Saturday is always a chaotic day for NHL DFS. Today is no different with a three game morning slate that locks at noon. For the purpose of this article, I will be covering the main slate that locks at 7 p.m. In this Power Plays article, the goal is to highlight several NHL DFS picks for DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy hockey tournaments. Using Awesemo’s premium proprietary player projections and the top stacks tool, we will highlight several players and situations that will help your team rocket up the leaderboard.
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NHL Power Plays: DraftKings + FanDuel DFS Picks | Feb. 20th
NHL DFS Picks: Forwards
Auston Matthews ($8,800 DraftKings / $8,600 FanDuel), A /B/A Grades
Matthews has been a cheat code the entire year. He has 16 goals in the first 17 games, and he’s averaging 20 DK points. DraftKings actually lowered his price tag from the last game. Yes, I know it’s because of the matchup with the Canadiens. But when a guy is playing as good as he is, there’s no reason for them to lower his price. Since moving Tomas Tatar off that top line, they are giving up more shots on goal and more quality chances. Both sides of this game look pretty intriguing to me here. There should be a ton of pace in this game with chances on both sides.
Brayden Schenn ($6,000 DraftKings / $6,400 FanDuel), C/D/C Grades
Schenn has been a rock-solid contributor after a slow start to the year. The pivot has 14 points in 17 games and he’s hit the shot bonus in four out of the last nine games. The Blues get a good matchup for NHL DFS purposes tonight against the Sharks. On the year, San Jose has been a bottom six team in expected goals and scoring chances per 60 at five on five. We will likely see the Ryan O’Reilly line match up with the Logan Couture line, which leaves Schenn matching up with the Tomas Hertl line. The Sharks second line has a small sample with all three players, but we do know that Hertl and Timo Meier are not possession monsters. They are more shot volume players that concentrate on the offensive side of stuff and tend to lack defense. Schenn will find plenty of chances to get pucks on net, or even feed his mates Mike Hoffman and Jordan Kyrou.
NHL DFS Picks: Wingers
Steven Stamkos ($8,000 DraftKings / $ 8,400 FanDuel), A/B/A Grades
Stamkos and the Lightning are coming off a four day rest and they will take on a Hurricanes team on the hind end of a back to back. Stamkos is riding a three-game goal streak with four goals in the last three. He will likely see the Sebastain Aho line most of the night, but I wouldn’t be too scared of the matchup. Since Brock McGinn has joined that top line, they have been a little more susceptible on the defensive side of things and on the scoring chances side. I like the Lightning top line for a contrarian type stack tonight.
Latest NHL DFS Content
Conor Garland ($6,800 DraftKings / $ 5,400 FanDuel), A/C/A Grades
Garland has been single handedly bankrolling SOG prop bettors. He’s averaging just under four shots on goal per game, and he gets a great matchup against the Kings tonight. Arizona is going to get last change, which means they will be able to keep the Yotes top line away from Anze Kopitar and the top line of the Kings. The Kopitar line is really the only line I don’t look to attack on the Kings. Team wise, the Kings have been pretty brutal defensively over the last ten games. They rank 25th in Corsi, 27th in expected goals against, 23rd in scoring chances against, and 25th in high-danger scoring chances against. Garland and the top line as a whole make for a great stack tonight.
Kevin Fiala ($6,500 DraftKings / $ 5,800 FanDuel), B/C/A Grades
The Anaheim Ducks have been the team to pick on for the last two seasons. They are going through a rebuild and it’s going to take time to get the pieces in order. They have been extremely fortunate to get elite goaltending by the likes of John Gibson. That can only hold you over for so long though. Fiala served his three game suspension and lit the lamp in his first game back, while rifling off five shots on net. He’s playing on the second line alongside Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson-Ek. All three will see some sort of power play time, but with the Ducks having a decent PK, I’m not trying to correlate fully. Fiala will likely stay away from the Ryan Getzlaf line most of the night, which has been the line that limits the most chances. They should get the Ducks second line for the majority of the night, leaving them a plus matchup. Give me some of this “boring” game.
NHL DFS Picks: Defensemen
Jakob Chychrun ($6,000 DraftKings / $ 4,400 FanDuel), B/B/A Grades
Chychrun has been playing over 25 minutes on a nightly basis and he is producing 4.5 shots/blocks per game. He’s also quarterbacking the top power play unit and even though the Kings penalty kill has been pretty stout, I’m interested in a stack addition. Chychrun was blanked against the Kings on Thursday, but I’m expecting a different outcome tonight. Stacking him up with Nick Schmaltz and Conor Garland is a fine play tonight as the forwards will likely avoid the tough matchup with Anze Kopitar.
Justin Faulk ($5,400 DraftKings / $ 4,400 FanDuel), D/C/A Grades
Faulk has been in a scoring drought and the Sharks could be a good recipe to find his way back on the scoresheet. San Jose is giving up the most fantasy points per game to defensemen. They are also allowing the fifth most shots against per game at 32.3 SA/G. One of the main caveats for looking to Faulk would be the Sharks penalty kill. San Jose has a bottom 10 penalty kill and they are taking a lot of penalties. Faulk makes a great addition to a Blues stack tonight.
Top Stacks
Arizona 1: Clayton Keller – Nick Schmaltz – Conor Garland
St Louis 2: Mike Hoffman – Brayden Schenn – Zach Sanford
Pittsburgh 1: Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Kasperi Kapanen
Edmonton 1: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Jesse Puljujarvi
Calgary 1: Matthew Tkachuk – Mikael Backlund – Andrew Mangiapane
Value Stack
Tampa Bay 2: Alex Killorn – Tyler Johnson – Mathieu Joseph
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