NHL Daily Plays: Sunday, February 1st
The NHL has blessed us with a four-game slate on Super Sunday. The lock time is a bit early at 1PM EST, but that is to be expected with the big game looming later tonight. The NBA two-game slate should provide us with a little extra action today, as even some of the biggest action junkies like myself refuse to play a two-game slate.
Goalies
Make sure to check the RotoGrinders Starting Goalies Page to confirm that the goalies listed below are starting prior to puck-drop
Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins – If you want to pay up for a goalie tonight, MAF is your guy. With the Pittsburgh offense going against Carter Hutton, these points for the win should be a lock. Fleury has not been great over the past five games, only picking up a single win, and that should discourage some players from using him. Pittsburgh is finally healthy, minus the absence of Evgeni Malkin, so the team in front of Fleury should look a lot different than it did for those bad performances.
Dustin Tokarski, Montreal Canadiens – After Carey Price’s back-to-back shutouts, I believe Tokarski will get the nod for Montreal. Tokarski has only appeared in 10 games this season, but has only allowed 2.50 GAA with a .917 save percentage. The price is very low around the industry and MTL should have no trouble supplying plenty of scoring in support of the win. Montreal is one of the best home teams in the league at 17-5-2 this season and Arizona is really struggling in all parts of the game right now.
Centers
David Backes, St. Louis Blues – Backes is rolling right now, centering the hottest line in the league. He has 16 points including 8 goals in the last nine games for STL. The price has certainly risen, but with four games on the slate, he is tough to fade in my opinion. The Blues have the league’s second-best power play with a 24.4% success rate, and have a matchup with the mediocre PK in Washington. If you believe in riding the hot hand, Backes is your guy.
Nick Bonino, Vancouver Canucks – Bonino will provide the salary relief you need to play some of the studs today. Last game he got 78% of the ice time with the Sedins on the team’s top power-play unit. While Devan Dubnyk has been outstanding in net for Minnesota, I think that Vancouver will find a way to score a few tonight, and with this price tag I am willing to take a chance that one will come on the power play with Bonino involved. He’s more of a GPP filler tonight, but if you really need a cheap play for cash games, he could work in a pinch.
Wingers
Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens – My top play of the day today. Arizona has not been able to stop anyone as of late, and Max is always the first forward to look at when targeting Montreal. He is always a safe play for cash games with the amount of shots he puts on net game in and game out. Ottawa scored seven goals on Arizona yesterday and this could get ugly again. Max is a great play for any format tonight.
Chris Kunitz, Pittsburgh Penguins – At $5,400 on DraftKings, this is a steal. I believe he will return to the top power play unit for the Penguins as he netted the game-tying goal in their last contest on his only shift with the top line with a man advantage. He skates with Sidney Crosby at even strength, and against Carter Hutton in net for Nashville, the Penguins should light the lamp with ease. The price is simply too low on DraftKings.
Defense
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens – One of the cheapest ways to get exposure to the 27th ranked penalty kill for Arizona is Markov. Skating nearly 25 minutes a game this season, he is a great value on FanDuel as the Canadiens scoring is spread out across three lines at times. Taking their defensemen is a route I like to take as it saves salary and is often the safe way to go for cash, as the scoring is hard to predict. Any time Arizona is on the slate, I want to target their penalty kill. If I can get the salary relief while doing so, I am not going to argue.
Connor Murphy, Arizona Coyotes – This is a play exclusive to DraftKings for me as I am relying on blocked shots. Murphy has 21 blocks in his last 6 games, and I expect more of the same tonight as MTL should dominate the game and control the puck throughout. If Mike Smith is getting the day off, and Louis Domingue gets the nod, look for Arizona to really pack it in defensively and put their bodies on the line to help the rookie out. I wish I could find the numbers on this, but it seems like many teams block shots at a much higher rate when a backup goalie is in and the defense is sagging down to help. Either way, Murphy is a prolific shot blocker and should be involved in protecting his team’s net today.