Rostering low-salary players in any daily fantasy lineup is a way to incorporate some diversity into your roster. In NHL DFS, there is typically more value in this strategy but also a good deal more risk. This is especially true on tonight's slate, as there are a lot of lower-salaried options.
Monday night bestows us an eight-game slate. Let's look at some value picks.
Josh Norris, Center, Ottawa Senators
FanDuel Salary: $4,000
Josh Norris has had a nice little run of late for the Ottawa Senators. He has a four-game real-world point streak going with two goals and four assists. He and Brady Tkachuk (seven real-world points in that span) are a nice duo that teams are having increasing difficulty slowing down.
Norris and Tkachuk play an intense brand of hockey that Darryl Sutter of the Calgary Flames can appreciate. Their tenacious style could cause matchup problems against Calgary on Monday night as each forward is also averaging three scoring chances a night lately.
Another option may just be Tomas Nosek ($3,600). The Vegas third line has a tendency to produce good results more consistently than most and Nosek does have five real-world points in his previous four contests.
Zach Parise, Wing, Minnesota Wild
FanDuel Salary: $3,800
Zach Parise has not been overworked and lately the results have shown. The forward has not played 15-plus minutes in a game since March 20th. He sees a role similar to Jason Spezza in some ways where he plays on the fourth-line while enjoying some time on the man advantage.
This does result in greater risk but could have a decent reward as Parise is more rested and able to play in easier situations. Even against the Arizona Coyotes, Parise is in play because of his salary and ability to score. The winger has goals in three straight games with eight shots on goal, six scoring chances, and two blocked shots.
The eight-game slate offers up some other intriguing options too. Blake Coleman ($3,700) goes up against the Carolina Hurricanes and Jesse Puljujarvi ($3,600) is riding on the Connor McDavid line once again for the Edmonton Oilers.
Brandon Montour, Defenseman, Florida Panthers
FanDuel Salary: $3,900
Can Brandon Montour build off the performance he had over the weekend against the Tampa Bay Lightning? He had a goal, three shots, two blocked shots, and a couple of prime scoring chances created. The best thing is Montour is averaging just a little over 17 minutes per night for the Florida Panthers. This allows him to be utilized in more offensively advantageous situations.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are just playing out the season and allowing 30-plus shots with regularity. Worse, they have lost five straight games and now are giving up 3.28 goals per game and 31.8 shots per night. Both are among the bottom-six teams in the entire NHL.
The risk is those minutes played to a point but Columbus has allowed a whopping 23 goals during that losing streak. Florida still has a top-10 offense that averages 3.16 goals per game.
Alex Goligoski ($3,600) is on a three-game real-world point streak for Arizona and has a decent matchup versus Minnesota. Connor Murphy ($3,700) remains a decent floor option for the Chicago Blackhawks against Nashville on Monday night.
Mike Smith, Goalie, Edmonton Oilers
FanDuel Salary: $7,300
Mike Smith is the projected goalie for the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night against the Montreal Canadiens. Smith has looked great in two of his last three starts and faces a Montreal team that can have issues scoring goals.
The goalie can be risky as he did get tagged for five goals on 32 shots in a loss to the Calgary Flames on April 10th. However, the goaltender has won six of his last nine starts and only lost once in regulation. That was punctuated by a 26-save shutout against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.
Smith will be an enticing choice tonight given the plethora of risk among goaltenders at the higher and lower spectrums of the salary scale.
With value options somewhat curtailed on Monday night, does one risk Matt Murray ($6,600) coming off of a shutout playing on the road in Calgary? If that seems too crazy, see who may start for Detroit when they play in Dallas tonight.
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.