3 NHL FanDuel Values to Target on Wednesday 5/12/21
Spending lower 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, where there are lots of lower-salaried plays. Plugging in these options will afford you more chances to play some studs, as well.
Wednesday night has four games on the main NHL DFS slate. What values may we find?
Ryan Hartman, Center, Minnesota Wild
FanDuel Salary: $3,400
Production issues for the Minnesota Wild have bumped Ryan Hartman up the lineup a bit and he is center position eligible on FanDuel. Hartman has real-world points in two of his last three games and faces a St. Louis Blues team that is probably just relieved to be in the postseason.
Hartman plays 15-plus minutes a night typically (six straight games now) and will get some power-play time as well. His net-front presence is something that could impact the Blues and their 27th-ranked penalty kill (77.1%). Again, this saves a lot of salary and has some good upside as Hartman has seven shots on goal and six scoring chances in his last three contests.
Value centers are a bit fleeting on Wednesday night but if desperate enough, Lias Andersson ($3,000) is a minimum-salaried center from the Los Angeles Kings. Also, Gabriel Vilardi ($3,600) might be worth a look, also from Los Angeles.
Alex Galchenyuk, Wing, Toronto Maple Leafs
FanDuel Salary: $3,800
The risk is substantial here with the uncertain nature of who plays and who does not for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It is believed that Alex Galchenyuk should play on Wednesday night against the Ottawa Senators in what expects to still be a high-tempo game.
Galchenyuk is a bit hit or miss offensively but does have two goals and two assists in his last five games. His risk lies in the playing time which is about 12-13 minutes a night. That is the level of a third or even a fourth-line player. However, if Toronto decides to rest some players or ease their minutes, the winger might be a beneficiary of such moves. More will be known after the morning skate but the salary here is still reasonable regardless.
Alexander Barabanov ($3,600) is still on the top line in San Jose Sharks and will make for a nice alternative playing with Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane. That might be a nice line to stack with Barabanov's salary relief.
Artem Zub, Defenseman, Ottawa Senators
FanDuel Salary: $3,600
Basically, every Ottawa Senators defenseman is salaried at $4,000 or less on Wednesday night on FanDuel. Artem Zub happens to be just $100 above the minimum.
The matchup here is a pretty good one versus Toronto and Zub has three assists and six blocked shots in his last three contests. There is that floor to consider after all and most Ottawa defensemen have blocked at least two shots a game in their last 10 games (except Erik Brannstrom, most notably).
There is a solid chance that Zub plays 22-plus minutes again as he has in each of his last four appearances for the Senators. In that time, he has been trusted in all phases and will even see some power-play time.
Watch to see if Colton Parayko ($3,600) or Jake Muzzin ($4,000) play for the St. Louis Blues and Toronto, respectively. Parayko could be a sneaky option simply because most may not scroll that far down a webpage.
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.
