NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, SuperDraft (2/02): 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 Tuesday, February 2nd, 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 2/02

• Buffalo Sabres vs. New York Islanders (-130) - 5.5U
• NJ Devils vs. Pittsburgh Penguins - PPD
• Dallas Stars (-115) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (-105) - 5O
• Vancouver Canucks vs. Montreal Canadiens (-175) - 6.5U
• Carolina Hurricanes (-175) vs. Chicago Blackhawks - 6U
• Arizona Coyotes vs. St. Louis Blues (-175) - 5.5U
• Calgary Flames (-112) vs. Winnipeg Jets (-104) - 6U
• Minnesota Wild vs. Colorado Avalanche (-175) - 6U
• Anaheim Ducks vs. LA Kings (-120) - 5.5U
• Ottawa Senators vs. Edmonton Oilers (-215) - 6.5O

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

• Connor McDavid, EDM ($9,000 DK / $9,000 FD) - The pricing on McDavid is at an all-time high after his monster performance against Ottawa on Sunday night. McDavid has been on fire over his last five games as he is averaging three points per game during that stretch. He will be heavily owned on this slate but it is hard to argue against rostering him based on his play and matchup.
• Sebastian Aho, CAR ($6,400 DK / $7,600 FD) - Aho is an extremely underrated center for this Canes team and he is off to a good start as he is on a point per game pace through his first six games of the season. Aho has notched three points in his last two games and faces a Blackhawks team that allows 33.5 shots per game to opposing teams.
• Jesperi Kotkaniemi, MTL ($4,300 DK / $4,600 FD) - While it's not too often that we would look to consider rostering third-line centers, Kotkaniemi is in a fast-paced game and gets an opportunity to face a defensively horrendous bottom six for the Canucks. In four games against Vancouver this season, Kotkaniemi has recorded a goal and three assists and is averaging at least two shots on goal in those matchups.

Other centers to consider: Draisaitl, Pavelski, Kopitar, Schenn, Trocheck, Kadri, Danault, Staal

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, EDM ($7,900 DK / $7,500 FD) - If you're not wanting to spend up for either McDavid or Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins provides you a cheaper option that still gets you exposure to both of those guys by skating on the top line and power play. RNH is coming off of a three-point outing where he recorded a goal and two assists while also taking seven shots on goal and for his price point on both sites, he could certainly hit value in this matchup.
• Brendan Gallagher, MTL ($5,800 DK / $7,200 FD) - Gallagher had a strong outing against Vancouver Monday night as he recorded a goal while also taking three total shots. Gallagher is not afraid to pull the trigger and fire shots towards the net and with him being in the same matchup in back-to-back nights, it is hard to not go back to the well and roster him. In four games against the Canucks this year, Gallagher has netted three goals while averaging four shots per game.
• Andre Burakovsky, COL ($4,000 DK / $5,400 FD)- Burakovsky often gets overlooked from a DFS standpoint because he doesn't have a large shot volume but he does skate on an extremely good second line for Colorado and that alone should give him consideration. He has eight points in seven games played this season and has had three multi-point outings so far this early year. While he might not be the safest choice for cash games, the price over on DK is too good to pass up for the upside and the chance to get a piece of Colorado at a reduced price.

Other wings to consider: Rantanen, Wheeler, Svechnikov, Radulov, Perron, Tatar, Anderson, Benn, Schwartz, Puljujarvi, Necas, Neal, Saad, McGinn

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Jeff Petry, MTL ($6,700 DK / $5,500 FD) - Petry is a major value piece over on FD for this Tuesday night slate and makes for a great play in all formats. Petry currently has two goals and an assist in their matchup against Vancouver and it wouldn't surprise me if he has a similar offensive output during Tuesday night's game.
• Colton Parayko, STL ($4,800 DK / $4,800 FD) - If you are looking for a defenseman that always had a solid floor, look on further than Colton Parayko. Parayko sees over 20 minutes of ice time per game and does a great job racking up peripheral stats while also being involved offensively as he has four assists and a goal on the season.
• Jonas Brodin, MIN ($4,200 DK / $4,200 FD) - The Wild are loaded with defenseman and Brodin is another promising defender that sees a good amount of ice time while also being involved offensively. Over his last three games, Brodin has collected four points while averaging close to four shots per game and blocking two shots per game.

Other defensemen to consider: Klingberg, Makar, Hamilton, Doughty, Nurse, Barrie, Suter, Larsson, Girard, Edler, Chiarot, Oleskiak, Gardiner

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Jordan Binnington, STL ($8,300 DK / $8,500 FD) - Binnington is starting to heat up as he has won three straight games as he heads into Tuesday night's game against the Coyotes. Binnington is 5-1- on the season with a 2.49 goals allowed average and a .918 save percentage. Arizona is scoring 2.5 goals per game and averages 28 shots per game so Binnington has major shutout and win upside in this matchup.
• Philipp Grubauer, COL ($8,100 DK / $8,300 FD) - Another goalie that is playing extremely well to start the season is Philipp Grubauer. He has allowed six total goals over his last four games and has recorded a shutout during that four-game stretch. On the season, Grubauer is seeing 25 shot attempts per game which is extremely low and it does limit his overall ceiling from a DFS goalie perspective.
• Jake Allen, MTL ($7,800 DK / $7,900 FD) - Jake Allen is one of the better backup goalies in the league and he should draw the start Tuesday night seeing that Montreal is on the end of a back-to-back against Vancouver. Allen is 2-1 with a 1.68 goals allowed average and a .933 save percentage on the season and has only allowed five total goals in three games this year.

Other goalies to consider: Koskinen, Reimer, 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 (Nurse, D-men add on/ Draisaitl PP add on)
    • Edmonton will be an extremely popular option and how you go about stacking them will be key for your tournament builds. Their power play was lethal against the Sens as they scored four power-play goals and you could see that top power-play unit being somewhat chalky. One way to differentiate is to focus on stacking either the top line and including Puljujarvi or looking to add in James Neal who skates on the third forward line and should be a lower owned piece to this Oilers power play.
• CAR 1
  • Svechnikov/ Aho/ McGinn (Hamilton, D-men add on)
    • Carolina tends to blend their lines together throughout the season but the new-look top line featuring Aho, Svechnikov, and McGinn has been very solid in 30 minutes of ice time this season. So far, this group is possessing a 3.54 expected goals for, 30.82 scoring chances for, and 20.55 high danger chances for per 60 minutes of ice time.
• MTL 1
  • Tatar/ Danault/ Gallagher (Weber, D-men add on)
    • The top line for Montreal had another strong night against the Canucks as they had a 61.90 corsi for percentage while generating four scoring chances and two high-danger opportunities. You could go back to the well with this group as they are a tough matchup for any opposing team but if you are wanting a Montreal line that saw the defensively porous Pettersson line for Vancouver, it seemed like MTL 2 got a heavy dose of them so they would be a good pivot if need be.

Other Stacks to consider: COL 1, NYI 1, LAK 1, CAR, STL, 2, MTL 2, MTL 3

SuperDraft NHL DFS Picks

C: McDavid (1X), Kopitar (1.4X), Kadri (1.65X), Trocheck (1.7X)

W: Wheeler (1.3X), Svechnikov (1.35X), Rantanen (1.6X), Gallagher (1.65X)

D: Nurse (1.15X), Petry (1.45X), Makar (1.5X), Weber (1.6X)

G: Koskinen (1.2X), Binnington (1.3X),Allen (1.45X)

*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!

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