Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – March 3

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 sign up for DraftStreet

Games are color-coded as follows:

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

Columbus Blue Jackets at Toronto Maple Leafs

Columbus has gone 1-1 in their two games back off the break and the combined score of those games was 8-8. For as good as they looked before the Sochi Olympics, they’re looking average right now. One thing to look out for is the usage of Marian Gaborik: Gaborik’s name has been linked to trade rumors and they held him to under 13 minutes of ice time. That was a game after playing 16:40 coming off injury. If they’re limiting his ice time to protect his trade value, or even if it’s just to ease him in after injury, it limits his upside in DFS.

Toronto has opened the stretch run with overtime losses in back-to-back games. It hasn’t been a necessarily pretty start for them: Toronto has been outshot by 18 against the Islanders and Canadiens, allowed nine goals against in two games, and given up three power play goals on nine chances. Pretty much other than the top line of Phil Kessel, James van Riemsdyk, and Tyler Bozak, this team worries me a lot when it comes to DFS because of the inherent plus/minus concerns.

This is the third meeting this year between the two teams and Columbus won both of the first two games by a combined score of 11-2. The Blue Jackets are a four line team while the Maple Leafs are at-best a two line team. That sort of lop-sided depth means that Columbus will probably win this one as well. Toronto worries me enough that I won’t take any goalies in this game but I will have a lot of skaters from either 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');

See Full Bio