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

• • Dallas Stars vs. Carolina Hurricanes (-165) -5.5U
  • Arizona Coyotes (-125) vs. Anaheim Ducks - 5O
  • Toronto Maple Leafs (-155) vs. Calgary Flames - 6U

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

• Auston Matthews, TOR ($9,200 DK / $8,500 FD) -With this being a small slate, Matthews will be the highest owned play by a landslide and you'll want to make sure you can get him in your cahs game builds. There is something to be said about fading him in tournaments as he will also be heavily owned there and he does take up plenty of salary. Matthews has been in his usual form as he has recorded a point in four of his last five games played while scoring a goal in three of his last five games as well.
• Christian Dvorak, ARI ($4,800 DK/ $4,400) - A cheaper center option on this slate is Christian Dvorak. Dvorak doesn't have the upside like a Matthews or a Trocheck but he does skate on both the top forward line and the top power-play line and should see plenty of ice time. In seven games against the Ducks, Dvorak has recorded four goals and one assist while taking 13 total shots on goal.

Other centers to consider: 

• High Priced- Trocheck, Aho, Tavares
• Mid-Tier- Lindholm, Staal, Monahan
• Value- Faksa, Brassard, Kerfoot

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Mitch Marner, TOR ($8,200 DK / $7,700 FD) - Marner has been very reliable from a dfs perspective as he has hit double-digit DK points in seven of his last 10 games played and has recorded a point in eight of those games. Marner has also been successful against the Flames this year as he has scored two goals and three assists while taking 20 shots on goals in six games.
• Phil Kessel, ARI ($4,700 DK / $6,300 FD) - Kessel has been very consistent over his last five games played and could be relied on for this three-game slate. Kessel has taken 18 shots on goal and has scored six goals over his last five games and has been successful against the Ducks as he has scored two goals and five assists in just seven games played.

Other wings to consider: 

• High Priced- Pavelski, Marner
• Mid-Tier- Nylander, Necas, Robertson, Tkachuk, Svechnikov, Benn, Niederreiter, Keller
• Value- Comtois, Gurianov, Silfverberg, Dube, Foegele

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Jakob Chychrun, ARI ($6,300 DK / $4,500 FD) - Chychrun has been a very nice surprise for the Coyotes this season and while he is in a middle of a dry spell, he could easily break out against the Ducks. In seven games against Anaheim this year, Chychrun has netted three goals and recorded three assists while taking 19 shots on goal and also blocking 15 shots as well.
• Michael Stone, CGY ($3,000 DK / $3,500 FD) - If looking for value at the defensemen position, Stone stands out. He finally returned to the Flames lineup and is seeing a minute increase. Stone is very good at recording peripheral stats and registered his first goal of the season in his most recent game against Edmonton.

Other defensemen to consider: 

• High Priced- Hamilton, Giordano
• Mid-Tier- Klingberg, Rielly, Muzzin
• Value- OEL, Hanifin, Gross

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• James Reimer, CAR ($8,200 DK / $8,200 FD) - With Nedeljkovic getting the start on Saturday, we can expect Reimer to get the start on Sunday. Reimer is 3-0 against Dallas this year and is sporting a 2.31 goals allowed average against the Stars in those three games played. Reimer is in solid form as he is 3-1-1 over his last five starts and is 7-1-1 on the year when tending to the net at home.
• Adin Hill, ARI ($7,800 DK / $6,700 FD) - Hill was able to get the win on Friday over the Ducks and should be in line to get the start again on Sunday. He has been in great form lately as he has gone 4-1 over his last five games and has only allowed 12 total goals over those five games. In three games played against Anaheim, Hill has gone 2-0-1 with a 2.11 goals allowed and a .932 save percentage.

Other goalies to consider: 

• High Priced- 
• Mid-Tier- Hutchinson
• Value- Miller

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 

• TOR 1
  • Hyman/ Matthews/ Marner (Rielly, d-men add on)
    • The top Toronto line will be pretty chalky in tournaments but they do carry the most upside on this three-game slate. This line is carrying a 3.4 expected goals for rate per 60 and is generating 38.63 scoring chances for and 17.98 high danger chances for per 60 minutes of ice time. This line has scored one goal and generated 17 scoring chances in 32 minutes of ice time against the Flames this year.
• CAR 2  
  • Svechnikov/ Trocheck/ Fast 
    • The pricing on this Canes second line has decreased a bit and with them at home, they could draw some good matchups against the depth of Dallas. This line doesn't have the strongest offensive numbers but has scored three goals in 48 minutes of ice time together at 5v5. Trocheck and Svechnikov both skate together at even strength and on the top power-play line and make for a strong ministack pairing if wanting to get exposure to Carolina.

Other Stacks to consider: CAR 1, ARI 2, TOR 2, CGY 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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