How To Play NHL Daily Fantasy

This article is part of our DFS Hockey 101 series.

Ice hockey is among the most popular Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) offerings on leading DFS sites such as DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo. In DFS competitions, you build a roster of players in a single game night while staying under the allotted salary cap. Playing NHL DFS can help add to your enjoyment of a particular night’s hockey games, and stakes range from bragging rights in free competitions to five or six figure payouts in major tournaments. Below is a comprehensive explanation of DFS basics, as well as common competition types and strategies.

Is there a seasonal draft coming up? Check out RotoWire’s Fantasy Hockey Rankings.

Selection of a DFS competition

DFS competitions come in both multi-game and single-game formats. Multi-game DFS competitions cover all or part of the games on a given night, while single-game competitions require you to create a lineup of players from a given game. Most contests allow multiple entries from a single DFS player up to a certain limit, but some contests are specifically set up to allow one entry per entrant.

Additionally, DFS competitions can be broken down into two formats: Grand Prize Pools (GPPs) and Cash Games. GPPs have top-heavy payout structures and can have massive prizes for winners. These competitions require a high-risk, high-reward lineup-building approach to land you among the paid spots. The closer you are to first place in a GPP, the bigger your payout will be.

Cash games, on the other hand, pay the same prize to all winners. You can play against a single opponent or take part in a larger cash game competition. Double Ups pay out double your entry fee to just under half of the competitors, while 50/50s pay out slightly less than double your entry fee to the top 50 percent of finishers. While GPPs are about maxing out your lineup cap, cash games are about securing a high floor to land somewhere within the payout range.

Building a DFS statement

The basics of roster building are the same across all DFS sites, but the specifics of the roster and salary cap structure differ between providers. The basic premise revolves around creating a roster while maintaining a salary cap based on player salaries pre-populated from the DFS website.

Multi-game competitions require you to meet certain position quotas while using players from at least three different teams, while single-game competitions treat all players as flexible plays with no position restrictions, although you still must select at least one player from both teams.

In addition to different position requirements, different DFS locations also have different scoring rules that assign different weights to categories such as goals or saves. Make sure you understand the judging rules before submitting your DFS statement to maximize the value of your statement.

Common DFS strategies

Now that we know what a DFS lineup is, let’s look at how to build a successful lineup. DFS success is also about getting the best bang for the buck, and there are a few reliable ways to do that.

Watch out for injuries: With real-time updates on injury status and player notes detailing those injuries, DFS sites do a good job of notifying you when a player is injured. While it’s obvious to keep injured players out of your line-up, some of the most valuable plays are found in players who take on a bigger role due to a teammate’s injury, such as: Keep in mind that some DFS competitions lock your lineup when the first game starts, while others allow you to rotate players until the start time of each player game. These settings are important to know if you are considering using a player who is uncertain about availability or use due to injury.

See What Vegas Says: Being aware of the general mood that goes into a game is key to building your lineup. Tracking both the moneylines and over/under can help you locate the best matchups. For example, you can expect many more offensive chances in a game with an over/under of 7.5 goals than in a game set at 5.0 goals. Furthermore, a team with odds of -200 is a clear favorite while one with odds of +200 is a clear underdog, so players from the former are more likely to succeed than those from the latter.

Vegas odds not only help in your own lineup decisions, but can also shed some light on what other contestants are thinking. If a slate only has one strong favorite game or expected high score game, most lineups will likely be built around players from those situations, which is valuable information if you want to differentiate your lineup in a GPP competition. The percentage of lineups a player is in is not announced until that player’s play begins. So you’ll need to do a little research and guesswork if you want to get anywhere near this information.

Check who’s in the circle: Another key piece of information to keep track of is which goalie is starting. Both probable and confirmed goalie starters are displayed on DFS platforms. So check this information when submitting your statement. You obviously don’t want to start a goaltender riding the pine, but using opposing goaltenders can also greatly affect an outfield player’s prospects. For example, the Predators present a much less daunting matchup with backup Kevin Lankinen at the net than with workhorse starter Juuse Saros guarding the crease.

DraftKings NHL DFS specifics

At DraftKings, NHL multi-game competitive lineups consist of two centers (C), three wings (W), two defenders (D), a goaltender (G), and a utility (UTIL), who can be a center, wing, or defender. You have a salary cap of $50,000 to fill these nine positions. DraftKings scoring awards points for goals (8.5), assists (5), shots (1.5), blocks (1.3), shorthanded points (2), shootout goals (1.5), hat tricks (3), total more than five shots ( 3), three plus blocks (3), three plus points (3), goalie wins (6), saves (0.7), goals conceded (-3.5 ), goalie shutouts (4), goalie losses in overtime (2), and 35+ saves (3).

Use RotoWire’s DraftKings NHL DFS Lineup Optimizer to build a winning lineup.

FanDuel NHL DFS specifics

On FanDuel, NHL multi-game competitive lineups consist of two centers (C), two wings (W), two defenders (D), a goaltender (G), and two utilities (UTIL), which can be a center, a wing, or a defender be able . You have a salary cap of $55,000 to fill these nine positions. FanDuel scoring awards points for goals (12), assists (8), shots (1.6), blocked shots (1.6), manpower points (2), power play points (0.5), goalkeeping wins (12), Saves (0.8), goals conceded (-4) and goalie shutouts (8).

Note the far smaller list of scoring categories at FanDuel compared to DraftKings considered in RotoWire’s FanDuel NHL DFS Lineup Optimizer.

Yahoo NHL DFS specifics

On Yahoo, NHL multi-game contest lineups consist of two centers (C), three wings (W), two defenders (D), and two goalies (G). You have a $200 salary cap to fill these nine positions. Yahoo Scoring awards points for goals (6), assists (4), shots (0.9), blocks (1), power play points (2), plus-minus (+/- 2), goalkeeping wins (5 ), saves (0.6), goals conceded (-3) and goalie shutouts (5).

RotoWire’s Yahoo NHL DFS Lineup Optimizer accounts for Yahoo’s two-goal lineup requirements with no added value, as well as taking into account the plus-minus rating in Yahoo’s rating settings.

Gamble responsibly

With so much money at stake every night of the NHL regular season and playoffs, it’s easy to get carried away with DFS. For some veteran players, DFS is their main source of income, so luck plays an even bigger role in building a successful lineup. Make sure you know your limits and understand that there are no guaranteed returns on money invested in DFS. There’s no shame in sticking with pocket change or even free contests when you find you can’t quite keep up with the sharks on the biggest stage.

Fantasy hockey draft kit

Check out RotoWire’s Fantasy Hockey offerings to prepare for your drafts and take advantage of RotoWire’s many DFS and Seasonal Fantasy tools throughout the season. In the NHL Draft Kit alone, you’ll find resources including Cheat Sheets, Various Custom Leaderboards and Auction Values, Top 200 Prospects, Draft Software, Predictions, News, Advice and Draft Strategies, Current Depth Charts and Powerplay Depth Charts, the Questions to Experts Section , NHL injury reports, stats and expected starting goalies.

For NHL betting content, including 2022-23 Stanley Cup odds, visit RotoWire’s sportsbook hub for NHL futures odds, NHL player futures, game tips, team and player props, and more betting tips. find tools.

The author(s) of this article may enter Daily Fantasy competitions including, but not limited to, games that they have recommended or advised on in this article. While playing these games with their personal accounts, it is possible that they use players in their lineups or other strategies that deviate from the recommendations given above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Sasha Yodashkin plays in daily fantasy competitions with the following accounts: FanDuel: Youngsash, DraftKings: Yashdogg, Yahoo: Sasha, Fanball: Yashdogg.