We have a shorter five-game slate tonight with a couple repeat matchups. 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. 1
NHL DFS Picks: Centers
Patrice Bergeron ($7,800 DraftKings / $7,800 FanDuel), A/C/B Grades
Bergeron is hotter than the sun right now. Coming off a 3-point night on Saturday, he gets the same matchup tonight. The pivot hasn’t had fewer than 3 shots on goal in his last five games, and now that David Pastrnak is back, the full line of Bergeron, Pastrnak and Brad Marchand are ready to wreak havoc. You are going to break the bank to get the Bruins top line in your lineups, but I think they make a great leverage play tonight with the other good matchups being popular. If you look at Saturday’s game, surprisingly the Capitals decided to hard match the Carl Hagelin third line against the Bergeron line, and they got pummeled. The Bruins top line had a 68% Corsi-for, giving up 14 shots and a 5-to-2 high-danger-chance advantage. If they plan on doing that again, we can expect a similar outcome. The Capitals as a team are 28th in Corsi, and they rank 21st in expected goals against on the penalty kill. Keep an eye on ownership and look for leverage on the Bruins.
Artemi Panarin ($6,500 DraftKings / $7,800 FanDuel), A/A/A Grades
Panarin has started to get his shot volume up, and when he gets pucks on net, he’s lethal. Panarin will likely see the Evgeni Malkin line most of the night, which is the better matchup compared to the Sidney Crosby line. Add in the fact that the Penguins might also be without Kris Letang, and he makes for a solid play.
NHL DFS PICKS: Wingers
Steven Stamkos ($7,900 DraftKings / $8,300 FanDuel), A/B/A Grades
Nothing has changed from my Stamkos recommendation that I made on the last Power Plays article. The Lightning have the same exact matchup tonight against the Predators. Last game out the Lightning won 4-3 in a well-paced shootout. Stamkos seems to have finally found a way to stay healthy for the beginning of the season, and Tampa Bay needs someone to take on the scoring role without Nikita Kucherov on the bench. Stamkos has been regularly putting pucks on net, and when he’s on the power play, he gets fed on the half wall with his wicked one-timer. The Predators’ penalty kill is in the bottom 10 in shots against and goals against, and the Lightning will make them pay if they get on the man advantage.
Brendan Gallagher ($5,700 DraftKings / $7,200 FanDuel), A/A/A Grades
Gallagher continues to fire pucks on net despite not getting elite ice time. Claude Julien believes in spreading out the ice time, and with the depth that the Canadiens have, I don’t disagree. Gallagher is a volume shooter that needs to be fed. When his line has a 61% Corsi-for while putting up 43 shots and creating 16 high-danger chances per 60, shots should be plentiful. Vancouver has been pretty abysmal on the defensive side of things this year. The Canucks are in the bottom four of every single advanced metric we use for NHL DFS: 27th in Corsi-for, 31st in shots against, 30th in expected goals against, 31st in scoring chances allowed and 27th in high-danger chances allowed per 60. That is not to mention the Canucks have also spent the most time short-handed this year. Look for the Habs to take it to the Canucks tonight.
Matthew Tkachuk ($6,600 DraftKings / $5,800 FanDuel), A/B/A Grades
Tkachuk is coming off of two games of shortcomings, but that’s understandable when the opponent is the Canadiens. Last game out against the Jets, Tkachuk managed to put 5 shots on goal, and he lit the lamp for 23 DraftKings points. He will likely see the top line of the Jets, which isn’t the worst matchup to face. The Mark Scheifele line has a ton of offense, but they give up a ton of chances on the defensive side of things as well. Before the two Montreal games, Tkachuk was averaging over 4 shots a game and I think he gets back on that path tonight. We’re going to have to find a different path to success with the chalk on the slate, and I think the Flames top line could get you there if Tkachuk can continue to put pucks on net.
Josh Anderson ($4,600 DraftKings / $4,400 FanDuel), E/D/C Grades
We need to monitor Anderson’s availability for tonight. He left the last game with flu-like symptoms, but he tested negative for COVID-19. If the winger is OK to go, I like him and the second line of the Canadiens tonight. Anderson has been very good at getting pucks on net, and he has double-digit DraftKings points in four of his seven games. We will likely see the Habs second line face off with the depths of the Canucks, and that’s a plus matchup. I talked earlier about how bad the Canucks defense has been, and I think swerving off the top line to the second line could pay dividends.
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NHL DFS Picks: Defensemen
Shea Weber ($5,600 DraftKings / $5,700 FanDuel), B/A/A Grades
The Canadiens keep rotating their blue line on the power play trying to get different looks. Weber and fellow blue liner Jeff Petry will share the blue line for the Habs’ top power play tonight. My advice would be to just correlate the blue liners with your forwards. Weber is still playing upwards of 25 minutes a night and has an absolute cannon of a shot. The $500 savings on DraftKings from Petry will help save you the salary to get your better goaltender in. If you’re looking to play the Habs second line, or even Tyler Toffoli, then I would look to get Alexander Romanov in there instead.
John Marino ($2,500 DraftKings / $ FanDuel), E/A/A Grades
The Penguins defense is in disarray, and they might be down their best defenseman in Letang. Last game Marino saw over 60% ice share on the power play. At $2,500 he becomes a very popular dart throw, that actually has some upside talent.
K’Andre Miller ($2,500 DraftKings / $3,700 FanDuel), E/A/C Grades
Miller makes for a good dart throw If you’re in need of extreme salary savings. Miller has been playing pretty much 20 minutes a night on the blue line. The Rangers are also entrusting him with some penalty-killing time as well. That gives him more block opportunities, and like last game, he ended up with a short-handed assist. The young blueliner is averaging about 3 shots/blocks per game, and he doesn’t need to do much to pay that tag off.
Top Fantasy Hockey Stacks
Montreal 1: Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Winnipeg 1: Kyle Connor – Mark Scheifele – Blake Wheeler
Boston 1: Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak
Winnipeg 2: Andrew Copp – Paul Stastny – Nikolaj Ehlers
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