NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings (4/6): 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 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, April 6th, 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!

NHL DFS Analysis and Picks for 4/6

- Buffalo Sabres vs. New Jersey Devils (-155) -5.5U
- Washington Capitals vs. New York Islanders (-130) - 5.5U
- Pittsburgh Penguins (-105) vs. New York Rangers (-115) - 6O
- Boston Bruins (-118) vs. Philadelphia Flyers - 5.5O
- Florida Panthers vs. Carolina Hurricanes (-155) - 6U
- Tampa Bay Lightning (-200) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets - 5.5U
- Nashville Predators (-150) vs. Detroit Red Wings - 5.5U
- Dallas Stars (-120) vs. Chicago Blackhawks - 5.5U
- Anaheim Ducks vs. San Jose Sharks (-165) - 5.5U

NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix

Team	Rank GA	Rank SA	Rank GF	Rank SF	Total
Buffalo	29	4	1	27	13.25
New Jersey	20	6	6	14	13.5
Washington	20	19	30	28	19.5
New York Islanders	3	28	18	21	22.25
Pittsburgh	13	17	26	19	16
New York Rangers	12	22	20	14	19.75
Boston	7	29	15	4	17.75
Philadelphia	30	21	18	17	17.5
Florida	11	12	27	2	11.75
Carolina	6	24	20	4	14.75
Tampa Bay	4	25	29	9	14.25
Columbus	24	7	4	24	17.25
Nashville	16	14	4	18	15.25
Detroit	23	11	2	29	14
Dallas	5	30	8	26	18
Chicago	22	2	16	21	14.5
Anaheim	28	16	3	30	17.5
San Jose	27	5	14	12	16.25

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
Buffalo	13	30
New Jersey	28	16
Washington	7	13
New York Islanders	21	7
Pittsburgh	16	4
New York Rangers	22	19
Boston	9	20
Philadelphia	19	1
Florida	11	8
Carolina	1	11
Tampa Bay	3	21
Columbus	27	10
Nashville	15	27
Detroit	29	31
Dallas	6	28
Chicago	5	22
Anaheim	31	12
San Jose	23	24

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

Patrice Bergeron, BOS ($7,700 DK / $7,500 FD) - The Bruins have done well in their games against Philadelphia and Patrice Bergeron has been a main reason for that. Bergeron has recorded three goals and six assists in five games against the Flyers this season while also taking 18 shots on goal and blocking four shots as well.
Jared McCann, PIT ($4,400 DK/ $4,100) - McCann continues to be overlooked from a pricing standpoint and would make a great one-off for both cash game and tournament builds. He has scored a point in four of his last five games and has scored four goals in that five-game stretch.

Other centers to consider:

High Priced- Crosby, Point, Trocheck, Barzal, Hintz
Mid-Tier- Hertl, Couture, Gourde, Hughes
Value- Reinhart, Granlund, Eller, Zajac, Johansen

NHL DFS Forward Picks

David Pastrnak, BOS ($9,000 DK / $8,200 FD) - Just like Bergeron, Pastrnak has also found some success this year against the Flyers. Pastrnak has scored six goals and recorded two assists in just three games against Philly while also taking 14 total shots on goal in that three-game span. Pastrnak has arguably the highest ceiling on the slate and should be one of the first skaters to consider when building your lineups.
Taylor Hall, BUF ($4,500 DK / $5,400 FD) - The pricing on Hall is just too low to not consider in all formats. While Taylor Hall is having a letdown of a season, he still is a talented winger that is able to produce points. In six games against his former team, the Devils, Hall has produced five assists and has taken 15 total shots on goal.

Other wings to consider:

High Priced- Panarin, Marchand, Hornqvist, Kane, Guentzel, Stamkos, Rust
Mid-Tier- Necas, Eberle, Svechnikov, Meier, Oshie, Tolvanen
Value- Wilson, Sharangovich, Labanc, Smith, Jenner, Balcers, Donato, Strome, Gusev

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

Brent Burns, SJS ($5,700 DK / $6,200 FD) - While Burns isn't having the high-scoring year that we are accustomed to him having, he still carries goal-scoring upside and with his ice time being over 25 minutes per game, he should be considered in all formats. Burns has recorded one goal and three assists while taking seven shots on goal and blocking 11 shots in five total games against Anaheim this year. With his pricing being down on both sites, it certainly makes him viable in all formats.
Jacob Trouba, NYR ($3,600 DK / $4,100 FD) - The pricing on Truoba has now dipped below the 4k mark over on DK which really seems like a steal for your cash game builds. Trouba is seeing over 21 minutes of ice tim per game and while he doesn't rack up the point numbers like Adam Fox, he does a good job scoring fantasy points by accruing peripheral stats.

Other defensemen to consider:

High Priced- Hedman, Josi, Letang, Fox, Klingberg
Mid-Tier- Provorov, Subban, Pulock, Grzelcyk, Jones, Ekholm
Value-Werenski, Karlsson, Pesce, Keith, Weegar, Schultz, Forsling, Dobson

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

Juuse Saros, NSH ($8,100 DK / $7,600 FD) - Saros has been a steady presence in net for Nashville and could raw the start against Detroit on Tuesday night. Saros is 7-2 over the last nine games that he has started and has won four out of his last five starts. Saros has been successful against Detroit this year as he has won both starts and has stopped 56 out of 58 shots that he has faced in those two starts. If Saros gets the nod in net, he is viable in all formats and would be one of the safer options for your cash game builds.
Martin Jones, SJS ($7,900 DK / $7,800 FD) - Jones has been on fire for the Sharks lately as he has won four straight starts and is 7-1-1 over his last nine starts in net. Jones is 3-0 against Anaheim this year with a 2.27 goals allowed average and has stopped 85 out of 92 shots faced. While rostering Jones could seem a little on the scary side, he is in good form and has seemed to have found his form as the Sharks are making a mid-season push for the playoffs.

Other goalies to consider:

High Priced- Vasilevskiy
Mid-Tier- Blackwood
Value- 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

NYI 1
- Komarov/ Barzal/ Eberle (Leddy, d-men add on)
  - The top line for the Islanders dominated the Capitals a few days ago as they combined for four goals while generating nine scoring chances and six high danger chances in just 10 minutes of full-strength ice time. With 65 minutes of ice time together, this line is sporting a 3.1 expected goals for rate while generating 26.42 scoring chances for and 14.58 high danger chances for and should draw favorable matchups against the Ovechkin line which tends to play at a good pace but does struggle defensively.
PIT 1
- Guentzel/ Crosby/ Rust (Letang, d-men add on)
  - The top Penguins line could go overlooked in this matchup against the Rangers and it could be one of the higher scoring stacks on the entire slate. This line has scored five goals in 63 minutes of ice time against the Rangers this season and has generated 28 scoring chances and 12 high danger chances in those 63 minutes. On the year, this Penguins line is sporting a 2.49 expected goals for rate while generating 29.09 scoring chances for and 12.4 high danger chances for per 60 minutes. They are fully correlated at even strength and on the power play so if this line scores a goal, there is a good chance you can also rack up some assist points as well.