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 has eight games on the schedule. Let's explore the best of the best studs.
Brayden Point, Center, Tampa Bay Lightning
FanDuel Salary: $8,400
Tampa Bay comes in a bit rested, but the opposing Los Angeles Kings played yesterday against the San Jose Sharks. An offensively dominant team battling an unrested team usually bodes well.
Brayden Point has a six-game real-world point streak (five goals, three assists) for the Bolts. Also, Point has three-plus shots in five consecutive contests.
The Kings expect to go with Cal Petersen tonight after the five-goal Timo Meier outburst a night ago. Point's speed could definitely be quite an issue for the older Anze Kopitar line at times. It will be interesting to see what kind of matchups Point draws as Jon Cooper changes things up.
This game could feature a little more pace than expected, and the Point-led line should benefit as a result on Tuesday.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Wing, Florida Panthers
FanDuel Salary: $9,500
Jonathan Huberdeau's shot volume isn't always ideal, but he's still a magnificent offensive player.
When the left-winger is on a streak like this, no one cares. Huberdeau and the Florida Panthers have eclipsed four goals per game on the season now and now only trail the Colorado Avalanche in that category.
The forward has 4 goals and 10 assists in his previous seven games. That is, yes, two real-world points per game. For Huberdeau to have three or more shots in five of his last seven games even further increases that upside.
Calgary is a team that could give up goals in bunches to Florida. While the Panthers are not quite as good away from home (where they have 20 wins), the Flames are just 4-4-4 at home. It offers an interesting set of contrasts.
While Calgary is third-from-the-bottom in goals allowed per game, their expected goals-for mark is just 16th in the league. Regression could be on its way for the Flaming C's.
Thomas Chabot, Defenseman, Ottawa Senators
FanDuel Salary: $6,300
It is hard to stay away from a player like Roman Josi, but Thomas Chabot has an excellent matchup versus the Buffalo Sabres.
The Ottawa Senators scored five goals against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night. Chabot did a little of everything -- including blocking a half-dozen shots. He had three hits, three shots on goal, and four scoring chances. The defenseman added a helper, too.
This may be one of the rare times where Ottawa is favored, but Josh Norris and even Alex Formenton are intriguing stacking options here on Tuesday night. Ottawa is projected to score 3.23 goals per our model. That number may be low with the Sabres (third in total goals allowed) on the docket.
Ottawa is not as bad as their record indicates, and Chabot has one goal on 82 shots this season. Some positive puck luck might just occur tonight.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Goalie, Tampa Bay Lightning
Andrei Vasilevskiy should see a few more shots on goal Tuesday night against Los Angeles.
The Lightning have allowed 30 or fewer shots in seven straight starts for the Russian goaltender. He is 5-2 in that span -- with no shutouts, bizarrely. Low shot outputs don't exactly lend themselves to higher FanDuel point outputs without a goose egg.
Vasilevskiy has allowed just two goals or fewer in five of his last seven appearances. That includes three games where the Tampa Bay goalie gave up just one goal. Again, it comes down to shot volume. The Kings should be motivated after the six goals they allowed on Monday, and L.A. is third in Corsi For (1876) in the NHL.
Expect the two-time Stanley Cup winner to be in top form on Tuesday night.
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.