Daily Fantasy Hockey Picks – Feb 28

We went 1-3 in head-to-heads yesterday. Not great, I know. Perhaps the most disappointing player was Roman Josi who really hurt us with -3 fantasy points. Tom Laverty, my esteemed colleague here at Sports Jerks, also informed me my pick of Damien Brunner was not a good one. I can’t argue it. But per daily fantasy sports protocol we were each issued Wadgon and Barton dueling pistols and will settle our differences when the sun kisses the last cloud in the sky during the next Winter Equinox. I don’t make the rules, I just play by them. They are dark and mysterious rules we all must abide.

Today I’ll offer three lineups and let you pick and choose what you like. They all offer pitfalls and benefits to varying degrees:

LW: Benoit Pouliot $5,100—Sean Allen of ESPN has a great column here on Expected Points in 20 Minutes of Ice Time. Allen states, “At his current points-per-minute pace, Pouliot would be among the league leaders in the NHL if he played 20 minutes per game; he’d currently have 20 points.” Pouliot hasn’t scored in two games but has seen a steady increase in ice time—almost 20 minutes on Feb. 26th. If that kind of ice time continues I expect some good things from Pouliot.

LW: James van Riemsdyk $7,300—I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I have a little daily fantasy man-crush on van Riemsdyk. I’ll consider his minus-4 rating and zero shots on goal in his last game a simple statistical anomaly. I like him on the power play and I especially like him against the Islanders.

RW: Brad Boyes $5,200—Boyes has three points in his past four games and one very unsightly minus-3 rating against Boston. I think Boyes will bounce back tonight.

RW: Evander Kane $7,200—Kane is riding an eight game point streak and we’ll ride his hot hand against New Jersey tonight.

C: Sidney Crosby $9,900—He is Sidney Crosby.

C: Nazem Kadri $5,400—Kadri has four points in his last three games. I like his matchup against the Islanders tonight.

D: Dougie Hamilton $3,600—At $3,600 it’s difficult for me to pass on a player who shoots the puck and gets power play ice time.

D: Paul Martin $4,500—Martin has two goals in his past two games.

G: Joey MacDonald $6,800—I tend to be irresponsible with my Goaltenders. It’s a flaw. But I’m a sucker for cheap goaltending and MacDonald may be worth a tad more than $6,800 (but not much more). He’s 3-2-1, with a 2.70 GAA and .907 save percentage.

I am intrigued by Matt Stajan at $5,000 and the possibility of using more Chicago players. I also like Tomas Fleischmann at $5,000 against Buffalo. If I were to tinker with the lineup using those guidelines I may go with something like this:

I think Tuukka Rask is the best choice at Goaltender tonight. His price at $8,300 does limit what you can do with your forwards but he could be worth a play against the Senators. If you were to use Rask in net your lineup could look something like this:

Use this information as you will—and always: may the daily fantasy gods be on your side.

Tom Fitzgerald

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