Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – March 16

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.

Click here to create your own Daily Fantasy Hockey lineup

Games are color-coded as follows:

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

Vancouver Canucks at Florida Panthers

The hapless Vancouver Canucks are in Sunrise, Florida today for an afternoon game and as a colleague of mine might say, this is a great REVENGEGAME.

This game will mark the first game for goaltender Roberto Luongo against his former team. When situations like this arise, the tendency is to see players elevate their games a little bit. In this case, I expect a very good game from the Panthers.

Vancouver managed a win against Winnipeg after their debacle against the Islanders where they gave up seven goals in the third period. They would then go to lose on Friday night in Washington despite outplaying the Caps. Without Ryan Kesler in the lineup, this is essentially a one-line team right now and even that’s not saying much for this team at the moment.

Florida managed a 5-3 win on Friday night against New Jersey to bring their record up to a fairly paltry 3-6-0 since the Olympics. Part of the problem has been their team’s penalty kill as it has given up five goals against in their last four games and nine goals against in those nine games since Sochi. The Vancouver power play isn’t necessarily something to fear, but it can bring some value to Canucks players who otherwise don’t have much in this game.

Florida went in to Vancouver back in November and beat the Canucks 3-2 in a shootout, a game which the Panthers outplayed their opposition. We’re still talking about two of the worst teams in the NHL here but every advantage seems to point in Florida’s direction. I wouldn’t take Luongo in 50/50s but he is a decent GPP goalie. I would also just be picking value skaters from each side.

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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