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.
Thursday night brings us eight games on the slate. Let's take a look at some studs.
Sidney Crosby, Center, Pittsburgh Penguins
FanDuel Salary: $8,400
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby face a New Jersey Devils team that has not played in more than a week on Thursday night.
Sidney Crosby has three goals and six assists in his last seven games and enjoys a prime matchup against a Devils team that has allowed more than 3.5 goals per game since December 1st.
The Pittsburgh center is projected to score 19.9 DFS points, which is second when it comes to our model for centers. This could be low, as Pittsburgh could potentially score four or more goals tonight.
Timo Meier, Wing, San Jose Sharks
FanDuel Salary: $9,700
The San Jose Sharks have been mired in a seven-game losing streak. Someone forgot to tell Timo Meier.
Now, while the New York Islanders have been better defensively of late, Meier represents a tough matchup for the Isles.
Even better for Meier, he is firing from all angles. The winger has 24 shots on goal in his last three games with 27 scoring chances. Add in three blocked shots and the forward becomes more and more of a must-utilize option.
The winger has two goals and three helpers during this latest three-game real-world point run. Is Meier totally matchup-proof? No. Is he close? Yes.
The Sharks' forward may not be quite as popular of a choice as expected, too, especially with Bryan Rust and Alex Ovechkin sandwiched between him salary-wise.
Aaron Ekblad, Defenseman, Florida Panthers
FanDuel Salary: $6,900
The Florida Panthers are an incredible home team that averages more than four goals a game. The Columbus Blue Jackets are down to a journeyman AHL goalie in Jean-Francois Berube. Columbus also allows more than 37 shots per 60 on the road.
This game could be a nice landing spot for a player like Aaron Ekblad. He has a six-game real-world point streak currently, and few blueliners have a matchup quite this good on Thursday night.
He has four goals and five assists in his six contests. Also, Ekblad has 6 blocked shots, 21 shots on goal, and 24 scoring chances during this span.
Florida is so loaded, and the Panthers are projected to score 4.29 goals. Their top defenseman expects to play a big role in all phases.
Tristan Jarry, Goalie, Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins are a bit more of a risk in goal than most expect, but Tristan Jarry has good success against New Jersey recently.
Just before Valentine's Day, Jarry delivered a 30-save performance with love for his DFS owners. Though he did give up four goals in each of his last two starts against Carolina and Toronto, Jarry is not facing either here.
Furthermore, everyone will rightfully look elsewhere. Jarry may see a lower than usual roster percentage, especially with Sergei Bobrovsky facing Columbus.
Jarry sees a 76.4 chance of winning on Thursday night in a very good matchup.
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.