Matt Rogers 
FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays – August 1 Slate Summary
Alright hockey fans, FanDuel NHL is FINALLY back this Saturday! Not everyone’s favorite team will be on the ice this summer, but we do get a plethora of five games per day, over the next week, among the 24 teams still reaching for the Stanley Cup.
The NHL scheduled just one game every several hours on Saturday, starting at noon, and ending with a game starting at 10:30pm. So, we have hockey on all day, making for an exciting NHL DFS weekend.
Meanwhile, FanDuel NHL’s Main slate, current the only option available, covers all five games.
So, it’s possible you could have some players rostered in the opening game between the Rangers and Hurricanes, and need to be glued to fantasy hockey outcomes through midnight, ET, watching the Jets and Flames battle in Edmonton.
The flip side of the all day hockey slate, is that we roster our team for five games cover over 12 hours, making us sweat through potential last minute goalie moves from the later game teams. That, frankly, makes me a little hesitant to recommend late plays.
However, we’re going to assume, given these guys are effectively in a bubble, they won’t be making too many last minute scratches on Saturday.
Alright, having looked at likely starting goalies along with team statues, match-ups, and likely lines for this slate, let’s talk about the best plays at each position.
Top Goalies
Before I start filling out any other positions in my FanDuel NHL lineups, I typically do a deep-dive through the goalie plays. First of all, you typically do not want a skater on your roster facing your goalie.
Additionally, you’ll want to know which goalies have the best odds of piling up saves or the win, and is therefore likely not your best stacking target. And, you also want to know which of your goalies is most vulnerable.
We don’t have any starting goalies confirmed, yet, at the time of this post. However, this is how it appears to be playing out. I’ll try to update as I get more information later, and feel free to message me on DISCORD for updates.
12 PM ET Rangers – Igor Shesterkin ($7,900) vs Hurricanes – Petr Mrazek ($8,300)
3 PM ET Blackhawks – Corey Crawford ($7,200) vs Oilers Mikko Koskinen ($8,500)
4 PM ET Panthers – Sergei Bobrovsky ($7,600) vs Islanders – Semyon Varlamov ($8,100)
8 PM ET Canadiens – Carey Price ($7,800) vs Penguins Matt Murray ($8,700)
10:30 PM ET Jets – Connor Hellebuyck ($8,300) vs Flames – Cam Talbot ($7,700)
The most expensive option, Matt Murray, is frankly due to his popularity verse his play and match-up situation here. The Habs are scoring about as many goals away from home ice as the Penguins this season.
I get there’s been a long break, but Murray has battled injury issues and poor play throughout this past season. So, I don’t see any urgent/obvious need to pay up for Murray here.
I’m more likely to avoid the Penguins and Canadiens because there are too many questions, inviting too much risk into my lineup picks.
While he’s only had twelve games on the ice this past season, Shesterkin is the most attractive play. Pre-COVID, Igor was arguably the best goalie in the NHL, at least over the short time he was playing in the NHL.
However, the Canes scored 3.2 goals per game on road ice, sixth best in the NHL. So I don’t love this match-up. And, the Rangers have struggled a bit on road-ice, making this play riskier than it appears.
One option I think many NHL DFS players will overlook, is Hellebuyck getting a win over the Flames. Helley was quietly having one of the best seasons of most goalies in the NHL this past season.
And, Calgary was only scoring 2.76 goals per game on road ice, 12th worst in the NHL. Given some of the star power and FanDuel PPG metrics available to fantasy hockey players, Connor’s ownership should be lower as well.
So, of all goalie options for the opening Return to Play slate, Hellebuyck should be our best play.
Top Centers, Wingers, and Defenders
Now that we’ve got our top goalies nailed down, let’s talk about the teams we want to stack. By the way, like most sports, baseball being the best comparison, it is VERY important to stack lines in the NHL.
Not only do you want to stack teams against poor defense and net-minding, but you also should look at line combinations to make sure a center you’re picking from any team is on the same lines as some of your wingers, and hopefully a D-man or two.
Also, the best lines to stack are Power Play lines, as they often score the most points, and get bonus points for FanDuel MLB.
That said, the teams we should be most focused stacking are the Blackhawks and Oilers, in the same game, along with the Jets.
Given Varly’s struggles for the Isles this season, you could also make a case for the Panthers. However, I’m skeptical of that play, as the Panthers have historically played better offensive hockey when in Florida. But, they may now be comfortable in their new temporary (bubble) home.
From the Blackhawks, I like both power play lines, with their PP1 being the best option. That line includes Patrick Kane ($8,300), Jonathan Toews ($6,700), and Alex DeBrincat ($5,500).
Dominik Kubalik ($4,700) and Kirby Dach ($3,800) are also great plays from the Hawks third regular line, and with Kubalik on the PP2 and Dach on the PP1.
In the same game, and while considering the Blackhawks horrendous defense this past season, finding a way to afford either Connor McDavid ($8,800) or Leon Draisaitl ($8,500) is almost a must in cash games, and likely a great anchor for GPP as well.
If you’re looking for a value play from the Oilers, Kailer Yamamoto ($5,100) is finally priced above $5K, but given his NHL DFS star-power, when getting called up, over the last two seasons, I still think he’s too cheap!
From the Jets lines, Mark Scheifele ($7,300) is really your only good option at center. But their lines are chalk full of great fantasy hockey plays from Patrik Laine ($7,400), Kyle Connor ($7,200), and Blake Wheeler ($6,800).
Nikolaj Ehlers ($5,600) would typically be one of my favorite plays in this slate, but he’s an injury risk and we likely won’t know his status by noon on Saturday.
Before we get to defenders, until FanDuel properly prices Bryan Rust ($5,400) on the Penguins second line with Malkin and typically within one of their power plays, he’s a must in all lineups.
Rust has consistently provided almost 16 FanDuel NHL points-per-game with a VERY modest salary.
With Dougie Hamilton definitely out, Kris Letang ($6,800) is arguably your best fantasy hockey option at defense for this slate. However, we can likely get just as much, or more, FanDuel NHL points from Oscar Klefbom ($5,500). And, Oscar fits nicely with our Oilers stacking play.
For a better value, Darnell Nurse ($4,500) is also a great play, but Ryan Pulock ($5,200) is a great one-off play from the Isles and Neal Pionk ($4,700) is another player I think is priced way too long considering his consistent double-digit point outcomes over the season.
FanDuel NHL Blue Line Power Plays for August 1
There may be a lot of attractive names at the goalie position, but the most boring, Hellebuyck, is likely our best play of the night. He comes with a modest salary and has the best odds of landing over 30 FanDuel NHL points.
For the skaters, I’m focused on stacking the top two lines from the Oilers and Blackhawks, playing each other, along with the Jets. However, there are some nice one-off value plays from the Isles and Penguins.
Thanks for checking out this article on FanDuel NHL Blue Lines Power Play for August 1st! Our team will continue to bring you daily content, tools, and projections and a community that will help you make this your best NHL season yet.
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