3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on 1/8/20
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 than paying up in sports like NBA or NFL. Someone can be one of the highest-priced 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.
There's just three games in the NHL tonight, but that doesn't mean we can't find any studs to target on the slate.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Center, Washington Capitals
FanDuel Salary: $7,800
Quietly going about his business this season and playing on a Washington Capitals team loaded with stars, Evgeny Kuznetsov is having a solid season. He has 41 points in 41 games and has eight points during his current six-game point streak. It is hard to roster a Washington Capital who doesn't play with or isn't Alex Ovechkin, but Kuznetsov does benefit from playing with Ovechkin on the power play, where the Russian center has scored six goals this season.
The Capitals take on the Philadelphia Flyers on the road tonight. The Flyers have been struggling defensively of late, allowing over five goals in four straight games. Looking at the daily fantasy matchup heat map, the Capitals have the second-highest implied team total on the night at 3.36. If the Flyers remain as leaky as they have been recently, the Capitals could easily hit that mark. Kuznetsov's second line should avoid a tough matchup with Flyers shutdown center Sean Couturier at even strength, and he will get opportunities on the power play to rack up points as he has been doing all season.
Mitchell Marner, Wing, Toronto Maple Leafs
FanDuel Salary: $8,000
The story of Mitchell Marner's 2019 is filled with contract drama, an injury which kept him out for a few weeks at the beginning of this season, and drama in his relationship with former head coach Mike Babcock. With that stuff all behind him now, he's back to playing some great hockey. Marner had 19 points in 12 games in December and is currently on a five-game point streak. It's Marner and not Auston Matthews or John Tavares that leads the Toronto Maple Leafs in points per 60 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Leafs host another Canadian team, as they play the Winnipeg Jets. The Leafs carry the highest implied total on tonight's slate at 3.7 goals. Winnipeg allows the second-most expected goals per game at 2.96. They also have the worst penalty kill in the league at just a 72% success rate. Marner is second on the Leafs with 15 points on the power play and has only one less than Matthews despite playing 11 fewer games. The matchup and recent form of Marner makes him a great play on tonight's slate and puts him in play in all formats tonight.
Ben Bishop, Goalie, Dallas Stars
FanDuel Salary: $8,800
Ben Bishop and the Dallas Stars are the stingiest team in the NHL, allowing the fewest goals in the league this season at 102. Tonight, they are facing the team that has scored the fourth-fewest goals in the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings' implied goal total sits at just 2.34, well below any other team playing tonight.
Bishop himself has been solid just like he was last season. He has a .926 save percentage and ranks third in goals saved above average for goalies this year. The combination of the Stars being a good defensive team and the Kings' lack of scoring makes Bishop easily the top spend tonight at the goaltender position.
Note that Stars backup goalie Anton Khudobin ($8,400) has been good, as well, and if he were to start ahead of Bishop, he makes for a fine pivot in your lineups.
Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. 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.
