Morgan Rielly Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Ottawa has been a team we’ve picked on all season, (with decent results) and tonight is no different. Ottawa will host a dangerous Toronto team. While all the Toronto skaters are playable, I will be focusing on the top line of John Tavares, Mitchell Marner, and Zach Hyman. Ottawa has given up 13.94 HDCA in the month of March. That is the second highest in the NHL and the most of all teams playing tonight. I will be prioritizing defenseman Morgan Rielly over Hyman tonight, as I like the Leaf’s power-play matchup. However, Hyman is a fine play for salary relief.

Over the past month, Ottawa has allowed the most HDCA/60 while giving up 3.55 GA/60 in the process. We know Ottawa is a team we can always target against and tonight is no different. Toronto has three lines we can play here, but after the second line’s big game last night, I give the edge to John Tavares, Mitch Marner, and Zach Hyman in GPP’s. I would expect them to be slightly less owned, and you get two-thirds of the top power-play unit. Morgan Rielly makes a great addition in a great special teams matchup.

Auston Matthews always draws a good matchup on home ice. He saw almost 60% of his ice time against Washington’s second line, and 20% against their third line in their last home game. With Mitchell Marner and Patrick Marleau on his wings, you get 2/3 of the team’s top power-play unit. With one of the highest projected goal totals on the slate (3.54), look for Matthews and company to stay hot on home ice. I prefer to use power-play quarterback Morgan Rielly in place on Marleau in this stack, however Marleau provides great value and brings the overall price of the complete line stack down.

The Toronto Maple Leafs opened with the highest implied goal total of the night at 4.1 goals. The New York Rangers come in to tonight allowing 3.14 goals against per game, while Toronto is second in the league in scoring with a whopping 3.69 GF/60. We’ve seen injuries cause Toronto to shuffle their lines some lately, and we’ve also seen three lines produce scoring. So where is the scoring going to come from? While Toronto’s second and third lines are playable, I will be keying in on the first line of John Tavares, Mitchell Marner, and Connor Brown. The Marner and Tavares duo have stuck together through all the injuries and line changes. I prefer to add Defenseman Morgan Rielly to the stack before Connor Brown, but Brown’s cheap price tag across the industry allows you salary to pay up elsewhere. Rielly plays on the top special teams unit, along with Tavares and Marner.

There are few decent defensemen that you could target this evening but going back to Toronto may be the wisest choice here. I mean why not, the team is one of most prolific scoring teams in the league that boast two decent blue liners that jump into the action. Morgan Rielly is having a career year with 11 goals and 29 assists but we can’t forget about the other guy that contributes on the blue line either. Although Jake Gardiner has 19 fewer points than his fellow defenseman he has been able to stand with him toe-to-toe over the last 10 games. Rielly leads the league with 11 points since the beginning of the month where defensemen are concerned but Gardiner’s goal and nine assists has him right on his heels. Either one of these players would make a good compliment to Matthews if you were to choose him as a one-off this evening.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will host the Philadelphia Flyers tonight. Both teams will be playing their second game in as many days. Toronto has the highest implied goal total on the slate, and with Alex Lyon projected in goal for the Flyers, they should have no problem scoring goals. Lyon allowed four goals on eight shots in his only NHL start this season. As a team the Flyers have allowed 3.43 goals a game, good for the fourth worst GA/60. John Tavares, Mitchell Marner, and Zach Hyman should be in store for a big game tonight. Pair them with Morgan Rielly for correlation on their elite power-play unit.

The Montreal Canadiens have been able to score a few goals this season which has helped the team jump out to a 5-2-2 record. Another thing that has helped Montreal has been the play of defenseman Jeff Petry as he is not only filling in for the injured Shea Weber he has been productive while doing so. Petry has seen four of his nine points come with the extra attacker while firing off 16 shots on net. Unless you want to pay up for Kris Letang, Dustin Byfuglien or Morgan Rielly you are probably better off going with the cheaper Petry this evening.

After a disappointing shutout on Thursday, the Toronto Maple Leafs look to bounce back against the St. Louis Blues. I will be going back to the well again tonight, and it starts with Auston Matthews. I expect John Tavares to matchup against the Blue’s top line. This will allow Auston Matthews, Kasperi Kapanen, and Patrick Marleau to skate against the Blue’s weaker lines. While lacking power play correlation, this line stack comes with a very moderate price tag. Look for Matthews to add to his league leading 10 goals tonight. Morgan Rielly makes a nice addition to this stack as he skates with Matthews on the team’s first power play unit.

As far as hot players go, Forsberg is not one of them at the winger position this evening. He does have a respectable goal and two assists so far but we know he can do much better. In 67 games last season Forsberg put up 26 goals and 38 assists in which 13 goals and 30 assists came at even strength. His CF% last season was 53.49 whereas this season he needs to step it up a bit as he is running at a 50.47 CF% thus far. Forsberg clearly likes playing at home better as he notched 16 of his 26 goals 23 of his 38 assists in just 33 games that he suited up for in front of the home crowd. Look for line mate Viktor Arvidsson to be a bit active here as well.

If you're looking to differentiate your lineup without fading Toronto with a great matchup at home, consider Toronto’s third line featuring playmakers Tyler Bozak, Connor Brown, and James van Riemsdyk. With a combined 25 points over their last 10 games, look for this line to stay hot against a weak Buffalo team that lacks the depth to slow down Toronto's scoring depth. Also featured on Toronto's top power play unit, Bozak and JVR should get plenty of quality chances on the man advantage tonight against a Buffalo team that ranks 23rd in penalty kill percentage this season and has allowed six power play goals in as games entering tonight.