3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/9/21

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.

Friday night has seven games on the schedule. Let's hunt for some studs!

Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche

FanDuel Salary: $8,100

The Colorado Avalanche center has been absurdly good of late and is constantly racking up FanDuel points (basically 19-plus in six consecutive contests). This includes three games where MacKinnon accrued 25 or more FanDuel points. He has 11 real-world points in that six-game span with three games of five or more shots on goal and 10 or more shot attempts.

This is a prime matchup for MacKinnon on Friday night because of who he plays. Two stud centers are in this position but MacKinnon loves to play the Anaheim Ducks. He has 12 shots on goal and 22 shot attempts against the Ducks and 12 scoring chances. The goal and two assists are almost paltry when one considers that he has hit three posts in his previous two meetings as well.

MacKinnon should enjoy a few more opportunities on Friday night no matter if John Gibson or Ryan Miller is in net for Anaheim. After allowing eight goals to Minnesota on Wednesday, Colorado should be pretty angry Friday, and stacking options could be heavy on both sides from this late game.

Also, on Friday, there is Sidney Crosby ($8,100) who goes up against a New Jersey Devils team that has won just four times at home all season and allows over three goals a game at Prudential Center.

Artemi Panarin, Wing, New York Rangers

FanDuel Salary: $8,300

Maybe the New York Rangers overlooked the Pittsburgh Penguins matchup on Thursday a little bit. Whatever the case may be, Artemi Panarin has still been red hot over his last five games. He has 11 real-world points during that time on 14 shots. He will look to avenge that effort versus the New York Islanders where he had nine shot attempts but just three shots on goal.

Do expect a bit of a wild game on Friday as the Rangers and Islanders are on the back end of a back-to-back. The play could be sloppy especially from the defensive end. These teams tend to play at a higher-scoring pace and goals can come in bunches. A stack with Adam Fox is a possibility here.

Alex Ovechkin ($8,100) has to be fit in somewhere from the Washington Capitals on Friday night against the Buffalo Sabres. Also, Vladimir Tarasenko ($7,100) may be starting to heat up for St. Louis. He is one to watch against the Minnesota Wild along with Kirill Kaprizov.

Kris Letang, Defenseman, Pittsburgh Penguins

FanDuel Salary: $5,900

The danger here is the compressed schedule but then again both Pittsburgh and New Jersey are on their third game in four nights. The last two games against the New York Rangers have seen Letang rack up 20-plus FanDuel points in each matchup.

When these two teams play, Letang often figures prominently as he plays the majority of his time with the Sidney Crosby line. He has 2 assists in three games versus New Jersey this year with 10 shots on 19 attempts, several blocked shots, and 9 scoring chances. New Jersey has the worst penalty kill on the slate at 72.5% (70% at home). They allow almost 33 shots per 60 at home, which is the second-worst on this slate.

Adam Fox was mentioned already but again, Cale Makar ($5,700) remains a viable option from Colorado and do not forget John Carlson ($6,900) is on this slate in what could be a high-scoring affair up in Buffalo.

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.