NHL DFS Playbook December 6: Top DraftKings and FanDuel Picks
Published: Dec 06, 2023
Welcome to Wednesday’s 4-game NHL Slate. We have a ton of elite options to choose from, but we need to make sure that we are also targeting value. There are so many ways to build your lineup tonight, but targeting the right players is key. You can build daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Fantasy for Wednesday, December 6th, but before you build those NHL daily fantasy lineups, don’t forget to check out our NHL DFS projections, the NHL Value Finder, and the NHL DFS lineup generator. Let's look closer at the daily fantasy hockey top plays for tonight's NHL DFS Showdown slate.
NHL DFS Playbook December 6th
Recommended DFS Starting Goalies
Top Options for Saves
Jake Oettinger vs Florida Panthers
Stuart Skinner vs Carolina Hurricanes
Tristan Jarry vs Tampa Bay Lightning
Best Odds for a Win
Logan Thompson vs St. Louis Blues
Andrei Vasilevskiy vs Pittsburgh Penguins
Stuart Skinner vs Carolina Hurricanes
Favorite Goalies to Use for DFS Lineups
Logan Thompson, G, Vegas Golden Knights
One thing the Golden Knights always do is protect the net well and that's found in the stats as they allow just 2.31 goals per game the lowest average in the NHL. The Blues offense is also shaky at best scoring 2.88 per game and they have been struggling overall as a team so Vegas should get the win here.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay Lightning
Pittsburgh shoots the puck the 3rd most of any team in the NHL this season at 33.5 shots a contest. They have many weapons but they just haven't seemed to put it all together consistently enough. This means opposing goaltenders have had huge days in DFS against them with the high volume and lower scoring below their xGF. Vasilevskiy is as good as anyone and at home tonight in a good spot to go nuts.
Jake Oettinger, G, Dallas Stars
You could probably pick either goaltender from Dallas and Florida this evening as its expected to be a lower scoring game but give me the goaltender with more talent and the better team behind him. The Panthers are in the bottom half of the league in goals per game and the Stars play great defense, easy enough play here.
Recommended DFS Skaters
Highest Implied Goal Totals
Tampa Bay Lightning vs Tristan Jarry (3.68)
Edmonton Oilers vs Antti Raanta (3.66)
Vegas Golden Knights vs Jordan Binnington (3.46)
Favorite Skaters to Use for DFS Lineups
Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers are starting to find their groove again thanks mostly to their captain of course. McDavid has 14 points over his past 5 games and gets a Hurricanes team that has a new identity with an offense first approach allowing 3.21 goals per game. Their goaltending has been pretty bad too so let's rock McDavid.
Sebastian Aho, C, Carolina Hurricanes
Over to the other side of this matchup as I expect it to be the highest scoring game on the slate! Aho has been super consistent this season and his price point in DFS has hardly moved up which is strange. Either way he has 12+ DFS points in each of the last 4 games and a great matchup to do it again.
Jake Guentzel, W, Pittsburgh Penguins
The best 5 on 5 line in hockey belongs to the Penguins top unit this season with Guentzel leading the way in points for Pittsburgh. The matchup is a good one today although the Lightning do have their guy back in the cage for the past few games. This game could pop off and Jakey is a guy I need in my lineups.
Ivan Barbashev, W, Vegas Golden Knights
Digging a little deeper here for some gold, no pun intended for the Vegas player. The Blues are so fake it stinks to high heaven and they allow the most DFS points per game to left wingers on the season. At 3.5k on DK just need some shots and maybe a point to make it worth while.
Brent Burns, D, Carolina Hurricanes
Burns isn't the player he used to be but the matchup is a good one today and I am trying to load up on this game tonight. Oilers allow the 5th most DFS points per game to blueliners this season and Burns has 3 points in the last 3 games!
Check out our list of the best, and most trusted sports betting and fantasy sports promo codes from the top legal sites in your state.
Dominate your NHL DFS contests today with our DFS Playbook, Player Projections, Lineup Generator & DFS
Player Pool
| $ Tier | C | W | D |
|---|---|---|---|
| High |  Connor McDavid  $9,400 |  Nikita Kucherov $9,600 |  Alex Pietrangelo $6,600 |
 Sidney Crosby $7,500 | Jake Guentzel $7,500 | ||
| Medium |  Sebastian Aho $6,400 | Zach Hyman $6,400 | Brent Burns $5,200 |
 Roope Hintz $6,000 |  Jonathan Marchessault $6,000 | ||
| Low | Jesperi Kotkaniemi $4,400 | Ivan Barbashev $3,500 | Brady Skjei $4,000 |
 Lars Eller $3,200 | Michael Bunting $3,600 | Mattias Ekholm $3,600 |
Stacks
| Oilers | Mattias Ekholm | Connor McDavid | Zach Hyman |
| DraftKings | 3600 | 9400 | 6400 |
 Fanduel | - | - | - |
| Golden Knights | Alex Pietrangelo | Ivan Barbashev | Jonathan Marchessault |
| DraftKings | 6600 | 3500 | 6000 |
| Fanduel | - | - | - |
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.