Daily Fantasy Hockey Picks – Feb. 27

On February 24th I started writing this:

“I keep writing about “daily fantasy hockey gods” as if there were some great being (or beings) out there who decide our fantasy fates. I’m here to tell you, they exist. I don’t have proof at this point if we’re talking a singular Christian God, a Mount Olympus situation or something in between. All I can you is … I believe. I showed humility in defeat one day and was rewarded with fantasy victory. I showed the opposite of humility the next day and  was punished with fantasy futility. I deserved to be punished. Bragging, humble-bragging, boasting of any sort is a sin of daily fantasy. It’s a sin I break from time to time.

We have to take our victories when they come and yesterday (Feb. 23) brought some wins. Yes, I’m committing a sin and I realize that it took me only two sentences to commit the sin. Our Early Only FanDuel lineup paid off with 50.75 fantasy points. We have to thank Alexander Ovechkin for that. His hat-trick in addition to Jakub Voracek‘s continuing fantasy dominance led the way in the early games. We finished first in a 50 man league and went 3-1 in our head to heads.”

That’s where I had to stop. Real life stopped fantasy life.

Things change. Things change fast. I am plus one baby boy since the last time I gave my daily fantasy hockey picks. In fact, his eyes are gazing upon the screen right now, perhaps scrutinizing my lineup choices. I’m sure the small “accidental” slap to my chin was for the brief moment I actually took Jakub Voracek out of today’s lineup. Even an infant knows when to ride a hand that hot.

I will enter the following lineup into some FanDuel head-to-heads and 50/50’s and let you know how it works out—good or bad.

LW: Alexander Ovechkin $7,900—The hat-trick in New Jersey seemed to revitalize Ovechkin … then … nothing. Well, almost nothing. The following game he did record an assist but was held shotless. That won’t happen again—at least not two games in a row. He’s good for four to seven shots per night and I like him against a Philly team that is allowing 3.10 goals per game.

LW: Andrew Cogliano $4,300—We’re digging deep but Cogliano does have a goal and three shots over his past two games.

RW: Jakub Voracek $7,200—Red hot, white hot, whatever you want to call him—you have to play him.

RW: Damien Brunner $6,200—I like the fact Brunner has 18 shots on goal over his past four games. I especially like the fact he scored twice and had four points against Vancouver  on the 24th.

C: Nazem Kadri $5,400—Kadri has three points in his last two games and 17 points in 20 games. He has the same amount of points as Phil Kessell. I’ll admit the Montreal vs. Toronto matchup scares me a little but at $5,400 I find him hard not to play.

C: Claude Giroux $7,800—Giroux has five points over his last three games.

D: Niklas Kronwall $5,000—Kronwall has six points in Detroit’s past two games. Again, I’ll ride the hot hand.

D: Roman Josi $4,400—Josi may be getting a little more confident. He had four points against Dallas on the 25th and is a good play at $4,400.

G: Viktor Fasth $6,800—Fasth is probable but not confirmed yet. Make sure to check on the status of starting goaltenders as game time approaches. (Thanks to leftwinglock.com for starting Goalie information). 5:09 PM Update: Fasth has been confirmed.

NOTE: According to ESPN.com Raphael Diaz is out tonight and Tomas Kaberle will take his place. Kaberle is $3,900 on FanDuel and if you put him in Kronwall’s place you’d open up a little room to work with to play some higher priced forwards. An alternative lineup could look like this:

Tom Fitzgerald

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