Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – March 18

Rick Nash
Rick Nash
New York Rangers left wing Rick Nash Adam Hunger USA TODAY Sports

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.

Boston Bruins at New Jersey Devils

The Boston Bruins just keep rolling. With a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild last night, the Bruins have now won nine straight games by a combined score of 36-13. That is just an incredible run. What’s kind of amazing about that mark of four goals per game over a nine game win streak is that Boston is only 14.3-percent on the power play in those games, scoring twice in 14 chances. They are averaging just two power play opportunities per game yet four goals a game. In other words, they five on five play has been absolutely superb.

New Jersey starts a five game home stand tonight and it will probably determine their playoff fate as there are games against the Rangers and Maple Leafs mixed in there. If they expect to be in the playoffs, they need some better goaltending: Martin Brodeur and Cory Schneider have combined for an .881 save percentage over the team’s last five games. They have also allowed at least three goals against in six out of the team’s last seven games. With the way Boston is rolling, bad goaltending is an easy way to a quick loss.

These two teams haven’t played each other since October so getting a read on this game isn’t easy. Boston is 5-0 in the second of back to back games since January 1st and there are wins against Los Angeles and the Rangers mixed in there. I think this ends up a higher scoring game than it might seem so I’ll take some skaters from either side for my 50/50s and leave the goaltenders alone.

Top RW Value

Top LW Value

Top C Value

Top D Value

Bargain Bin

Loui Eriksson

(BOS)

$6944

Tuomo Ruutu

(NJD)

$5811

Chris Kelly

(BOS)

$6027

Torey Krug

(BOS)

$8527

Dougie Hamilton

(BOS)

$5027

author avatar
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. !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');