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.
Tuesday night brings us ten games, so let's see what we can find among the big studs.
Anze Kopitar, Center, Los Angele Kings
FanDuel Salary: $8,300
The Los Angeles Kings' center is definitely a different way to go in this slate. It is risky, but Anze Kopitar has been excellent all season long.
Kopitar has filled the peripherals quite well and is averaging 20.0 FanDuel points per game. While that is not near the levels of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, Kopitar has provided a nice bang for his buck. He is averaging more than three shots a game, three scoring chances, and 1.5 blocked shots.
He is on one of the better lines in hockey and plays with an equally hot Alex Iafallo (slight stacking hint here).
With the Montreal Canadiens allowing 3.46 goals per game, Los Angeles is in a really good spot tonight.
Brad Marchand, Wing, Boston Bruins
FanDuel Salary: $9,000
Brad Marchand gets an excellent matchup versus the young Ottawa Senators. Marchand's shots on goal are at only two per game, but he is averaging 3.6 scoring chances per night. He has four goals and 10 assists on the season. Oh, the Boston Bruins also happen to have the highest-projected goal total on the slate at 3.69, per our model.
The winger is approaching his mid-30s, but no one would know it. Marchand has seven assists, six shots on goal, and 11 scoring chances over just the past three games.
Marchand can be rostered along with the rest of his line, and you can add Charlie McAvoy for some differentiation.
Seth Jones, Defenseman, Chicago Blackhawks
FanDuel Salary: $6,500
For better or for worse, Seth Jones creates offense on both sides of the puck for both teams. At the very least, hockey is not dull when he is on the ice. Jones has 11 assists on the season and no goals. However, he has 40 shots on goal, 22 blocked shots and more than 40 scoring chances created.
Jones has an excellent floor, and you can game stack this matchup by using the Pittsburgh Penguins' skaters. Chicago allows more than 38 shots per 60 when Jones is on the ice.
Facing a high-paced top line, the Chicago defenseman is an excellent play.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Goalie, Tampa Bay Lightning
Andrei Vasilevskiy is a bit of a dicey option on Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. However, the expected starter for the Tampa Bay Lightning has looked more like the Vasilevskiy we are used to over his past four starts. In that span, he has allowed just six goals on 121 shots faced.
The Hurricanes are excellent on offense at home but not quite as good on the road. Carolina averages 33.7 shots per game, which should add to Vasilevskiy's save count, and their 2.68 implied total is one of the slate's lowest.
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.