NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, SuperDraft (3/1): 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 Monday, March 1st, 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 3/1

• • Carolina Hurricanes (-125) vs. Florida Panthers - 6O
  • Calgary Flames (-165) vs. Ottawa Senators - 6U
  • Vancouver Cancucks vs. Winnipeg Jets (-135) - 6.5U
  • Minnesota Wild vs. Vegas Golden Knights (-150) - 5.5O
  • St. Louis Blues (-155) vs. Anaheim Ducks - 5.5U
  • Toronto Maple Leafs (-115) vs. Edmonton Oilers (-105) - 6.5U
  • Colorado Avalanche (-190) 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

• Nathan MacKinnon, COL ($8,500 DK / $8,400 FD) - Out of all of the top center options on the slate, MacKinnon comes at a little bit of a discounted price and draws a very favorable matchup against a defensively bad Sharks team. He has registered points in back-to-back games and has registered a point in each game against San Jose this year.
• Vincent Trocheck,  CAR ($5,600 DK / $5,400 FD) - Trocheck has been a great offensive addition to this Canes squad and has done well against his former squad as he has scored a goal in both outings against them. Trocheck was on a hot streak as he generated a point in seven straight games but cooled off a bit as he went pointless for three games but is showing signs of life again as he registered a goal on Saturday against Florida.
• Colin White, OTT ($4,300 DK / $4,600 FD) - Colin White has been on a hot streak lately as he has generated four points over his last three games played. He is averaging three shots per game during this stretch and three of those points have been goals.

Other centers to consider: McDavid, Scheifele, Draisaitl, Barkov, Aho, Pettersson, Monahan, Backlund, Stastny, Getzlaf, Wennberg

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Mikko Rantanen, COL ($6,700 DK / $8,000 FD) - Rantanen is one of the more consistent fantasy hockey wingers on this slate, and with it being a high-event game against San Jose, Rantanen could see several scoring opportunities throughout this game. Rantanen has scored five points over his last three games and is averaging three shots per game during that small stretch.
• Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA ($5,500 DK / $7,300 FD) - One of the higher ceiling wing plays on this slate that seems to be under-priced is Jonathan Huberdeau. Huberdeau is playing above a point per game basis and has found success against Carolina this year as he has scored three goals and one assist in just two games.
• Drake Batherson, OTT ($3,900 DK / $4,500 FD) - One forward that is going completely overlooked is Drake Batherson. Batherson has had multi-point outings in three of his last five games played and has scored a goal in five straight games.

Other wings to consider: Marner, Pacioretty, RNH, Ehlers, Tkachuk, Rantanen, Lindholm, Wheeler, Hornqvist, Svechnikov, Landeskog, Puljujarvi, Dubois, Marchessault, Duclair, Tuch, Comtois, Stuetzle, Thornton, Parise, Backes

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Shea Theodore, VGK ($6,100 DK / $6,200 FD) - Theodore is one of the best peripheral stat defensemen in the league and he seems to be coming in at a discount on both sites. He is coming off of a two-assist game and is always a candidate to hit either the shot bonus or block bonus over on DK.
• Jake Muzzin, TOR ($4,500 DK / $4,500 FD) - From a cash game standpoint, Muzzin offers one of the best floors on the slate. He has blocked at least two shots in each of his last four games and has generated a point in three of those games as well.
• Ryan Graves, COL ($3,600 DK / $4,200 FD) - Another defenseman that can be viable when rounding out your builds in all formats is Ryan Graves. Graves sees a solid volume of minutes and racks up enough peripheral stats on a per-game basis that makes up for his lack of scoring.

Other defensemen to consider: Burns, Hamilton, Barrie, Nurse, Giordano, Rielly, Toews, Hughes, Pionk, Karlsson,  Brodin, Edler, Bouchard, Larsson, Girard, Valimaki, Lindholm

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK ($8,100 DK / $8,500 FD) - While we will have to wait for news on who is in the net, it is safe to think Fleury will get the nod in net Monday night against the Wild as Lehner is still listed as day-to-day. Fleury is 9-3 on the season with a 1.59 goals allowed average and a .941 save percentage and has been one of the best overall goaltenders in the league up until this point in the season.
• David Rittich, CGY ($8,300 DK / $8,300 FD) - Rittich could see the start in net for the Flames as they take on the Senators and this is more of a riskier play. He is 1-1 against Ottawa on the season and has allowed seven goals in that two-game span but is one of the larger favorites on the slate as Vegas has Calgary as a -165 favorite. Rittich is 2-4-1 on the season and is carrying a 2.77 goals allowed average and a .907 save percentage which is pretty solid considering the number of games lost. Rittich has seen 30+ shot attempts in three of his last four games so if he can rack up some saves, he could hit and exceed his value.
• Connor Hellebuyck, WPG ($8,200 DK / $8,200 FD) - Hellebuyck has been on a nice streak lately as he has won three straight games and has allowed only seven goals during that three-game span. Hellebuyck is 10-5-1 on the season with a 2.56 goals allowed average and a .918 save percentage and is 1-1 against the Canucks with a 3.01 goals allowed average and a .917 save percentage. The one positive for Hellebuyck in this matchup is that he has faced 72 shot attempts in that two-game span which means there should be a good pace to this game and the shot volume will be there so there good be a chance for him to hit the save bonus on DK.

Other goalies to consider: Gibson, Grubauer

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

• COL 1
  • Landeskog/ MacKinnon/ Rantanen (Makar, d-men add on)
    • A lot of attention will go to the Toronto and Edmonton game which means we could see lower ownership on stacks like the Avs who are in a great spot against the Sharks. San Jose is allowing 3.2 goals allowed per 60 minutes which is the second-highest rate in the league and the top line for Colorado is generating a 3.6 expected goals for rate on the season. In addition, this line is generating an insane 39.59 scoring chances for and 17.89 high danger chances for per 60 which is tops in the league. The Sharks have allowed 34 goals over the last eight games played and it would not be surprising if the struggles on defense continue against Colorado tonight.
• VGK 2
  • Pacioretty/ Glass/ Smith 
    • While this line has played limited minutes together, they have produced some solid numbers and should avoid matching up with the top line of the Wild. In 21 minutes of ice time, this line has an expected goal for rate of 2.81 while also generating 28.57 scoring chances for and 14.29 high danger chances for per 60 minutes of ice time. Both Glass and Pacioretty skate together at full strength as well as on the top power-play line and this line as a whole is relatively inexpensive on both sites.
• WPG 1 
  • DuBois / Scheifele/ Wheeler (Morrissey, d-men add on)
    • The pricing on this line is quickly rising but they are still producing so it is hard to not consider rostering them. Scheifele and Wheeler have combined for seven total points in just three games against the Canucks and that forward combo is generating 30.99 scoring chances for and 12.4 high danger chances against the Canucks in 38 minutes of ice time in this matchup. While this line does struggle defensively, the pace should be up in this matchup which means there could be plenty of chances on both sides of this game for this matchup.

Other Stacks to consider: EDM 1, TOR 1, CGY 1, VGK 1, CAR 1, FLA 2, WPG 2, VAN 2, ANA 2

SuperDraft NHL DFS Picks

C: MacKinnon (1.25X), Scheifele (1.4X), Pettersson (1.45X), Barkov (1.7X), Trocheck (1.75X)

W: Wheeler (1.3X), Pacioretty (1.3X), Svechnikov (1.35X), Lindholm (1.55X), Rantanen (1.6X)

D: Hamilton (1.15X), Theodore (1.2X), Barrie (1.7X), Andersson (1.8X)

G: Grubauer (1.2X), Fleury (1.35X), Rittich (1.5X)

*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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