This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
Welcome back to another week of NHL DFS, and of course, FanDuel bargain bin options for the week. It is a big week for NHL on FanDuel as their Super Monster ($300 buy-in, $125,000 guaranteed) tournament is tonight. NHL is definitely the smallest of the 'Big Four' sports in terms of DFS, so a contest of that size doesn't occur frequently.
As with all the bargain bin columns, there will be one skater at each position, and they will be priced at $4,000 or less. There will also be a couple of goalies at the end of the article to use at different times in the week at a cheap price as well.
Centre
Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton) - $3,800
Growing up, kids have their binkys. They are familiar things, usually a blanket or stuffed animal, that seem to relax the child or bring some sense of calm.
Leon 'The Professional' Draisaitl should be a DFS binky for fantasy players this year. He has managed 20 points in 18 games so far, and has been held pointless in just six of those 18. It is worth noting he has as many multi-point games as zero point games as well.
Draisaitl continues to play on what could be considered the top line in Edmonton alongside Taylor Hall, as well as on the power play. While his pace has certainly slowed down with just three points in his previous eight games, Draisaitl has played at least 18 minutes in seven of those eight games, which at least means the coaching staff isn't losing faith in him yet.
Edmonton hosts a sliding New York Rangers team on Friday night that hasn't been very good defensively this year (outside of Henrik Lundqvist). No issue using him on that seven game slate.
Right Wing
Valeri Nichushkin (Dallas) - $3,400
Late last week, the Dallas Stars inserted Valeri Nichushkin on the right wing of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Needless to say, this is about as plush a position that exists in the NHL. Nichushkin responded with a goal and an assist in Thursday's game before going pointless on Friday night.
It's worth noting that – and this is stating the obvious – Dallas generates a lot more shots when Nichushkin is on the ice with Benn and Seguin than without them (from Puckalytics.com, it's about 11% more). Any increase is good, and obviously, this promotion is a great one.
Dallas has home games Tuesday and Friday against Carolina and Philadelphia, respectively. Nichushkin is a plug-and-play option in those two games, and most games moving forward until he's moved off that line.
Left Wing
Andre Burakovsky (Washington) - $3,900
After posting 22 points in 53 games last year as a rookie, things seemed to be trending up for Burakovsky. He has spent much of this season in Washington's bottom-six forward mix this year and has just seven points in 23 games.
There has been a change in situation, though, as Burakovsky has slid up to play on the second line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Justin Williams. On top of that, he is also on the top power play unit with Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and company. In other words, Burakovsky has become very fantasy relevant in a matter of days.
Washington goes into Florida on Thursday, and that is actually a great matchup for this second line of the Capitals. The top Florida defence pairing including Aaron Ekblad, who has done a good job of preventing scoring chances, while the rest (particularly Gudbranson and Mitchell) have struggled. The Washington second line should avoid Ekblad for the most part, and that's a great thing for fantasy production.
Defence
Michael Stone (Arizona) - $3,300
All the hype, and rightly so, about Arizona blue liners revolves around Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Not much attention is paid to his defence partner Michael Stone. It is worth noting that they also play together on the power play.
Stone is a player with a heavy shot, and he's using it more this year, averaging over two shots per game at the time of writing.
The problem remains that Stone plays for the Coyotes and plus/minus is an ongoing issue. For that reason alone, I would only use him in tournaments and not cash games; the downside is real. Although with Minnesota and Carolina coming into town on the weekend and both teams being fairly poor on the penalty kill, they are good situations for Stone. Obviously the game in Carolina is preferred, but for a tournament, either game is fine, and he should be minimally owned.
Goalie
Anders Nilsson (Edmonton) - $6,300
It has been Anders Nilsson, and not Cam Talbot, who has been the goalie the Oilers needed to stabilize their season a bit. This has to be a surprise, as it seemed Nilsson wasn't long to be out of the NHL, but is saving his career so far by posting a .922 save percentage in 16 games this year.
The nice thing about using Nilsson is he should face a lot of shots; that provides huge upside in tournaments. A home game on Friday against the Rangers – a team due to keep cooling down – is a nice target this week at his price.
Michael Hutchinson (Winnipeg) - $6,600
It certainly looks as though Connor Hellebuyck has started to assert some control on the starter's job in Winnipeg, something the team desperately needed to stay in the playoff picture. The team does have back-to-back this week on Thursday and Friday, hosting Columbus and Chicago, respectively. I would assume they give Hellebuyck the start against Chicago, making Hutchinson a great tournament target on Thursday night against the Blue Jackets.
