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Welcome, RotoBallers. Hockey season has now entered the postseason which is the most exciting time to watch and partake in NHL DFS! As always, I'll give you the stats and info you need to build the best lineups possible for your GPP and cash game NHL contests on both 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.
In the image above, you'll see that Sidney Crosby is skating in-between Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust and this line has skated together for most of the year. The idea behind staking forward lines is that if Crosby gets a goal, there is a higher percentage and chance that either Rust or Guentzel would get credited with an assist, therefore, resulting in more fantasy points.
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 on that site 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, June 6th, 2020 at 6:00 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 6/6
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- Winnipeg Jets vs. Montreal Canadiens (-135) - 5.5U
- Colorado Avalanche (-105) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (-115) - 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).
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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 a preferred play (varies on slate size) at each position and then other options at different price points 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
- William Karlsson, VGK ($5,200 DK / $5,300 FD) - The Golden Knights have managed to make this an interesting series and part of that has been the recent play of William Karlsson. Karlsson has managed to score a goal in two of the three playoff games against Colorado and the second Vegas line has been finding themselves in some great matchups. While he isn't a high-volume shooter, Karlsson does a great job of creating plays for others and facilitating the puck which is what I expect him to do once again on Sunday night against Colorado.
Other centers to consider based on my preference:
- High Priced- MacKinnon
- Mid-Tier- Suzuki, Stephenson, Copp
- Value- Dubois, Danault, Kotkaniemi, Jost
NHL DFS Forward Picks
- Max Pacioretty, VGK ($7,100 DK / $7,500 FD) - Pacioretty has made a very positive impact on this Vegas team once he returned from injury as he has registered a point in four straight games. Pacioretty has the green light to fire the puck at the net any chance he can get and this is evident by his most recent game as he recorded eight shots on goal. The top two lines for Vegas should continue to find themselves in good matchups being on home ice which means Pacioretty should be considered in all formats.
Other wings to consider based on my preference:
- High Priced- Rantanen, Landeskog, Toffoli, Connor
- Mid-Tier- Stone, Marchessault, Gallagher, Wheeler, Ehlers
- Value- Anderson, Smith, Tuch, Saad
NHL DFS Defenseman Picks
- Shea Weber, MTL ($5,000 DK / $4,600 FD) - The ice time that Weber is seeing in these playoffs is incredible and he is certainly making the most of the opportunities given. When looking at his last five games played, Weber is averaging five combined peripheral stats per game and has managed to record an assist in back-to-back games. While this year has not great for Weber offensively, he is still contributing on both ends of the ice and could be trusted in all formats right now with his given form.
Other defensemen to consider based on my preference:
- High Priced- Makar
- Mid-Tier- Pietrangelo, Theodore, Petry, Weber, Toews
- Value- Graves, Forbort, Hague
NHL DFS Goalie Picks
- Carey Price, MTL ($7,900 DK / $8,200 FD) - Price had a very dominating game against Winnipeg on Friday night as he stopped all 30 shots that he faced and recorded his first shutout of the playoffs. Price has now rattled off five straight wins and has improved to 4-1-1 against the Jets this year. In these six games that he has played against Winnipeg, Price has accrued a 2.51 goals allowed average and a .918 save percentage which is very solid. The loss of Mark Scheifele for the Jets has been huge for the Canadiens and that is one less playmaker that they need to account for on the defensive end of the ice. Price is in the best situation out of all of the goaltenders on the slate and could be trusted in all formats.
Other goalies to consider based on my preference:
- High Priced- Grubauer
- Mid-Tier- Fleury
- Value-
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
- VGK 2
- Marchessault/ Karlsson/ Smith (Theodore, d-men add on)
- The Vegas second line offers a tremendous discount when compared to other lines on the slate but they have been one of the more effective full-strength lines in the playoffs. They have produced seven 5v5 goals in just 111 minutes of ice time and have generated three goals for in just 30 minutes against Colorado this series. This Vegas second line saw a mixture of the top two lines for the Avs in their most recent game played but really took advantage of the Avs second line as they had a much higher puck possession rate and were able to generate a few goals as well.
- Marchessault/ Karlsson/ Smith (Theodore, d-men add on)
Other Stacks to consider in order of preference: VGK 1, COL 1, MTL 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
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
[jiffyNews category_include='9958' headline='More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis'
