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 spending 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 spending salary in the right spots when building our lineups tonight.
Wednesday night now has three games on the schedule. Here are a few studs.
Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $9,800
Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche get the Los Angeles Kings served up on a platter at home on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles just played the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night and flew straight to Colorado afterward. The Avalanche are a slight step up in competition.
MacKinnon could not be happy with his performance on Saturday. He had one goal but just one shot on goal with several missed attempts. That was not like the center normally.
Andre Burakovsky makes for a solid stack here at just $5,00 -- unless one does want to spend up for Mikko Rantanen and/or Cale Makar.
Artemi Panarin, Wing, New York Rangers
FanDuel Salary: $7,700
The New York Rangers winger looks like a good bet to fare a little better on Wednesday night against an equally unrested Philadelphia Flyers.
This same Flyers team just allowed nine goals to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. Historically, they have given up some lopsided totals to the Rangers as well.
In the last meeting against the Flyers, Artemi Panarin had more than 30 FanDuel points. This included a goal, assist, seven shots on goal, and seven scoring chances. Philadelphia still yields 36 shots per 60 at home. That is no misprint.
This Flyers squad just cannot stop the bleeding. Panarin and Mika Zibanejad are rather enticing choices on Wednesday night as a result.
Zach Werenski, Defenseman, Columbus Blue Jackets
FanDuel Salary: $6,600
The Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves in what should be an entertaining game versus the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
How entertaining? Typically, both teams forgo defense for offense. That benefits a puck-moving blueliner like Zach Werenski greatly.
Werenski comes off one of his best efforts of the season against the Detroit Red Wings. He had three assists, six shots on goal, and five blocked shots in a big Columbus win.
If that was not enough, the Canadiens allow 3.79 goals per game. Columbus also yields 3.71 themselves. Expecting a wild back-and-forth game seems likely.
Devon Toews or Cale Makar is likely a more conservative choice, but the matchup dictates taking a shot here.
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.