Spending up in any daily fantasy lineup is how to get the superstars and the highest upside players in your lineup. NHL DFS is different from NBA or NFL daily fantasy. Someone can be one of the highest-salaried players at his position and put up a total dud of a performance, and committing a ton of salary to him can be very costly. Let’s make sure we are going after the right high-salary players when building our lineups tonight.
Tuesday night features a solid eight-game slate. Let's find some more studs!
Mika Zibanejad, Center, New York Rangers
FanDuel Salary: $8,200
Mika Zibanejad gets to play the Buffalo Sabres again on Tuesday night. So, what does he do for an encore? Will he get a hat trick on seven shots again? That is probably a no. Could he get multiple real-world points again? That is an increasing possibility.
This is the norm for Zibanejad to feast on some of the worst defenses out there. He has eight real-world points in his last five games and came out firing on Sunday after no shots the previous game versus the Philadelphia Flyers, of all teams. Teams just cannot contain the now-healthy Zibanejad. One just has to wonder what could have been if not for COVID effects earlier in the season.
There are other studs out there like Aleksander Barkov and Sidney Crosby but they have tougher matchups against the Nashville Predators and Boston Bruins respectively. This may be one not to overthink so much on.
With an abundance of potential from the center position, Sean Couturier ($7,300) gets the league's worst penalty kill in New Jersey and Brayden Point ($7,200) faces a Chicago Blackhawks team, all but out of the playoff picture.
Joe Pavelski, Wing, Dallas Stars
FanDuel Salary: $7,100
As the playoffs approach in a few weeks, it is time to take a look at some "studs" who will need high-end performances to get his team in the playoffs. The Dallas Stars have needed a vintage Joe Pavelski season and have gotten it in more ways than one. He has 20+ goals and 20+ assists on the year.
Next up is another game versus the Carolina Hurricanes who uncharacteristically gave Pavelski four scoring chances last night on four shots. The Dallas winger now has three or more shots and six or more shots attempted in seven straight contests. With a back end of a back-to-back, game flow could be a bit more sluggish but the Dallas offense is the main reason why they have the inside track for the fourth and final slot in the Central Division.
An option to ponder is to stack Jason Robertson with the veteran winger. The young Dallas forward has risen in salary to $5,100 but strikes at 13 FanDuel points per game (okay 12.96) and carries an excellent value on Tuesday night.
Even Claude Giroux ($6,800) is a solid play from the Flyers on Tuesday night against New Jersey. Do not forget to look at Alex DeBrincat for goal potential from Chicago as well.
Ivan Provorov, Defenseman, Philadelphia Flyers
FanDuel Salary: $6,300
If this was less than an eight-game slate, the thought process would be to game stack the Philadelphia-New Jersey game because of how horrid the two teams play defensively. Naturally, why not roster one of the top offensive defensemen? This makes perfect sense.
With DFS, watching a player rack up shots and blocked shots is beneficial. Yes, Provorov's salary was $4,800 a week ago but play some bottom-feeding teams and watch the price skyrocket. He does have some hit and miss risk but played 29 minutes on Sunday. Provorov had three shots, three scoring chances, and three blocked shots along with an assist. The blueliner has four real-world points in his past five games. He also plays in all situations including against that sub-70% penalty kill of New Jersey's.
Dougie Hamilton ($6,700) is more of a risk from Carolina than usual tonight but still roster worthy. Adam Fox ($6,200) is an assist machine from the Rangers (seven in the last seven starts).
Tristan Jarry, Goalie, Pittsburgh Penguins
FanDuel Salary: $8,200
With the possibility that Juuse Saros gets some rest and some questionable matchups, we turn to Tristan Jarry? Really?
Part of the reason that the Pittsburgh Penguins have taken back the East Division lead is Jarry. In his last two starts, he has 44 and 32 FanDuel points respectively. He has stopped 60 of his last 61 shots faced (shutout versus Boston). It has been some bounceback since he gave up six goals in 20 minutes against New Jersey last week.
Does Andrei Vasilevskiy ($8,500) come up with a big performance in Chicago tonight? Even better, will Alex Nedeljkovic ($8,500) make a stronger case that he should be Carolina's starting goaltender against Dallas tonight? Those are intriguing alternatives.
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.