NHL Daily Plays: Sunday, February 8th
We have a very unique slate of games today, with three early games and then a five-game slate starting at 5 PM EST. I will mainly focus on the later games, as that is when the bigger GPPs begin, but I will sprinkle in an early play or two.
Make sure to check the lineups page here at RotoGrinders to confirm that the goalie you wish to roster is in fact playing today.
Goalies
Make sure to check the RotoGrinders Starting Goalies Page to confirm that the goalies listed below are starting prior to puck-drop
Jaroslav Halak, New York Islanders – The Buffalo Sabres are on fire by their standards after winning last night and having won two of their last three. I am hoping that this will sway some people away from Halak today and that his ownership will be down in GPPs. The Islanders are still the safest bet for a win and today, and that ensures that Halak is my top play of the day. The Isles’ netminder had the day off yesterday and should be well rested.
Others to target (Cash Games): Braden Holtby
Others to target (GPPs): Ondrej Pavelec, Andrei Vasilevskiy
Centers
Valtteri Filppula, Tampa Bay Lightning – This is more of a DraftKings play for me, coming in at only $3,700. Filppula is still skating with Steven Stamkos on both the team’s top line and power-play unit. The matchup is not great, but this price may just be too good to pass up. Having some exposure to Stamkos at home is never a bad idea, and with Filppula’s price we get some cheap value on a productive line.
Derek Stepan, New York Rangers – Be sure to check his status before the game. He missed yesterday’s game with the flu, but coach Alain Vigneault says he expects Stepan to be ready to go for today’s game. Dallas has allowed 3.33 goals against on the road this season while the Rangers come in scoring more than 3 goals a game at home. Dallas is struggling to stop anyone right now and is really slumping defensively.
Others to target (Cash Games): Niklas Backstrom, Mike Ribiero
Others to target (GPPs): Claude Giroux, Mark Scheifele
Wingers
Marcus Johansson, Washington Capitals – One of the top value plays today, Johansson will give you exposure to Alex Ovechkin at a fraction of the price. Pairing the two together will help relieve the salary hit that it costs to roster Ovechkin while providing the upside of getting the assist when Ovechkin scores. Johansson has provided great value all season long while skating on the second line at even strength but has been recently moved to the top line. This only increases his value, and at his asking price, he doesn’t need much at all to make the play worthwhile.
Ryan O’Reilly, Colorado Avalanche – O’Reilly has 3 goals and 3 assists to go along with 17 shots on goal and 10 blocked shots in his last eight games. Patrick Roy has decided to finally put his most talented players together in the top two skating lines and O’Reilly is benefitting greatly from skating with the speedster MacKinnon.
Others to target (Cash Games): Filip Forsberg, Anders Lee
Others to target (GPPs): Blake Wheeler, Jakub Voracek
Defensemen
Johnny Boychuk, New York Islanders – With all of the value plays mentioned above, it allows me to spend on defensemen. Boychuk has compiled 20 shots on goal in his last five games to go along with 15 blocked shots. He has 2 assists in that span as well, and I look for him to be very productive in the offensive zone tonight against a pathetic Sabres team.
Dan Boyle, New York Rangers – Boyle is starting to look for his shot a bit more, and against a bad defensive team in Dallas (which has given up the most points to fantasy defensemen over the last three weeks) puts Boyle in a great spot. Boyle has 2 goals in his last three games, and the price is still very fair considering he gets the ice time with the top power play unit. He is also on the third defensive pairing, so on sites that count +/-, he shouldn’t be a huge risk as he will not see much of the Benn/Seguin combo.
Others to target (Cash Games): Shea Weber, Dustin Byfuglien
Others to target (GPPs): Sami Vatanen, Michael Del Zotto