5 NHL FanDuel Values to Target on Thursday 4/22/21

Spending lower in any daily fantasy lineup is a way to incorporate some diversity into your lineup. 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 larger slate where there are lots of lower-salaried plays. Plugging in these options will afford more chances to play some studs as well.

Thursday night presents a large slate for DFS players. It is time to dig in!

Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Center, New York Islanders

FanDuel Salary: $3,800

So, those middle-six options carry way more appeal than usual on Thursday night. Because of the large slate, a player like Jean-Gabriel Pageau slips through the radar a bit. He has real-world points in consecutive games and has a good matchup versus the Washington Capitals at home on Thursday night.

Value centers are out there on Thursday night, but few get on a streak as Pageau can. When he starts scoring, Pageau can go on four, five, or six-game runs. The pivot had a goal, an assist, three shots, and three blocks on Tuesday versus the New York Rangers.

Sam Bennett ($3,700) is an excellent option from the Florida Panthers. He scored two more goals while playing 19 minutes against Columbus on Tuesday night and added four shots as well.

Miles Wood, Wing, New Jersey Devils

FanDuel Salary: $3,900

With the New Jersey Devils stuck in a defensive black hole, at least Miles Wood is a good bet going up against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

Yes, the Penguins are 17-3-2 at home this season but New Jersey has a way of scoring goals against them and Wood has three goals and two assists in his last three meetings against the team from Western Pennsylvania.

The Devils struggle to score goals normally but tallied three or more in three straight games. Furthermore, they lit the lamp a whopping six times in the third period alone on Tuesday night. Wood assisted on two of those goals in the defeat.

Andrew Copp ($3,800) returns to his third-line role for Winnipeg Jets tonight as Blake Wheeler looks to join the lineup. Still, expect Copp to get a fair amount of scoring chances against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Nikita Gusev, Wing, Florida Panthers

FanDuel Salary: $3,700

Nikita Gusev is getting his turn with the top line in Florida and he is making the most of it. He played 20 minutes on Tuesday and assisted on one goal, had three shots on net, and three scoring chances.

The concern with Gusev is his skating at times but so far in Florida, he has looked engaged and faster than he did all season in New Jersey. In all four games for Florida, Gusev has three shots each and at least five shot attempts. Old Southeast Division matchups against the Carolina Hurricanes usually feature somewhere close to 70 shots combined. The Panthers' winger will get his chances.

Some low-salary possibilities on the wing may include Tim Stuetzle of the Ottawa Senators and Nils Hoglander of the Vancouver Canucks. Both are just $3,800 on Thursday night.

Tyler Myers, Defenseman, Vancouver Canucks

FanDuel Salary: $3,700

While a bit under the radar, Tyler Myers has nice value on Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators. After all, the Vancouver Canucks have scored a ton of goals against Ottawa this season and have won every meeting. Also, Myers is one of those attack or be attacked DFS players fantasy-wise.

Ottawa still yields a league-worst 3.59 goals per game and that number goes up to 3.83 on the road. This will be a wild game as these are two of the four worst teams when it comes to allowing shots per game. Both are in the bottom third when it comes to the penalty kill and goals allowed. Expect a lot of opportunities for Myers especially when it comes to shots and blocked shots.

Most forget he plays 25 minutes per night and in all situations, as Vancouver's defensive corps is thin to put it nicely. Against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Myers had three shots and five blocked shots in each contest. He added an assist in the mini-series.

For another potential option, Artem Zub ($3,600) from Ottawa could get a few more opportunities than usual against Vancouver.

Braden Holtby, Goalie, Vancouver Canucks

FanDuel Salary: $7,300

The goaltending position is a bit of a peculiar one on Thursday but Braden Holtby was excellent in two wins at home against Toronto Maple Leafs. Can he do that against a relentless and attacking Ottawa squad? Holtby has stopped 74 of his last 79 shots faced.

Also, one thing that Holtby and Vancouver typically see is a good number of shots. In five of his last six starts, Holtby has seen 35+ starts and the one he did not, the goalie saw 31. Either way, there is a high probability that a good amount of work will come his way.

If you want to go with the highest-risk options, Dustin Tokarski has played well and is just $6,800. The Buffalo Sabres' goalie has yielded two goals in four of his previous five starts and stopped 39 of 41 shots versus the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

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.