Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – March 5

I generally do not pick two players playing against each other in the same game for a daily fantasy hockey lineup. The same applies for a goalie and a player from opposite teams. You might see two players among the “value picks” from opposite teams, but that doesn’t mean you should take them both. No matter the value, you’re also likely cannibalizing points, so any gains made below a certain price point – the point where production and cost intersect – can be lost if production declines overall as well.

There are many things that determine value: The player’s history (both short and long-term), the price, recent production, opponent, line matching at even-strength, power play time and injuries are just some of the factors to consider. The “Top Value” doesn’t necessarily mean the cheapest player, either.

Finally, as far as goalies go, it’s the one position I’ll pay through the nose for if I really like the match-up. The same applies for back-ups with good match-ups. In a given night, with a full slate of games, I won’t have more than three different goalies across all my lineups, usually two. I’ll name the goalies I like specifically in the match-ups they appear in.

Here is today’s slate of games (and DraftStreet values). Reminder: check Left Wing Lock for up-to-the-minute information on starting goalies.

Create your own lineup at DraftStreet

Games are color-coded as follows:

Green means stack for GPPs. Yellow means targets for cash games. Red means value plays only.

Toronto Maple Leafs at New York Rangers

Toronto has come out of the Sochi break a little flat, outside from their top line and their goaltenders, that is. That’s been pretty much the modus operandi for this year: without outstanding goaltending or Phil Kessel lighting the lamp, this team has pretty much no chance of winning on any given night. The power play has been 0-fer since Sochi while the penalty kill has given up three goals in three games. Keep this in mind: Kessel has zero points in two games against the Rangers this year, the only team to hold Kessel pointless outside of the Calgary Flames (who have only played Toronto once).

After a hard-fought battle against Chicago, the Rangers lost both their games in regulation over the weekend by a combined score of 10-5. Despite the struggles of Lundqvist in net, the Rangers did score a power play goal in each of those games and they did outshoot those opponents 77-64 as well. In short, the Rangers are playing well and just not getting the goaltending they’ve needed.

The Rangers and Leafs have played twice this year with the Rangers outscoring Toronto 8-2 and winning both games. They have also outshot the Leafs 93-52 in those two games.

I expect the Rangers to win tonight and it could be a beat down. It would be tough to pinpoint which line will do the damage tonight, though, so be careful of who gets stacked. I do like Henrik Lundqvist in net for this one, though.

Michael Clifford

Michael Clifford was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and is a graduate of the Unviersity of New Brunswick. He writes about fantasy hockey and baseball for XNSports and FantasyTrade411.com. He can be reached on Twitter @SlimCliffy for any fantasy hockey questions. Follow @SlimCliffy !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

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