NHL DFS Picks, Projections, Lineups & Stacks Today: Sunday Playbook
Published: Apr 13, 2025
Welcome to our Sunday Playbook and NHL DFS picks today!
It's the final few games of the NHL season and it's chaos! Teams are in, teams are out, teams are signing young players to their rosters, everything is happening.
NHL DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, April 13th
The playoffs will be here in a week, and it's the best time of the year for hockey. With so many lineup changes happening, be sure to check all the normal players are active these last few days.
NHL DFS Pick'em Picks on Sleeper Fantasy
- Nikita Kucherov More Than 1.5 Points
- Nazem Kadri More Than 3.5 Shots on Goal
- Brock Nelson More Than 2.5 Shots on Goal
Today's all about Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa is struggling right now and they need their best player to step up and bring the offense. He has 19 points in his last 10 games and look for him to continue that level of production versus the Buffalo Sabres.
Nazem Kadri and the Calgary Flames are in do-or-die territory right now and need to come away with wins. They need their top-line center to push the offense forward against the San Jose Sharks. Since the start of April, the Sharks have allowed 68.73 Total Shot Attempts per 60 minutes in five-on-five situations, which is the second-worst in the league.
With the Colorado Avalanche resting so many players, Brock Nelson has moved up to the first forward line and the first power-play unit, which is an awesome role to have against the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks have allowed the third-most, 68.27, Total Shot Attempts per 60 minutes in five-on-five situations since the start of April.
Sunday Salary Cap DFS Picks
Goalie Of the Day: Dustin Wolf - CGY
The Calgary Flames need to win. It's as simple as that for their playoff hopes. To be clear, they need help elsewhere but they need to take care of business in their own right. They are going up against the San Jose Sharks, making this a winnable game.
Over the last two weeks, the Flames have allowed 2.00 Goals per 60 minutes in five-on-five situations, which is the ninth-best in the league. They've been playing solid when they need it most and Dustin Wolf has played a big part in that. He's allowed two goals or fewer in three of his last five starts, which is the level we expect to see him today.
Play Of The Day: Nikita Kucherov - TB
The Tampa Bay Lightning have looked terrible to close out the season. Four losses in their last five games have put the Lightning in second place in the Atlantic, which means home ice in the first round. However, that is not fully secure yet, and the Panthers, who are right behind them, hold the tiebreaker.
Long story short: Tampa needs to win and it comes down to their best player, Nikita Kucherov. Despite the teams struggles recently, he has 19 points and 36 shots on goal over his last 10 games. He's still playing his best and sits atop the league with 116 points, making him the player to target tonight.
Value Play Of The Day: Samuel Girard - COL
The Colorado Avalanche have decided to sit all of their main players, including Cale Makar and Devon Toews, which bumps Samuel Girard up to the top power-play unit. He's $3.6K on DraftKings and playing against the terrible Anaheim Ducks, putting him in an awesome spot.
The Ducks have allowed 3.37 Goals per 60 minutes in five-on-five situations, which is the sixth-worst in the league since the start of April. Even though the Avs aren't at full strength, they are far better than the Ducks.
Stack Of The Day: TB L1 (Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Yanni Gourde)
Tampa has mixed things up with their forward lines and Jake Guentzel is now on the second forward lines, which makes the first forward line a bit more affordable. Tampa comes in with a slate-high 4.2 implied goal total versus the Buffalo Sabres, making this a spot to target.
As noted above, the Lightning have lost four of their last five games and still need to win to secure the second seed and home-ice advantage in the first round.
Today's NHL DFS Cheat Sheet & Stacks
Player Pool
| $ Tier | C | W | D | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High |  Connor McDavid  $8,900 |  Nikita Kucherov $8,900 | Evan Bouchard $6,600 |  Dustin Wolf $8,500 |
| Brayden Point $8,200 |  Kyle Connor $8,300 |  Zach Werenski $6,500 | ||
 Auston Matthews $8,800 | Brandon Hagel $7,900 | Victor Hedman $6,400 | ||
 Tage Thompson $8,000 | William Nylander $8,000 | MacKenzie Weegar $6,200 | ||
| Jake Guentzel $7,800 | ||||
| Medium |  Macklin Celebrini $7,700 | Kirill Marchenko $7,200 |  Jackson LaCombe $5,900 | Eric Comrie $7,700 |
| Nazem Kadri $7,600 |  Martin Necas $7,100 | Rasmus Andersson $5,700 | ||
| Mark Scheifele $7,500 | Alex Tuch $7,300 | Darnell Nurse $5,600 | ||
| Sean Monahan $7,100 |  Tom Wilson $6,800 | |||
| Dylan Strome $6,700 | JJ Peterka $6,600 | |||
| Low | Adam Fantilli $6,200 | Boone Jenner $6,400 |  Brent Burns $5,100 | Lukas Dostal $7,500 |
| Kent Johnson $6,100 | Frank Vatrano $6,300 | Ivan Provorov $4,500 | ||
| Brock Nelson $6,100 | Jason Zucker $5,700 | Bowen Byram $4,400 | ||
| Nick Paul $0 | Matt Coronato $5,700 | Samuel Girard $4,400 |
Stacks
| Lightning | Brayden Point | Nikita Kucherov | Yanni Gourde |
 DraftKings | 7100 | 9100 | 3700 |
| Fanduel | 8200 | 8900 | 4900 |
| Lightning | Brayden Point | Nikita Kucherov | Yanni Gourde |
| DraftKings | 7100 | 9100 | 3700 |
| Fanduel | 8200 | 8900 | 4900 |
| Lightning | Brayden Point | Nikita Kucherov | Yanni Gourde |
| DraftKings | 7100 | 9100 | 3700 |
| Fanduel | 8200 | 8900 | 4900 |
Player News
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Zach Eflin (lat) is likely to return and start Sunday against the Angels
It was assumed that Eflin would be back this weekend, but now we have a concrete date. The 31-year-old may not be at full strength after throwing fewer than 60 pitches in his rehab start, but the Orioles feel confident enough to have the right-hander back on the bump for the series finale against the Angels.
Riley Greene is not in the lineup for the first game of a doubleheader against the Rockies on Thursday.
Greene will get a break and likely return to the lineup for the second game of the twin-billing. Zach McKinstry will get the start in left field while Greene rests.
Panthers released TE Jordan Matthews.
Matthews converted to tight end a few years ago and hasn’t made much noise at the position. The change has, however, likely kept him in the league for a few more seasons. He appeared in four games with the Panthers last year but didn’t record any stats on offense. The Panthers also released or waived WR Dax Milne, C Andrew Raym, and TE Colin Granger.
Yu Darvish (elbow) is facing live hitters on Thursday.
Darvish has been throwing bullpen sessions and traveled to the team’s complex in Arizona to face live hitters on Thursday. It will be his first time facing live batters since a spring training appearance on March 13th. He will likely need a few sessions like this before the Padres can map out a rehab appearance timeline for him.
Adael Amador is starting at second base and batting ninth for the Rockies on Thursday.
Amador has now started three of the last four games at second base for the Rockies. He’s gone just 7-for-43 this season with 15 strikeouts in 16 games. He’s just 22 years old, so there is plenty of time for him to adjust to the MLB level, but he doesn’t need to be on redraft radars right now.
Jackson Holliday is playing second base and batting second for the Orioles on Thursday against the Twins.
With Cedric Mullins sitting out on Thursday, Gunnar Henderson will bat lead off, and Holliday will jump up from sixth in the order to second. Holliday is riding a hot streak right now, and the Orioles are taking advantage. This is likely just a one-game sample with no Mullins or Adley Rutschman in the lineup, but Rutschman has been struggling, so perhaps it could become a more permanent spot in the lineup for Holliday moving forward.