NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, SuperDraft (4/1): Value Plays, Goalies, Stacks

3 years ago by Jorge Pucks

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, FanDuel, and SuperDraft.

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, FanDuel, and SuperDraft for Thursday, April 1st, 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 4/1

- Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Boston Bruins (-130) - 5.5U
- New York Rangers (-210) vs. Buffalo Sabres - 6U
- Washington Capitals vs. New York Islanders (-130) - 5.5U
- Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (-260) - 5.5U
- Detroit Red Wings vs. Florida Panthers (-250) - 5.5O
- Montreal Canadiens (-200) vs. Ottawa Senators - 6O
- Carolina Hurricanes (-160) vs. Chicago Blackhawks - 5.5O
- Dallas Stars (-125) vs. Nashville Predators - 5O
- Minnesota Wild vs. Vegas Golden Knights (-175) - 5.5U

NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix

Team	Rank GA	Rank SA	Rank GF	Rank SF	Total
Pittsburgh	11	17	21	17	10.75
Boston	4	29	12	3	17.75
New York Rangers	12	21	21	22	15.25
Buffalo	29	6	1	27	19.5
Washington	18	21	29	29	19
New York Islanders	3	27	17	20	22
Columbus	23	8	6	26	17.5
Tampa Bay	5	24	30	9	15.25
Detroit	25	11	2	28	16.25
Florida	13	12	27	2	13.75
Montreal	9	26	20	4	12
Ottawa	31	3	7	6	14.5
Carolina	6	23	23	5	17.25
Chicago	21	1	16	24	12.5
Dallas	8	30	11	25	13.5
Nashville	17	15	4	12	17
Minnesota	6	12	18	22	12.5
Vegas	2	27	25	7	17.25

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
Pittsburgh	16	1
Boston	11	18
New York Rangers	25	16
Buffalo	12	6
Washington	8	12
New York Islanders	20	10
Columbus	26	9
Tampa Bay	2	23
Detroit	29	13
Florida	8	28
Montreal	12	22
Ottawa	27	21
Carolina	1	27
Chicago	2	7
Dallas	7	31
Nashville	15	25
Minnesota	31	3
Vegas	21	5

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).

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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

Vincent Trocheck, CAR ($6,300 DK / $5,400 FD) - Trocheck has been one of the best second-line centers in the league this year and has been on a bit of a hot streak as he has scored a point in seven straight games. Trocheck always seems to be in the right place and the right time and is a play-making center that knows how to score while also making sure he gets his linemates involved. Trocheck has recorded two goals and one assist in four games against the Blackhawks this season and has taken 18 shots on goal in those four games.
Jared McCann, PIT ($4,200 DK/ $4,200) - The point streak continues for McCann as he has now recorded a point in four straight games. McCann has recorded 17 shots over his last five games and has found a way to net three goals in that five-game stretch. While the matchup against Boston is a tough one, he should avoid the top line for Boston which means he could get a favorable matchup against their depth lines.

Other centers to consider:

High Priced- Zibanejad, Crosby, Aho, Point, Strome
Mid-Tier- Barzal, Hintz, Larkin, Kuznetsov, Suzuki, Karlsson, Pageau
Value- Stephenson, Suter, Granlund, Kotkaniemi, Danault, Dickinson

NHL DFS Forward Picks

Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA ($7,400 DK / $7,800 FD) - The injuries keep piling on for the Panthers but Jonathan Huberdeau continues to step up and generate offense for this injury-ridden team. Huberdeau has recorded six points over his last five games while finding a way to score a goal in back-to-back games. He has fared well against the Red Wings this season as he has scored one goal and seven assists in seven total games against Detroit.
Eeli Tolvanen, NSH ($4,200 DK / $4,800 FD) - Tolvanen continues to be a bright spot for this Predators offense as he has recorded a point in six straight games while recording nine total points in that six-game stretch. Tolvanen scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Dallas on Tuesday night and has had their number this season as he has recorded three goals and four assists in just three games played against Dallas during the year.

Other wings to consider:

High Priced- Pastrnak, Ovechkin, Pacioretty, Panarin, Pavelski, Stone, Verhaeghe
Mid-Tier- Arvidsson, Svechnikov, Necas, Robertson, Kubalik, Oshie,
Value- Smith, Gurianov, Mantha, Zucker, Strome, Connolly

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

Adam Fox, NYR ($6,700 DK / $5,800 FD) - Adam Fox has been on quite a hot streak and has now extended his points streak to eight games. The top defenseman for the Rangers now has 30 points in 34 games and has recorded 15 points over his last eight games while averaging over three peripheral stats per game during that stretch as well.
Jared Spurgeon, MIN ($4,500 DK / $4,100 FD) - If you're looking for more of a higher floor type of choice, Jared Spurgeon could be your guy. Spurgeon sees a tone of ice time and while he doesn't rack up the points, he does contribute by accumulating peripheral stats night in and night out. He has yet to register a point against Vegas but has recorded 16 total peripheral stats in just four games against them this year.

Other defensemen to consider:

High Priced- Hamilton, Josi, Carlson, Theodore, Pietrangelo, Klingberg
Mid-Tier- Heiskanen, Grzelcyk, Pulock, Sergachev, Yandle
Value- Brodin, Yandle, Keith, Zaitsev, Schultz, Boqvist, Orlov

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

Chris Driedger, FLA ($8,500 DK / $8,100 FD) - Florida won pretty convincingly on Tuesday night by the score of 4-1 and with Bobrovsky getting the start in net for that game, we could see his backup Chris Driedger get the start for their game against Detroit on Thursday. Driedger is 9-4-2 on the season with a 2.19 goals allowed average and a .927 save percentage and has gone 2-1 against Detroit while having a 2.35 goals allowed average against them. One thing about Driedger is that he tends to perform great on home ice as he is 4-2-1 with a 1.71 goals allowed average and a .928 save percentage so this looks to be a very good matchup to target him in.
Carey Price, MTL ($8,300 DK / $7,700 FD) - Price tends to be a little bit of a roller coaster in the net as he can turn out some of the best performances of the season and then have a terrible game that leaves you questioning why you started him in the first place. He has won three of his last four starts in the net but has gone 1-1-1 against the Senators this year while allowing eight total goals to Ottawa in those three games. Price should still be in consideration for cash game builds but does come with a bit of risk which makes him more of a tournament play in my mind.

Other goalies to consider:

High Priced- Lehner, Shesterkin
Mid-Tier- Varlamov
Value- Rinne, Lankinen

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

FLA 1
- Huberdeau/ Wennberg/ Connolly (Yandle, d-men add on)
  - The Panthers have really been hit with the injury bug lately but that has not slowed them down offensively. The Panthers are ranked eighth in the league when they're on the power play and are facing one of the worst penalty-killing teams as Detroit is ranked 28th. This top Panthers line is fully correlated as they should skate at even strength and all three forwards are featured on the top power-play unit. Both Huberdeau and Connolly were able to find the back of the net during their Tuesday matchup against Detroit and it would not be surprising if they found similar success against Detroit again tonight.
NYR 1
- Kreider/ Zibanejad/ Buchnevich (Fox, d-men add on)
  - The Sabres are coming off of their first win in over a month but will face a tougher challenge tonight as they take on a Rangers that has been on fire lately from an offensive perspective. Over their last eight games, the Rangers are averaging over four goals per game and this line has accounted for six 5v5 goals during that stretch. The second line for New York is also in play and combining them could be one way to get different while getting exposure to two lines that could have their way against a bad team in Buffalo.
NSH 1
- Tolvanen/ Johansen/ Arvidsson (Josi, d-men add on)
  - The Predators have been playing some good hockey over the last month and could be finding their stride here in the mid-point of the season. This newly formed line has looked good as they are generating a 3.27 expected goals for rate and 34.36 scoring chances for while also creating 11.45 high danger chances per 60 minutes. In their most recent game against Dallas, this line generated a 60.87 corsi while creating six scoring chances and three high danger chances in just 14 minutes of ice time.