NHL DFS Strategy and Core Plays for April 15

There are eight games on the NHL DFS main slate Monday, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. ET. I ranked my favorite line stacks and a few value plays below, as well as contrarian plays to consider in tournaments. 

This can be a tricky time of the year to play NHL DFS. Over the next few days windows will open up where you can really find some value, especially when teams have nothing to play for.

Here are the teams that are in must-win situations: 

• Detroit Red Wings 
• Pittsburgh Penguins
• Washington Capitals 
• New York Islanders (can still make the playoffs with a loss)
• New York Rangers (win and they clinch their division)
• Boston Bruins (win and they clinch their division)
• Nashville Predators (win and they avoid playing No. 1 seed Dallas)

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Edmonton Oilers have nothing to play for, but it sounds like they’ll play their stars, including Connor McDavid. Both teams have players who are looking to hit milestones. The Los Angeles Kings can avoid the Edmonton Oilers if they lose their next couple of games and Vegas wins their games, but the consolation is Dallas. They could rest some players. If Anze Kopitar sits, Pierre-Luc Dubois could be in for another decent game. 

We’ll all be active in our NHL Discord, even when there are only one or two games on the NHL schedule. It’s important to stay on top of the news, and we’ll help you do that. A last-minute scratch can ruin your lineup if you’re not on top of it, but it can also create a ton of value and opportunity. Everyone inside the NHL DFS chat is on the ball, so keep a close eye.

Below, you’ll see a list of all the games on the NHL slate along with the goal total for each. I’ve also listed my favorite stacks, values, one-offs and goalies for the day’s NHL DFS slate. Good luck and let’s get it!

Be sure to check out Mean Streets for daily picks and Dangle Bet Celly for full NHL breakdowns each Tuesday and Thursday. 

NHL DFS Strategy and Core Plays

• Montreal Canadiens @ Detroit Red Wings — 6.5 
• New York Islanders @ New Jersey Devils — 6
• Nashville Predators @ Pittsburgh Penguins — 6.5
• Buffalo Sabres @ Tampa Bay Lightning — 6
• Boston Bruins @ Washington Capitals — 5.5
• Ottawa Senators @ New York Rangers — 6.5 
• San Jose Sharks @ Edmonton Oilers — 6
• Minnesota Wild @ Los Angeles Kings — 5.5

Favorite GPP Line Stacks 

Edmonton Oilers Power Play Line 1 

Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins OR McDavid, Hyman, Bouchard, Adam Henrique

McDavid is expected to return, so EDM will likely be the most-rostered team Monday, even with the expensive price tags. The Oilers are -588 favorites in some spots as they welcome the San Jose Sharks to Rogers Place. Why is McDavid playing? Well, he’s one assist away from 100. Meanwhile, Bouchard is one point away from 80. The Oilers should roll, and all their players should hit their milestones before resting in their final game. 

Something to keep an eye on is the placement of the lines. It sounds like Adam Henrique could play with McDavid and Hyman. McDavid, Hyman, Henrique and Bouchard make for a solid four-man stack. 

New York Rangers Power Play Line 1

Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider 

If the Rangers win on home ice against the leaky Senators, they’ll clinch the Metro Division. Carolina is one point back, so we should get New York’s best effort. The contrarian play would be to roster Zibanejad and Kreider, or the entire first play. Panarin is the safest player in the stack. 

Detroit Red Wings Line 1 

Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond 

Detroit is in a must-win situation. It doesn’t mean they’ll win, but you can bet the top line will get as much ice time as they can handle. The Red Wings and Canadiens are the only game with a total of 6.5, and both teams have played to the over of late. Both teams rank inside the top 10 in shot attempts, shots and scoring chances allowed at 5v5/60 over the last month, according to Natural Stat Trick.

This line will come with a lot of rostership because of it, so consider the second line or MTL L1 or L2 in tournaments. I believe we’ll see the game total of 6.5 goals go over. Larkin has 13 points in 11 games since he returned to the lineup and he’s playing heavy minutes. DeBrincat has five points and 13 shots on goal in his last two games, and Raymond has four goals and eight points over a current four-game point streak. 

As discussed in our Discord, there are some great spots for props in this game, and I discussed some on Mean Streets. 

Montreal Canadiens Line 1 & Power Play Line 1

Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky w/ Mike Matheson 

As mentioned, the Red Wings rank inside the top 10 in shot attempts, scoring chances and shots at 5v5/60 over the final month. This line has been great for Montreal, so it could be one of the contrarian plays of the night. Caufield has goals in seven straight games, and he has 54 shot attempts over that span (7.7 per game).

Tampa Bay Lightning Line 1 & Power Play Line 1

Anthony Duclair, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman

With so many teams in good spots, this is a chance to get Tampa with low rostership numbers. Kucherov is chasing down the Art Ross Trophy for the most points in the league. Steven Stamkos is a decent one-off, as he’s one goal away from 40. 

Nashville Predators Line 1 & Power Play Line 1

Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly, Gustav Nyquist w/ Roman Josi

The Predators have 11 goals in their last two games. Forsberg has four of them, and he’s averaging 5.6 shots per game over his last 10. 

Pittsburgh Penguins Line 1

Drew O’Connor, Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust w/ Erik Karlsson

Detroit Red Wings Line 2 

David Perron, J.T. Compher, Patrick Kane 

Vegas is expecting goals. Maybe this is the way to be different. Perron and Compher are extremely affordable. 

Montreal Canadiens Line 2 

Brendan Gallagher, Alex Newhook, Joel Armia

This line has been good. Armia and Newhook are a cheap duo to consider, and they can both be used as one-offs. 

San Jose Sharks Line 

William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, Fabian Zetterlund

The ceiling is capped, but the usage rate is high and there’s chemistry. Consider in larger fields if you’re playing multiple lineups. 

Favorite Individual Plays 

Centers 

• Connor McDavid, EDM
• Dylan Larkin, DET
• Sidney Crosby, PIT
• J.T. Compher, DET
• Alex Newhook, MTL
• Brock Nelson, NYI
• Evgeni Malkin, PIT
• Tage Thompson, BUF — BUF L1 won’t be owned
• Adam Henrique, EDM 
• Pierre-Luc Dubois, LA — if not Kopitar 

Wingers 

• Nikita Kucherov, TB
• David Pastrnak, BOS
• Artemi Panarin, NYR
• Filip Forsberg, NSH
• Cole Caufield, MTL
• Alex DeBrincat, DET
• Steven Stamkos, TB
• Lucas Raymond, DET
• Fabian Zetterlund, SJ
• Patrick Kane, DET
• William Eklund, SJ
• Adrian Kempe, LA
• David Perron, DET
• Joel Armia, MTL
• Drake Batherson, OTT
• Kyle Palmieri, NYI

Defensemen

• Roman Josi, NSH
• Evan Bouchard, EDM
• Mike Matheson, MTL
• Adam Fox, NYR
• Victor Hedman, TB
• Erik Karlsson, PIT
• Mike Reilly, NYI
• David Savard, MTL
• Shayne Gostisbehere, DET
• Jeff Petry, DET

Goalies

(In order of preference)

• Semyon Varlamov, NYI
• Jeremy Swayman, BOS
• Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB
• Juuse Saros, NSH
• Sam Montembeault, MTL — leverage against the field but risky

My Core 

• McDavid
• DET L1 — Larkin
• MTL L1 — Caufield 
• NYR L2 — Panarin 
• TB L1 — low-owned slate breaking potential — strong play in single entry
• Armia, Perron, Eklund — cheap values 
• Bouchard, Matheson, Fox, Reilly, Petry
• Varlamov, Saros, Motembeault (GPP)

Goal Scorers

Alex DeBrincat
Cole Caufield
Sidney Crosby
Filip Forsberg
Artemi Panarin
David Pastrnak
Zach Hyman
Brock Nelson
Adam Henrique
Joel Armia
David Perron

PrizePicks

• Nikita Kucherov Point
• Artemi Panarin Point
• Alex DeBrincat Point
• Cole Caufield Pont
• Sidney Crosby Point
• Pavel Zacha Point
• Bryan Rust Point

Goal scorers and PrizePicks props are listed in order of preference.