4 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on 1/7/20
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 and 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.
Tuesday night is a busy one in the National Hockey League with 12 games on the slate. There are a few team totals approaching four goals, so this could be a high scoring night across the league.
Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $9,200
Nathan MacKinnon may not be famous enough for TMZ, but he does have enough skill at hockey to be considered every night in daily fantasy. MacKinnon ranks third in points per 60 minutes among players who have played at least 150 minutes this season. He also has been a high volume shooter this season, with the fifth-highest shot attempt rate in the league. Tonight, he should be able to attempt as many shots as he wants given the matchup.
The Colorado Avalanche are playing on back to back nights as they face the New York Rangers. The Rangers allow the most shot attempts and expected goals per game in the NHL. The Rangers will also be starting rookie goalie Igor Shesterkin in his NHL debut, and he will face a lot of danger against the league's second-highest scoring team. The Avalanche have the third-highest implied team total on the slate, according to our daily fantasy matchup heat map. MacKinnon is our highest projected center of the night, making him a great building block for lineups tonight.
Alex Ovechkin, Wing, Washington Capitals
FanDuel Salary: $8,500
Alex Ovechkin is still the king of volume shooting in the NHL. The 34-year-old leads the league in shot attempts by 33 over the second place player. He has 47 shots on goal in his last 10 games, so he's not slowing down midway through the season. This has contributed to him scoring 24 goals, the sixth-most in the league. He'll get a good chance to score some more goals tonight.
Ovechkin's Washington Capitals are playing host to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. The oddsmakers have made the Caps a massive -290 favorite in this game, the biggest favorite on the slate. This also has their implied goal total at nearly four, which leads the slate as well. Ottawa has allowed the third-most goals per game this season and allow the fourth-most shots per game. Given how we know Ovechkin likes to fire the puck at will, this is an ideal spot for him tonight.
Nikita Kucherov, Wing, Tampa Bay Lightning
FanDuel Salary: $7,800
Last season's MVP and leading scorer is not quite up to the same standards that he set last season. That's not to say that Nikita Kucherov is having a bad season, as he is still averaging over a point per game. He has points in four straight games and 11 points in his last 10. He's finding his stride at the right time and could easily continue his modest point streak in his game on Tuesday night.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, like the Capitals, are massive home favorites. They are up to -230 tonight against the Vancouver Canucks and have an implied goal total of 3.82. The Lightning have been doing lots of damage on the power play, and their 28.79% success rate with the man advantage is the best on the slate. At even strength, Tampa has loaded up its top line, and Kucherov will now be playing with Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos at five on five. The three top forwards playing together is a tough task for opponents to deal with and could see Tampa dominate like they did last season.
Jordan Binnington, Goalie, St Louis Blues
FanDuel Salary: $8,600
In a rematch of last season's Western Conference Finals, the St. Louis Blues will face the San Jose Sharks. Looking at the teams this season, the Blues seem like they could get back to that point, whereas the Sharks would be just hoping to make the playoffs at this point.
This sets up well for Jordan Binnington, who has played well in his first full season in the league. He had six straight wins before a bad outing against the Avalanche and could easily bounce back tonight. The Blues are -190 favorites, and the Sharks have the second-lowest implied goal total on the slate at just 2.6. Binnington is numberFire's highest projected goalie tonight and makes for a good spend in cash games as well as tournaments.
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.
