NHL

3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on 3/10/20

Sebastian Aho gets a great matchup tonight against the Red Wings. Who else should we target on Tuesday's slate?

Spending up in any daily fantasy sport 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 isn't as busy of a night as usual in the NHL, but there are still eight games from which we can pick some stars to roster.

Sebastian Aho, Center, Carolina Hurricanes

FanDuel Salary: $7,700

Sebastian Aho is having an impressive season for the Carolina Hurricanes. He has 36 goals on the season, which is tied for sixth in the NHL. He's been playing at a point-per-game pace for the last 10 games, recording five goals and five assists in that span. Aho is generating lots of scoring chances, as his 1.4 expected goals per 60 minutes is the fourth best rate in the league, according to Natural Stat Trick. If he is able to play his normal game tonight, he could have a big outing given the matchup.

The Hurricanes are facing the league's worst team, the Detroit Red Wings. The Wings continue to sit at the bottom of a ton of stats in the NHL, including allowing 3.71 goals per game. Jimmy Howard looks as if he will be starting for Detroit, and he has really struggled this season. His goals against average is 4.20, and his save percentage is 88.2%. Carolina's implied goal total is the highest on the slate at 3.63, according to our daily fantasy matchup heat map.

Aho is priced just below the very top tier of centers, but he has the best matchup and could have the most fantasy points at the position.

Nikita Kucherov, Wing, Tampa Bay Lightning

FanDuel Salary: $8,300

Nikita Kucherov has been a remarkably consistent fantasy producer over the last two months. Since January 11th, he has only two games below 9.6 FanDuel points. Over that 25-game span, he has 35 real-world points. Kucherov is seventh in points in the league with 84 and could well be on his way to a third straight season of at least 100. He is one of six players in the NHL to score more than four points per 60 minutes. With the Tampa Bay Lightning chasing another Atlantic Division title and Presidents' Trophy, Kucherov will be the one they rely on as Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman are both missing some time due to injury.

If Tampa is unable to win the division, tonight's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs will likely be a preview of the first round of the playoffs. These games against the Leafs are typically high scoring, and tonight's over/under is set at 6.5. That's the highest on the board, and with Tampa favored at only -120, this could be a back-and-forth, high-scoring game. The Leafs have allowed the fifth most goals per game in the league, and the Lightning have scored the most goals per game.

This sets up well for Kucherov, who is our highest-projected skater tonight. He is a great play in all formats.

Roman Josi, Defense, Nashville Predators

FanDuel Salary: $7,200

The Nashville Predators are barely hanging around in the wild card race in the Western Conference. They can thank Roman Josi for keeping them afloat all season long, as he leads them in points with 63 -- 18 more than any of the forwards on the team. He leads all defensemen in shots on goal with 256 -- 34 more than second-place Brent Burns. He's even ramped up his shooting of late, with 48 shots on goal across his last 10 games. Since he generates so much offense on a team that doesn't score a ton, he gets a lot of ice time. His 25:49 average time per night is the third highest in the league.

The Predators face the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. Montreal is out of the playoff race and has lost players due to injury and selling off at the trade deadline. They are in the bottom half of the league in terms of goals against per game and penalty kill percentage. They now have pretty much nothing to play for against a Nashville team that is motivated.

Josi is nearly lapping the field in our projections for defensemen, almost five full points ahead of the next blueliner. Josi is one of the most reliable shooters at any position, so paying up for him at a position that is scarce of players who have a floor makes sense. All of this makes Josi a great play in cash games.


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.