Fantasy buzz: Capitals third line heating up

All season long, NHL.com's fantasy hockey staff will have you covered with daily lineup news, production trends and injury notes from around the League. We will identify how these developments affect fantasy owners in year-long (Yahoo) and daily (DraftKings) formats.

2 p.m.

DraftKings value picks for Saturday

CENTER
Value pick: Henrik Sedin, VAN ($3,900 at EDM):The Vancouver Canucks forward had one assist against the Minnesota Wild in a 3-2 win on Jan. 14, their last game before a five-day break. The assist extended Sedin's point streak to five games, totaling six assists, two on the power play, and four SOG. Sedin is skating on the second line with brother Henrik Sedin ($4,000) and forward Loui Eriksson ($3,400).
Spend up for: Patrice Bergeron, BOS ($7,400 at MTL)

WING
Value pick: Carl Hagelin, PIT ($3,300 at SJS):The Pittsburgh Penguins forward had one assist and two SOG in a 3-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, extending his point streak to five games (one goal, five assists) and has 11 SOG in that span. He is skating on the second line with elite center Evgeni Malkin ($6,900), who has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his past nine games, and Patric Hornqvist ($6,300), who has a three-game point streak. Hagelin is averaging 2.3 DraftKings points per game over his past 10 games.
Spend up for: Vladimir Tarasenko, STL ($7,600 vs ARI)
Worth noting: Chicago Blackhawks forward Anthony Duclair ($3,900) will skate on the first line with Jonathan Toews ($6,700) and Brandon Saad ($5,600). Duclair has one assist and three SOG in two games since he was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 10.

DEFENSE
Value pick: Darnell Nurse, EDM ($4,000 vs VAN):The Edmonton Oilers defenseman had another strong game against the Vegas Golden Knights in a 3-2 win on Jan. 13. Nurse had a multipoint game scoring his sixth goal of the season and had one assist and three SOG. Nurse has back-to-back multipoint games and has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past four games. He has been getting fantastic category coverage on DraftKings in that span with nine blocked shots and nine SOG. He had 2.5 DraftKings points in his only game against the Canucks this season.
Spend up for: Roman Josi, NSH ($6,700 vs FLA)

GOALTENDER
Value pick: Tristan Jarry, PIT ($7,300 at SJS):The Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender has done an admirable job filling in for Matt Murray on numerous occasions this season, and has continued that trend with Murray away from the team. Jarry had a rough game against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, allowing four goals on 32 shots in a 5-3 loss. He is 3-2-2 with a 1.96 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in seven road starts this season and has won four of his six starts in January.
Spend up for: Carter Hutton, STL ($8,300 vs ARI)

11 a.m.

Eller, Connolly thriving with Oshie

The Washington Capitals third line is beginning to gain fantasy relevance and should begin to find their way onto the radars of fantasy owners in Yahoo leagues and DraftKings DFS formats.
Lars Eller (C, 4 percent owned in Yahoo leagues) had a strong game against the Montreal Canadiens in their 3-2 loss on Friday. He scored his 10th goal of the season and had one shot on goal. Eller has scored five goals in his past six games, one on the power play, and six goals in his past nine, with 18 SOG in that span. Eller has expanded value in DFS formats with blocked shots (31 this season) and in hits leagues on Yahoo (45). Eller has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) and two power-play points this season, putting him on pace for new NHL career-highs in goals and points.
Brett Connolly scored two goals in a 4-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Friday, his 11th and 12th of the season. Connolly (LW/RW, 1 percent owned) has scored five goals and has 18 SOG in his past nine games. He has 15 points (12 goals, three assists) in 38 games this season. Connolly is shooting 29.3 percent, putting him on pace for a new NHL career high in goals; his previous best was 15 goals last season.
Both Eller and Connolly are skating on the second power-play unit with exposure to elite forward Alex Ovechkin, forward Jakub Vrana (LW/RW, 5 percent owned) and a combination of defenseman John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov (22 percent owned).
They have been aided at even strength by the addition of forward T.J. Oshie to the Capitals third line. Oshie is a known fantasy commodity to owners and has 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) and 11 power-play points in in 41 games. As long as Eller and Connolly maintain their exposure to Oshie at even strength and are seeing occasional time with Ovechkin on the power play, they will be very much fantasy relevant for the remainder of the season, especially in deeper format leagues.

Steen heating up for Blues

St. Louis Blues forward Alexander Steen is making a strong case to see increased ownership across all fantasy leagues and formats. He had a solid multipoint game in a 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, scoring his eighth goal of the season with one assist and four SOG.
Steen (C/LW/RW, 40 percent owned) saw a brief drop-off in production after the injury to linemate Jaden Schwartz on Dec. 9, scoring only one point, a power-play assist, in his next six games. He has regained his offensive production and has nine points (five goals, four assists) and 30 SOG in his past 11 games.
Steen is skating on the second line with forwards Brayden Schenn, who is the 12th ranked player in Yahoo standard leagues, and Dmitrij Jaskin (LW/RW, 1 percent owned). He is also skating on the point of their first power-play unit with Schenn, forwards Vladimir Taraseko (RW, 10th overall in Yahoo standard leagues), Paul Stastny (C, 28 percent owned) and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (eighth-ranked defenseman in Yahoo standard leagues).
Steen gets much-added value thanks to his tri-eligibility in Yahoo lineups. Schwartz began skating in practice earlier this week, and there is optimism that he could return in the coming weeks. Steen is bordering on a must-add in fantasy formats, and will get a significant boost once Schwartz returns, so fantasy owners should jump at the opportunity to add him now. Steen ($5,200) is averaging 3.5 DraftKings fantasy points per game in his past 10 games, making him a great mid-level value option in DraftKings DFS lineups against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-A, NHL.TV).
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