Jon Love 
Welcome to the NHL DFS Showdown Strategy Guide from Win Daily Sports! This guide will walk you through different approaches for playing NHL DFS Showdown slates. Your best bet is to determine how you think the game you are playing will go. Will it be a high scoring affair? Tight and defensive? Once you make that decision, you can use this guide to build effective, winning lineups that will be different from the field.
Showdown Notes
For NHL DFS Showdown, much like all of our standard NHL DFS classic lineups, correlation is key!
Don’t be afraid to leave salary: much like any other showdown, the field will try to use all of the salary in their lineups; leaving salary on the table will make your lineup unique
When building NHL DFS Showdown lineups, it is best to wait until warmups (20-30 minutes before lock) to get the latest line combination updates.
The best resources for up to date line combinations include:
Building the Lineups:
Goalie Captain with Correlating Line 2
The Game Script: Use this build for a game you think will be one sided, with a goalie who dominates the opposition
How to Build It: Put the starting goalie that will win at the captain position. From there, stack his second forward line. Finish off the build by adding one floor player from the goalie’s team and one from the opposition.
Why it Works: Leverage! The goalie captain can be fairly low owned, and even if he is higher owned in the captain spot, the simple fact that you have the second line stacked puts you in a leverage spot.
Notes:
This is an all or nothing build and is considered an onslaught build; use it when you think one team will dominate, and then your hope is to be a little different by getting the second line.
Floor players you should target include players who shoot a ton and block shots; any shot blocking or shot on goal bonuses will be valuable and get you a floor when others are chasing a ceiling; if that ceiling player misses, you have an advantage.
D men are great targets in showdown because they generate points at lower ownership; they usually build up secondary stats like blocked shots and shots on goal; any primary stats they pick up like goals and assists are just bigger bonuses.
Power Play Unit #1 with Opposing Floor
The Game Script: Use this build for a game you think will be one sided
How to Build It: Pick the team you think is going to win and stack their top power play unit. For the captain spot, use the cheapest player in the unit. From there, stack the other four players in power play unit #1. Finish off the build by adding a floor player from the opposing team.
Why it Works: Mostly, you will nail the primary scoring in this build, and it gets access to a blend of correlation that some others may not have; additionally, the value player at captain gives you leverage on the field over folks who played the high-end salary range or studs in their captain spot
Notes:
This is an all or nothing build and is considered an onslaught build; use it when you think one team will dominate, and then your hope is to nail all of the scoring if the team goes off.
Floor players you should target include players who shoot a ton and block shots; any shot blocking or shot on goal bonuses will be valuable and get you a floor when others are chasing a ceiling; if that ceiling player misses, you have an advantage.
D men are great targets in showdown because they generate points at lower ownership; they usually build up secondary stats like blocked shots and shots on goal; any primary stats they pick up like goals and assists are just bigger bonuses.
Power Play Unit #2 with Opposing Floor
The Game Script: Use this build for a game you think will be one sided
How to Build It: Pick the team you think is going to win and stack their second power play unit. For the captain spot, use the most expensive player in the unit. From there, stack the other four players in power play unit #2. Finish off the build by adding a floor player from the opposing team.
Why it Works: This is another leverage build; not many will roster the 2nd and 3rd lines in their showdown stacks, and a lot of teams use 2 defensemen in their second power play unit; on top of that, you are targeting secondary scoring on most teams, so the ownership will be in your favor
Notes:
This is an all or nothing build and is considered an onslaught build; use it when you think one team will dominate, and then your hope is that the top players on the team have an off night and your secondary scoring comes through.
Floor players you should target include players who shoot a ton and block shots; any shot blocking or shot on goal bonuses will be valuable and get you a floor when others are chasing a ceiling; if that ceiling player misses, you have an advantage.
D men are great targets in showdown because they generate points at lower ownership; they usually build up secondary stats like blocked shots and shots on goal; any primary stats they pick up like goals and assists are just bigger bonuses.
Goalie Stack + Floor
The Game Script: Use this build for a game you think will be very low scoring
How to Build It: Pick the starting goalie you think will win, put him at captain, then add the opposing starting goalie as a flex. From there, fill in the rest of your lineup with floor players who correlate (same line, same power play unit, etc.). Keep in mind, this build is a little more volatile than the others, because you are betting on the game going way under with very little scoring.
Why it Works: In a game that goes way under, say 2-1 or even 1-0, you are getting a high upside from your goalies, with your captained goalie getting the edge in points thanks to a win. If you luck out even more, maybe you get an OT loss bonus for your other goalie. Additionally, you are getting floor points from those players who are shooting, while the people in your contest who chased ceilings are missing out.
Notes:
Floor players you should target include players who shoot a ton and block shots; any shot blocking or shot on goal bonuses will be valuable and get you a floor when others are chasing a ceiling; if that ceiling player misses, you have an advantage.
D men are great targets in showdown because they generate points at lower ownership; they usually build up secondary stats like blocked shots and shots on goal; any primary stats they pick up like goals and assists are just bigger bonuses.
The Approach
Your approach to NHL DFS Showdown all depends on how you feel about the slate. You can run a ‘cover your bases’ approach and run each of the above builds for both teams; or, you can decide which game script makes the most sense and focus on that build. Remember, if you choose to cover your bases and run all of the angles above, you will be building eight (or more, if you choose to mix and match floor players) for that showdown slate.
Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Jon and the NHL team would love to discuss the strategy above! Be sure to be on the look out for future articles at https://windailysports.com/daily-fantasy-hockey/
