NHL

​3 NHL FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 3/2/22​

Auston Matthews struggled on Monday, but he has a top-shelf Buffalo matchup to rebound. Which other Wednesday stars stand out?

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

Auston Matthews, Center, Toronto Maple Leafs

FanDuel Salary: $10,000

Auston Matthews hit a bump in the road against Washington. Don't expect that trend to last too long.

The center still has 37 goals in 50 games -- including 19 in his last 21 contests.

This is a great matchup for Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Buffalo yields 3.59 goals per game and 34.3 shots per contest (30th in the NHL).

Our model projects Matthews to score a slate-high 18.5 points among skaters on Wednesday.

This matchup has some decent pieces for stacking including Michael Bunting, Jason Spezza, and Morgan Rielly -- amongst others.

Joe Pavelski, Wing, Dallas Stars

FanDuel Salary: $7,900

Though Mitchell Marner is a great option on Wednesday, we respect our elders and take a look at Joe Pavelski.

Los Angeles comes off a game where they got routed by the Boston Bruins. They allowed seven goals.

The Dallas Stars' forward has two goals and five assists in his last six games, and he's added five blocked shots. When you consider he's also posted 18 shots and 21 scoring chances, Pavelski plays nothing like his 37-year old frame might suggest.

This game has the feel of being more entertaining than expected in Dallas. A pairing with top defenseman Miro Heiskanen could be profitable seeing how this duo stacks up in salary compared to their teammates.

Roman Josi, Defenseman, Nashville Predators

FanDuel Salary: $7,000

The Nashville Predators' defenseman should benefit from a matchup against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.

Roman Josi goes up against a team that may allow among the fewest shots per game (28.9; 4th in the NHL) but yields 3.55 goals per game anyway (26th). Poor goaltending will do that.

Seattle's trend is starting to head towards giving up more shots too. Since the All-Star Break, Seattle is allowing 31 shots per 60 minutes.

Josi has no real-world points in his previous two games, but he has one goal and eight helpers in his last five contests.

Josi is the best choice on Wednesday, but Adam Fox could prove to be a secondary option for the New York Rangers.



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.