4 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on Thursday 1/6/22
In any daily fantasy lineup, 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.
Thursday night has 11 games in all. Let's see what studs are out there.
Jack Hughes, Center, New Jersey Devils
FanDuel Salary: $7,800
The Colorado Avalanche entertain the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, and some would suggest going with Nathan MacKinnon or Nazem Kadri. Let's pivot a bit.
So, what about Jack Hughes? It would appear that the center is quite healthy and thriving in a New Jersey Devils lineup that needs his offense a metric ton.
In his four games since the break, Hughes has 9 real-world points and 18 shots on goal. He's also blocked three shots. Hughes is starting to look like the center we saw for the first four periods to open the 2021-22 NHL season.
The Columbus Blue Jackets represent a very good matchup; they keep bleeding goals and shots. Columbus allows more than 35 shots per 60 minutes in their last ten games, and they have yielded 30 goals in their past six contests.
Jake Guentzel, Wing, Pittsburgh Penguins
FanDuel Salary: $9,500
Jake Guentzel is the latest forward approaching the $10,000 salary plateau, but it is warranted considering Guentzel has 20-plus FanDuel points in five straight games -- including the two since he came back from injury and COVID-19 protocols.
The Pittsburgh Penguins' winger enjoys an excellent matchup against a Philadelphia Flyers team missing Sean Couturier (and possibly more players) as the Flyers try to right their ship. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has won nine straight games. Guentzel overall has 16 goals and 15 assists in 26 games. He has nearly 100 shots and is averaging more than four scoring chances a game this season.
Guentzel's ability to evolve and grow his game has made him a fantasy darling. He is far more than a winger that plays with Sidney Crosby now; Guentzel creates his own offense and at times has buoyed the franchise center.
With Philadelphia 31st in the NHL in scoring chances and shots per 60 minutes, this matchup is right up Guentzel's alley.
Victor Hedman, Defenseman, Tampa Bay Lightning
FanDuel Salary: $7,000
Even with Cale Makar and Roman Josi out there, Victor Hedman presents a great opportunity on Thursday evening against a Calgary Flames team on the second leg of their Florida road trip. Calgary got mauled on Tuesday by the Panthers.
In that game, Florida scored six goals, and arguably, Tampa Bay has as potent of an offense. With the chance increasing of Nikita Kucherov playing tonight, that only boosts the fortunes of Hedman facing a Flames squad due for more road regression.
It is okay to take a few risks on Thursday night -- even among the studs.
Igor Shesterkin, Goalie, New York Rangers
Andrei Vasilevskiy and Sergei Bobrovsky will get a ton of looks on Thursday, but Igor Shesterkin is right up there in terms of Russian goaltending options.
The New York Rangers goaltender has been sterling with a 15-4-2 record in 21 decisions. That includes a .936 save percentage along with a goals-against average that is dropping towards 2/
Shesterkin has topped 20 FanDuel points in six of his last seven starts -- including a 50-plus point performance against Tampa Bay on Sunday afternoon.
Despite the rest, do not expect much rust from Shesterkin. He should face 35-plus shots again versus the Vegas Golden Knights.
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.
