RADIO
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 Sunday, May 9th, 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 5/9
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- Dallas Stars (-165) vs. Chicago Blackhawks - 5.5O
- Ottawa Senators vs. Calgary Flames (-190) - 6U
NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix
| Team | Rank GA | Rank SA | Rank GF | Rank SF | Total |
| Dallas | 6 | 30 | 12 | 18 | 16.75 |
| Chicago | 25 | 2 | 16 | 15 | 14.25 |
| Ottawa | 28 | 5 | 15 | 12 | 14 |
| Calgary | 16 | 25 | 5 | 18 | 17 |
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 |
| Dallas | 7 | 26 |
| Chicago | 10 | 19 |
| Ottawa | 26 | 13 |
| Calgary | 20 | 17 |
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 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
- Roope Hintz, DAL ($6,700 DK / $6,700 FD) - Hintz has been a steady point producer for the Stars this year and he is in really good form over his last couple of games played. He has registered a point in three straight games and is coming off of a three-point performance against the Lightning. Hintz has four goals and four assists in six games against Chicago this year and is averaging over 12 DK points per game against them.
Other centers to consider:
- High Priced- Lindholm
- Mid-Tier- Benn, Backlund, Norris, Monahan
- Value- Suter, Strome
NHL DFS Forward Picks
- Alex DeBrincat, CHI ($7,300 DK / $7,500 FD) - While there are several solid wingers to pay up for, Alex DeBrincat is the best one to pay up for. DeBrincat has been one of the most consistent wingers from a DFS perspective as he has registered double-digit DK points in nine of his last 10 games and has scored a point in eight of those games. DeBrincat has scored four goals and notched one assist in six games against Dallas in addition to taking 22 shots on goal.
Other wings to consider:
- High Priced- Kane, Seguin, Pavelski
- Mid-Tier- Tkachuk, Robertson, Kubalik, Gaudreau, Batherson
- Value- Gurianov, Stuetzle, Dadonov, Kiviranta
NHL DFS Defenseman Picks
- Mark Giordano, CGY ($6,200 DK / $6,300 FD) - Giordano is the safest defenseman to pay up for on this little two-game slate. While he is having a very down year from a point-scoring standpoint, Giordano offers a high floor due to his large amount of ice time and his solid peripheral numbers. When looking at his last five games played, Giordano has registered 33 total peripheral stats which means he is averaging over six peripherals per game.
Other defensemen to consider:
- High Priced- Klingberg
- Mid-Tier- Heiskanen, Murphy, Lindell
- Value- Kalynuk, Oleksiak, Stone, Brannstrom, Zadorov
NHL DFS Goalie Picks
- Anton Khudobin, DAL ($8,000 DK / $8,300 FD) - We have very few options to choose from when it comes to the goalies on this skate so taking a stab on Khudobin might be something to consider should he get the start in net for Dallas. Khudobin is 2-1 against Chicago this season and is sporting a 2.25 goals allowed average against them. He has a .913 save percentage and has stopped 63 of 69 total shots faced against the Blackhawks which tells us the Stars defense is making it difficult for Chicago to get good quality shots off.
Other goalies to consider:
- High Priced- Markstrom
- Mid-Tier-
- Value- Forsberg
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
- DAL 1
- Kiviranta/ Hintz/ Pavelski (Klingberg, d-men add on)
- While this line hasn't had much time together, they certainly impressed with their 11 minutes of ice time. In that short span, they managed to score two goals, create eight scoring chances while also having one high danger opportunity. Both Hintz and Pavelski are featured on the top power-play alongside John Klingberg and they would make for a nice three-man stack if trying to fully correlate this line.
- Kiviranta/ Hintz/ Pavelski (Klingberg, d-men add on)
Other Stacks to consider: CHI 1, CGY 1, DAL 2, CGY 3
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!
