3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/14/21
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.
Wednesday night has five games on the schedule. Let's hunt for some studs!
Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $9,300
The Colorado Avalanche center is on a roll and has six real-world points (four goals) in his four meetings with the St. Louis Blues. Some have argued that St. Louis is a different team in the last week but they are what they are. Colorado is first in goals per game (3.57) and shots per game (35) for a reason. It starts with the Avalanche top line.
This is still a nice matchup for MacKinnon as he has six games of five-plus shots on goal in his last 12 contests. He will occasionally block shots as well to go along with his goal and assist production.
St. Louis has been one of the worst teams of late when it comes to discipline. It seems minors have been called against them more in abundance. Colorado has the eighth-ranked power-play in the NHL at 23.4% while the Blues have the sixth-worst penalty kill at just 76.2%. It is a matchup to take advantage of.
Some alternative choices on Wednesday may just include Anze Kopitar ($7,000) and even Tomas Hertl ($6,000). Both have salaries well below MacKinnon and could have some upside from the upper tier.
Johnny Gaudreau, Wing, Calgary Flames
FanDuel Salary: $6,600
The bagel is always a prospect when it comes to John Gaudreau but there is the chance that he goes off for 20-plus FanDuel points. That has happened in consecutive games now. The risk tonight versus the Montreal Canadiens is that this is the third game in four nights.
Do expect a strange sort of game flow-wise as, honestly, the expectation might be for a bit more chaos at even strength. The real test for Montreal will be Gaudreau and the Calgary Flames as far as power-play opportunities. It can be argued that Montreal still may have problems on the penalty kill no matter who starts in net. Gaudreau has the ability to hit the net more. It just becomes a question of does he show up motivated?
Finally, Mark Giordano ($5,400) may be piggy-backed with Gaudreau tonight. It seems a bit expensive but Giordano has finally got his legs DFS wise and expects to block more shots tonight against an active Montreal Canadiens team at even strength.
Max Pacioretty ($7,500) is a great option here because his salary keeps inching downward from the Vegas Golden Knights. Finally, do not forget Nikolaj Ehlers ($6,600) from Winnipeg Jets. He draws against the worst-defense DFS wise in the league in the Ottawa Senators.
Thomas Chabot, Defenseman, Ottawa Senators
FanDuel Salary: $4,800
There is a minimal amount of risk with Thomas Chabot at this salary because of how low it is on FanDuel. It is like a free space on bingo in that one almost has to play this here. Higher rostership is expected here on Wednesday night versus Winnipeg.
When these two teams play, Chabot will attack and be attacked. Think back to when Erik Karlsson used to play in Ottawa. It was kind of the same philosophy to a point. It was a DFS paradise in that sense as Chabot will go up against Winnipeg's top line. For example, on Monday night, Chabot had 20-plus points and Nik Ehlers did as well. The Ottawa defenseman will have more opportunities to block shots and more scoring chances too. Chabot has averaged more than three scoring chances a night in the last five games.
Mark Giordano had been mentioned above, but how about Alec Martinez one more time? He produces like a safe stud but at just $4,500.
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.
