NHL

​3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 5/11/22​

Chris Wassel  —  @ChrisWasselDFS May 11th, 2022
With the Avalanche's series wrapped up, should we now spend salary on Johnny Gaudreau and the Flames?

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 presents three games in all. Here are some studs.

Sidney Crosby, Center, Pittsburgh Penguins

FanDuel Salary: $8,800

The production from the Colorado Avalanche on this same schedule of days quietly overshadowed Sidney Crosby. Crosby has at least 24 FanDuel points in all four games of this series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers.

The Penguins lead three games to one and have their first shot at ending the Rangers' season on Wednesday night.

This is because of the tandem that is Crosby and Jake Guentzel -- along with their depth scoring. Crosby has two goals and seven assists in the series and fired 13 shots on goal during the first two games in New York.

The shoot-first Crosby intrigues most anyone as Pittsburgh tries to end this series as soon as possible. Plus, New York's goaltending has been a wreck the past two games of this series.

The key is to try and stack Pittsburgh as a contrarian team on Wednesday; Crosby alone will be popular. Look to perhaps Kris Letang as the third man at $6,500.

Johnny Gaudreau, Wing, Calgary Flames

FanDuel Salary: $8,700

In the first two games, Johnny Gaudreau felt the weight of the world. He scored a power-play goal early in Game 1 then mostly vanished.

Obviously, the last two games have seen a shift in pace. Gaudreau has 11 shots on goal with 15 scoring chances in that span. He is spearheading the top line and played a large part in why the series is now tied at two between Calgary and Dallas.

He has generated plenty of opportunities to score even more, but Jake Oettinger has kept the Stars in this series. Expect Gaudreau to be at the forefront on Wednesday night at home.

The "Jersey Kid" is a great option. For a lower-salaried option, there is Artemi Panarin at $7,500 with New York's season on the brink.

Aaron Ekblad, Defenseman, Florida Panthers

FanDuel Salary: $6,500

It is nice just to see Aaron Ekblad playing, to be honest, after his injury scare. It is even more refreshing to see him making a big difference for the Florida Panthers.

Ekblad has a goal and three assists in the past three contests. That sounds like him, but his abnormally-low shot volume hasn't sounded like him. The defenseman has just five shots on goal in this same span, blocking a couple of shots as well.

This was a Florida team that scored more than four goals a game at home all season though. Expect a different Panthers squad on Wednesday just as we saw in overtime on Monday.


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.