FanDuel NHL: Saturday Targets

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Published on August 8, 2020

SLATE PREVIEW

Preparations are being made as the final round-robin games to determine playoff seeding will be played today. The winner of the Vegas-Colorado matchup will face three-time Cup champions Chicago, while the winner of the Tampa Bay-Philadelphia matchup will face Montreal. Both Chicago and Montreal are coming off upsets against heavily favored Edmonton and Pittsburgh, respectively.

GOALIES

The Lightning aren't giving Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9,000) a lot of goal support, and expected Flyers starter Carter Hart ($7,600) is a very good value play as the Flyers look like the best team in the East after two round-robin games.

Philipp Grubauer ($8,400) is a pretty good bet considering how good the Avs look. Robin Lehner ($7,900) is slightly more expensive than Marc-Andre Fleury ($7,800), but neither goalie has shown well in round-robin play. It should be a high-scoring game since both teams like swapping scoring chances, but the edge should go to Colorado with their elite forwards.

VALUE PLAYS

Scott Laughton ($4,200) and the second line combined for eight points in their win against Boston, and it's a combo that Alain Vigneault seems to really like. Don't expect them to be a scoring line all of a sudden, but the extra offense is nice to go along with Laughton's usual output of shots and blocks.

Joel Farabee ($3,300) is expected to take Jakub Voracek's spot and line up next to Claude Giroux on the top line. He has some offensive upside and generated a couple scoring chances despite limited action against Washington.

LINE STACKS

Avalanche vs. Golden Knights

Nathan MacKinnon (C - $8,700), Mikko Rantanen (W - $7,400), Vladislav Namestnikov (W - $4,600)

The scary thing is this line has yet to get going. MacKinnon has zero goals on 11 shots and Rantanen has just two points. Namestnikov can pitch in with a point or two but note he usually doesn't get any time on the power play.

Lightning vs. Flyers

Anthony Cirelli (C - $4,400), Tyler Johnson (W - $4,400), Alex Killorn (W - $4,800)

AnalytI've-wise, this line is getting buried, but it's a cheap stack for a second unit, and they came through huge against Boston. Both Johnson and Killorn get time on the power play, so there's added value there.

DEFENSEMEN

Shea Theodore ($6,100) is appropriately among the cream of the crop as the second most expensive defenseman coming off a two-goal effort with seven shots against the Blues. He's been far more productive than Cale Makar ($5,600), who is still worth the price but hasn't looked as dangerous as usual.

Travis Sanheim ($4,400) and Samuel Girard ($4,400) are in the tier below for puck-moving defensemen. Victor Hedman ($6,300) has been underwhelming, and the Lightning have received just two power plays so far, capping his fantasy value without significant minutes with the man advantage.

Nate Schmidt ($4,800) and Ivan Provorov ($4,700) are safe picks, as usual. These two all-round defenders play in all situations for their teams and even if they don't score any points, they're usually pretty dependable generating shots and blocking them.

Philippe Myers ($3,700) has had a pretty good two-game stretch in his first taste of the NHL playoffs, and I wonder how long Matt Niskanen will stay on the second power-play unit if Myers continues to play well. He's an intriguing high-risk, high-reward pick among defensemen.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire.