Thursday night was a lower-scoring affair, which has been pretty rare for this year’s NHL DFS. There is a solid travel night with a seven-game slate tonight, and there is no shortage of options. Nashville, Detroit and Winnipeg are all playing on the second of back-to-backs. This Power Play article will use Awesemo’s Premium NHL Tools to help dole out the NHL DFS advice to help with building lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel tonight. The Awesemo NHL projections and ownership projections are two of the best tools to utilize when constructing stacks and making the optimal NHL DFS picks. Let us go position by position and pinpoint some of the top plays and stacks for Friday, Dec. 10.
NHL DFS Picks, Tops Stacks & Lineup Optimizer Plays
Center
Nathan MacKinnon (COL vs. DET): DraftKings – $9,200 | FanDuel – $9,700
MacKinnon continues to roll through the NHL, with 8 points in the last five games while also hitting the shot on goal bonus in three of them. Colorado might have the biggest Vegas team total of the year tonight, with a 4.3 opening team total. Detroit has struggled on the defensive side with their depth lines. Outside of the Dylan Larkin line, there is no real stopping power. MacKinnon will likely see some of the Larkin line tonight, but the Avalanche top line is matchup-proof. Finally, with last change MacKinnon will get opportunities with plus matchups against the depth, and they are going to struggle mightily to hold him down.
MacKinnon is one of the top options popping up in the Awesemo NHL lineup optimizer. For all of our free NHL DFS picks tonight, check out the DraftKings NHL cheat sheet and FanDuel NHL cheat sheet.
Mika Zibanejad (NYR at BUF): DraftKings – $6,500 | FanDuel – $6,900
It has been a tough stretch for Zibanejad. He has now gone 13 games without lighting the lamp, but he does have seven points in the last 10 games. He is shooting just 6.3% on the year, while his career average has been almost 13%. Whether he is missing Pavel Buchnevich remains to be unseen, but he is still getting pucks on net. Over the last 10 games, he is averaging 2.5 shots per game. If he can continue getting pucks on net and even raise his shot volume, he will surely regress to the mean. The Sabres started out as one of the hottest teams in hockey but have fallen back to reality over the last month or so. Buffalo has only won one game out of their last 10. Their metrics have seemingly caught up to them as well. Over the last 10 games, the Sabres are 19th in Corsi, 20th in expected goals against, 28th in shots against and 22nd in high-danger chances allowed. If Zibanejad can get pucks on net, he has a good chance at lighting the lamp.
Winger
Max Pacioretty (VGK vs. PHI): DraftKings – $7,500 | FanDuel – $9,800
Pacioretty has been a machine with his shot volume. Since returning he is hit the shot on goal bonus in four of the six games. Pacioretty has also tallied 12 points in the eight games he has played. His vision is second to none, and his hockey IQ is phenomenal. He seemingly always finds himself in the right place at the right time, and it is not just by chance. Over the last 10 games Philadelphia ranks in the bottom five of every metric: 30th in Corsi, 31st in expected goals against and 31st in scoring chances and high-danger chances. Pacioretty will likely see a majority of time against the Flyers top line tonight. Sean Couturier has always been known as one of the top two-way players in the league, but that has not been the case this year. With Lindblom on the top line, the defense will likely struggle even more. In the small sample with all three together, they carry a 48% Corsi-for and 3.46 expected goals against per 60.
Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA at ARI): DraftKings – $7,400 | FanDuel – $8,200
Huberdeau is proving that he belongs in the NHL All-Star Game for the second year in a row. The Panthers are one of the best teams in the league and have some serious depth. Huberdeau has 16 points in the last 10 games while averaging just about four shots on goal. Arizona has been awful in all facets of the game, whether it is five-on-five or on the penalty kill. The Coyotes rank in the bottom five of every five-on-five category, and they carry the fourth-worst penalty kill in the league. Huberdeau also fully correlates with his linemates on the top power play. It is not cheap to stack them, but it is a great spot.
Brock Boeser (VAN vs. WPG): DraftKings – $3,700 | FanDuel – $5,900
The Canucks have become a charity case for NHL DFS. There is only one player above $4,500 on the entire team on DraftKings. That is not to say that they are complete steals, but there are definitely players with slate-breaking upside. Boeser comes into tonight with points in three straight games and seems to have found a groove. His shot volume has been rising, and that usually means that good things are coming. He is playing on the third line, which means he will most likely match up with all the depth lines too. All three guys on the third line fully correlate on the second power play as well, while Winnipeg struggles on the kill (68.4%). Winnipeg is playing on the second of a back-to-back after making short order of the Kraken last night 3-0. That also means that the Jets will likely run out Eric Comrie between the pipes, which is a downgrade from Connor Hellebuyck.
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Defensemen
Aaron Ekblad (FLA at ARI): DraftKings – $7,700 | FanDuel – $6,900
If the funds are available, Ekblad becomes the top pay-up defender. He is logging a ton of ice time to go along with over five shots/blocks per game. He will also quarterback the top power play while all offense runs through him on the extra man advantage. The Coyotes are a complete turnstile, and they are just as bad on the penalty kill as well: 27th in expected goals against and the 29th-ranked kill. This should be a firing squad game that ends poorly for the Coyotes. On the year Arizona is allowing the fifth-most fantasy points to opposing defensemen, which cements the blue liners from the Panthers.
Nick Hague (VGK vs. PHI): DraftKings – $4,000 | FanDuel – $4,300
As long as Hague is playing on the top pairing alongside Alex Pietrangelo, he will be a viable value play. If he gets moved to a bottom pairing, then the $4,000 price tag is too much. He is logging 20 minutes a night and has hit the shot bonus in three of the last four games. Hague is not afraid to get in front of pucks either. Over the last 10 games, Hague has averaged five shots/blocks per game. Finally, over the past month the Flyers have allowed the most fantasy points in the league to defensemen.
Top NHL DFS Stacks
FLA 2: Jonathan Huberdeau – Sam Bennett – Sam Reinhart
The Panthers second line seems to garner a good amount of leverage tonight — partly because of their price, but their matchup is too good to ignore. Since being installed, the trio has a phenomenal 65% Corsi and 4.69 expected goals for while creating 70% shot share and 18 high-danger chances. None of the Coyotes lines have over a 50% Corsi. As a team over the last month, the Coyotes rank 28th in Corsi, 26th in expected goals against, 30th in shots against and 21st in high-danger scoring chances against. They also have the fourth-worst penalty kill in the league, with a lowly 72% kill rate. The Panthers second line fully correlates on the top power play and sits in a great spot tonight, especially if their ownership remains around 6%.
*Additional Data from Natural Stat Trick
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