NHL

3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 5/7/21

Chris Wassel  —  @ChrisWasselDFS May 7th, 2021
With seven games on the Friday night NHL schedule, we go hunting for some studs we can trust.

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 brings us seven games on the NHL DFS slate. Let's take a look at a few studs.

Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche

FanDuel Salary: $8,800

Nathan MacKinnon is most definitely a stud with a plus matchup today versus the Los Angeles Kings.

MacKinnon will not be happy after producing just two shots on goal against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night. Every point in the standings counts as the Colorado Avalanche are trying to better their playoff position. The center came back with vengeance after a no-shot effort in the opener of the Sharks' series with 18 shots on goal, 12 scoring chances, and four real-world points in two games.

That may just happen again on Friday night against a Los Angeles team that surrenders about three goals a game and 31 shots per 60. Colorado averages 3.49 goals per game, and no one will be surprised if they score three or four goals versus the Kings.

Elsewhere at center, Tomas Hertl ($6,700) is one of the best alternatives on the night. He has seven real-world points in his last four games and draws a solid matchup at home versus Arizona.

Evander Kane, Wing, San Jose Sharks

FanDuel Salary: $7,500

The San Jose Sharks are ending the season on the right note -- at least as far as some of their DFS studs go.

Evander Kane and the Sharks were a major thorn in the side of Colorado in their four-game series. In the last two contests, the winger had more than 30 FanDuel Points in each game. Also, besides the two goals and three assists, Kane had six shots on goal both games. There were also eight combined scoring chances, too. Kane and the aforementioned Hertl could not be stopped by anyone on the Avalanche.

San Jose has been a better team over the final third of the season, especially offensively. In a matchup against a bruised and battered Arizona team, the possibility of a high-output effort only increases.

The slate brings us some solid viable alternatives. Mikko Rantanen ($8,400) is MacKinnon's wingman in Colorado, and Kirill Kaprizov ($6,700) continues to try to cement his Calder Trophy against the Anaheim Ducks.

Jakob Chychrun, Defenseman, Arizona Coyotes

FanDuel Salary: $5,800

The Arizona Coyotes have their number-one defenseman. His name is Jakob Chychrun.

He has 20-plus FanDuel points in consecutive games. Across his last three, Chychrun has fired in 16 shots on goal with a whopping 30 shot attempts. San Jose is still bad defensively -- allowing 3.4 goals per game on 31.7 shots per contest (both third-worst in the NHL).

Chychrun could very well end up with a 20-20 season as he has 18 goals and 21 assists in 2021.

If you are looking for another high-salary defender play, how about Ivan Provorov from the Philadelphia Flyers at just $5,400? That could work out nicely.


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.