4 NHL Studs to Target on 11/1/19
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.
Friday's NHL slate has eight games on it with some stars we can pay for, so let's take a look at who we want tonight.
Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Price: $8,700
Nathan MacKinnon tops the salary charts at the center position once again and for good reason. He has a real-world point in every game this season, with 17 total. Playing against the Dallas Stars isn't the easiest matchup, but MacKinnon has had good fantasy outputs against solid defensive teams like the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues this season. Our projections at numberFire have him as the top scorer on the slate tonight, so the matchup isn't hindering his projection. The new linemates aren't hurting him, either, as he put up a goal and an assist in his first full game with his new running mates on Wednesday. Basically, it doesn't matter who he's playing with or against, MacKinnon is going to do positive things on the ice for the Colorado Avalanche and your fantasy lineups.
Alex Ovechkin, Wing, Washington Capitals
FanDuel Price: $8,700
If you want to talk about another player who is essentially matchup-proof, Alex Ovechkin is that guy. The good news is we don't really have a bad matchup here when the Washington Capitals face the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, despite Buffalo's solid record and good goaltending thus far in the season. has the Caps as -180 favorites, and their implied goal total is 3.58. Their lethal power play faces a Buffalo penalty kill that has killed off fewer than 80% of penalties this season. Ovechkin still leads the league in shot attempts per 60 minutes, at 28.2, and that skyrockets to 42.86 when you look at his output on only the power play. In daily fantasy hockey, we want guys who shoot a ton, rather than pass-first players, because it greatly increases their floor and ceiling. This defines Ovechkin throughout his career, and he isn't slowing down yet.
Brent Burns, Defenseman, San Jose Sharks
FanDuel Price: $7,100
The San Jose Sharks have not been the team we have come to know over the past few years, with a 4-8-1 record to start this season. Brent Burns also hasn't been the same high-rate shooter we have known in the past. His individual shot attempt rate is down to 14.8, after being more than 20 for each of the past four seasons. However, he is still the trigger man on the power play as his shot rate with the man advantage is right in line with those past four seasons. He still is producing real-world points, as well, with 13 in 13 games. Tonight against the Winnipeg Jets, he faces the weakest penalty kill on the slate, which we can see on numberFire's daily fantasy matchup heat map. Burns is second in the league in ice time per game, so he will have ample opportunities to get things going and be the offensive juggernaut that we have known him to be, producing games that can't be matched by other defensemen.
Philipp Grubauer, Goalie, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Price: $8,000
Philipp Grubauer will be between the pipes for the Avalanche against Dallas. The Stars have been one of the worst teams offensively this season, with their 31 goals tied for last in the league. Their implied goal total is just 2.58, but that's higher than their average of 2.2 this season. Colorado is -140 favorites tonight, so Grubauer has a good shot at getting the win. At worst, he is unlikely to sink your lineup given that he is facing Dallas and their scoring woes. You can get a $300 discount on Grubauer instead of rostering Carter Hutton in a tough matchup at the Capitals as an underdog.
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.
