Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the daily fantasy hockey morning coffee. Tonight we have a big 12 game slate to work with, so we have plenty of options to fill out our rosters.
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Some initial morning coffee thoughts:
My favorite overall game of the night is the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Edmonton Oilers, the Detroit Red Wings make an interesting play by drawing Dallas on the second night of a back-to-back, Nashville is in a nice spot against Colorado, let’s attack both Vancouver and Arizona once again.
I believe the Maple Leafs at the Edmonton Oilers will be the DFS game of the night — and potentially the most exciting real life game, as well. Toronto is second only to the NY Rangers in goals per game this season with 3.14. Games involving Toronto average 65.7 shots on goal per game and Toronto has allowed an NHL third-worst 3.19 goals per game. If you build a Leafs’ game, the goals will come.
Toronto has put up six goals four times since Nov. 5 and lead the NHL with xGF/60 of 3.20. They are also second-worst xGA/60 of 2.86.
Edmonton is behind only the Rangers, Penguins, Leafs and Hurricanes with xGF/60 of 2.66. Exposure will be had on both sides of this game. People will probably flock to Toronto’s line of:
James van Riemsdyk $7.2K (9G, 9A, 4 PPP, 61 SOG)
Tyler Bozak $5K (5G, 10A, 2 PPP, 35 SOG)
Mitchell Marner $5.7K (7G, 11A, 4 PPP, 57 SOG)
and for good reason, when JVR, Bozak and Marner skate together they have accounted for 16 goals this season, and seven goals over their past 10 games. (courtesy of LeftWingLock). I will certainly have exposure to this line. While I like Auston Matthews as a one off play tonight (he has a nice price on FanDuel — $6K) I am interested in Toronto’s second power play unit in my GPPs:
James van Riemsdyk
Tyler Bozak
Nikita Soshnikov $3K (1G, 3A, 1 PPP, 17 SOG)
Mitchell Marner
(D) Morgan Rielly $4.9K (1G, 11A, 2 PPP, 42 SOG)
Soshnikov will skate with Kadri and Komarov on Toronto’s third line, had a power play assist and four shots on goals against Washington and saw 15 minutes and 19 seconds of ice time. He’s an intriguing GPP play tonight.
So, let’s just get it out of the way and move on. Play Conor McDavid.
As far as other options in our GPPs, I am interested in Oscar Klefbom, Leon Draisaitl and Drake Caggiula. I mention Caggiula as only the deepest of GPP plays (as he was scratched on Sunday — make sure he’s playing) — and on a 12-game slate there are plently of options to go around. But I do like him as a value play — a player who is only $3.6K and will see power play minutes in a game where I think there will be plenty of goals to go around.
Oscar Klefbom and Leon Draisaitl are more straight-forward plays as they skate on Edmonton’s top PP unit with McDavid. Klefbom has three goals, five assists, two power play points and 59 shots on goal. He gives you great upside on the blue line at $4.3K. Draisaitl has seven goals, 10 assists, seven power play points and 42 shots on goal this season. But it’s what he has done over his last seven games that keeps me high on Draisaitl: four goals, five, assists, three power play goals while averaging over 18 minutes of ice time per game.
I wouldn’t stack these three together because Draisaitl skates on the third line. If you were looking to stack Edmonton’s top power play unit you can go with McDavid/Lucic/Klefbom.
Drake Caggiula will skate with Draisaitl on Edmonton’s third line and will skate on the second power play unit. While he only has two assits in his first five games of the season he makes for an intriguing GPP option in game where I think Edmonton could pour in the goals.
Other options: Jesse Puljujarvi will skate with McDavid on Edmonton’s top line and is a salary savery GPP option at $4.2K.
The Dallas Stars head to Detroit to take on the Red Wings on the second night of a back-to-back. I want to attack the Dallas penalty kill here. Dallas has allowed an NHL sixth-worst 16 power play goals against this season, an NHL-worst 4.00 goals against on the road and an NHL sixth-worst xGA/60 of 2.59. To that end we’ll look to:
Tomas Tatar $4.8K (3G, 4A, 1 PPP, 50 SOG)
Henrik Zetterberg $5.9K (3G, 11A, 3 PPP, 45 SOG)
Anthony Mantha $3.9K (2G, 2A, 1 PPP, 21 SOG)
(D) Niklas Kronwall $4K (1A, 11 SOG)
(D) Ryan Sproul $3.6K (1G, 4A, 3 PPP, 24 SOG)
as some Detroit skaters I want in my player pool tonight.
I’m also going to look to Detroit’s third line for my GPPs:
Gustav Nyquist $5.1K (4G, 10A, 2 PPP, 44 SOG)
Dylan Larkin $5.1K (6G, 1A, 1 PPP, 66 SOG)
Thomas Vanek $4.9K (4G, 5A, 4 PPP, 17 SOG)
Vanek/Larkin/Nyquist make for a nice trio as they also skate on Detroit’s second power play unit together.
Mantha is the intriguing GPP play here. In seven games with Detroit he has two goals, two assists, one power play point and 21 shots on goal. Pairing Mantha with Sproul will give you a nice mini power play stack that could go overlooked tonight. In 11 games in the NHL this season Sproul has one goal, four assists, three power play points and 24 shots on goal.
The Colorado Avalanche host the Nashville Predators tonight and I want some Nashville players in my rosters. Colorado has allowed a league 10th-worst 2.85 goals per game this season while Nashville has scored an NHL ninth-best 2.86 goals per game. I’ll certainly want exposure to a Nashville power play that has clicked at an NHL third-best 23.8 percent.
The Avalanche have allowed 11 goals over their past three games, three coming on the power play. Before being shutout by the Jets on on the 25h, Nashville had six power play goals over the course of four games. I’ll dip back into the Nashville power play well for my DFS needs tonight:
Filip Forsberg $6.7K (2G, 14A, 3 PPP, 45 SOG)
Ryan Johansen $6.5K (4G, 10A, 8 PPP, 48 SOG)
Craig Smith $5K (6G, 2A, 3 PPP, 43 SOG)
(D) Mattias Ekholm $4.6K (5A, 1 PPP, 34 SOG)
(D) Roman Josi $6.4K (2G, 10A, 7PPP, 63 SOG)
make up Nashville’s first PP unit. If I’m looking to stack I’m going with Forsberg/Johansen/Josi from the first unit or pair Viktor Arvidsson with P.K. Subban from the second unit. Arvidsson has four points over his past seven games and has taken 27 shots over that time. While he hasn’t registered a goal in four straight games he did take six shots on goal against Winnipeg on the 27th, his second-highest single game total of the season.
Tonight we’ll also attack the Vancouver Canucks and their NHL seventh-worst 2.95 goals against per game. Minnesota has scored 12 goals over their past three games and have scored six power play goals over their past five games.
Zach Parise $7K (4G, 5A, 2 PPP, 44 SOG)
Eric Staal $5.6K (5G, 11A, 4 PPP, 60 SOG)
Charlie Coyle $5.1K (8G, 7A, 3 PPP, 51 SOG)
(D) Ryan Suter $5.6K (4G, 10A, 6 PPP, 48 SOG)
(D) Jared Spurgeon $4.7K (1G, 4A, 1 PPP, 37 SOG)
makes up Minnesota’s first power play unit. If I’m looking to stack from that pool of players I’m going with Parise/Staal/Suter.
Finally, we’ll attack Arizona and their NHL fourth-worst 3.15 goals against per game. While San Jose has only scored an average of 2.36 goals per game, their power play has clicked has clicked at a rate of 25.7 percent (nine power play goals) at home this season while Arizona has only killed off 69.7 percent of their penatly kill chances on the road. To that end, I’ll want some shares of the San Jose power play.
Patrick Marleau $5.4K (6G, 2A, 3 PPP, 54 SOG)
Joe Thornton $5.4K (2G, 11A, 5 PPP, 21 SOG)
Logan Couture $6.7K (7G, 5A, 5 PPP, 70 SOG)
Joe Pavelski $7.8K (7G, 13A, 7 PPP, 72 SOG)
(D) Brent Burns $83K (8G, 12A, 5 PPP, 91 SOG)
round out San Jose’s top power play unit. My preferred stack from that player pool is Marleau/Paveleski/Burns.
Martin Jones also makes the safest play in net tonight.
Notes
–Yes, the Rangers are in play until further notice.
–Nikita Kucherov doesn’t really need any explanation. Use him at your discretion.
–Philly’s top power play unit is always in play for me. Tuukaa Rask takes some of the shine off that tonight though.
–As always, Patrick Kane is in play. Use him as you see fit.
–I like the idea of attacking Philly and will have some exposure to Marchand/Bergeron/Pastrnak tonight.
–Jack Eichel might return tonight and slot right back into that first PP unit.
As always, please double check all line combos and injuries prior to puck drop.
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Featured Image Credit: Connor Mah/Flickr C.C. 2.0.
