NHL DFS Picks: FanDuel Top Plays and Strategy for Tuesday, October 28

Tuesday's top DFS options on FanDuel for the NHL's all-hands-on-deck Frozen Frenzy slate include wunderkind Macklin Celebrini as the San Jose Sharks host the Los Angeles Kings.
NHL DFS Picks: FanDuel Top Plays and Strategy for Tuesday, October 28
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All hands are on deck tonight with a full slate of 16 games. The action will start with a pair of 6:00 p.m. EDT outings (Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, Calgary at Toronto) and continue deep into the night, with the final puck drop scheduled for 11:00 p.m. (Los Angeles at San Jose). That leaves us with tons of options, so let's dive into them.

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SLATE PREVIEW

St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Boston and Ottawa also played Saturday and Monday, so fatigue might be an issue for those teams. Toronto and Columbus are scheduled to face each other Wednesday, and being in the first half of a back-to-back might influence those squads' lineup decisions tonight.

GOALIES

Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL at NAS ($7,800): Vasilevskiy owns an unappealing 3.00 GAA and .892 save percentage, which has resulted in a 1-3-2 record. However, the veteran netminder might have turned a corner. He's stopped 69 of 75 shots (.920 save percentage) over his past three appearances and picked up a 2-1 overtime victory against Vegas in his last start Sunday. He'll look to build off that against Nashville, which is tied for 29th in goals per game with 2.50.

Connor Hellebuyck, WPG at MIN ($7,500): His current price is fantastic for a goaltender who is coming off consecutive Vezina Trophy victories and has a 2.16 GAA and a .928 save percentage in seven appearances this year. Presumably, the reason he's a little cheaper is because the Wild are a good team. However, Minnesota has underperformed recently, going 1-4-2 over its past seven games while averaging just 2.14 goals per game, so this is about as good a time to face the Wild as Hellebuyck could ask for.

Spencer Knight, CHI vs. OTT ($7,400): Chicago still has growing to do, but the team seem just fine in net. Knight has a 3-2-1 record, 1.97 GAA and .937 save percentage in six appearances this year. He's also won three of his past four starts while allowing no more than two goals in each of those outings. As noted above, this will be the Senators' third game in four days, so Ottawa might struggle to put forth its best performance tonight.

Thatcher Demko, VAN vs. NYR ($7,400): Demko has put his injury-riddled 2024-25 campaign behind him by posting a 4-2-0 record, 2.36 GAA and .922 save percentage in six appearances this year. Meanwhile, the Rangers have dropped three straight games to fall 3-5-2 on the season. New York's main issue has been its offense -- the Rangers rank 31st in goals per game with 2.20.

VALUE PLAYS

Kent Johnson, CLM at BUF ($4,900): Johnson was held off the scoresheet over his first four games this season, but he's rebounded with two goals and four points over his past four outings. He excelled in 2024-25 with 24 goals and 57 points in 68 outings with Columbus, so his more recent production is a far better reflection of Johnson than his sluggish start.

Dmitri Voronkov, CLM at BUF ($4,800): Voronkov has been held off the scoresheet just once in his first eight games, giving him five goals and nine points this season. He set a career high with 47 points in 2024-25, but the 25-year-old is capable of doing better this year. It helps that he's serving on the first power-play unit. Johnson is also playing alongside him with the man advantage, so you'd get some synergy by rostering both of them.

Dylan Holloway, STL vs. DET ($4,800): Holloway proved himself in 2024-25 by scoring 26 goals and 63 points in 77 regular-season appearances. After that fantastic campaign, he got off to a sluggish start this campaign, supplying just one point (a goal) through six outings. However, he's started to pick up by providing an assist in each of his past three games. Across his first eight games this season, he averaged 19:10 of ice time, including 3:09 with the man advantage, so Holloway is in an ideal position to excel despite that slow start.

Trevor Zegras, PHI vs. PIT ($4,600): Zegras is fitting in nicely with Philadelphia, supplying two goals and eight points through eight outings this season. He's also coming off his first multi-point effort (two goals, one assist) to lead Philadelphia to a 4-3 shootout win over the Islanders on Saturday.

FORWARD LINE STACKS

Hurricanes vs. Golden Knights

Sebastian Aho (C - $6,800), Seth Jarvis (W - $7,400), Nikolaj Ehlers (W - $5,800)

Aho couldn't have asked for a better start to the season. He's recorded at least a point in eight straight games, bringing him up to four goals and 10 points this year. Jarvis has been just as, if not more, effective with seven goals and 11 points in eight outings in 2025-26.

By contrast, Ehlers got off to a slow start to the season, but he's rounded a corner. The 29-year-old has collected an assist in each of his past three outings after being held off the scoresheet in this season's opening five games.

Sharks vs. Kings

Macklin Celebrini (C - $7,100), Tyler Toffoli (W - $5,200), Will Smith (W - $5,200)

The Sharks aren't good yet, but at least they're fun. Celebrini has been turning heads with six goals and 15 points through nine appearances, including four goals and nine points over his past three games. Smith is another rising star with the Sharks, recording two goals and eight points across nine appearances this year. Smith is a bit of a wild card -- he's had big games, but also plenty of quiet nights -- but he's priced low enough to make him an interesting roll of the dice.

Toffoli has been limited to three goals and four points in nine appearances this year, but he should pick up the pace as the season continues. It's encouraging that he scored a goal in his last game Sunday.

William Eklund (W - $5,400) is a solid alternative to either Toffoli or Smith. Eklund has four goals and nine points in nine outings this season, including three goals and seven points over his past three outings.

DEFENSEMEN

Cale Makar, COL vs. NJD ($6,700): Makar is such a fantastic option. He already has three goals and 11 points through 10 appearances, which is a pace the 26-year-old can sustain. In fact, his goal-scoring pace might even tick up a little -- he has surpassed the 25-goal mark on two occasions, including 30 goals during the 2024-25 regular season, and his current 10.7 percent shooting is a touch down from his 12.2 percent rate from a year ago.

Mikhail Sergachev, UTA at EDM ($5,900): Sergachev didn't record a single point over his opening six appearances of the 2025-26 campaign, but he's done a complete 180 over his past four games, collecting two goals and eight points over that span. You'd be hard-pressed to find a blueliner hotter than him.

Josh Morrissey, WPG at MIN ($5,600): Speaking of hot blueliners, Morrissey has been fantastic as well, recording five assists over his past two games. That's propelled him to seven assists in nine appearances this season. He's recorded at least 60 points in each of the past three regular seasons and is a good candidate to do so again in 2025-26.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Ryan Dadoun plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: Terakai, DraftKings: BTerran, Yahoo: Ryan-SPJ9H.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ryan Dadoun is a veteran hockey analyst with roughly 15 years of experience in the field. He previously served as a writer and editor for the NHL Department of NBC Sports Edge.
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