NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 2/21/20
A good chunk of you played daily fantasy football this year, and I'd be willing to bet a significant portion of you have also tried out daily fantasy basketball and baseball. But hockey? Hockey?
It's time to give it a try over on FanDuel because it's a ton of fun.
Our analysis and projections can help you win. To help, let's take a look at a goalie, some high-priced skaters, and lower-priced players to target for today's slate.
Goalie to Target
Ben Bishop ($8,800): The Dallas Stars project to start Bishop on Friday night against the St. Louis Blues. The Blues will be playing their third game in four nights, and this game is in Dallas where the Stars are 18-9-2 and allow just 2.17 goals per game. One good thing is that Bishop has seen 30-plus shots in seven straight starts. That likely means he will get some work. St. Louis is good at putting up shots even on the back end of back-to-backs, as they have 30 or more shots in four of the last five times that has occurred. Among other possibilities, see who starts for the New York Islanders on Friday.
High-Priced Skaters
Mika Zibanejad ($8,300): The chance that this could be a high-scoring game keeps increasing. Both offenses score goals, and the Zibanejad line was hot again on Wednesday against the Chicago Blackhawks. The center tallied a goal and three assists on five shots. Also, the Carolina Hurricanes have yielded 16 goals over their past five contests. The defense has sprung some leaks due to missing Dougie Hamilton in the lineup. With the pace the New York Rangers play, expect Zibanejad to get his opportunities tonight. Nathan MacKinnon ($8,900) is right up there against the Anaheim Ducks, as well.
Patrick Kane ($8,000): Kane typically enjoys playing the Nashville Predators, and one can throw previous runs out the window when it comes to these teams. These are games that can often go wild scoring-wise in minutes. For what it is worth, the winger does have six real-world points in his last three games and had five shots (four scoring chances) against the Rangers on Wednesday. Nashville yields 3.3 goals per game on the road, and that number has not dropped much since John Hynes took over. Also, Leon Draisaitl ($8,500) goes up against a Minnesota Wild team that gives up 3.64 goals per game away from home.
Value Skaters
Joonas Donskoi ($3,700): The injury to Mikko Rantanen has opened up some more minutes for Donskoi, who took advantage of it on Wednesday with a goal, three shots, and two blocks against the Islanders. The question again becomes whether can he sustain that level of play. He had gone seven games without a point up until then. This makes the pick more dangerous, but Anaheim allows nearly 35 shots per 60 since January 1st. Opportunities will be had and not just from the top Colorado Avalanche players. Rocco Grimaldi ($3,600) may be an under the radar play from Nashville.
Connor Murphy ($3,700): The Chicago defenseman has not had great shot volume but has been constantly around two-three blocks per game all season long. There could be more chances for blocks tonight and opportunities to unleash his shot against a porous Nashville team. Again, a safe floor is the ideal game plan. Several alternatives exist, too, including Mathew Dumba ($3,900) of the Wild and Ryan Graves ($4,200) from Colorado.
Chris Wassel is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Chris Wassel also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username chriswassel. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
