I entered yesterday’s lineup into three head-to-head matchups and went two for three. A fluky goal against Thomas Greiss and a solid defensive but lackluster offensive performance by Oliver Ekman-Larsson hurt my chances in the third matchup. But I’ll take the two wins.
Today I’m going to offer two lineups. This stems from a desire to have both Steven Stamkos and Sidney Crosby/and or Evgeni Malkin in the same lineup. Not earth shattering insight, I know—but if we find a way to pair Stamkos with Crosby/Malkin, we should be in business.
My first lineup is a more traditional lineup I would feel comfortable placing in a head-to-head matchup.
Team One:
LW: Cory Conacher $5,400—Five goals, seven assists and a plus-7 rating—we’ll take him at $5,400.
LW: Tomas Fleischmann $5,800—Fleischmann is up against a Winnipeg team that has allowed an average of 3.88 goals per game (the worst in the NHL). The last time Fleischmann played Winnipeg he had two power play assists.
RW: Pascal Dupuis $6,600—This pick is a product of who Dupuis usually shares ice time with (Crosby/Kunitz). The Kunitz/Crosby/Dupuis line has combined for four goals over their past three games. Even if Dupuis himself does not score, his plus/minus rating should be solid (something FanDuel rewards) and he has a good shot at points simply by his proximity to Crosby.
RW: Vladimir Tarasenko $5,400—The January rookie of the month has seen his FanDuel price tag rise—and for good reason. Tarasenko has ten points in eight games and shows no signs of really slowing down.
C: Cody Hodgson $4,900—At $4,900 Hodgson is simply a must have. He’s coming off a three-point game against Florida and he plays on a line with Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville. That line has combined for six goals over the past three games—the best in the NHL. As an experiment you could stack that line tonight—just keep in mind Ottawa has only allowed 15 goals all season.
C: Sidney Crosby $9,400—Crosby is a stud, not much else to really say. The only thing you may want to consider is using Stamkos or Malkin tonight. The reason I’m rolling with the Pittsburgh guys over Stamkos is the matchup. But even that is coming down to a gut call. Pittsburgh gets the Islanders (who are allowing 3.25 goals per game) and Stamkos gets a Philly team that is allowing 2.89 goals per game.
D: Fedor Tyutin $4,600—Tyutin sees a ton of ice time (22:09) for Columbus and has made the most of it this season—seven points in nine games.
D: Kevin Shattenkirk $5,500—Shattenkirk is really turning into an elite offensive defenseman. He has nine points in eight games with four of those points coming on the power play.
G: Brian Elliott $7,300—Elliott is one of the most affordable goalies on the board tonight. I believe St. Louis and Elliott get the win tonight which is good for an extra three fantasy points in FanDuel scoring.
Team Two:
LW: Michael Grabner $5,400—I know, Grabner has been held pointless over his last two games. What intrigues me about Grabner was that he saw power play ice time against New Jersey on Sunday and he had a goal the last time he played Pittsburgh.
LW: Cory Conacher $5,400 (see above)
RW: Matt Frattin $4,900—Frattin has seven points in six games. Since we’re digging for value here, I’ll take him at $4,900.
RW: Vladimir Tarasenko $5,400. (see above)
C: Evgeni Malkin $9,400—Malkin has two goals and 10 assists this year. The former 50-goal scorer should break out of his mini goal scoring slump soon.
C: Steven Stamkos $9,900—Stamkos only trails Vanek in scoring this season.
D: John Carlson $4,100—Carlson only has three points on the season but did score against Pittsburgh on Sunday. He sees more than 22 minutes of ice time per night and does get the puck on net. Carlson seems to be waking up from his early season coma.
D: Mike Kostka $3,100—We’re digging as deep as we can get here. Kostka sees a ton of ice time for Toronto and he’s playing a Washington team that seems to sleep walk through some games.
G: Brian Elliott $7,300—(see above)
Experiment Stacking with the Sabres: (use this lineup with caution—I simply want to see the results of stacking Buffalo’s first line)
LW: Thomas Vanek
LW: Cory Conacher
RW: Jason Pominville
C: Cody Hodgson
D: Fedor Tyutin
D: Mike Kostka
Thanks to leftwinglock.com for line combinations.
