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Welcome, RotoBallers. Hockey season is back and I am thrilled to be covering this sport over at RotoBaller! As always, I will do my best to give you the stats and info you need to build the best lineups possible for your GPP and cash game NHL contests on DraftKings and FanDuel.
If you are new to playing NHL DFS, there are several things to know that will help you get caught up to speed. The first thing to know is that stacking lines is important and correlating your plays can pay off. In hockey, if someone scores a goal, there's a good chance that some on his team will receive an assist on that goal, so you want to build lineups around players skating together. The second thing is to make sure you look at the two sites and see the different ways to obtain points. On DraftKings, you get bonus points for 5+ shots or 3+ blocked shots so someone like Alex Ovechkin who is a volume shooter tends to be a better play there just because he can rack up additional points based on his style of play.
Today I'll be bringing you my NHL lineup picks, analysis, and advice for NHL DFS contests on DraftKings and FanDuel for Tuesday, May 11th, 2020 at 7:00 PM. Be sure to also check out our awesome NHL tools including our Lineup Optimizer, Research Station, Projections, and DFS Cheat Sheets! Feel free to follow me on Twitter @jorgepucks as I am happy to engage with readers and try to answer your questions. Good luck RotoBallers!
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NHL DFS Analysis and Picks for 5/11
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- Boston Bruins (-110) vs. Washington Capitals (-110) - 6U
- Vancouver Canucks vs. Winnipeg Jets (-165) - 5.5O
NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix
| Team | Rank GA | Rank SA | Rank GF | Rank SF | Total |
| Boston | 4 | 29 | 19 | 3 | 19.75 |
| Washington | 18 | 20 | 29 | 17 | 15 |
| Vancouver | 24 | 3 | 6 | 24 | 15.25 |
| Winnipeg | 15 | 10 | 20 | 14 | 13.75 |
The matrix above takes the averages of four categories and creates a rating scale to help you decide which goalies to use, which goalies to target against, and conversely which teams could be viable from a stacking standpoint. It looks at four categories: Goals Allowed (GA), Shots Allowed (SA), Goals For (GF), Shots For (SF). The higher the overall rating in the total column indicates that it is a more dangerous matchup for that team's goalie while it might be beneficial to stack against him. If the total is low, that means he is in a good matchup from a fantasy perspective and should be considered for your goalie selection. I match and sync this every day to the actual opponents that they are facing every slate so this is always slate specific.
NHL DFS Power Play Matrix
| Matchup | PP Rank | Opp PK Rank |
| Boston | 9 | 5 |
| Washington | 3 | 2 |
| Vancouver | 25 | 14 |
| Winnipeg | 6 | 26 |
The Power Play matrix is to help locate matchups that can be exploited should there be an odd-man advantage during the game. Just like the goalie matrix above, the teams are matched up based on their own power play percentage rank and their opponent's penalty kill percentage rank. When looking at this matrix, you will want to look for teams that succeed in the power play rank (lower the rank the better they are) while their opponent has a poor penalty kill rank (the higher the rank, the worse their penalty kill is).
Did you know RotoBaller has a Premium NHL DFS subscription? Like what you read today? You can show your support for Jorge by using the promo code JORGEPUCKS when purchasing an NHL DFS Premium Pass. You get 10% off, and exclusive access to all of our Premium NHL cheat sheets, DFS research tools, Premium Slack Chatrooms, Stack Builder, Correlation Matrix and Lineup Optimizer!
NHL DFS Core Plays
The Core plays below are the players that you should focus on incorporating into your cash game builds and tournament builds. When it comes to cash games, you want guys that offer high floors that rack up peripheral stats (shots, blocks, etc).
When it comes to tournaments, it is best to take a core play and see who their linemates are and build line stacks based on that. I will give 2-3 plays (varies on slate size) at each position at different pricing ranges so that you can have a variety of plays to choose from when building your cash builds or needing cornerstones for your tournament builds.
NHL DFS Center Picks
- Mark Scheifele, WPG ($6,900 DK / $7,600 FD) - With it being a two-game slate, there are only so many options to choose from. Scheifele stands out at the center position on both sites and would be the preferred pay-up option at this position. Heading into Monday night's game against Vancouver, Scheifele has scored three goals and recorded six assists in seven games against the Canucks and he should continue to feast against a terrible Vancouver defense.
Other centers to consider:
- High Priced- Bergeron
- Mid-Tier- Miller, Krejci
- Value- Dubois, Eller, Lowry
NHL DFS Forward Picks
- David Pastrnak, BOS ($7,800 DK / $7,600 FD) - Alex Ovechkin could be out again for this matchup which leaves David Pastrnak as the winger that carries the most upside on this slate. Pastrnak has recorded a point in four straight games and has been playing at a point per game pace this season so he is certainly viable in all formats. He has three goals and five assists in seven total games against the Caps while averaging three shots on goal.
Other wings to consider:
- High Priced- Marchand, Connor
- Mid-Tier- Hall, Wheeler, Mantha, Copp
- Value-Smith, Ritchie, Sprong, Pearson, Stastny
NHL DFS Defenseman Picks
- Josh Morrissey, WPG ($5,100 DK / $4,200 FD) - Morrissey doesn't rack up the points like we all hope but he does see enormous amounts of ice time which allows him to have upside where he can hit both the shot block bonus and shots on goal bonus on DK. He is coming off of a five-shot and one-block performance against the Canucks on Monday night and has 28 total peripheral stats against the Canucks this season.
Other defensemen to consider:
- High Priced- Carlson
- Mid-Tier- McAvoy, Grzelcyk, Hamonic, Hughes, Pionk
- Value- Edler, Schultz, Orlov, Reilly, Forbort
NHL DFS Goalie Picks
- Connor Hellebuyck, WPG ($8,100 DK / $7,400 FD) - Hellebuyck didn't suit up on Monday so we can anticipate him seeing the ice on Tuesday night. Hellebuyck is 22-17-3 on the season with a 2.66 goals allowed average and a .914 save percentage and has been one of the more reliable goalies in DFS this year. Hellebuyck has done well against the Canucks this year as he is 3-2 on the year with a 2.02 goals allowed average while stopping 141 out of 151 total shots faced and recording a shutout. Please check to make sure he is starting before the slate locks later on today!
Other goalies to consider:
- High Priced-
- Mid-Tier- Swayman
- Value-
Note: If you do roster a goalie listed above, it is sometimes best to make a hedge lineup in tournaments and take the opposing offense against them in case he gives up a few goals while that opposing team carries lower ownership. Also, make sure that the goalie listed above is starting and if not, make sure to pivot!
Favorite NHL DFS Line Stacks
- BOS 1
- Marchand/ Bergeron/ Pastrnak
- The caps will be missing Oshie, Kuznetsov, Samsonov, Carlson, and possibly Ovechkin so this looks like an ideal spot to just play the Bruins top lines and move on, specifically the Bergeron line. This is an expensive line but can easily have a multi-point night which would sink any other line that you might have that doesn't include any of their three stars. This line has managed to score nine even-strength goals in just 64 minutes of ice time against Washington this season while generating 33 scoring chances and 15 high-danger opportunities.
- Marchand/ Bergeron/ Pastrnak
Other Stacks to consider: WPG 1, BOS 2, VAN 2, WSH 2
Key Abbreviations:
xGF/60= expected goal for per 60 minutes of ice time
GF/60= goals for per 60 minutes of ice time
SC/60= Scoring Chances per 60 minutes of ice time
If you have any additional questions, make sure to reach out to me on Twitter or in our NHL room at the RotoBaller slack chat!
