NHL

​3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 2/18/22​

Chris Wassel  —  @ChrisWasselDFS Feb 18th, 2022
Sebastian Aho has performed well at home, and Carolina hosts Nashville on Friday. Who else can you trust on the main NHL slate?

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 has four games on the schedule. Here are some studs.

Sebastian Aho, Center, Carolina Hurricanes

FanDuel Salary: $9,200

When isn't Sebastian Aho a good option in NHL DFS? Certainly not at home against the Nashville Predators on Friday.

Aho is fine on the road, but at home, he is even better. The center has 7 goals and 18 assists in 20 games played at PNC Arena.

His shot volume is never great, and the home ice doesn't change that (2.3 shots per game). However, the Carolina Hurricanes' pivot generates four scoring chances a game in Carolina. He also has great, high-upside stacking options like Andrei Svechnikov or Tony DeAngelo.

Nashville has been a bit porous defensively lately with 10 goals allowed in their last three games. Both teams are on losing skids, but the Hurricanes had won five straight at home before an overtime loss to Florida.

Aho is a solid option in this space.

Kirill Kaprizov, Wing, Minnesota Wild

FanDuel Salary: $8,400

Kirill Kaprizov just continues to rack up fantasy points at will in his breakout season.

Minnesota's matchup with the high-flying Florida Panthers screams fun and good entertainment. Most importantly, there is game-stacking potential here.

Kaprizov has five goals and five assists in his past seven games. More importantly, in five of those games, he has three-plus shots. He's spiked with seven-plus shots in two games as well.

With Ryan Hartman flanking Kaprizov, one can also get creative with a Minnesota defenseman. On the other side, you can spring for a Jonathan Huberdeau or Aleksander Barkov to complete the stack.

Kaprizov is projected for a slate-high 17.9 DFS points for skaters.

Roman Josi, Defenseman, Nashville Predators

FanDuel Salary: $7,000

Roman Josi is in a bit of a dry spell, so no one would blame you for moving to Aaron Ekblad or Drew Doughty instead.

The Nashville blueliner has no goals in his last 10 games. Consider he has 13 on the season, it has been quite a while since Josi lit the lamp.

However, there may be a chance on Friday night. Carolina gave up three goals at home to Florida on Wednesday, and four of the last six meetings between these two teams have crept over the game's listed goal total.

On the bright side, Josi is still dishing out helpers. He has 6 in his last six contests to go along with 11 blocked shots and 14 shots on goal. Could one of those crooked Josi games sit on the horizon? It's very possible -- and arguably long overdue.

Nashville is just six points up on the Dallas Stars for that second wild card spot, and Dallas has games in hand. The Predators need wins, which increases the urgency for Josi to be more assertive.

We'll take assertive.


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.