NHL

4 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on 3/29/21

Although there are only seven games on the NHL slate tonight, there are plenty of studs. Which ones can we trust on Monday night?

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 from paying up in sports like NBA or NFL. Someone can be one of the highest salaried 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.

Monday night features seven games on the schedule. Let's find some studs!

Auston Matthews, Center, Toronto Maple Leafs

FanDuel Salary: $8,300

The Toronto Maple Leafs get rewarded by playing an Edmonton Oilers team again that they enjoy some success against -- especially Auston Matthews.

This is an Oilers team that can easily allow three or more goals on Monday night, and Matthews had struggled to score for five games before breaking out on Saturday night. He had seven shots on goal with double-digit attempts, a goal, assist, and five scoring chances. That is likely to occur again tonight.

Expecting five-plus shots and three-plus scoring chances for the center is a given. He has 11 real-world points in five meetings this season. His salary has steadied and is below Connor McDavid ($9,300) and Nathan MacKinnon ($8,900) enough to be able to redistribute that salary elsewhere. That is how center-heavy this slate is.

Also, MacKinnon is going up against the Anaheim Ducks at home. With Colorado scoring eight goals recently against Anaheim, the temptation will be high there. Also, do not forget Sidney Crosby ($8,300) is going up against the New York Islanders again on Monday night. The chances of Pittsburgh scoring three-plus goals is high once more.

Max Pacioretty, Wing, Vegas Golden Knights

FanDuel Salary: $8,200

The Vegas Golden Knights winger is playing the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night. It almost does not matter who Max Pacioretty is playing against right now. He has six goals over his last six games while producing nearly five-plus shots on goal on a regular basis.

The one big thing with Pacioretty is he plays with Mark Stone. Stone is a hybrid center in sheep's clothing. He is one of the best two-way players in the game, period. Stone sets up Pacioretty so well, and their skills complement each other. They may be going up against Anze Kopitar and his line, but Vegas has shown all year an ability to generate several quality scoring chances anyway. Last week against the Kings, Pacioretty scored twice on five shots and four scoring chances.

Mikko Rantanen ($8,500) is a solid alternative in a sea of choices on Monday. He goes up against Anaheim and had a goal and assist in their last meeting. Also, look at Jake Guentzel ($7,500) versus the New York Islanders, as well, or even Bryan Rust ($5,900).

Kris Letang, Defenseman, Pittsburgh Penguins

FanDuel Salary: $6,000

The Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman only has risk in the sense of how often can you go to the well. He has 20-plus FanDuel points in consecutive games but again has a nice matchup. Letang's improved speed and stamina this season have been noticed by even his staunchest critics. The defenseman is averaging nearly three shots a game and two blocked shots a night in this latest 10-game span.

When looking to go up against New York, the one thing that stands out is the higher-scoring outputs between these two teams. For better or for worse, a higher percentage of 4-3 outcomes just happen between the Islanders and Penguins. Pittsburgh does draw a higher pace of play because of their own defensive shortcomings on their bottom lines and pairings.

Again, Alec Martinez ($4,700) is still quite low-salaried on FanDuel given his production. Tyson Barrie ($6,500) has eight real-world points in his previous four games for Edmonton.

Philipp Grubauer, Goalie, Colorado Avalanche

FanDuel Salary: $8,500

Philipp Grubauer is projected to start against Anaheim tonight. Though the Colorado goalie lost a tough one in overtime to Vegas on Saturday, he played well in the loss, as he made several key stops on the likes of Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone. For a game lower on shots, it featured double-digit quality scoring chances between the two teams. The last time Anaheim and Colorado played, Grubauer shut the door in 40 minutes of relief, allowing zero goals.

The most difficult part tonight may again be waiting to see who is confirmed in net for teams like Vegas, Philadelphia, etc. At press time, no goalies were confirmed, although that can quickly change.


Chris Wassel is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Chris Wassel also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username chriswassel. 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.