Spending lower in any daily fantasy lineup is a way to incorporate some diversity into your roster. In NHL DFS, there is typically more value in this strategy -- but also a good deal of risk, too. The right low-salary plays can give you good production while affording you more chances to roster high-salary studs.
Thursday night has nine more games on the docket. It is time to save a bit of salary.
Barrett Hayton, Center, Arizona Coyotes
FanDuel Salary: $4,000
The Arizona Coyotes have been at home for basically -- get this -- three weeks!
Barrett Hayton has taken advantage of that with two goals and two assists in his last five games. This is in spite of playing just 13 minutes a night of late.
Most know the well-documented struggles of the Arizona offense, but they do play Colorado pretty well -- even winning last week 3-1.
There are a few red flags like the shots on goal (four) and scoring chances (eight) but the former first-round pick is cashing in those opportunities more often.
This makes him a decent pick for Thursday night.
Anthony Beauvillier, Wing, New York Islanders
FanDuel Salary: $4,000
Can Anthony Beauvillier rise up? The past few games seem to indicate there's a chance.
One of the realities is this. He has been struggling. The winger has just one assist in his past five games (all on the road). BUT he has six shots on goal in two of the three previous contests.
He has to keep shooting the puck. It seems to be a mantra for the New York Islanders, but that is the reality. With a little bit of power-play time, Beauvillier may benefit. The Vancouver Canucks still possess the worst penalty kill in the NHL at 70.4%.
The Canucks are across the country on the road. This has the makings of a good matchup for Beauvillier and the Islanders. Ryan Pulock or Andy Greene are possible stacking values here, as well.
Nicolas Hague, Defenseman, Vegas Golden Knights
FanDuel Salary: $4,000
Vegas is in deep trouble. The question now is does Nicolas Hague finally see a bigger role?
The Golden Knights are struggling, but Hague offers a nice floor and gets pucks on the net. He has 12 shots on goal and 15 scoring chances in his past four games.
Boston will not be an easy opponent to score on. Jeremy Swayman was the NHL's Rookie of the Month in February and for good reason. His 5-1-1 mark has put Boston well into the locked position when it comes to playoff spots.
With Shea Theodore noticeably struggling, does Hague get deployed more in top-four situations? The danger here is enough to roll the dice tonight.
Ilya Sorokin, Goalie, New York Islanders
FanDuel Salary: $7,300
Ilya Sorokin has not had an easy time of things this season for the Islanders. Frankly, none have. They come off a five-game road trip and do get a promising game versus Vancouver, however.
His games have been adventures of sorts, but Sorokin is 3-1-2 in his last six starts while yielding 12 goals on 183 shots. That's pretty good stuff!
It also does not hurt that Vancouver shoots as poorly as New York. Their 8.5% shooting percentage is worse than the Islanders' 8.7%.
Two low-scoring teams offer hope here on Thursday night. Sorokin is 8-3-3 at home with a .930 save percentage. Take advantage of the lower-than-usual salary in this spot.
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 FanDu