NHL DFS: Power Plays on DraftKings, FanDuel – 2/4 FREE

We have a monster 13-game slate featuring elite NHL DFS picks like Alex Ovechkin and Connor McDavid. We need to find who else has value here tonight, so let’s get to it.


Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all our latest info! We have loads of free giveaways too.

Awesemo.com now offers NHL DFS Ownership Projections! Use these ownership projections to pick your favorite low-owned sleepers. In addition, they are also beneficial for building cash-game lineups.


NHL DFS Picks: Center

Jack Hughes (NJD vs. MTL): DraftKings – $4,200; FanDuel – $4,300

Nico Hischier will not play Tuesday night for the New Jersey Devils and that has pushed rookie Jack Hughes to the top line with Jesper Bratt and Kyle Palmieri. Hughes certainly hasn’t lived up to expectations as the first overall pick in last year’s Entry Draft, but there aren’t many New Jersey players who’ve played up to expectations this year. We don’t have much of a sample of Hughes on the top line without former Devils winger Taylor Hall, so we’ll have to rely on the matchup here. (The sample we have shows a decent line but playing to a slow pace.)

Hughes and his line mates should avoid Montreal’s top line tonight, and with the top line off the ice on the road this year, the team’s shot attempts against go up by about 10 percent while their expected goals against remain below average. All that means is it’s a good matchup for Hughes tonight.

Given his output so far this year, Hughes is a bit more expensive than we’d like tonight, but his move up the lineup should give him more ice time and as mentioned, it’s a good matchup. Hughes is fine as a tournament one-off tonight.

Adam Henrique (ANA at OTT): DraftKings – $4,700; FanDuel – $4,800

For some reason, Adam Henrique listed as a winger on FanDuel.

With the way that Anaheim is constructing their lineup — Silfverberg-Getzlaf-Rakell as the top line — it’s pretty obvious where the focus is going to be for Ottawa. That would leave Henrique and company some easier matchups down the lineup, particularly against Ottawa’s second line. That second line has posted atrocious defensive numbers in a small sample, including 3.8 expected goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five. I would hesitate to use a small sample like theirs, but all three Ottawa forwards have been below average defensively over the last three seasons, so that they’re bad defensively together makes a lot of sense.

Ottawa is also one of the five most-penalized teams in the NHL, which should give Henrique his fair share of chances to pop a goal with the man advantage as he skates on the top power play unit with Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell. The Ottawa penalty kill isn’t anything special either, ranking near the middle of the pack over the last quarter of the season. Henrique makes a solid one-off in tournaments because of the matchup and (what should be) considerably low ownership.

For more NHL DFS picks, be sure to check out today’s DFS strategy show with Jake Hari and Nolan Kelly! It will air at 4 p.m. EST and the links can be found on our Twitter account as the showtime approaches.

NHL DFS Picks: Winger

Jakub Vrana (WSH vs. LAK): DraftKings – $5,600; FanDuel – $5,800

Los Angeles has changed up their lines of late and that has pushed Dustin Brown back to the top line the last couple of contests. That takes a defensive presence away from their second line, at least as far as this team has few average defensive players in the lineup. Regardless, this is good news for Jakub Vrana and his line mates as they’ll avoid the Brown-Anze Kopitar shutdown matchup from Los Angeles.

Going back to the start of 2018-19, Vrana is tied for the league lead in goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five, which puts him ahead of the elite of the elite like Auston Matthews and Alex Ovechkin. Two things had always hampered Vrana: ice time in general, and specifically a lack of power play ice time. Well, he’s added about a minute per game to his total ice time since the start of January, and part of that boost has come with his addition to the top power play unit. It’s helped push him to 14 points in his last 12 games. This is an elite offensive talent in a good matchup who is really starting to establish himself as one of the top offensive wingers in the league. He’s fine as a one-off in any format, or as part of some Washington power play stack.

Mikael Granlund (NSH at WPG): DraftKings – $4,800; FanDuel – $4,500

It’s worth noting that since John Hynes took over the Nashville coaching duties about four weeks ago, Mikael Granlund leads all their forwards in five-on-five ice time per game. In fact, when looking at total ice time over their last 10 games, Granlund leads all Nashville forwards by nearly 90 seconds in ice time (over 18 minutes a night). Now, that’s not optimal deployment by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a big leap for a guy who played under 17 minutes a game over the first three months of the season.

Beyond the additional ice time, a big reason for using him tonight is the matchup. Going into Winnipeg, they should face the Jets’ top line, and that top line has been awful defensively all year in a big sample to the tune of 3.1 expected goals against per 60 minutes. An average line would be around 2.2, so they’re considerably worse than league average.

I can understand the reluctance to stack Nashville given how much they’re spreading their ice time among many forwards and lineup changes in general. I think Granlund’s usage and matchup warrants him as one-off option in any format tonight, particularly on FanDuel.

NHL DFS Picks: Defense

Jordan Oesterle (ARI vs. EDM): DraftKings – $2,500; FanDuel – $3,500

This will depend on the health of Oliver Ekman-Larsson. With Ekman-Larsson out of the lineup in Arizona’s last game, it was Jordan Oesterle and not someone like Jakob Chychrun who took over top power play duties.

Oesterle isn’t much to write home about. His underlying play-driving metrics are largely average or worse and his shot assist rate (the rate at which his passes turn into shots by his teammates) is outside the top-third of the league. In other words, this isn’t some stud rookie coming up or a guy with great rate stats who was pushed down the depth chart finally getting a bigger role. This is nothing more than a run-of-the-mill defenseman seeing more opportunity. It’s his price and his new slotting that gives him value.

If Ekman-Larsson is back and DFSers need other (near) min-priced NHL DFS picks on either site, Vladislav Gavrikov or Zdeno Chara are fine.

Mark Giordano (CGY vs. SJS): DraftKings – $6,400; FanDuel – $6,000

The San Jose Sharks are going through it right now. The team has lost both Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl to long-term injuries, and that is bad news for the Sharks. Looking back 11 months, with the offseason losses of Joe Pavelski, Joonas Donskoi and Gustav Nyquist, last year’s playoff team has now lost four players out of their top six and five out of their top nine. Those are significant losses that few (no) teams can endure. Hertl alone was the team’s top forward by offensive and defensive impacts this season. It is a skeleton crew remaining, and that’s great news for Giordano and the Flames.

What’s worse is the Sharks are one of the most penalized teams in the league, and without both Hertl and Couture, the team is missing two of their top-four penalty killers by ice time per game. The team has been better than average with those two on the penalty kill, so it’s a definite blow to the Sharks’ penalty-killing abilities.

Giordano is expensive but this is a fantastic matchup for him. He’s fine as a one-off for tournaments, especially on FanDuel.

Stacks

Vegas Top Line of Marchessault-Stastny-Smith

With William Karlsson still out of the lineup, Paul Stastny remains the pivot on the top line. Stastny is an excellent play maker so I don’t expect much of a drop from Jonathan Marchessault’s and Reilly Smith’s line numbers, which had been very good with Karlsson as their center. They should see a fair amount of Tampa Bay’s second line, which is a better matchup for this Vegas trio. With Stastny not on the same power play unit as his wingers, it’s fine to leave him off the stack and add defenseman Nate Schmidt.

Islanders Top Line of Lee-Barzal-Eberle

On the year, this line has been great offensively with their expected goals sitting over three per 60 minutes, an elite number. The problem is they’re shooting under seven percent as a line, a mark far too low for a line this talented, even on a defense-first team. Of late, they’ve been used more against the depth from other teams, meaning they should see lots of the third and fourth lines from the Stars tonight, and that’s a great matchup for them. It is an added bonus that they have perfect power play correlation against one of the most penalized teams in the NHL.

Michael has been writing about fantasy hockey for over a decade, and has been playing Daily Fantasy for just as long. He has contributed to both the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Herald, has worked for Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and is now in his fifth season with Stokastic. He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and can be reached on Twitter @SlimCliffy.

Stokastic +

Premium Data and Tools
PREMIUM TOOLS
Lineup Generator
Stokastic Sims MLB
PREMIUM DATA
Projections
Top Stack %s
MLB Data Central
FREE DATA
SoRare MLB Rankings
DraftKings Night Owl
FANTASY CRUNCHER (ADD-ON)
MLB Lineup Study
COMMUNITY
MLB Discord Server
PREMIUM DATA
Projections
Ownership Projections
PREMIUM TOOLS
Fantasy Cruncher (ADD-ON)
NHL Lineup Study
COMMUNITY
NHL Discord Server
PREMIUM TOOLS
Lineup Generator
Stokastic Sims PGA
PREMIUM DATA
Ownership Projections
Top Golfers Tool
PGA Tournament Models
FANTASY CRUNCHER (ADD-ON)
PGA Lineup Study
COMMUNITY
PGA Discord Server
Ownership Projections
Top Drivers Tool
NASCAR Discord Server
NASCAR Fantasy Cruncher
USFL Projections
USFL Discord Server
Ownership Projections
Top Fighters Tool
MMA Discord Server
MMA Fantasy Cruncher
NFL Betting Tools
Stokastic Discord Server
Best Ball
Best Ball Rankings
Best Ball Stat Projections
Stokastic Discord Server
Season Long Fantasy (Coming Soon)

DFS Winners from the Stokastic Community

Subscribe to the Stokastic newsletter

DFS advice, exciting promos, and the best bets straight to your inbox

Stokastic.com - Daily Fantasy Sports and Sports Betting Data, Tools, & Analytics

Please play responsibly. Only customers 21 and over are permitted to play. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.