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 in hot with nine games on the schedule. Let's take a look at some studs.
Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $9,700
The Colorado Avalanche have a 19-game winning streak at home, and they score more than four goals a game at home. Tonight, they're in Colorado against the Dallas Stars.
Cue Nathan MacKinnon. Mack should play a good deal more than 17 minutes in his second game back from a head injury. He has been in and out of the lineup the past month or so but still has 9 goals and 35 assists in just 32 games this season.
The Avs' center is projected to score 17.5 DFS points, per our model. That ranks among the top-five centers and should be considered a bit low; Colorado is expected to score four or more goals at home on Tuesday.
Nikita Kucherov, Wing, Tampa Bay Lightning
FanDuel Salary: $9,700
Nikita Kucherov is far from automatic on Tuesday night.
He does have an incredible matchup on the road against the New Jersey Devils, but Kucherov recently had his worst performance of the season. He posted an absolute bagel -- against the Arizona Coyotes of all teams.
The Russian winger has six goals and a dozen assists in 13 games this year. He played 22 minutes the night after a much better effort in Colorado. Needless to say, Kucherov was not a happy camper.
The Tampa Bay Lightning forward will be popular against a New Jersey team who easily gave up four goals at home to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon.
Kris Letang, Defenseman, Pittsburgh Penguins
FanDuel Salary: $7,100
The Pens draw a wounded Philadelphia Flyers squad on Tuesday night. This is a game where both teams are dangerous. If Tuesday night was a shorter slate, this game would get preferential game stack treatment.
This screams a game where Kris Letang might score a goal or get multiple assists. Who knows, maybe both? Letang has six assists in his last seven games with 19 shots, 13 blocked shots, and 25 scoring chances.
He's posted at least 26 minutes of ice time in the last four Pittsburgh games that have stayed tight.
It also does not hurt that the Penguins are projected to score 3.34 goals on Tuesday.
Igor Shesterkin, Goalie, New York Rangers
The New York Rangers' netminder averages 25.95 FanDuel Points per game. He has 30-plus DFS points in consecutive contests and is well-rested at home versus Boston.
There is a bit of risk selecting a goaltender with this much of a break since New York was off for a couple of weeks. That might a bit too well-rested.
However, Boston is without Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. Their offense is in the tank, and Shesterkin has won eight of his previous nine starts. Even with a couple of long layoffs, the Russian goalie has shown little rust.
Shesterkin is one of the top Vezina Trophy candidates for a reason and he should show that 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.