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.
Monday night features six games on this slate. Let's look at a few studs.
Connor McDavid, Center, Edmonton Oilers
FanDuel Salary: $8,700
The Edmonton Oilers center had a few off games by his standards and then fired off against the Calgary Flames on Saturday (more than 36 FanDuel points). The Battle Of Alberta always tends to rile up McDavid and the other Oilers players fantasy-wise. One of the nice things is McDavid's salary is several-hundred dollars less than usual on Monday.
There are a few ways to stack Edmonton. Keep an eye on Kailer Yamamoto to see if he stays on the McDavid line. He could be a real ace against the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. Ottawa ranks in the bottom-third in every major defensive metric, including a league-worst 3.89 goals allowed per game. The Oilers will allow their share of opportunities as well so some cheaper Ottawa players could be stacked with an Edmonton play to make a mini game stack of sorts.
Also, look at Anze Kopitar ($7,500), who plays against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.
Mikko Rantanen, Wing, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $8,400
The good news is that Mikko Rantanen did not have to rely on Nathan MacKinnon again over the weekend as he scored two goals against Anaheim on Saturday night. Now, Rantanen gets a prime matchup versus a team that they traditionally dominate -- the Arizona Coyotes.
Colorado faces a Coyotes team that just has trouble versus the Avalanche. Rantanen has four real-world points against Arizona in the two meetings while keeping residence in front of the Coyotes' net. Furthermore, with 3-plus shot potential, Rantanen could easily top 21 FanDuel points once more on Monday night.
The Vegas Golden Knights' wingers Mark Stone ($7,400) and Max Pacioretty ($8,000) face the Minnesota Wild tonight in what should be an exciting game with some surprising goal totals. Stone should be able to play but monitor his status anyway. He did not play in the third period of Saturday's game.
Jeff Petry, Defenseman, Montreal Canadiens
FanDuel Salary: $6,200
This option carries a tiny bit of risk but the Montreal Canadiens scoring five goals is almost automatic versus the Vancouver Canucks. Jeff Petry has 22 real-world points in 23 games this season to lead Montreal from the blueline. Seven of those have come in the five meetings with Vancouver, including five in the previous two.
The floor (shots plus blocked shots) has lessened a bit for Petry and the defenseman has not had four-plus shots in a game in five contests. However, he can bust out at any time and Petry is averaging a couple of blocked shots a game. Vancouver allows over 33 shots per 60 (second-most in the NHL) and the second-most unblocked shot attempts from the point. Petry will be looking for opportunities all night long.
Some other options may include Shea Theodore ($5,800) from Vegas and Jakob Chychrun ($4,500) again from the Arizona Coyotes as the salary remains steady.
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.