NHL

​3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 4/8/22​

Chris Wassel  —  @ChrisWasselDFS Apr 8th, 2022
Buffalo played on Thursday, and now they'll turn right towards Aleksander Barkov and the high-flying Panthers. Which other studs are key targets on Friday?

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 spending 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 spending salary in the right spots when building our lineups tonight.

Friday night drops the hammer with five games on the schedule. Here are a few studs.

Aleksander Barkov, Center, Florida Panthers

FanDuel Salary: $9,900

The Florida Panthers are home to entertain the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night, and Buffalo is the unrested team who just gave up five goals to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.

Buffalo had problems containing Sebastian Aho, who scored two goals and led the comeback for Carolina.

The center has 34 goals and 42 assists in just 56 games. Besides the 10 power-play goals, Barkov has 4 shorthanded goals as well. Aside from a decimal point, Barkov has at least 19 FanDuel points in five straight games. The chances of a sixth are unusually good on Friday night.

Jonathan Huberdeau makes for a good stacking possibility with one of the lower-salaried Florida defensemen.

Mikko Rantanen, Wing, Colorado Avalanche

FanDuel Salary: $8,300

The Colorado Avalanche winger is not the most flashy forward, but he sure is effective.

Mikko Rantanen takes shots, blocks shots, hits players, and generates scoring chances like few forwards can.

After laying an egg against the Detroit Red Wings, the Winnipeg Jets may be functionally done, and Colorado is one of those teams that can capitalize on weaknesses as few others can.

Winnipeg is allowing 3.1 goals per game at home since February 1st. This makes Rantanen (four goals and six assists in his last six contests) an intriguing option.

Noah Dobson, Defenseman, New York Islanders

FanDuel Salary: $6,100

The New York Islanders and Barry Trotz just need to trust Noah Dobson. Let the young blueliner play.

The good news? The Carolina Hurricanes are on the back end of a back-to-back against a demanding Islanders team.

Dobson feels almost due to score a goal. He has not since March 3rd. The defenseman has four assists in his last seven games while averaging 2.3 scoring chances per game. One is bound to trickle in.

If that was not enough, the Islanders' top defender has 40 real-world points in 67 games while seeing more and more ice time in all situations.

Dobson carries a good deal of risk with several studs on the table. For a safer choice, consider Devon Toews or Cale Makar, depending on who Winnipeg starts.


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.