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.
Friday night grants us four more games. Here are some studs.
Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $9,700
The choice here was rough. In a matchup against each other, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon are both fantastic options. In the end, MacKinnon was the pick because of the lower-salary stacking possibilities there are alongside him.
While the Edmonton Oilers have been white-hot lately (15-3-2 in their last 20), the Colorado Avalanche have been a bit human. MacKinnon has been off in three of his past four games, totaling just two shots each in those contests. Before that, MacKinnon had seven goals and five helpers in his previous five appearances.
Given all that, MacKinnon might not be as popular as McDavid is.
Pairing MacKinnon with players like Andre Burakovsky and Cale Makar gives you gobs of upside.
Kevin Fiala, Wing, Minnesota Wild
FanDuel Salary: $7,600
It took a while, but Kevin Fiala has been on fire -- and he gets a prime matchup against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Minnesota Wild forward now has 30 goals and 45 assists in 76 games, which includes seven goals and seven assists in the previous seven outings.
The opposing Canucks are among the five worst teams in the league on the penalty kill. That is a good sign for Fiala, who loves firing the puck in all situations (3.25 shots per game).
The Canucks are on the road after a five-game homestand. Fiala has to be licking his chops.
Cale Makar, Defenseman, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $6,800
The Colorado defenseman has trended downward a bit in salary. That is not a bad thing necessarily.
Makar has bounced back with three goals and six assists over his last seven games. His floor has not been great, but he does have 22 shots on goal and 11 blocked shots during that span.
Since John Carlson plays the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night, he might wind up as the most popular defenseman, possibly making Makar a bit contrarian for a change.
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.