Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Value Update – March 10

I generally do not pick two players playing against each other in the same game for a daily fantasy hockey lineup. The same applies for a goalie and a player from opposite teams. You might see two players among the “value picks” from opposite teams, but that doesn’t mean you should take them both. No matter the value, you’re also likely cannibalizing points, so any gains made below a certain price point – the point where production and cost intersect – can be lost if production declines overall as well.

There are many things that determine value: The player’s history (both short and long-term), the price, recent production, opponent, line matching at even-strength, power play time and injuries are just some of the factors to consider. The “Top Value” doesn’t necessarily mean the cheapest player, either.

Finally, as far as goalies go, it’s the one position I’ll pay through the nose for if I really like the match-up. The same applies for back-ups with good match-ups. In a given night, with a full slate of games, I won’t have more than three different goalies across all my lineups, usually two. I’ll name the goalies I like specifically in the match-ups they appear in.

Here is today’s slate of games (and DraftStreet values). Reminder: check Left Wing Lock for up-to-the-minute information on starting goalies.

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Games are color-coded as follows:

Green means stack for GPPs. Yellow means targets for cash games. Red means value plays only.

Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals

Pittsburgh wraps up a five-game road trip tonight in Washington, having gone 2-2 so far. While they’ve been on the California trip that can be a struggle for so many teams, the Penguins just aren’t playing well; in those four games, they’ve been outshot by an average of nearly 12 per game. What has saved them is a power play that is 4-for-18 in those games while the penalty kill has been a perfect 14-for-14. Sidney Crosby has struggled a bit recently as he had a three assist game against Nashville but managed just one assist and was minus-7 in the other three games on the trip.

Washington snapped a three-game losing streak on Saturday with a 3-2 comeback win against Phoenix. Much like Pittsburgh, this team has been struggling in the shots department, being outshot by nearly 10 per game over their last four contests. The Capitals have allowed at least 30 shots against in each of their six games since the Olympic break as well. Their saving grace has been their power play which has rolled along at 40-percent since Sochi even if their penalty kill has been an absolutely pathetic 60.1 percent over that stretch as well.

There should be a pile of goals in this one as both power plays are rolling and neither team is playing well defensively in most facets of the game. Pittsburgh has taken each of the first two games in this series this year, one a 4-0 shutout and the other a tight 4-3 game. I would leave the goalies alone and pick away at the power play units.

Michael Clifford

Michael Clifford was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and is a graduate of the Unviersity of New Brunswick. He writes about fantasy hockey and baseball for XNSports and FantasyTrade411.com. He can be reached on Twitter @SlimCliffy for any fantasy hockey questions. Follow @SlimCliffy !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

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