NHL

NHL Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 2/28/19

Chris Wassel  —  @ChrisWasselDFS Feb 28th, 2019
John Tavares takes on his former team as the Maple Leafs travel to New York to face the Islanders. Where else can we look in DFS tonight?

A good chunk of you played daily fantasy football this year, and I'd be willing to bet a significant portion 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. And our analysis and projections can help you win.

To help, let's take a look at some goalies, high-priced skaters, and lower-priced players to target for today's slate.

Goalie to Target

Darcy Kuemper ($7,800): The Arizona Coyotes are projected to start Kuemper against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Vancouver comes in unrested but score nearly three goals a game on the road. Kuemper has won seven of his last eight starts after a rough three-game losing streak, though his price has not responded much. Other options on Thursday night include whichever Boston Bruins goalie starts against a tired Tampa Bay Lightning team. Also, Anton Khudobin ($7,900) could be a decent tournament play against a Los Angeles Kings team that has lost nine straight.

High-Priced Skaters

John Tavares ($7,800): Tavares plays his former team on Thursday night in the New York Islanders. There will be a ton of awkwardness and probably lots of booing on the road. However, the center is used to the media circus of Toronto so the ice may be the refuge. What will be the sweetest revenge for him? Scoring goals against the Islanders would be paramount, and considering the Leafs' growing injury pool they'll need it to be in what could be a higher-scoring game than expected. Tavares should be ready. The Toronto center had a goal and assist on seven shots against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. Speaking of Oilers, Connor McDavid ($8,800) against the Ottawa Senators is another prime option on this slate. And finally, consider Aleksander Barkov ($7,700) for the Florida Panthers as he is on a six-game point streak with 3+ shots and scoring chances in seven of his last nine starts.

Leon Draisaitl ($8,300): Draisaitl just keeps scoring. He tallied his 39th goal of the season against Toronto on Wednesday on the power play. That makes 12 goals in his last 12 games for the forward who has found another gear of late. Ottawa honestly has no one that can slow down Edmonton's top power play unit; it is only a matter of whether the Oilers have the energy to sustain it. Ottawa scored twice against Washington the other night then watched seven straight go in the other way. Plus, their penalty kill is among the three worst teams in the league at home. The Senators have lost five straight while yielding 24 goals in those games, including 14 to top lines. Brad Marchand ($8,300) is a career 1+ point a game player against Tampa Bay, and Mark Stone ($7,400) plays in a good spot against Florida.

Value Skaters

Christian Dvorak ($3,100): Dvorak represents the punt play of punt plays on Thursday night against Vancouver. He played just 13 minutes in his season debut, totaling two shots and a block. His line was on the ice for all three goals against but none were honestly his fault. The bottom line is while it will take time for Dvorak to get up to full speed, however, he was still dangerous against Florida, creating a few scoring chances just on raw talent. His ice time should inch up, and there's a chance Dvorak could see a little power play time. For his price, it's a decent option. Dallas' Jason Dickinson ($3,400) is a good option against the Kings late Thursday night.

J.T. Miller ($3,900): Miller scored another goal on Wednesday night against the New York Rangers, giving him 8 points in his last 10 contests. The main knock on Miller is how streaky he is. He has 11 shots in the last 4 games, though the 18 overall attempts are more important. He draws a tough matchup against Boston, but Tampa has a way of scoring even in games like this. Roope Hintz ($3,400) is a high-risk play from Dallas, and so is Sam Gagner ($3,300) from Edmonton. They are contrarian plays at cheaper costs.


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.