It’s Thursday and that means some big NHL DFS contests on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and FantasyDraft. This ten-game slate has a lot of traps but some risky rewards too. Let’s get into some top NHL DFS picks for Thursday, 3/12/20, including Sebastian Aho, Johnny Gaudreau and Nikita Kucherov, along with some completely different ideas.
NHL Schedule for Thursday, March 12
| AWAY – Opening Line | O/U | HOME | TIME – EST |
| Carolina -180 | 6 | New Jersey | 7:00 p.m. |
| Philadelphia | 6 | Tampa Bay -145 | 7:00 p.m. |
| Pittsburgh -145 | 6 | Columbus | 7:00 p.m. |
| Buffalo | 6 | Montreal -150 | 7:00 p.m. |
| Detroit | 6.5 | Washington  -400 | 7:00 p.m. |
| Nashville | 6.5 | Toronto -150 | 7:00 p.m. |
| Vegas -120 | 6 | Minnesota | 8:00 p.m. |
| Florida | 5.5 | Dallas -145 | 8:30 p.m. |
| NY Islanders | 5.5 | Calgary -145 | 9:00 p.m. |
| Vancouver | 5.5 | Arizona -140 | 10:00 p.m. |
NHL DFS Picks: Centers
Sebastian Aho — CAR vs. NJ — ($7,500 DraftKings, $7,800 FanDuel)
Aho is a quiet 40-goal scorer in the NHL, arguably the quietest. He has 38 currently and is on pace for at least. The center enjoys an excellent matchup against a New Jersey team that allowed five goals to Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Even MacKenzie Blackwood had a case of the yips. It may not matter who New Jersey starts. Aho has scored 21 goals on the road and averages about two-thirds of a shot a game more away from home. Also, expect some goals in this game. Both teams have hit the over in consecutive games.
Pivoting to Sidney Crosby who averages more than a point a game is OK with his matchup against Columbus. Auston Matthews has a nice matchup as well against Nashville. However, keep an eye on Minnesota as Vegas is missing two-thirds of its hottest scoring line; Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty are now both week-to-week with injuries.
Eric Staal — MIN vs. VGK — ($4,100 DraftKings, $5,800 FanDuel)
For now, Staal has value only if he plays in the top six on Thursday after taking a personal leave this week. He has three points in his last four games. The DraftKings play is less of a risk as Staal’s shot volume is not always the greatest (four shots in this span). Yes, he has not played in over a week, but again, Vegas is missing a significant part of their team. Expect Minnesota to get more shots and chances on net. Nick Suzuki is priced a bit lower on FanDuel and right around Staal on DraftKings. He could be a viable alternate. Stacking him with an expensive Kevin Fiala may be possible depending on how lines are announced later.
NHL DFS Picks: Wingers
Nikita Kucherov — PHI vs. TB — ($8,200 DraftKings, $8,500 FanDuel)
It is nice to see Kucherov producing at a good clip again: 12 points in 10 games. That includes four goals while averaging over three shots a contest. Kucherov and Tampa Bay score nearly four goals a game at home and draw against a Flyers team that does not excel away from home. The Tampa Bay power play converts at nearly 24% at home. Even without Steven Stamkos, Kucherov remains quite the threat and can be stacked with cheaper options, though Mikhail Sergachev and even Anthony Cirelli are coming up in price.
Keep an eye on this game. Like others tonight, it should hit the over. This seems an over kind of night given the uncertainties going on in the sports world.
Taylor Hall — ARZ vs. VAN — ($6,500 DraftKings, $7,200 FanDuel)
Lost in the crazy is the fact that Hall has had some awful puck luck in the last 10 games. He is averaging nearly four shots a night but has just two goals. Also, he has clanked three posts and two crossbars in that time. Hall has six points in this span and 27 scoring chances. Vancouver is yielding 3.5 goals per game on the road and has the fifth-worst penalty kill in the league away from home since Jan. 1. If Hall is going to get things moving in the right direction, that time is tonight.
To save a few bucks, look at Nikita Gusev or Jesper Bratt, Filip Forsberg (DraftKings) and even Zach Parise. The Wild should be able to exploit Vegas’ defense tonight and even their power play has been one of the best over the past month.
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NHL DFS Picks: Defensemen
Shea Theodore — VGK vs. MIN — ($6,000 DraftKings, $6,000 FanDuel)
This is a good GPP play. Theodore has emerged as a premier offensive defenseman in the NHL. He has five goals and seven points in his last nine games while averaging over four shots a game. If he keeps blocking shots around 1.5 a night, Theodore has the potential to hit both shot and block bonuses on DraftKings at the least. He is a cheaper version of Roman Josi at this point. Josi is priced 20-25% higher on all platforms, and saving a little money there can help elsewhere.
Also, consider Ryan Pulock from the Islanders here. Again, Rasmus Dahlin is intriguing against an awful Montreal penalty kill. People can flip that and even look at a Ben Chiarot from the Canadiens.
NHL DFS Picks: Stacks
WSH PP1 — Alex Ovechkin – Ilya Kovalchuk – T.J. Oshie – John Carlson
This is more expensive than any power play on the night. However, they are the chalk and in the best possible matchup. Detroit’s penalty kill numbers rank as historically bad on the road (72% since Jan. 1). They rank near or at the bottom in every single penalty kill and five-on-five metric. There is a way to look at Washington’s third line for cost-cutting purposes. When it comes to making decisions, that could be a wise one.
PHI2 — Joel Farabee – Kevin Hayes – Travis Konecny
This is a nicer trio with Farabee because it causes the price to come down to a cheap play level. Hayes and Konecny have been key contributors in this run and again both see some power play time as well. It could be a sneaky play given most everyone else will be on that top line again on Thursday. That is understandable. This is about concentrating on a stack that still has gone a bit overlooked.
NJ3 — Jesper Bratt – Pavel Zacha – Nikita Gusev
There is something good about this matchup, and also, watch to see how these players are shifted upwards as the game goes along. This has been a nice power play stack as at least two of them get power play correlation at all times it seems. Bratt and Gusev are capable of averaging nearly a point a game in 10-game spurts. The two wingers can be paired with, say, a Dakota Mermis or Damon Severson as well. CAR1 will be the higher-owned stack.
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