NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings (5/8): 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 Saturday, May 8th, 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 5/8

• • Ottawa Senators vs. Winnipeg Jets (-185) - 5.5O
  • New Jersey Devils vs. New York Islanders (-230) - 5.5U
  • Philadelphia Flyers vs. Washington Capitals (-180) - 6.5U
  • Tampa Bay Lightning (-118) vs. Florida Panthers - 5.5O
  • Detroit Red Wings vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (-146) - 5.5U
  • Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (-215) - 5.5O
  • Carolina Hurricanes (-135) vs. Nashville Predators - 5.5U
  • Anaheim Ducks vs. Minnesota Wild (-286) - 5.5O
  • St. Louis Blues vs. Vegas Golden Knights (-182) - 5.5O
  • Colorado Avalanche (-280) vs. Los Angeles Kings - 5.5O
  • Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers (-240) - 6O
  • Arizona Coyotes (-108) vs. San Jose Sharks (-108) - 5.5O

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 ($9,200 DK / $9,200 FD) - McDavid is back and is once again my preferred spend-up option at the center position. In his most recent game against Vancouver, McDavid recorded three assists and took six shots on goal so he is finding ways to hit and exceed value without even scoring!
• Tyson Jost, COL ($2,700 DK/ $3,300 FD) - Nathan MacKinnon was a late scratch for the Avs game against the Kings so there is a chance that Tyson Jost would slide on up to the top forward line which automatically makes him a good value skating alongside Rantanen and Landeskog. Jost has scored a goal in back-to-back games and was able to record one on Friday night in MacKinnon's absence.

Other centers to consider: 

• High Priced-  Matthews, Barkov, Aho, Scheifele, Tavares, Trocheck 
• Mid-Tier- Kopitar, RNH, Barzal, Backstrom, Bennett, Norris, Karlsson, Hughes
• Value- Suzuki, Eriksson Ek, Staal, Hartman, Wennberg

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Kirill Kaprizov, MIN ($6,900 DK / $6,700 FD) - Kaprizov is having one incredible rookie campaign as he has scored 27 goals and 22 assists in 53games this year and he has been on quite a hot streak lately. Kaprizov has recorded five goals over his last five games played and has totaled 18 total shots during that stretch.
• Phil Kessel, ARZ ($4,700 DK / $6,100 FD) - Kessel has tortured San Jose this season as he has recorded nine goals and one assist against them in seven total games played. Kessel is an active shooter and has taken 19 shots on goal in those seven games so if you need a mid-range play with upside, look no further than Phil Kessel.

Other wings to consider: 

• High Priced- Rantanen, Draisaitl, Marner, Stone, Huberdeau, Connor, Hornqvist, Marchessault
• Mid-Tier-  Svechnikov, Oshie, Boeser, Bjorkstrand, Wheeler, Garland, Teravainen, Necas, Mantha, Schenn, Puljujarvi, Zuccarello, Copp, Hoffman
• Value- Eberle, Brown, Tuch, Kempe, Vatrano, Coleman,  Niederreiter, Keller, Laine, Smith, Sprong, Stastny, Schwartz, Thornton

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Tyson Barrie, EDM ($6,200 DK / $6,300 FD) - Getting some exposure to Edmonton might be tough with this being a large slate but one guy to consider from the Oilers would be Tyson Barrie. Barrie sees plenty of ice time and is featured on the top power-play unit which is always enticing since he will be seeing a good amount of time with McDavid and Draisaitl. Barrie has recorded a point in four straight games and offers a solid floor as he averages close to four peripheral stats per game.
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson, ARZ ($4,100 DK / $3,900 FD) - The pricing for OEL is too good to pass up. While Chychrun is the preferred Arizona defender, OEL has been extremely active over his last four games played as he has recorded a point in three out of four games and as averaged four peripheral stats per game.

Other defensemen to consider: 

• High Priced- Chychrun, Josi, Hamilton, Carlson, Hedman, Martinez, Pietrangelo
• Mid-Tier- Jones, Ellis, Spurgeon, Morrissey, Hughes, Pionk, Karlsson
• Value- Parayko, Slavin, Ekholm, Walker, Zaitsev, Brannstrom

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Cam Talbot, MIN ($8,500 DK / $7,900 FD) - Talbot will tend the net for the Wild on home ice against Anaheim on Saturday night and he is one of the preferred spend up options for the goalie position on this slate. Talbot is 2-1-2 over his last five games that he has started but he is 2-1 against the Ducks this season. In those three starts against Anaheim, Talbot has only allowed four goals on 82 total shots so the consistency and great floor is what you're paying for when it comes to rostering Cam Talbot.
• Jack Campbell, TOR ($8,200 DK / $8,200 FD) - If Campbell gets the start on Saturday against the Canadiens, he will be one that should be considered in all formats. Campbell is 16-2-2 on the season and is 3-1-1 against Montreal this year. In his five starts against the Canadiens,  Campbell has stopped 124 out of 135 total shots faced and racked up a 2.20 goals allowed average. Campbell comes into this matchup in good form as he has won four out of his last five starts while allowing eight total goals in that five-game span.

Other goalies to consider: 

• High Priced- Smith
• Mid-Tier- Bobrovsky
• 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 

• EDM 1  
  • Draisaitl/ McDavid/ Puljujarvi (Barrie, d-men add on)
    • It is hard to gravitate away from this line when they are on a slate. In their most recent game against Vancouver, this line at full strength scored two goals while generating seven scoring chances and three high-danger opportunities. In 42 minutes of ice time against Vancouver this year,  this line has scored six even-strength goals while generating 32 scoring chances for and eight high-danger chances which shows the upside of this line. Add in the fact that the Canucks have a bottom-third penalty kill unit and the Oilers have one of the best power-play units in the league, this makes for a tough stack to not consider.
• MIN 2  
  • Kaprizov/ Hartman/ Zuccarello (Dumba, d-men add on)  
    • Minnesota tends to get overlooked especially on large slates like this one but they should definitely not be forgotten. Their second line has done really well in just 65 minutes of ice time together as they are sporting a 2.95 expected goals for rate and are generating 25 scoring chances and 10 high-danger opportunities per 60 minutes of ice time. In just 10 minutes of ice time against the Ducks on Friday night, this line had a strong 62% corsi for and had six scoring chances and four high-danger opportunities.

Other Stacks to consider: TOR 1, WPG 1, FLA 1, ARZ 1, CAR 1, FLA 2, CAR 2, VGK 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!

NHL Player News and Updates

More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis