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 brings ten games to the table. Let's get set with some studs..
Mika Zibanejad, Center, New York Rangers
FanDuel Salary: $7,900
The New Jersey Devils are a bad team. They give up goals at an alarming rate, and Mika Zibanejad thrives on that.
Although Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews are excellent choices on this slate (or any slate), Zibanead can go off tonight. He had a goal and an assist with four shots on goal the last time these two teams met in New Jersey. It was a wild 7-4 affair, and things may be a bit more one-sided this time.
With the New York Rangers sitting at a projection of 3.29 goals, Zibanejad could go overlooked a bit, but the Rangers have the ability to fly past that projection.
The Rangers' center projects for 15.2 FanDuel points, per our model.
Filip Forsberg, Wing, Nashville Predators
FanDuel Salary: $8,300
The wing is one loaded position again on Tuesday night. It will be for the rest of the regular season.
Every point counts for the Nashville Predators, and the Minnesota Wild will be a formidable opponent this evening.
Enter Filip Forsberg, who has netted 34 goals since November 24th. He has seven goals in his last eight games along with five helpers in that span. Forsberg has three or more scoring chances in eight straight contests.
Minnesota has been far more stingy on defense of late thanks to their goaltending duo of Marc-Andre Fleury and Cam Talbot. With Nashville slumping a bit, does home-ice provide a refuge?
For another option or two in this salary range, Chris Kreider and Jake Guentzel come to mind as similar players with comparable potential.
Cale Makar, Defenseman, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $7,100
The Colorado Avalanche remember what happened the last time they played the Pittsburgh Penguins. Cale Makar rarely misses chances like he did over the weekend.
It does appear that Roman Josi is the safer option at defender, and that could be true. But Josi will likely also see a higher draft percentage than Makar, who is capable of posting a similar FanDuel output.
Every pundit knows how lethal Colorado's offense is, and their attack includes Makar. This just boils down to Colorado creating more high-danger chances.
There is a bit of a revenge narrative at play, and Makar projects for 15.1 FanDuel points, second among defensemen.
Darcy Kuemper, Goalie, Colorado Avalanche
The much-maligned Darcy Kuemper and the Avalanche are on the road Tuesday night.
That may be where he is best suited. In the last month, the Colorado goaltender has had some amazing performances away from home. With Kuemper doing battle versus the Pens, the prospect of him facing 35-plus shots at this salary causes much intrigue.
Kuemper has seen 85 shots over his last two starts -- he has stopped 82 of them. Both games resulted in scene-stealing wins that have pushed him up a few rungs.
The Avalanche have only a 47.2% chance of winning tonight, according to our model, and the Pens are -115 favorites, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. That makes Kuemper a great GPP play as he's unlikely to be popular.
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.