NHL DFS Slate Summary: Thursday, February 8th
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 Thursday, February 8th
Today’s Games
Slate Overview
When I was little, my dad used to have his guy friends over to play pool in our basement. Sometimes, I would sneak down and listen from the stairs. One of the most frequently played songs was “Cat Scratch Fever” by Ted Nugent. Tonight, I’d guess there will be plenty of Cat Scratch Fever for the Florida Panthers as the team is in the most favorable spot of the evening. (Note: For anyone who’s never heard it before who might want to go listen, maybe don’t do so with children around. There’s no explicit language per se, but the meaning of the song is pretty clear the “fever” is referring to…)
After the Panthers (3.7 implied team total), there’s a pair of 3.5s in the Hurricanes and Devils, although both have the potential to spread out the scoring and aren’t necessarily perfect teams to target for DFS. I think that will even further concentrate ownership towards Florida. On the bottom end, I think the Flyers and Capitals are probably my only true scratch-offs, with the other teams I haven’t mentioned in the middle serving as contrarian but viable options.
The big injury news of the night is that Jack Hughes appears set to return after a long absence. Normally, I’d think he wouldn’t have much ownership, as many take a wait-and-see approach, but the lack of quality options could push people toward him. Let’s break it down.
Top Skaters
I’ll quickly give my thoughts up top. I don’t mind any of the quartet of Nathan MacKinnon, David Pastrnak, Nikita Kucherov, or Hughes, but I’m not sure I see quite enough in their respective matchups to make them a priority. That being said, all of them have 30+ point upside, and I’m not going to stop you from playing any of them.
Matthew Tkachuk
DraftKings $7,400
As I mentioned above, none of the elite options have a great matchup, so saving some salary with Tkachuk makes sense. His 5-game point streak came to an end Tuesday, but prior to that, he had 9 points during the streak. He’s not shooting quite as much as we might like, but the tradeoff seems to be improved efficiency compared to earlier in the year when there was plenty of volume but not many goals. He has one of the best matchups of the night against an aging Capitals team at home.