We have a six-game slate tonight with a couple replay games from Saturday. There will likely be a good amount of ownership on a couple of the games, and I will point it out to you. 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.
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.
NHL Power Plays: DraftKings + FanDuel DFS Picks | Feb. 8
NHL DFS Picks: Forwards
Auston Matthews ($8,800 DraftKings / $8,800 FanDuel), Grades
Nobody in the NHL has been hotter than Matthews and linemate Mitch Marner. In the last nine games, the trio has combined for 17 goals and 17 assists for a total of 34 points. The Leafs will likely be the most popular play on the slate again, but man it’s hard to get away from them with another date with Vancouver. The Canucks have been dreadful on the defensive side of things. They rank in the bottom two of every single advanced metric in the NHL at five-on-five. It doesn’t get much better on the penalty kill either, where they are 25th in expected goals against on the penalty kill. Stacking them up with their linemate Zach Hyman will bring the cost down a bit, but you need to make sure you differentiate in the rest of your lineup because they will surely be the chalk.
Connor McDavid ($8,900 DraftKings / $8,900 FanDuel), Grades
Even though the Maple Leafs have been white hot, McDavid is still proving he is the best player in hockey. McDavid is averaging two points a game, and he’s had seven multi-point games in a row. Ottawa is the worst team in the NHL right now, with a record of 1-8-1, and they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Over the last 10 games, the Senators are the second-worst team in goals against and expected goals against at five-on-five. In the last two meetings between these two teams, the Oilers lit them up for 8 goals and 4 goals the next game. The Senators shuffled lines around a little bit and moved Evgenii Dadonov to the top line with Brady Tkachuk and Joshua Norris. They need to get Dadonov going offensively, but he’s in more of an offensive role than a defensive one. Before moving Batherson off that line, they had good possession numbers. Those numbers will go down with Dadonov in that spot, and they will likely match up with the McDavid line. Sign me up for some EDM1.
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NHL DFS Picks: Wingers
Artemi Panarin ($6,800 DraftKings / $7,900 FanDuel), Grades
Panarin is working on a four-game point streak, and three of them have been multi-point efforts. His shot volume has been rock solid, averaging 3 shots per game on the year. He is coming off a tough stretch of games with a series against the Penguins and a game against the Capitals, and he managed 4 shots in each of those games. The Islanders aren’t a team that I would like to target against normally because they have been a good possession team. But with Barry Trotz moving Jordan Eberle off that top line and replacing him with Josh Bailey, the Islanders top line’s Corsi moved down from a 54% Corsi-for per 60 to 48%. The Rangers will likely use Panarin’s line against the Isles top line, and they can find success. The Islanders have been one of the most disciplined teams in the league, only going short-handed 27 times this year, so I wouldn’t worry about trying to correlate the power-play stack.
Steven Stamkos ($8,200 DraftKings / $8,000 FanDuel), Grades
The Lightning continue their elite play from last year and find themselves on top of the Central Division alongside the Hurricanes, with 15 points in nine games. It is no surprise that Stamkos leads the Lightning with 10 points, along with his linemate Brayden Point. In the two previous games between the Predators, the Lightning have lit them up for at least 4 goals. Nashville has shuffled their lines, and I’m expecting the Predators to deploy the Forsberg – Duchene – Granlund line against Stamkos, which is still a winnable matchup. One of the main focus points for me tonight will be attacking the Predators penalty kill. Nashville is in the top 10 in times short-handed, and they have the third-worst penalty kill in the league so far. Giving Stamkos and company any time on the extra-man advantage could be dangerous.
NHL DFS Picks: Defensemen
Tyson Barrie ($5,900 DraftKings / $5,100 FanDuel), B/C/D Grades
Barrie started out his new journey with the Oilers a little slow, and they expected when you move to a new team. The blueliner is starting to settle in though as his ice time continues to rise. Barrie is playing about 25 minutes a night and is also back on the top power play. If Barrie can continue to keep his shot volume up, he shouldn’t have any issues paying off his inflated tag. The Senators are giving up over 31 shots a game, and they also have the 27th-ranked penalty kill. Finally, getting some exposure to McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with Barrie is a a great play tonight.
Top Stacks
Toronto 1: Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner
Edmonton 1: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Jesse Puljujarvi
NY Rangers 2: Artemi Panarin – Ryan Strome – Kaapo Kakko
Value Stack
Tampa Bay 3: Blake Coleman – Yanni Gourde – Barclay Goodrow
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