, d-men add on)
    • The Sharks top line continues to deliver regardless of the matchup and should come in lower owned on this slate when compared to other top lines. So far this season, this line has an expected goals for rate of 2.74 per 60 minutes and is generating 28.7 scoring chances for and 12.46 high danger chances for per 60 minutes of ice time. When matched up against Vegas this year, they are actually generating 30.29 scoring chances and 17.67 high danger chances per 60 which are both above their season averages.
• MIN 3
  • Parise/ Bjugstad/ Fiala
    • This relatively newer formed Wild third line had a really productive night against the Coyotes on Friday night. in just nine minutes of ice time, this line generated a 71.43 corsi for rate while creating six scorincg chances and four high danger opportunities. On the season, this line has seen 28 minutes of ice time together and is posting a 3.24 expected goals for rate while creating 29.88 scoring chances and 19.21 high danger chances per 60 minutes of ice time. This line is pretty afordable on both sites and will allow you to spend up for other higher priced stacks on the slate.

Other Stacks to consider: TOR 1, EDM 1, VGK 2, CGY 2, LAK 2, MTL 2

SuperDraft NHL DFS Picks

C:  Matthews (1.05X), Kopitar (1.4X), Kadri (1.65X), Karlsson (1.75X)

W: Laine (1.3X), Pacioretty (1.3X), Benn (1.55X), Marner (1.65)

D: Burns (1.05X), Theodore (1.2X), Petry (1.45), Barrie (1.7X), Doughty (1.8X)

G: Talbot (1X), Andersen (1.35X), Quick (1.35X)

*Core 4 for SuperDraft are Bolded

Key Abbreviations:

xGF/60= expected goal for per 60 minutes of ice time

GF/60= goals for per 60 minutes of ice time

SC/60= Scoring Chances per 60 minutes of ice time

If you have any additional questions, make sure to reach out to me on Twitter or in our NHL room at the RotoBaller slack chat!

NHL Player News and Updates

More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis