4 NHL Studs to Target on 12/3/19
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 than paying up in sports like NBA or NFL. Someone can be one of the highest-priced players at his position a 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.
A 10-game Tuesday night slate is on tap for daily fantasy hockey this evening. Let's look at the star players to pay up for on FanDuel tonight.
Elias Pettersson, Center, Vancouver Canucks
FanDuel Salary: $7,400
$7,400 is usually cheaper than what we would consider a stud, but Elias Pettersson is in a good spot tonight so we'll include him. We get a discount on where his price could be given the matchup and his production this season. He carries numberFire's highest projection of fantasy points on tonight's slate as well, so it's safe to say he can be considered a stud for this game.
Pettersson leads the Vancouver Canucks with 31 points in 28 games. They face the Ottawa Senators tonight, who have allowed the second-most shot attempts against and the fourth most expected goals against in the league, per Natural Stat Trick. Vancouver's power play has been clicking at a 26% clip this season, and they will be facing an Ottawa team that allows the most power-play opportunities on tonight's slate. All of Ottawa's weaknesses give the Canucks the highest implied goal total on the slate at 3.58. Pettersson is a great play in tournaments and even though he is less of a shooter than we typically like to target for cash games, the price and matchup make him viable for cash games as well.
Alex Ovechkin, Wing, Washington Capitals
FanDuel Salary: $9,000
After scoring only one goal in his previous four games, Alex Ovechkin got back to doing his thing, with five goals in his last three games, including a hat trick on Saturday. He leads the league in shot attempts and it's not even close, as his 254 leads second-place Nathan MacKinnon's 213. Ovechkin is only behind Pettersson in terms of projection on tonight's slate, and tops the wing position.
The Washington Capitals are out west to face the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night. The Sharks allow the eighth-most goals per 60 minutes in the league. The probable starting goalie for the Sharks is Martin Jones. Jones has continued to struggle this season, allowing -7.89 goals saved above average. Ovechkin firing at a goalie who has not been strong this season is very enticing. He is a great cash game play because of how often he shoots the puck, and his goal upside is nearly unmatched by anyone in the league.
Nikita Kucherov, Wing, Tampa Bay Lightning
FanDuel Salary: $8,500
Nikita Kucherov is getting cooking after a slow start by the lofty standards he set for himself last season. Last year's leading scorer now has 17 points in his last 10 games. He also has been shooting more, with 31 shots on goal in those 10 games. Kucherov is one of the most talented players in the NHL, and showed last season that when he gets rolling he's very difficult to stop.
Tonight, his Tampa Bay Lightning go to the Nashville Predators in what might seem like a tough matchup. However, the Predators have allowed the 11th most goals on a per 60-minute basis. The oddsmakers don't seem to be afraid of Nashville's defensive reputation, as they have the Lightning with the fourth-highest team total on tonight's slate. Kucherov is also third in our projections for tonight. He is a good tournament play as he may go overlooked on a large slate with a lot of different options available to everyone.
Connor Hellebuyck, Goalie, Winnipeg Jets
FanDuel Salary: $8,400
Connor Hellebuyck has been a lights out goalie for the Winnipeg Jets this season. He has a .933 save percentage and leads the league in goals saved above average. He faces off against the Dallas Stars at home tonight. While Dallas has been hot recently, they still aren't a high scoring team that would scare us off of Hellebuyck. They only score the eighth-most goals per 60 minutes. Part of Dallas' goal struggles are because of a lowly 15% success rate on the power play. Hellebuyck is one of the best goalie plays on the slate and worth paying up for given how good he has been this season.
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.
