3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on Thursday 5/27/21
In any daily fantasy lineup, 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.
Thursday night brings us two games on the NHL DFS playoff slate. Let's take a look at a few studs.
Auston Matthews, Center, Toronto Maple Leafs
FanDuel Salary: $8,800
It has been a very strange series for Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Toronto center has 23 shots on goal and 16 scoring chances in the four games and yet has just a goal and two assists (all in Game 2) to show for it. However, the chances he has created have had a ripple effect on the other lines. Players like Alex Galchenyuk and even Jason Spezza are leading the way.
The only thing that has slowed down Matthews is Carey Price. Is Price in Matthews' head? The answer looks to be no but another game of this and he might be. Toronto must finish off the Montreal Canadiens as soon as possible. With the opportunities Matthews has going against Shea Weber's pairing, expect Toronto to pivot to up his game tonight.
Sebastian Aho ($8,300) is in much of the same position tonight for the Carolina Hurricanes. It boils down to execution now.
Filip Forsberg, Wing, Nashville Predators
FanDuel Salary: $7,300
Filip Forsberg had just a couple of shots on goal on Tuesday night but rang a shot attempt off the pipe in the third period. If that had gone in, Nashville may have stolen Game 5 from Carolina.
However, that was not the case. The talented left-winger has had plenty of chances in this series -- especially at home. Forsberg has had nine scoring chances in the two games from Nashville. Four of those came on a man advantage that has looked more serviceable as the series has gone on. Game 6 has zero margin for error. The time is now for Forsberg.
William Nylander ($6,800) has goals in four straight games for Toronto and Andrei Svechnikov ($7,100) has just one goal in this series and comes off a game where he had no shots on goal.
Dougie Hamilton, Defenseman, Carolina Hurricanes
FanDuel Salary: $6,500
The risk is not high at all here because Dougie Hamilton produces so many shots on goal.
How many shots? Try 28 in the last four games alone or an average of seven shots a night. Add in a couple of blocked shots and one gets a pretty dominant floor where even just an assist vaults Hamilton above his value. Even though the defenseman has just two assists in the series, it feels like a goal could come at any time. That is why the Carolina defenseman is a stud, after all. Also, there are the 18 scoring chances he created from the point in his previous four appearances.
Roman Josi ($6,800) is the alternative here for Game 6 from Nashville. Josi provides a similar floor and does have three assists in his previous four games. Weirdly, Josi does not have a goal in this series either.
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.
