NHL DFS Slate Summary: Saturday, December 16th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders NHL DFS Slate Summary. In this article, we’ll concentrate on the key elements of DFS success while delivering analysis on the upcoming slate of NHL games for DraftKings and FanDuel. We’ll discuss today’s NHL DFS player projections, player correlations and NHL stacking, NHL starting lineups, differentiation tactics using NHL projected ownership, and recommendations on ways to create lineup diversity if entering multiple lineups using LineupHQ.
NHL DFS Picks: Slate Summary for Saturday, December 16th
Today’s Games
Slate Overview
Hopefully by the time you’re reading this, your NFL lineups are already green and you’re carrying some positive momentum into the NHL slate. I’ve been pretty critical of DK’s contest sizing lately (as have many people), but the small sizes are at least more justified tonight since it’s going up against MMA, NBA, and NFL. Still, there’s some money up for grabs, so on we carry! Tonight’s slate has as much star power as I can remember. It might have happened recently, but it seems like it’s been a while since we’ve had every fantasy stud in play. Choosing among all of Matthews, Pastrnak, Hughes, MacKinnon, McDavid, and Kucherov is going to be tough, and at most, you can get two of them, but even doing that leaves your lineup with crumbs elsewhere. You can see how I feel about them below.
As far as Vegas favorites go, the Devils are the only team favored at -200 or better. The rest of the games are surprisingly close projected games, which should make for an exciting night. It seems to be flu season because every night players pop up as questionable due to an “illness” and there have been a few late scratches recently. As always, join the RG NHL Discord for any news on player availability, line rushes before games, and any other useful tips or information.
Top Skaters
Auston Matthews
DraftKings $9,900
We were on Matthews Thursday night, and there’s no reason to go away from him tonight. The matchup isn’t quite as good as the Blue Jackets, but the Penguins aren’t one to stay away from either. He’ll be at home again, where he’s developed some extreme splits. He has 22 points in 14 games at home versus just 13 in 13 games on the road. He followed up his monster four-point night on Tuesday (36 DK points) with an even better fantasy performance on Thursday with two goals, an assist, and NINE shots on goal (41 DK points). As I said last time “While it seems unlikely he’ll match that level of production, another multi-point night is very much in play. He’ll be chalky, but fade at your own risk.”