4 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on 10/24/19
Spending up in any Daily Fantasy lineup is how to get the superstars and the highest upside players in your lineup. In NHL DFS, it’s different than paying up in sports like NBA or NFL. Someone can be one of the highest-priced players at his position a put up a total dud of a performance, and paying that much for him would be a huge mistake. Let’s make sure we are paying up in the right spots when building our lineups tonight.
Thursday's NHL action features ten games and some of the league's biggest and brightest stars. So which ones do we want to roster on tonight's slate?
Jack Eichel, Center, Buffalo Sabres
FanDuel Price: $8,400
Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres have been on a tear to start the season. The Sabres are 8-1-1 and sit atop the standings in the entire league. Eichel has been at the heart of the hot streak, leading the team with 14 points. Now Buffalo gets a prime matchup to continue this good play when they take on the New York Rangers on Thursday. The Rangers have been the worst team in terms of expected goals against rate, and it hasn't been particularly close.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers are allowing 3.01 expected goals against per 60 minutes of five on five play, while the next highest rate belongs to the Ottawa Senators at 2.55. Buffalo will not just have an edge at even strength, but should be on the power play a decent amount as the Rangers have allowed a slate leading 4.43 power-play opportunities per game. The Sabres are favored in this game and have an implied team total of 3.37. Eichel is very likely to keep up his impressive play to start the season in this game.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Wing, St. Louis Blues
FanDuel Price: $7,600
The defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night as -175 favorites. Vladimir Tarasenko is the main goal threat for the Blues, and he's a player that loves to shoot the puck. Tarasenko was sixth in shot rate at all strengths last season. He is been on a point streak, with eight points in his last five games. The Kings have gotten things together a bit after a horrible defensive start to the season, they are still allowing the fifth-most goals at five on five this season.
The projections at numberFire have Tarasenko as the most likely player to score on this slate. Playing these high rate shooters is always a good option because they can still provide some value even if they don't score a goal. The Blues are implied to score over three goals and could get the benefit of facing struggling Kings goalie Jonathan Quick.
Brent Burns, Defensemen, San Jose Sharks
FanDuel Price: $7,000
The San Jose Sharks are not off to the start they had imagined after playing in the Western Conference Finals last season. Brent Burns is still up to his usual tricks though, with eight points in the nine games they've played. He has over three shots a game and is top-ten in shot attempt rate for defensemen. The Sharks travel to Canada to face the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. The Canadiens penalty kill has been terrible this year, killing off just 70% of opposition power plays. San Jose could use the matchup against the penalty kill to get their dangerous power play really clicking, which hasn't been firing on all cylinders yet this season.
The Sharks are underdogs in this game, but are still implied to score over three goals. Burns has been overshadowed by the start of John Carlson, but Burns shoots more than Carlson and his production could be more sustainable over the long term. He can start proving tonight that he still the best offensive defenseman in the league, as he has been for the past few seasons.
Ben Bishop, Goaltender, Dallas Stars
FanDuel Price: $8,400
Ben Bishop and the Dallas Stars are on a path to turning around their rough start, having won two games in a row. Now they play at home against the Anaheim Ducks, who aren't exactly a high flying team. The Ducks have only scored 24 games through the first ten games. Their power play has only scored on 4% of their opportunities this season according to numberFire's DFS matchup heat map.
That also shows that the Ducks have the lowest implied goal total on the slate with just 2.32. Dallas is -145 favorites, so Bishop has a pretty decent chance of getting the win tonight.
Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
