Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – March 27

I will mention that 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.

Games are color-coded as follows:

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

Chicago Blackhawks at Boston Bruins

A rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals, the Blackhawks go into Boston to face the Bruins in the marquee matchup of the night.

The Blackhawks have had a fairly up and down month of March, starting the month 3-3-0 but have gone 4-1-1- since. One thing the team hasn’t done that much this month is score: the team has averaged 3.27 goals/game this season (tops in the NHL) but have averaged just 2.83 per game in their last six and 3.00 on the month as a whole. It might not seem like a lot, but it’s essentially one fewer goal every three games and that takes a big chunk of DFS value out of the Blackhawks. One thing they have done is limit chances against, as the team is averaging just 23.4 shots against this month (all strengths).

Boston lost for the first time in 13 games their last time out, a 2-1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens. While it was a matter of time until they lost, the manner in which they did it was a bit surprising: The team seemed more focused with retribution for clean hits rather than scoring goals. If that mentality carries over to this Chicago team, it’ll be lot worse than a shootout loss. One the bright side, after scoring just three power play goals in their first 10 games, the Bruins have scored two in their last three (20-percent).

These two teams met in Chicago back in the middle of January and the result was a 3-2 shootout win. I would expect a similar outcome in this game, so I am not bothering with either goaltender. I will be picking at some cheaper skaters for 50/50s 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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