NHL

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

Chris Wassel  —  @ChrisWasselDFS Mar 18th, 2022
The Colorado Avalanche are on Friday's short slate. Which of their All-Stars are priorities?

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 delivers six games on the schedule. Here are a few studs.

Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche

FanDuel Salary: $10,000

The Colorado Avalanche perform well enough on the road, and Nathan MacKinnon faces a San Jose Sharks team that just played on Thursday night.

His ability to strike is well documented. The center has five and six helpers in his past seven games. Plus, MacKinnon is averaging 6.14 shots per game in this span.

In 11 of MacKinnon's previous 15 games, he has 20-plus FanDuel points. There is a big reason why he averages 21.6 FanDuel points per game. It's that consistency with shots and scoring chances.

The Avs will likely want to push the pace on their unrested foes, so expect the center to force the issue often!

Kyle Connor, Wing, Winnipeg Jets

FanDuel Salary: $9,700

The Kyle Connor one-timer is absolutely dynamite, so it's easy to see why Connor has 38 goals this season for the Winnipeg Jets.

Boston struggled mightily without Patrice Bergeron against the Minnesota Wild. They allowed four goals on Wednesday -- a stark change from their usual defensive prowess.

Now, Connor averages 4.35 shots per game for the Jets. No other Jet comes close.

It is almost impossible to defend his shot which reminds many of Alex Ovechkin.

Cale Makar, Defenseman, Colorado Avalanche

FanDuel Salary: $7,000

The Colorado defenseman has struggled to put the puck in the net a bit lately.

Cale Makar has just three goals in his last 19 contests. However, the good news is that the defenseman has 20 assists during that time.

The defenseman has slowed up a bit with his shot rate in the last four games (just eight total), but naturally, he started blocking more shots (2.75 per game).

The Avalanche can easily score four-plus goals a game on the road just like they can at home. Makar and the star-studded offense should have no issue with the fledgling Sharks.


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.