There is a nice seven-game NHL DFS slate tonight with no shortage of options to pick from. I’ll use Awesemo’s industry leading NHL DFS projections, daily fantasy hockey ownership projections and Top Stacks Tool to help find the optimal NHL DFS picks for daily fantasy hockey lineups tonight on DraftKings and FanDuel.
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NHL Power Plays: DraftKings + FanDuel DFS Picks | April 26
NHL DFS Picks: Center
Connor McDavid (EDM at WPG)
DraftKings – $9,200
FanDuel – $9,200
When normal players get hot, they ride a point streak for a couple games. When McDavid gets rolling, he rides multi-point game streaks. Coming into tonight, McDavid has three games with multiple points, and he will get a good chance at four. Winnipeg has been playing better defensively lately, but McDavid is matchup-proof; he has multi-point upside every time he steps on the ice. The Jets have the 24th-ranked Corsi, are 28th in expected goals against and are bottom four in scoring chances and high-danger chances allowed. Winnipeg has been pretty good about staying out of the box, but over the last 10 games it has had an uptick, spending 6:31 a game on the penalty kill. When short-handed, the Jets are giving up the third-most shots in the league and carry the second-worst expected goals against. If McDavid gets time on the power play, he can make them pay.
Nathan MacKinnon (COL at STL)
DraftKings – $9,100
FanDuel – $9,100
MacKinnon has been a point machine. He has found the scoresheet in 11 straight games while managing to tally multiple points in seven of the last 10 games. The Avalanche will be playing the Blues for the fourth consecutive game. MacKinnon has tuned them up for 7 points and 14 shots on goal. Keep in mind, that’s while playing at St. Louis where the Ryan O’Reilly line is matching up with him most of the night. On the year, MacKinnon is averaging just about 23 DraftKings points against the Blues, and when Mikko Rantanen comes back from COVID protocol, that will only help his case. St. Louis has been trying to find its identity, and it is still giving up way too many scoring chances. Over the last 10 games, the Blues have been taking a lot of penalties (6:32 short-handed per game) and have the worst expected goals against on the penalty kill. If MacKinnon gets any time on the extra-man advantage, he is lethal.
Sam Bennett (FLA at NSH)
DraftKings – $3,400
FanDuel – $3,700
Since joining the Panthers, Bennet has 4 points in five games. Two of those games have been multi-point efforts. His ice time has increased in every game, and he has been shooting the puck over three times per game since the acquisition. Playing on a solid line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Anthony Duclair, the trio has great numbers. Although it’s a smaller sample size, the trio has a 57% Corsi-for while creating 39 shots per 60 and 14 high-danger chances per 60. They carry 3.28 expected goals per 60 at even strength, and they should get the better matchup against the Mikael Granlund line tonight.
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NHL DFS Picks: Wingers
Kyle Connor (WPG vs. EDM)
DraftKings – $7,700
FanDuel – $6,800
Connor picked up this season right where he left off last year. He was a point-per-game player who doesn’t hesitate to shoot the puck. He is averaging over three shots per game to go along with 20 minutes of ice time nightly. Connor is leading the Jets with 23 goals on the year, and 10 of them have come on the extra-man advantage. The Jets’ top line won’t come cheap tonight, as they are the second-highest-priced line below the Avalanche top line. The main appeal for the Jets’ top line is that it will likely stay away from the Connor McDavid line and match up with the Leon Draisaitl line and the depths most of the night. The Draisaitl line has been pretty weak defensively, carrying a 47% Corsi-for and allowing 33 shots and over 12 high-danger chances per 60. All three guys on the top line correlate fully on the power play, and although the Oilers have been pretty stingy on the kill, Winnipeg’s power play is pretty lethal.
Evander Kane (SJ vs. ARI)
DraftKings – $6,900
FanDuel – $7,100
The Sharks continue to move their pieces around, and Evander Kane is now on the second line alongside Tomas Hertl and Kevin Labanc. Together the trio has been very good, with a 56% Corsi-for and creating 34 shots per 60, 14 high-danger chances and an expected goals over three. Kane is a volume shooter, and moving him to the second line should shake him up to get going offensively. All three guys fully correlate on the top power play for an added bonus. The Kane line will likely match with the Phil Kessel line mostly tonight, and that’s a plus matchup; Kessel has been a defensive liability for the entire year.
Jason Robertson (DAL vs. CAR)
DraftKings – $6,100
FanDuel – $5,100
Robertson is neck and neck with Kirill Kaprizov in the running for the Calder Trophy. He has 37 points in 42 games and is only four points behind Kaprizov. He has carved out a nice role on the Stars’ top line alongside Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz. Robertson is coming into tonight riding a seven-game point streak, and he has points in nine of the last 10 games. Carolina is a tough team, but Robertson will get to match up with the depths of Carolina tonight as it will have last change. The Radek Faksa line will match up against the Sebastian Aho line, and the Jamie Benn line will likely see the Vincent Trocheck line. That leaves the Jordan Staal and depth lines, which is a positive matchup for Dallas.
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NHL DFS Picks: Defensemen
Cale Makar (COL at STL)
DraftKings – $6,100
FanDuel – $5,800
Makar has never really been a shot-volume monster like the other elite defensemen, but he puts up points in a hurry playing with Nathan MacKinnon. He sits eighth in points among defensemen. He shines on the power play, though, with 18 points on the extra-man advantage. Makar comes into tonight with a five-game point streak and points in nine of the last 10 games. St. Louis has been one of the worst teams in the league on the penalty kill. Over the last 10 games, St. Louis has been short-handed the fourth most per game, spending 6:32 per game short-handed. If the Avalanche get that much time on the power play tonight, they will take advantage. Makar quarterbacks the top power-play unit and is involved in almost all the scoring on the extra-man advantage.
Travis Hamonic (VAN at OTT)
DraftKings – $4,500
FanDuel – $3,600
Getting a blue-liner from the Canucks could be profitable tonight. Over the past month, Ottawa is giving up the most fantasy points per game to opposing blueliners. Hamonic has been contributing in all facets of the game, playing on the top pairing alongside Quinn Hughes. Hamonic is averaging 20 minutes of ice time, but the promising thing is that he’s averaging five shots/blocks per game over the last 10. He will not be on the ice for the power play, but he will be playing with the Canucks’ top line at even strength, providing exposure to the likes of Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and Tanner Pearson. Finally, Hamonic has had great success against the Senators this year. Through four games, he is averaging just shy of 14 DraftKings points per game against the Senators.
Top Stacks
Colorado 1: Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Andre Burakovsky
San Jose 2: Evander Kane – Tomas Hertl – Kevin Labanc
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