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.
Wednesday night has six games on the NHL DFS slate. Let's hunt for some studs!
Connor McDavid, Center, Edmonton Oilers
FanDuel Salary: $9,300
Truth be told, we spread 50% of our lineups on Connor McDavid and 50% on Nathan MacKinnon Monday night. Guess which ones turned out better?
Yes, the ones with McDavid because the Edmonton Oilers were just that much better against Winnipeg. They may be again tonight.
The center has 81 real-world points in 46 games this season. If not for a few lousy games, McDavid might have had a shot at 100. On Monday night, he fired in a hat trick with seven shots on a dozen attempts. That just does not seem fair, does it?
Expect Winnipeg to come out with a better effort on Wednesday night but McDavid will not back down. Winnipeg is nearly a .500 team at home now and teams are scoring well over three goals a game in their last 10 home contests. The NHL North Division is starting to play as it did at the beginning of the season -- with lots of goals.
Wednesday again features Nathan MacKinnon against the Vegas Golden Knights. Also, Auston Matthews ($8,900) is on the slate against a Montreal Canadiens team without Carey Price in net. It is safe to say there will be fireworks.
Kirill Kaprizov, Wing, Minnesota Wild
FanDuel Salary: $6,600
The Minnesota Wild continue their quest to reel in Vegas and the Colorado Avalanche. They face the St. Louis Blues at home Wednesday night and a big part of their surge has been again, Kirill Kaprizov.
Kaprizov is enjoying some rookie season and now has goals in five straight games. He also has three or more shots in each of those contests and the forward has just one goal in his last three meetings versus the Blues.
The talented Russian should get his fair share of chances on Wednesday night with Colton Parayko and Vince Dunn likely out of the lineup. Kaprizov should be able to create even more scoring chances than usual.
The slate has some alternatives too. Max Pacioretty could be more heavily owned but is Vladimir Tarasenko ($6,600) slowly starting to look more like his former self? Tarasenko could be on the cusp of more consistent production.
Jakob Chychrun, Defenseman, Arizona Coyotes
FanDuel Salary: $5,300
This slate has several headliners but Jakob Chychrun is the main play from yes, the Arizona Coyotes.
With three goals and 11 shots during the past two games, Chychrun has elevated his game again at the right time while trying to keep Arizona in the playoff race. Also, he has seven blocked shots in that span. San Jose has one of the worst team defenses in the league, ranking 27th in the league allowing 3.42 goals per game and commits the fourth-most penalty minutes at 9.5 per contest. It might be a repeat of the 6-4 game on Monday night.
Cale Makar ($5,900) is one alternative from Colorado and even Shea Theodore ($6,800) from Vegas has to be considered tonight. Do not forget Darnell Nurse ($5,700) though in some lineups with a good matchup in Winnipeg.
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.