NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings (5/6): Value Plays, Goalies, Stacks

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 Thursday, May 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 5/6

• • Chicago Blackhawks vs. Carolina Hurricanes (-305) - 6.5U
  • New York Rangers vs. Boston Bruins (-200) - 5.5O
  • New Jersey Devils vs. New York Islanders (-240) - 5.5O
  • Buffalo Sabres vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (-315)- 5.5O
  • Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (-195) - 5.5O
  • Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers (-240) - 6.5U

NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix

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

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

• Connor McDavid, EDM ($9,100 DK / $9,300 FD) - If the process isn't broke, then there is no need to fix it and that is exactly the strategy with McDavid against the Canucks. McDavid has registered six points over his last two games against Vancouver and has and has 12 total points over his last five games played. He offers the best floor and highest ceiling so he should be used in all formats.
• Jordan Staal, CAR ($3,900 DK/ $4,800 FD) - Staal is under the 4k mark on DK which really makes him an intriguing value option on this slate. Staal sees a good chunk of ice time per game and while he doesn't have huge upside, he does get you exposure to one of the top power-play units in the league as he is a part of the top Hurricanes power-play unit.

Other centers to consider: 

• High Priced-  Matthews, Crosby, Aho, Trocheck, Malkin
• Mid-Tier- RNH, Horvat, Carter, Miller, Hischier
• Value- Hughes, Nelson, Pageau, Suter

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Leon Draisaitl, EDM ($7,700 DK / $8,300 FD) - With Draisaitl still remaining under the 8k mark on DK, he is one of the best-priced plays in all formats. He is coming off of a two-goal performance against the Canucks and now has three goals and 11 assists against Vancouver this season.
• Teuvo Teravainen, CAR ($5,400 DK / $5,900 FD) - The pricing on Teravainen hasn't changed much which is a benefit to us since he becomes an easy plug-and-play for both cash and tournament lineups. Teravainen is coming off of a big night where he scored one goal and assisted on two other goals while taking four shots on goal and blocking one shot. He now has scored a goal and recorded four assists in five games against Chicago this season and should continue to find success skating alongside Aho and Svechnikov.

Other wings to consider: 

• High Priced- Marner, Pastrnak, Marchand, Kane, Guentzel, Hall, Svechnikov, Hall
• Mid-Tier-  McCann, Necas, Puljujarvi, Kubalik, Eberle, Smith
• Value- Niederreiter, Pearson, Zacha, Hoglander, Zucker

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Dougie Hamilton, CAR ($6,900 DK / $6,600 FD) - Hamilton continues to be one of the best options to spend up for at the defensive position and should definitely be considered for your cash game builds. He has one goal and five assists in seven games against Chicago but what is even more important are the 36 peripheral stats that he has accrued in those seven games.
• Evan Bouchard, EDM ($3,200 DK / $3,500 FD) - Bouchard finally saw some action on Tuesday night as he took two shots on goal, blocked two shots, and registered his second goal of the season. Bouchard saw over 20 minutes of ice time and he could see some run here during the final couple regular-season games as the Oilers focus on getting him some game action should he be needed during the playoffs.

Other defensemen to consider: 

• High Priced- Nurse, Fox, Barrie
• Mid-Tier- Letang, Hughes, McAvoy, Murphy, Rielly
• Value- Slavin, Edler, Pulock, Muzzin, Keith, Pesce, Kalynuk, Reilly

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Tristan Jarry, PIT ($8,400 DK / $8,300 FD) - The Penguins get the benefit of hosting the Sabres which means Jarry automatically becomes a goalie to consider for your cash game lineups. Jarry has won his last three starts and is 3-0 on the season when facing Buffalo. he is sporting a 2.01 goals allowed average and has stopped 75 of 81 shots faced in those three starts. With the game being played on the Penguin's home ice and the playoffs in sight, this game only looks to favor Jarry and the Penguins.
• Mike Smith, EDM ($8,200 DK / $8,000 FD) - The good fortune continues for Smith and the Oilers as he has won three of his last five games and has only allowed 10 total goals in those five starts. His dominance over Vancouver continues as he is 3-0 against them and has only allowed four total goals in those three games. Smith has a 1.34 goals allowed average and has stopped 90 of 94 total shots faced and looks to benefit from the fact that this game will be played on home ice.

Other goalies to consider: 

• High Priced- Mrazek
• Mid-Tier- Campbell
• Value- Blackwood

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 

• EDM 1  
  • Draisaitl/ McDavid/ Puljujarvi (Barrie, d-men add on)
    • We get another slate where the Oilers are a top option to stack so getting exposure to them in some capacity is a must if entering more than one lineup. This line has four even-strength goals over their last five games played and has generated 22 scoring chances and two high-danger opportunities over their last 30 minutes of ice time. When drilling down on their power play, the combination of McDavid and Draisaitl has scored four power-play goals and has generated 20 scoring chances for so focusing on this mini stack would be one of the best ways to go on this slate.
• CAR 1  
  • Svechnikov/ Aho/ Teravainen (Hamilton, d-men add on)  
    • It's hard to not go directly back to the Canes in their matchup against Chicago but that is exactly what I am going to do! This Canes top line has been on fire over their last five games as they have had a 57.76 corsi for and have scored eight even-strength goals and allowed only two even-strength goals over the last 57 minutes of ice time. They have also generated 34 scoring chances and 12 high-danger opportunities during that stretch which shows that this line is clicking and is in great form as they head towards the playoffs.

Other Stacks to consider: BOS 1, PIT 1, TOR 1, NJD 1, PIT 2, BOS 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!

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