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 comes hard with eight games. Let's find some top studs.
Anze Kopitar, Center, Los Angeles Kings
FanDuel Salary: $7,900
The Los Angeles Kings' center has an excellent matchup against an Anaheim Ducks team that is reeling.
It has not been a good time for John Gibson as he has yielded 12 goals on his last 101 shots faced (four straight losses overall). Anze Kopitar has five assists in the previous four games but no goals over the last half-dozen contests (13 shots, 14 scoring chances).
The first meeting of the "Freeway Faceoff" is a nice spot for Kopitar, a center who is about a real-world point-a-game player (73 points in 79 career meetings). On a night without Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, Kopitar should be a center of attention.
Alex Ovechkin, Wing, Washington Capitals
FanDuel Salary: $9,800
Alex Ovechkin is on fire right now. As he creeps up to more milestones, Ovechkin is already just one score away from another 20-goal season for the Washington Capitals. The winger has 95 shots on goal and nearly 100 scoring chances in just 22 games. Overall, Ovi has 19 goals and 37 real-world points, including nine on the man-advantage.
The forward has a solid matchup against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, although the reality is that Ovechkin has a good chance of scoring against any team at this point. In the previous five games, he has seven goals on 23 shots and 25 scoring chances.
Ovechkin can be paired with Tom Wilson and/or Dmitry Orlov to save salary, or if you have the coin, you can stack him with John Carlson for more upside.
Dougie Hamilton, Defenseman, New Jersey Devils
FanDuel Salary: $7,000
Dougie Hamilton has been "a man apart" on defense for the New Jersey Devils.
On Sunday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, Hamilton fired 10 shots on goal and then there was the second period, when Hamilton was on the ice for 12 high-danger scoring chances in just 20 minutes! That is no misprint. Oh, by the way, Hamilton scored a goal, dished out an assist, and blocked three shots, as well.
With the Devils facing the San Jose Sharks at home, Hamilton again becomes a prime player to roster on Tuesday night.
Linus Ullmark, Goalie, Boston Bruins
Linus Ullmark is showing signs of playing like the goaltender the Boston Bruins signed him to be. Ullmark has consecutive wins and has stopped 65 of a combined 69 shots against Vancouver and Philadelphia. This is the goaltender Boston fans expected when Ullmark was inked to a contract that pays him $5 million annually.
There is a little concern with Brad Marchand being suspended, but that should matter little to Ullmark. If anything, he might face a few more shots, which would help his DFS point potential on Tuesday night. Playing the Detroit Red Wings at home gives Ullmark a great chance to win once more.
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.