We have a massive 10-game slate ahead of us for this Saturday night, which means a buffet of options for our NHL DFS picks. 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’s go position by position and pinpoint some of the top plays and stacks for Saturday, Oct. 23
NHL DFS Picks, Tops Stacks & Lineup Optimizer Plays
Center
Auston Matthews (TOR at PIT): DraftKings – $8,700 | FanDuel – $8,800
It has been a rough start to the season for the Leafs offensively. They are 25th in goals per 60 minutes, worse than teams like Anaheim and Seattle. Of course, it’s just a stretch of bad luck, as they’re second in the league in expected goals, the culprit being their 29th-ranked shooting percentage.
They are very likely not to remain 29th in shooting, so a big rebound is coming. Pittsburgh continues to be without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but now we can add Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust to the injured list. That is, effectively, their top power-play unit and their top three centers all missing. A team can only endure so many losses.
With Connor McDavid off the slate, Matthews stands alone at the top. The disappointment from Toronto so far this year, and his price itself, should keep a lot of people away from him. He makes a lot of sense for tournaments, be it as a one-off or as part of a stack.
Sam Bennett (FLA at PHI): DraftKings – $5,500 | FanDuel – $6,500
With the Flyers at home tonight, Sean Couturier’s top line should face off most often against Aleksander Barkov’s line from Florida. That leaves the second and third lines against Bennett, Jonathan Huberdeau & Co. So far this season, with the top line off the ice, the Flyers’ expected goals against rate climbs over 50%. That is a drastic difference, and brings Bennett and the second line for the Panthers in play for us.
Going back to last season, spanning nearly 150 minutes of ice time, the Bennett line has 3.5 expected goals and 5.9 actual goals per 60 minutes. Both are fantastic numbers. His role makes him a bit tough to use by himself, but the upside is there for a monster game with his linemates.
Winger
Travis Konecny (PHI vs. FLA): DraftKings – $6,800 | FanDuel – $5,600
One reason for including Konecny here is his price on FanDuel. Whenever there is a big discrepancy between the two sites on a player that should be targeted, he’ll often find himself in this column. Konecny is skating on the top line and top power-play unit, which means over 17 premium minutes a night, a career-high for him.
While the top line with Florida is a tough matchup at 5-on-5, even strength isn’t what it’s about. Early on this season, the Panthers are averaging well over eight minutes a night of short-handed time. Too few games have been played for reliable data, but the Panthers also took the third-most minor penalties last year as well. It is largely the same roster, so that a team that took a lot of penalties one year would take a lot the following year tracks.
At his price on FanDuel, Konecny is fine to use as a one-off in any format, as we have him as a good value for mid-tier wingers. Otherwise, he’s likely best used in a stack with his linemates Couturier and Claude Giroux.
Jordan Kyrou (STL vs LAK): DraftKings – $5,100 | FanDuel – $4,900
A few things are working in Kyrou’s favour tonight. First is that Los Angeles is on a back-to-back, and may be without Drew Doughty, who left last night’s game with an injury. Without Doughty, that blue line is very thin.
Secondly, though the team is still good defensively without the Anže Kopitar line on the ice, they do get worse by nearly 50%, at least so far this year. Kyrou, skating with Brayden Schenn, should avoid that matchup for much of the contest, which is great news considering they may be without Doughty as well.
Schenn is on a different power-play unit so using Kyrou as a one-off here isn’t a terrible idea. He can have a great game without his linemates exploding, but he’s not earning enough ice time for cash games. This play is more for tournaments, whether by himself or with his linemates.
Matt Duchene (NSH at WPG): DraftKings – $3,400 | FanDuel – $3,600
There is an argument to be made that Duchene is enduring a real rough unlucky stretch, perhaps the worst of his career. He is shooting 6.6% since the start of last season at 5-on-5, having never shot below 7.7% in any season, and over 8% in all but two seasons. On top of that, the team is shooting 6.7% with him on the ice at 5-on-5. He has seen two seasons in that range, both 2011-12 and 2016-17, but had been over 8% every since from 2017 until 2021. Those numbers should start to normalize this season.
Whether that start tonight, who knows. But the Jets remain without Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler, two-thirds of their top line, and Duchene is skating 19:32 a night. His line should be at least considered in GPPs, and as a one-off in tournaments, he’s a nice price for that as well.
Defense
Dougie Hamilton (NJD vs. BUF): DraftKings – $6,800 | FanDuel – $6,600
Without Jack Hughes, the Devils are absolutely without their top offensive player. That is going to put pressure on their other top offensive players, and Dougie Hamilton is among them. There is a reason they paid him as a top-5 defenseman in hockey: it’s to play 24 minutes a night and drive offence from the blue line. They need that tonight, especially.
Buffalo is coming into town on a back-to-back and they are playing their its game in 10 days. While Hamilton’s peripherals are low for now, the team is still carrying a high implied total and his peripherals will rebound with that ice time. Our Premium projections have Hamilton as the best value for any blue-liner projected for double-digit points on DraftKings. He should anchor some lineups in all formats.
Ryan McDonagh (TBL vs. COL): DraftKings – $3,000 | FanDuel – $3,600
Though the Lightning are without Nikita Kucherov, they still have a plethora of scorers that can put up crooked numbers on any team. McDonagh, specifically, isn’t a great offensive player. But he is skating over 22 minutes a night, and is a guy that likes to block shots, averaging nearly two per game last year. This season, he’s already hit the block bonus twice. At his price, he can be considered as a cheap option in any format and is a good source of cheap value on the blue line.
It should be noted he makes a nice Victor Hedman pivot as well. The Lightning stars can get expensive stuffing them all in. McDonagh can offer some relief here.
Goalie
Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL vs. COL): DraftKings – $7,800 | FanDuel – $8,500
Normally, Vasilevskiy is priced up much higher on DraftKings, but he’s priced down because of the stiff competition. That competition is the reason to use him, though, as Colorado is just outside the top 10 in shot rate at 5-on-5 this year, and the team is just getting healthy. Our projections at Awesemo have him top 5 by total saves, we just need to hope the Avalanche don’t bury their competition.
NHL DFS Top Stacks
Vancouver Power Play – Pettersson, Miller, Boeser, Hughes
Any of those players can be replaced by Bo Horvat, but Vancouver has a good chance of being overlooked tonight. This is a team that’s on the road with an average implied goal total playing the last game of the slate. The Kraken have been a bottom-10 defensive team by all metrics at 5-on-5 and these Vancouver players largely skate together at 5-on-5 and on the power play. They could get overlooked on a large slate.
St. Louis 3 – Thomas, Tarasenko, Barbashev
Robert Thomas and Vladimir Tarasenko have been great together in this short season so far. They have generated over 71 shot attempts per 60 minutes, an elite number. With Los Angeles in town on a back-to-back, the Blues should see this line play against some tired depth — a good spot for them. They should be considered as a secondary stack in tournaments.
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