NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, SuperDraft (3/26): 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 Friday, March 26th, 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 3/26

• • New Jersey Devils vs. Washington Capitals (-195) - 6U
  • Anaheim Ducks vs. St. Louis Blues (-240) - 5.5U
  • San Jose Sharks vs. Arizona Coyotes (-125) - 5.5O
  • Winnipeg Jets vs. Calgary Flames (-120) - 6U

NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix

Team	Rank GA	Rank SA	Rank GF	Rank SF	Total
New Jersey	21	9	6	16	21.75
Washington	17	19	29	28	14.5
Anaheim	26	21	3	29	21
St. Louis	23	18	15	22	18.25
San Jose	28	3	13	16	16.75
Arizona	20	5	5	31	13.5
Winnipeg	13	5	26	13	10
Calgary	18	15	9	13	18

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 total column indicates that it is a more dangerous matchup for that team's goalie while it might be beneficial to stack against him. If the total is low, that means he is in a good matchup from a fantasy perspective and should be considered for your goalie selection. 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

Matchup	PP Rank	Opp PK Rank
New Jersey	27	12
Washington	7	30
Anaheim	30	26
St. Louis	22	24
San Jose	24	7
Arizona	23	15
Winnipeg	5	11
Calgary	19	14

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 rank. When looking at this matrix, you will want to look for teams that succeed in the power play rank (lower the rank the better they are) while their opponent has a poor penalty kill rank (the higher the rank, the worse their penalty kill is).

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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 or needing cornerstones for your tournament builds.

NHL DFS Center Picks

• Mark Scheifele, WPG ($6,900 DK / $7,200 FD) - Scheifele is the best spend-up option at the center position on this slate. He has scored 39 points in 33 games this season and has recorded a point in back-to-back games played. Scheifele has three goals and three assists in five games against Calgary this year while combining for 17 peripheral stats in those five games played.
• Evgeny Kuznetsov, WSH ($4,600 DK/ $ 6,100) - The pricing on DK is just too good to pass up on with the form that Kuznetsov has shown recently. He  has recorded a point in seven out of his last eight games played and is coming off of a two-goal performance against the Devils on Thursday night.

Other centers to consider: Backstrom, Couture, Lindholm, Schenn, Hertl, Dvorak, Dubois, Zajac, Brassard

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Alex Ovechkin, WSH ($8,800 DK / $8,400 FD) - Ovechkin is playing some of his best hockey right now so fading him in all formats is a risky thing to do. He is coming off of a two-point performance against the Devils on Thursday night where he notched a goal and an assist. In four total games against the Devils this year, Ovechkin has scored three goals and recorded one assist while taking 18 shots on goal.
• Andrew Copp, WPG ($4,500 DK / $4,500 FD) - Copp is coming off of a monster performance against the Canucks as he notched four goals on four shots on goal. He has recorded a point in three-straight games and could be a great value option in your tournament builds.

Other wings to consider: Kane, Perron, Ehlers, Connor, Garland, Tkachuk, Wheeler, Tarasenko, Meier, Keller, Oshie, Labanc, Stastny, Hoffman, Schwartz, Kessel, Kuokkanen, Donato, Balcers, Crouse

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Jakob Chychrun, ARI ($6,500 DK / $5,100 FD) - Chychrun continues to be a steady defenseman pick for all formats. He is seeing plenty of ice time per game and has hit double-digit DK points in nine out of his last 10 games played. Chychrun has found success against the Sharks this season as he has recorded a goal and two assists in just two games against the Sharks this season.
• Justin Faulk, STL ($4,800 DK / $4,400 FD) - Faulk has gone pointless in five games but despite not being able to get on the scorer's sheet, Faulk is racking up peripheral stats which makes him viable in all formats. He is seeing over 22 minutes of ice time over his last four games and is averaging five peripheral stats per game over that four-game stretch.

Other defensemen to consider: Carlson, Burns, Giordano, Morrissey, Krug, Karlsson, Subban, OEL, Schultz, Smith, Drysdale, Orlov

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Jordan Binnington, STL ($8,300 DK / $7,300 FD) - Binnington has been struggling as of late as he has lost three of his last four starts despite averaging less than three goals per game during that four-game stretch. Binnington is 10-9-4 on the season with a 2.80 goals allowed average and a .903 save percentage but is 2-0 against Anaheim with a 1.5 goals allowed average and a .943 save percentage. This is a perfect "get-right" game for Binnington and is too cheap on FD to not play him in all formats.
• Connor Hellebuyck, WPG ($7,400 DK / $8,400 FD) - Just like the pricing for Binnington is flipped on the sites, we get similar pricing for Hellebuyck who is more of a steal over on DK. Hellebuyck is 15-9-2 on the season with a 2.65 goals allowed average and a .916 save percentage but is 2-1-1 with a 2.45 goals allowed average and a .907 save percentage in four games against Calgary this year. Hellebuyck has won three out of his last four games played and should be viable in all formats over on DK.

Other goalies to consider: Samsonov, Jones

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. Also, make sure that the goalie listed above is starting and if not, make sure to pivot!

Favorite NHL DFS Line Stacks 

• WSH 1
  • Ovechkin/ Kuznetsov/ Sprong (Carlson, d-men add on)
    • The Caps have switched up their lines yet again and the top line for the Caps features Ovechkin skating with the likes of Evgeny Kuznetsov and Daniel Sprong. While they only correlate at full 5v5, they have posted some solid numbers in limited action. As a full line together, they have skated eight minutes against the Devils and have found a way to score two goals in that eight-minute span. If looking to make a mini-stack from this line, the main pairing to focus on is the Kuznetsov and Ovechkin tandem as they have skated together for over 116 minutes this year and are sporting a 3.79 expected goals for rate and are generating 36.13 scoring chances for and 17.55 high danger chances for per 60 minutes of ice time.
• SJS 1 
  • Kane/ Couture/ Labanc (Burns, d-men add on) 
    • The top line for the Sharks is producing some great numbers this year and they will be a top stack on this four-game slate. With over 277 minutes of ice time together, this line is sporting a 2.84 expected goals for rate and is generating 32.38 scoring chances for and 12.52 high danger chances for per 60 minutes of ice time. The one good thing to note is that this line if fully correlated at 5v5 and also skate together on the top power-play line as well so if one of them goes off, you can expect to rack up some assist points as well.

Other Stacks to consider: WPG 1/2, STL 2, NJ 1

SuperDraft NHL DFS Picks

C: Scheifele (1.15X), Hertl (1.55X), Kuznetsov (1.85X)

W: Ovechkin (1X), Wheeler (1.3X), Kane (1.45X), Labanc (1.9X)

D: Carlson (1.1X), Chychrun (1.45X), Orlov (1.9X),

G: Hellebuyck(1.2X), Binnington (1.4X), Jones (1.55X)

*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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