Saturday’s are always chock full of games for NHL DFS picks and daily fantasy hockey. The main slate is where we will be focusing on for this iteration of the Power Plays article. With the help of Alex Baker’s expert NHL DFS projections and ownership, we’ll be finding some of the optimal DraftKings and FanDuel lineup selections. If you’re looking for early slate news and notes for the 1 p.m. lock, I’ll be in our premium Slack channel before and I will break the slate down together with the community. Â
As always, be sure to check our premium Slack for crucial fantasy hockey lineup information in the 20-30 minutes leading up to every game’s lock. With the COVID-19 pandemic still looming, teams have taxi squads and are ready to fill positions daily as teams scratch players. Our Slack chat is hands down one of the best places to get fantasy hockey news and line change notifications.
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NHL Power Plays: DraftKings + FanDuel DFS Picks | April 10
NHL DFS Picks: Centers
Auston Matthews (TOR vs OTT)
DraftKings — $9,300
FanDuel — $8,800
The Senators have given up a league-leading 3.71 goals against per game this year, and in the six matchups with the Leafs this year, they have allowed 3.8 per contest. Matthews has averaged 20 DraftKings points against the Senators this year as well. It’s no surprise that Matthews is the highest-overall projected player with a 19.35 point projection on DraftKings. Over the last 10 games, Ottawa has played better, but with the Leafs having last change, Matthews is going to get the better matchups if they need to find goals. William Nylander found his way on the COVID-19 protocol, so Sheldon Keefe had to switch the lines up to cover the depth. He did that by moving Zach Hyman down to the second line and moved Alex Galchenyuk to the top line to play with Matthews and Marner. Galchenyuk makes the line a little easier to pay for with only a $3,000 price tag.
Vincent Trocheck (CAR vs DET)
DraftKings — $7,300
FanDuel — $6,300
Seeing Trocheck as the third-highest priced pivot is startling, but his production has warranted the salary. Trocheck is riding a 12-game point streak, with five multi-point games in his last 10. The Wings sit in the cellar of the Central Division with 32 points, and come in riding a two-game losing streak. Detroit is another team allowing over three goals per game, and it is giving up over 31 shots per contest. The main attraction for the Hurricanes tonight is the power play. Carolina has the best power play in the game right now, while Detroit has the fifth-worst penalty kill at just a 75% kill rate. Carolina’s top six are both playable as both lines are 2/3 PP1 guys. Trocheck and Necas will play on the top power play while Nino Niederreiter plays on the second unit. On the top line, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov will play on the top power play, while Jesper Fast will see time on the second unit.Â
Other centers not priced up in play: Sean Monahan, Kibry Dach, Pierre Luc-Dubois.
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NHL DFS PICKS: Wingers
Patrick Kane (CHI @ CBJ)
DraftKings — $7,800
FanDuel — $7,700
The Blackhawks have had a roller coaster of a year so far and with a young inexperienced team, that’s going to happen. The one line that has consistently produced is the top line. Kane is a proven veteran that can score at will. He logs a ton of ice time, and he will get double-shifted when Jeremy Colliton can find a positive matchup on the road. These two teams have faced off six times this year and three of them were barnburners — with 11 total goals scored on both sides. Kane has 13 points in the six meetings between the two and he’s averaging almost 3.5 shots per game. We have Kane projected as the second-highest winger on the slate, and it’s warranted. This is another special teams matchup that we can look to take advantage of as well. The Blackhawks have the sixth-best power play, and the Jackets have a bottom-10 penalty kill.Â
The Same can be said the other way for the Blue Jackets, as the Hawks have dropped to the second worst penalty kill in the league. Guys like Cam Atkinson, who is a volume shooter makes for a solid one-off play, or you can even stack the power play.Â
Kevin Fiala (MIN @ STL)
DraftKings — $6,100
FanDuel — $5,700
The Wild will play again tonight after getting run out of the building last night by the Blues. It was an all around awful performance from Minnesota, but they will likely get to see backup goaltender Ville Husso tonight. Husso has played 13 games on the year and has a 3.58 goals against average, with an .883 save percentage. Fiala was held off the scoresheet yesterday, which broke his seven game point streak. But, the winger has been shooting the puck a ton. The veteran has at least four shots on goal or more, in six games straight. He will likely stay away from the clench of Ryan O’Reilly for most of the night and that should open up room to shoot pucks, and he gets you correlation to the top line by playing on the top power-play unit as well.Â
Tyler Toffoli (MTL vs WPG)
DraftKings — $6,700
FanDuel — $6,400
Toffoli has been a phenomenal addition to the Canadiens. The veteran winger is playing just shy of a point-per-game pace, while leading the Canadiens in scoring and in points. Over the last 10 games, Toffoli has nine points and he’s firing off three shots on net per game. When Brendan Gallagher went down with a thumb injury, Dominique Ducharme shifted the lines and put Toffoli with Jordan Staal and Jonathan Drouin. All three will fully correlate on the top power-play unit, which is a rarity for the Canadiens. The Jets have been a very disciplined team, but they have spent over five minutes a game short handed over the last 10 games. They have also given up the fifth-most shots against in that time and got bailed out from good goaltending.
Other Wingers on the short list: Kyle Connor, Oliver Bjorkstrand.
NHL DFS PICKS: Defensemen
Seth Jones (CBJ vs CHI)
DraftKings — $5,100
FanDuel — $4,900
With Zach Werenski out for the rest of the year, Jones needs to step up and be the top blue-liner for the Jackets. He’s logging over 25 minutes of ice time nightly and his shot volume has picked up to last year. Over the last 10 games, Jones is averaging 4.5 shots/blocks per game and he’s hit the shot bonus twice in four games. The offensive-minded blue-liner is quarterbacking the top power-play unit, and we love to see that against Chicago. The Hawks are giving up the second-most shots against per game at five-on-five, and they also have the league’s second-worst penalty kill. Over the last 10 games, the Hawks are allowing the most shots against and they have the second-worst expected goals against on the penalty kill. Getting creative with a Jackets power-play stack could pay dividends tonight.Â
Sean Walker (LA @ SJ)
DraftKings — $3,900
FanDuel — $3,700
Saving salary on the blue line is going to be a key tonight as we need to find salary relief to fit in the higher-priced lines. Walker has been a consistent value play and at $3,900 on DraftKings he fits the bill for value tonight. Over the last five games, Walker is averaging almost 22 minutes of ice time. To go along with the added opportunity, the young Canadian is averaging 5.8 shots/blocks per game. That’s phenomenal for a $3,900 blue-liner. Walker will also quarterback the second power-play unit. Awesemo has Walker as the best value play, for a defenseman that plays on a power play, with a projection of 9.12 DraftKings points.
Top Stacks
Toronto 1: Alex Galchenyuk – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner
Toronto’s top line will likely be popular tonight, but it’s for the right reasons. Ottawa is giving up 3.71 goals against per game, which is the most in the league. They are also allowing the third-most shots against per game. The Senators are also sporting the league’s fifth-worst penalty kill. With Zach Hyman moving down to the second line and Alex Galchenyuk moving up to the top line, it makes the stack that much easier to play salary-wise. Just make sure you are differentiating the rest of your lineups as a lot of people will be on the Leafs tonight.Â
Carolina 2: Nino Niederreiter – Vincent Trocheck – Martin Necas
The Hurricanes’ second line is in a great spot tonight with last change. They will see the depth lines of Detroit, which is a positive matchup any way you look at it. Missing Tyler Bertuzzi, Robby Fabbri, and Bobby Ryan has been a big hit to them and their depth has taken a hit from it. Carolina is a top-5 team in the league and the Wings are a bottom-5 team. At five-on-five, Detroit is 29th in Corsi, 24th in shots against and 22nd in goals against. Expec the Hurricanes to play a lot of hockey in the offensive zone tonight. If you’re worried about ownership, you could pay up to be contrarian with playing Trocheck and Necas with Dougie Hamilton as the three-man stack, instead of full-line stacking as they all correlate on the top power-play unit. Â
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