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 features 10 games on the slate. Let's take a look at some studs.
Aleksander Barkov, Center, Florida Panthers
FanDuel Salary: $9,300
Despite the outward production, Aleksander Barkov has been kind of struggling in some ways for Florida.
The Edmonton Oilers' centers will be popular on Thursday -- and rightfully so. However, Barkov gets a very good matchup against the reeling Vegas Golden Knights.
The Florida pivot has a goal and ten assists in his last six games. However, he does have just 8 official shots on goal with 16 scoring chances. While the floor isn't high, the efficiency is.
The Panthers' center is projected to score 15,9 FanDuel points, which ranks sixth among centers. He easily could top that against the Golden Knights.
Alex Ovechkin, Wing, Winnipeg Jets
FanDuel Salary: $9,600
The wing position presents some fun matchups. So, how about this one?
Alex Ovechkin is going up against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who allow a league-worst 35.3 shots per game.
The Washington left-winger has five goals and four assists in his past seven games. He recently just passed Jaromir Jagr for third place among all-time goal scorers with 767 in his career.
As for Columbus, they are allowing almost four goals a game over their past 10 contests. Whether it is home or on the road, the Blue Jackets bleed shots and scoring chances.
There's plenty of value to squeeze in Ovi on this slate.
Noah Dobson, Defenseman, New York Islanders
FanDuel Salary: $6,400
The youth will always serve notice. Noah Dobson has done just that for the New York Islanders.
While most do not call the New York Rangers an ideal matchup, tell that to the team from Long Island. Dobson has six assists in his last five games, and he's added at least three shots per game and five scoring chances per game in his previous five starts.
The Islanders are 6-3 in their past nine games against their bitter Metropolitan Division rivals. A player like Dobson may go under the radar as opposed to Adam Fox on the other side.
Sergei Bobrovsky, Goalie, Florida Panthers
This was quite a difficult decision; several goalies have good matchups on Thursday night.
With Vegas floundering so badly, Sergei Bobrovsky has been consistent while winning five of his last seven decisions -- including four in a row.
After a rough time against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Penguins where Bobrovsky battled for victories, the Golden Knights figure to be a bit easier with so many regulars out of the lineup.
The Russian goaltender figures to still see a decent workload of shots too. Bobrovsky has 20-plus FanDuel points in his last four starts.