Daily Fantasy GPP Picks: 03-03-18
With a much larger than usual afternoon slate, tonight offers us just three games to play with. The outdoor game certainly throws a wrench in things for DFS players, but there are still some safe plays to be found. I’ve outlined some of my top choices below. Good luck!
Connor McDavid ($8,000)
We’ll start with the most obvious play of the night. McDavid is inarguably the number one option on this slate. While the Maple Leafs and Capitals regularly engage in high-scoring affairs, the fact that it’s an outdoor game makes it difficult to forecast and risky to build around. The Coyotes and Senators is sure to be a tire-fire of a hockey game, making McDavid’s Oilers the most attractive DFS option by default.
Only the Islanders surrender more shots per game than the Rangers, and since the turn of the calendar year they’ve given up more goals than any other team in the league. Inversely, McDavid has 32 points in 25 games in 2018, averaging over four shots a contest. This is a dream matchup for McDavid that’s only made sweeter by the fact the Rangers are travelling to Edmonton on the tail-end of a back-to-back. Don’t overthink this one, McDavid is as close to a lock as there is on this slate. He’s expected to have Leon Draisaitl ($6,200) back up on his wing tonight, making Edmonton 1 a prime target for line stacks.
Mitch Marner ($6,500)
Marner has been on an absolute tear recently, registering 18 points (9G/9A) in his last 13 games. He’s also seen his usage rise as of late thanks to the injury to Auston Matthews. Marner has averaged over 19 minutes while picking up 6 points (2G/4A) in the three games Matthews has missed so far. As I noted earlier, playing in the outdoor game means this pick offers substantially more risk than McDavid. But given his usage and the dip in ownership the outdoor game is likely to cause, Marner could have tremendous payoff tonight. If you want to use him in a stack, Nazem Kadri ($6,600) gives you the best compatibility as the two have been spending a large amount time together both at even strength and on the powerplay.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($5,000)
What makes OEL a personal favourite of mine to play in GPPs is he tends to perform true to the matchup. He generally struggles against high-quality teams and piles on the fantasy points against weaker ones. Take just the past two weeks for example. OEL failed to post more than 2.5 fantasy points against the Flyers, Sharks, and Wild, but registered at least 3.5 against the Canadiens, Oilers, and Blackhawks. It’s exactly the type of player we love in DFS because it makes it that much easier to forecast his production.
Tonight he draws another ideal matchup against the Senators, one of the few teams in the league with worse possession metrics on the year than the Coyotes. Ekman-Larsson is bound to see another 21-24 minutes of ice tonight, the majority of which will be spent in the Senators zone, an ideal scenario given their abysmal defence and goaltending. He makes a for a solid addition to any build featuring the Coyotes tonight, most notably Arizona 1, but also makes for a strong one-off play as well.