NHL DFS Slate Summary: Thursday, March 7th
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, March 7th
Slate Overview
Who’s ready for a quick lecture and some unsolicited advice? Well, you can keep reading this paragraph if you do, and if you don’t, then skip it and move on. I was in a brutal run for large parts of January and February. Recently, I’ve been able to string together plenty of winning slates, and my confidence is high. What was the secret? Reading a book that has nothing to do with DFS and everything to do with human psychology… I won’t go too deep into the specifics and bore you, but the short version is that we (including me) should trust ourselves (including our gut sometimes). I want you to read this article and take into consideration the things I have to say, but at the end of the day, you’re smart and have the final say in your lineup decisions.
Alright, on to tonight’s slate. It’s a doozy with 12 games in store for us. There’s starpower galore with Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak, Jack Hughes, and Kirill Kaprizov all in action. And that’s not even counting some of the next-tier stars in favorable spots. It’s really tough to know where ownership will land, given all the quality choices, and I’m inclined to believe it’ll be fairly spread out.
From a contest selection standpoint, there’s the usual $555 “Thursday Night Ice” contest as well as the last Live Final Qualifier running at a hefty $1,450 price point. There was a flurry of activity yesterday, deal after deal being announced, as players said goodbye to their former teams. There’s a surprising lack of immediate impact on this slate, however, as it seems there won’t be too many absurd values or misprices due to trades. You will need to pay attention throughout the day (and after lock) to see if anyone else is traded or if other players are held out due to potential trades. As always, we’ll have you covered in the RG NHL Discord.
Top Skaters
Note: I originally had a slight lean towards Pastrnak, but then it was announced that Tarasov would be in the net for the Blue Jackets, which was enough to sway me to McDavid. I still love Pastrnak in tournaments and everything below is still true, but I’d vote McDavid for cash games.
David Pastrnak
DraftKings $9,600
As I mentioned above, there are so many stars in viable spots tonight, but I think my favorite might be David Pastrnak. Pastrnak will face a Maple Leafs team on the second of a back-to-back after they won in OT last night. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner both logged 23+ minutes and will be asked to do so again tonight against the fresh legs of Boston.
Pastrnak has been up to his old tricks lately, with 3 multi-point games in his last 5, including a pair of 3+ point efforts. Against Toronto just a few days ago, he had 3 assists and 7 shots on goal. Our projection for him is within a point of the highest on the slate, but I don’t expect his ownership to get out of the single digits.