NHL

3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 10/13/21

Chris Wassel  —  @ChrisWasselDFS Oct 13th, 2021
Connor McDavid was last year's Hart Trophy recipient after a dominant regular season, and he returns to action Wednesday. What other studs should we trust on the five-game slate?

In any daily fantasy lineup, 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.

Wednesday night, the total of NHL games is up to five. Let's take a look at a few studs to build around.

Connor McDavid, Center, Edmonton Oilers

FanDuel Salary: $8,800

The Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid get the joy of facing the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night. Last year, McDavid had 14 real-world points in his final five matchups against the Canucks. Vancouver did little to address their defensive inefficiencies, and their -230 odds to miss the playoffs imply they should be a team to target this year as well.

Vancouver ranked 23rd on the penalty kill over the second half of last season. Their opening draw is the 10th-best power-play unit from last season anchored by McDavid, one of the sport's brightest stars. That should allow the Oilers to get off to a strong start.

Edmonton has the highest implied goal total on the night at 3.38. That alone is reason to target McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the rest of their helpers.

Patrick Kane, Wing, Chicago Blackhawks

FanDuel Salary: $7,900

Jonathan Toews on the second line is the obvious option because of his salary, but Patrick Kane is not to be forgotten either. Kane and Alex DeBrincat could generate quite a few scoring chances from Chicago's first line anchored by Tyler Johnson.

The Colorado Avalanche should be a strong opponent, which does help keep the Blackhawks' top options on the ice in the third period. Colorado could also see a downtick from the now-departed Philipp Grubauer (1.95 GAA in 2020-21) to their new starter Darcy Kuemper (2.56 GAA in 2020-21).

This should be one of the best games to target even without MacKinnon. This game has a 6.5-goal total, which is tied for the highest on the slate. The Avs were the top team in terms of CF% (58.5%) one year ago, and that should pace Chicago up significantly.

Especially considering the value Johnson and DeBrincat provide, stacking the Blackhawks' top linemates is an intriguing strategy for Wednesday night's slate.

Cale Makar, Defenseman, Colorado Avalanche

FanDuel Salary: $6,900

Cale Makar is expected to shoulder more of the load inside the Colorado offense on Wednesday night, and numberFire agrees. Makar is numberFire's highest projected defenseman, as he is slotted to score 14.3 points per the model.

The Avs will be missing their top option as Nathan MacKinnon is out due to COVID-19 protocols. That will shift more even-strength and power-play responsibility to Makar, Gabriel Landeskog, and Mikko Rantanen in a middle-of-the-road matchup. Chicago had just a 48.09 CF% last year, but they did add Marc-Andre Fleury in the offseason to help stop more pucks.

Makar's salary is a bit high, but his role should be at a premium with the increased usage on Wednesday.


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.