Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – March 15

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.

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Games are color-coded as follows:

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

Carolina Hurricanes at Boston Bruins

Carolina has shuffled the lineup a little bit and they have now won back to back games. One of those games was against Buffalo but all the same, this team has scored 13 goals in their last four games. Perhaps the most surprising part of this team of late is that goaltender Cam Ward has had three straight starts for the first time since November. Why this is surprising is because Cam Ward has an .872 save percentage in his last 10 games. That won’t fly against one of the top teams in the league.

Boston is truly rolling right now. This team has won seven in a row and is 7-1-1 since the Olympic break. They were outshot in their last two games out but that’s where the safety net by the name of Tuukka Rask comes in. Boston has killed off 16 straight penalties spanning their last six games and while the power play isn’t really clicking right now, it doesn’t really need to. The biggest problem with this team is how spread out the scoring is, so it’s not easy to nail down which line will score.

This is the third time these two teams have met this year and Boston has taken the first two by a 7-3 margin. That indicates that this game probably won’t have a lot of goals, so I’m not sure that stacking Boston is a good idea for this one. The best way to approach this game is by taking a Bruin or two in some cash games.

One final note, keep an eye on the scratches. Dougie Hamilton has been in the press box for the last three games.

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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