With only three games tonight I’ll keep the picks brief. My experiment to not heavily weigh power play ice time, or to at least to not give it as much weight in my recent picks, seems to be a flawed strategy—at least in the short-term. Like most daily fantasy gamers, I am a ridiculously impatient man. Over the course of a season any particular strategy may pay off in the end. But daily fantasy is about the here and now so I am back on the power play ice time wagon. Since the player pool is so limited tonight I will also lean on some other FanDuel categories to balance out the roster.
LW: Taylor Hall $7,900—If we’re talking power play, we’re talking the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are converting on 28.6 percent of their power play chances. Although Hall hasn’t been on the stat sheet in the past two games I like the fact he’s shooting the puck (11 SOG in the past two games) and has had scoring chances.
LW: Milan Lucic $6,600—Montreal vs. Boston is always an event. Montreal has a deep defense and that worries me a little with Lucic. What I do like are Lucic’s chances of getting into an early fight in this one. With no Shawn Thornton in Boston’s lineup much of the regulating duties will fall on Lucic. Lucic has the potential for the ole Gordie Howe Hat Trick tonight.
RW: Nail Yakupov $4,100—see Taylor Hall.
RW: Daniel Winnik $4,700—After an explosive four game span in January where he scored five goals, Winnik has been relatively quiet. But I’m digging for value and with only three games tonight the player pool is very limited.
C: Jamie Benn $7,000—Benn had his best game by far on Feb. 4 against Colorado with two goals and an assist. Benn could also get you some PIMS and has been getting the puck on net with greater regularity over the past two games.
C: Patrice Bergeron $6,600—I really like Bergeron in what should be a grind it out game against Montreal. Bergeron always has a solid plus/minus rating and has 15 shots on goal over his past three games. I don’t usually use Bergeron in daily fantasy since he’s not really a goal scorer and his special teams minutes come on the penalty kill and not the power play—that being said, he does have five points in eight games this season.
D: Dougie Hamilton $3,600—As long as Hamilton’s price remains this low I’ll keep rolling with him.
D: Sheldon Souray $5,600—Three goals, two assists, a plus-5 rating and power play time. He truly is a FanDuel assest.
G: Tuukka Rask $8,300—He’s arguably the best goalie in the game.
