NHL

3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 12/29/21

Chris Wassel  —  @ChrisWasselDFS Dec 29th, 2021
There are six games tonight. Can we put our trust in Alex Ovechkin and Connor McDavid once more?

In any daily fantasy lineup, spending up 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.

Wednesday night has six games. It is time to look at a few studs!

Connor McDavid, Center, Edmonton Oilers

FanDuel Salary: $10,300

St. Louis is starting Jordan Binnington in net tonight -- not the red-hot Charlie Lindgren. That should be encouraging for Connor McDavid.

McDavid has 49 real-world points, which is tied for the league-lead with Leon Draisaitl. Both are good plays by themselves, but the feeling is McDavid will want to make a statement tonight. He had multiple real-world point games in consecutive contests before the Christmas break. That could very well continue tonight.

Also, there are some ways to stack plays tonight (like Evan Bouchard) to balance out the average salary in a given stack.

McDavid has 9 shots on goal and 11 scoring chances in his last two games, and that consistent volume uptick will only elevate his floor.

Alex Ovechkin, Wing, Washington Capitals

FanDuel Salary: $10,200

The ageless wonder, Alex Ovechkin, faces the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.

Ovechkin shows no signs of stopping his scoring binge. He has 22 goals and 25 assists in 31 games. If anything, it may increase as his 145 shots lead the NHL at age 36.

The Russian has just ten power-play points on the season but does lead the NHL with 16 even-strength goals. Besides the high shot floor, the Russian has already eclipsed his assist total from two years ago -- and he played 68 games that year.

Ovechkin projects to 18.5 points on Wednesday which tops all wingers.

Aaron Ekblad, Defenseman, Florida Panthers

FanDuel Salary: $6,700

The Florida blueliner has been quite the bright spot -- amongst many -- for the Florida Panthers this 2021-22 season.

Aaron Ekblad has two goals and five assists in his last seven games and 24 real-world points in 28 contests this year. He is logging a ton of minutes; he even played 30-plus minutes versus the St. Louis Blues on December 4th.

He is averaging four shots a game and almost four scoring chances a game over his previous ten contests.

With Roman Josi in COVID-19 protocols, Ekblad should be popular against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night, but he is well worth it.


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.