Tonight we have a big, twelve-game slate to go through for our daily fantasy hockey needs.
The first matchup I am interested in is the Edmonton Oilers at the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Oilers have scored 3.22 goals per game this season, good for sixth-best in the NHL and head out to face a Toronto team that has allowed 3.78 goals per games, third-worst in the NHL. Toronto has allowed six power play goals over their first nine games.
In a very small sample size – three games – Edmonton has seen some good numbers on the road this season. They have only allowed three road goals, with a power play percentage of 28.6 percent, while scoring 10 goals to go along with 15 assists. Toronto’s penalty kill percentage sits at 63.6 percent at home (fourth-worst in the NHL — again, dealing with small sample sizes still). To that end, I’ll be looking at Edmonton’s top power play unit as the foundation for some of my lineups tonight:
Milan Lucic $5.9K (4G, 3A, 2 PPP, 22 SOG)
Connor McDavid $8.3K(5G, 7A, 3 PPP, 22 SOG)
Leon Draisaitl $5.3K (2G, 4A, 2 PPP, 21 SOG)
Jordan Eberle $6.6K (3G, 3A, 29 SOG)
(D) Andrej Sekera $4K (3A, 1 PPP, 11 SOG)
Keep an eye on this line as there was some shuffling during Edmonton’s shut out loss against Ottawa on Sunday.
I don’t think we should overlook the Toronto side in this one — especially in GPPs, as Toronto has scored a more-than-respectable 26 goals over nine games. They have also scored at a 25 percent clip on the power play – a percentage good for sixth-best in the NHL (seven power play goals). Toronto also sports a GF60 of 3.44 (goals for over sixty minutes). On a twelve-game slate, Toronto could go overlooked and have the offensive upside to help your lineups. They are certainly riskier as Edmonton has only allowed a fourth-best 2.11 goal against per game.
Toronto’s First line:
Zach Hyman $3.6K (1A, 23 SOG)
Auston Matthews $6.2K (6G, 4A, 4 PPP, 36 SOG)
William Nylander $5.3K (4G, 7A, 7 PPP, 31 SOG)
PP1:
William Nylander
Auston Matthews
Leo Komarov $3.6K (2A, 1 PPP, 11 SOG)
Nazem Kadri $6K (3G, 3A, 4 PPP, 15 SOG)
(D)Jake Gardiner $4.2K (1G, 5A, 13 SOG)
and I do like the idea of pairing James van Riemsdyk with Mitchell Marner in some lineups as they skate on Toronto’s second together and on the second PP unit. You could even add Nikita Zaitsev as a cheap D option ($3.6K). Zaitsev will see PP time on Toronto’s second unit and would offer you some cap relief if you’re looking for a stud at another position.