3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/5/21

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.

Monday night hits hard with seven games on the slate. Let's find some studs!

Connor McDavid, Center, Edmonton Oilers

FanDuel Salary: $8,900

The Edmonton Oilers' center has been a bit off lately. Connor McDavid does have real-world points in three of his last four games but the shot totals have been troubling. The 3's, 4's, and 5's have been more like 0's, 1's, and 2's in the previous four games. Even the scoring chances have gone down by more than two per contest. Partially, that is why he is salaried below Nathan MacKinnon ($9,100) tonight.

This is a Canadiens team that just gave up six goals to the Ottawa Senators. Edmonton also scores at over a three goals a game clip on the road and McDavid is a huge reason for that. The Oilers come in with the second-best power play in the league at 26.1%. Montreal has the 25th-ranked penalty kill at just 76.1%.

McDavid should bounce back a bit more on Monday. That bagel against Montreal last week has to be weighing heavily in his mind. His pattern of point production reveals that this could be a multiple real-world point night for the center.

Also, there are alternate choices among the top centers on Monday. Auston Matthews ($8,600) is a great heads-up play against a downtrodden Calgary Flames team.

Brad Marchand, Wing, Boston Bruins

FanDuel Salary: $7,500

The Philadelphia Flyers' defense may be risky to stack against tonight but it is worth a shot. It is not because Philadelphia's defense is good. They are still allowing around four goals a game over their past 15 contests. This is more about can the Boston Bruins' top-line keep the momentum rolling? Sliding down a bit salary-wise gets us to Brad Marchand. This saves a bit and Marchand tends to perform well in these "uglier matchups".

Marchand has five goals in his last three games -- including the hat trick over the weekend. More importantly, he has three-plus shots in every one of those contests and three-plus scoring chances a night as well. Without chances, there is little hope for goals or assists for that matter.

Mikko Rantanen ($8,400) is a nice alternative against the Minnesota Wild, and Max Pacioretty ($7,700) versus the St. Louis Blues is not a bad option either.

Jakob Chychrun, Defenseman, Arizona Coyotes

FanDuel Salary: $4,500

The risk is trying to ride the wave once too often. Jakob Chychrun had a hat trick on Sunday with seven shots on goal versus the Anaheim Ducks. He now has 12 goals on the season and his peripherals make him a stud play at an almost value salary on Monday night.

When the Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes play, strange things happen and usually goals are the result. Usually. Even if Chychrun does not score, he averages several shots and blocked shots a game, which increases his floor dramatically. In his last game against Los Angeles, he combined for five shots and blocked shots along with missing at least a half dozen opportunities. Los Angeles does allow 31.3 shots per game and is sixth-worst in the league at unblocked shot attempts from the point. For as much as they block, they miss as well.

Among the higher-salaried defensemen on Monday night, Cale Makar ($5,600) again carries value versus Minnesota.

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.