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 checks hard and fierce like a holiday schedule. There are 13 games in all. Let's get at it!
Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $10,000
Granted, there is that a matchup in Edmonton with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Auston Matthews -- but everyone knows about that game and will be all over it. What fun is that?
It is "Return Of the MacK" time in Denver as Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon is back to creating havoc, scoring goals, and piling up shots on goal.
MacKinnon has a projection of 13.2 FanDuel points, which is tied for eighth among centers on this immense slate. He is, however, still one of the better plays at his salary. Also, the Avalanche are a team that averages more than four goals a game. MacKinnon is a top choice every night he plays, and he could go a little overlooked tonight on this immense slate.
Max Pacioretty, Wing, Vegas Golden Knights
FanDuel Salary: $10,300
Max Pacioretty has become a cheat code for the Vegas Golden Knights and DFS players. He is averaging almost 30 FanDuel points per night on the season. He has an eight-game real-world point streak since coming back from injury. He has 10 goals in just 10 games.
A forward who averages a half-dozen scoring chances a night, Pacioretty has a history against the Boston Bruins. Surely, he remembers them well. Yes, his salary is way up, but Vegas averages more than 3.50 goals per game.
The gigantic slate will make it a bit more challenging to mini stack lines. There is that much temptation everywhere you look. However, Mark Stone or Chandler Stephenson are options to pair with Pacioretty.
Timo Meier, Wing, San Jose Sharks
FanDuel Salary: $9,400
Someone at FanDuel figured out that Timo Meier shoots the puck a lot. Not so quietly, the San Jose Sharks' forward has 102 shots on goal along with 11 goals and 17 assists. He is a fun play because over the last ten games, he has six games of at least two NHL points. In the other four, Meier has visited the land of the goose egg in terms of real-world points, so he's definitely been a boom-or-bust pick.
With so many players out of the lineup for the Seattle Kraken, San Jose should have an easier time scoring goals. They do average just 2.68 goals per game, but Seattle ranks third-worst in the league with 3.59 goals yielded per contest.
Meier is a gateway to several late-night stacking options for the Sharks, a group that includes Tomas Hertl, Erik Karlsson, and Mario Ferraro just to name a few.
Kris Letang, Defenseman, Pittsburgh Penguins
FanDuel Salary: $6,900
The hottest DFS defenseman in the league has to be Cale Makar. However, Kris Letang enjoys a prime matchup against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday. Montreal is a team that gives up the second-most FanDuel points per game to defensemen.
Letang is just the 11th highest-projected defenseman on this slate, per our model, coming in with a very respectable 12.0 points. But going up against one of the worst defenses in the NHL -- Montreal gives up 3.52 goals per game overall and nearly four goals a game over the last month -- Letang has plenty of upside in this one.
We have the Penguins projected to score 3.35 goals, so you can slam Letang in your lineup alongside players like Danton Heinen and the red-hot Sidney Crosby.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Goalie, Tampa Bay Lightning
One of the easiest decisions for me was which stud goalie to write up. Andrei Vasilevskiy is an excellent choice in a date with a Los Angeles Kings team that has some issues scoring on the road. They are projected to score just 2.2 goals tonight in Tampa Bay.
Furthermore, Vasilevskiy has 20 or more FanDuel points in six of his last seven starts, and that includes four outings of 28-plus points. He has six wins and two shutouts in that span.
Vasilevskiy has a solid matchup against the Kings and could see 30 or so shots against him, which is good for his DFS point potential on Tuesday.
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.