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.
Tuesday night features eight games on the schedule. Let's dive in.
Sean Couturier, Center, Philadelphia Flyers
FanDuel Salary: $7,600
The Philadelphia Flyers' fortune rests often on Sean Couturier. Couturier is on a five-game real-world point streak since returning from quarantine. In the last three games, the center is shooting the puck even more. That's four shots a game in the last three contests.
Couturier's biggest asset is his ability to play a two-way game. That will be put to the test tonight as he goes head to head with Sidney Crosby. The Flyers' center again should be able to create opportunities off counter-attacks. Rivalry games against the Pittsburgh Penguins tend to bring out the best in Couturier. Stacking James van Riemsdyk ($6,700) with Couturier on the power play against Pittsburgh (72.1% penalty kill) could work well.
Also, Mathew Barzal ($6,700) remains an option from the New York Islanders and even Vincent Trocheck ($5,400), who is a stud from the Carolina Hurricanes at a budget price.
Filip Forsberg, Wing, Nashville Predators
FanDuel Salary: $7,600
This features a good deal of risk as Filip Forsberg is not quite shooting the puck on the net like he normally does (17 shots in the previous six starts). That is less than three per game. Scoring chances have been down by about 25% as well. Despite this, Forsberg does have five real-world points in this span.
Nashville plays Carolina tonight. The Hurricanes are not the rested team and allowed 46 shots to the Florida Panthers on Monday night. While the Predators may not fire as many shots on goal, chances may be of a higher quality. Forsberg could easily generate several high-danger scoring chances and there may be more power-play opportunities.
Jake Guentzel ($7,400) is another consideration against the Flyers on Tuesday night along with Cam Atkinson ($6,500) versus the Detroit Red Wings.
Jeff Petry, Defenseman, Montreal Canadiens
FanDuel Salary: $6,100
The Montreal Canadiens' defenseman has continued to steadily produce (18 real-world points) this year. In the last two meetings versus Ottawa, Jeff Petry has managed 11 shots on goal and 8 scoring chances. Ottawa is the worst team in the North Division when allowing unblocked shot attempts. They yield 3.83 goals per game and are in the bottom five on the penalty kill and minors taken.
An increased floor is quite likely for Petry. His price seems high but again, so is his production. This is in spite of Montreal's downturn in scoring. Overall, Ottawa has been a thorn in Montreal's side but not necessarily from a fantasy standpoint.
Kris Letang and Ivan Provorov are players to ponder from the "Battle Of Pennsylvania" on Tuesday night. Roman Josi ($6,900) could profit against a tired Carolina squad.
Semyon Varlamov, Goalie, New York Islanders
FanDuel Salary: $8,500
Semyon Varlamov is expected to start against a New Jersey Devils team that the New York Islanders dominate. The Islanders have won six of the last eight meetings between the two teams with Varlamov in net for five of those victories. He stopped 30 of 31 shots in their only meeting this season while stopping several high-danger chances late in that third period.
Wait to see who else starts when it comes to looking for viable alternatives among the studs. The problem will be the volume of teams (four out of 16) on the back end of back-to-backs on Tuesday. Also, some teams may want to further rest their starting goaltenders as well.
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.