This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
Welcome to the final day of the regular season. All the playoff matches have already been decided, so DFS play might add some intrigue to what otherwise is a day of low stakes. With seven games on the docket, here are my FanDuel lineup recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
If you are building a lineup today, keep in mind that playoff-bound teams are likely to rest players tonight, and some of those decisions won't be made clear until the pregame warmups. For that reason, you want to be extra careful to verify the status of players when selecting anyone from Toronto, Carolina, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Washington and Calgary. The remaining eight teams featured Thursday won't be heading into the postseason and will consequently ice relatively normal lineups.
Carolina and Detroit are also playing in the second half of a back-to-back, so fatigue might be a factor for those two teams -- although, as to the point above, the Hurricanes rested seven players Wednesday (Sebastian Aho, Jackson Blake, Jalen Chatfield, Seth Jarvis, Jordan Martinook, Jaccob Slavin and Jordan Staal), so perhaps some of those will come in fresh for Thursday's tilt, while other Carolina players will cycle out.
GOALIES
Jet Greaves, CLM vs. NYI ($7,700): The Blue Jackets will miss the playoffs, but given the preseason expectations for them, they still did amazing. Greaves has been among the pleasant surprises, and he has a chance to finish his recent run with the Blue Jackets on a high note against the Islanders, who will also miss the playoffs. Greaves has a 4-0-0 record, 0.75 GAA and .976 save percentage across his past four starts.
Linus Ullmark, OTT vs. CAR ($7,500): Ullmark got Ottawa's previous two games off, so I think he'll start tonight to prevent him from getting rusty ahead of the playoffs. It certainly would be dangerous to give him too much time to cool off after he stopped 80 of 83 shots (.964 save percentage) while winning his past three outings. Ottawa will probably rest some key players tonight, but the Hurricanes will likely be doing the same, so that should even things out. If anything, it might be to Ullmark's benefit because the overall skill level he'll be facing tonight will likely be less than he'd typically deal with.
VALUE PLAYS
Ville Koivunen, PIT vs. WAS ($4,800): The last few years have been challenging for Pittsburgh, but the Penguins do have hope for the future. The 21-year-old Koivunen is part of the reason for fans to be optimistic. He has 21 goals and 55 points across 62 outings with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and has looked similarly impressive in the NHL since making his debut March 30, collecting five assists across seven appearances with Pittsburgh.
Jonatan Berggren, DET at TOR ($3,800): Berggren is ending the campaign strong with two goals and four points across his past two games. It helps that he's seen an uptick in playing time recently, averaging 14:52 of ice time across his last five outings compared to his season average of 12:59.
FORWARD LINE STACK
Rangers vs. Lightning
J.T. Miller (C - $7,300), Mika Zibanejad (C - $6,500), Gabe Perreault (W - $3,100)
Tampa Bay is expected to start backup Jonas Johansson over Andrei Vasilevskiy, and I suspect the playoff-bound Lightning will also be resting several key players tonight.
It's a chance for Miller to excel against one of his former teams and cap off a hot finish to the campaign. He has six goals and 16 points across his past 11 appearances, bringing him up to 22 goals and 69 points across 71 outings between Vancouver and the Rangers this season.
Zibanejad has had an up-and-down campaign, but he's also hot with two goals and eight points over his last five outings. That gives him 18 goals and 59 points in 81 appearances in 2024-25.
By contrast, the 19-year-old Perreault is still looking for his first NHL point after logging four games. You could take him anyway, given his low price and talented linemates. He certainly has the potential to do well tonight -- Perreault was taken with the No. 23 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and excelled with Boston College this season, contributing 16 goals and 48 points across 37 outings.
DEFENSEMEN
Zach Werenski, CLM vs. NYI ($6,600): Part of Columbus' surprise success came from Werenski having the best season of his career. He's set new career highs with 22 goals and 80 points. Werenski will look to add to those totals one final time after supplying two goals and six points across his past five outings.
Rasmus Dahlin, BUF vs. PHI ($6,200): Dahlin has 17 goals and 68 points in 72 appearances going into Buffalo's season finale. He still has a shot at reaching the 70-point mark for the second time in his career, and it wouldn't be shocking if he does it. Dahlin has four goals and 11 points across his past eight outings.
Moritz Seider, DET at TOR ($5,800): Seider is red hot with a goal and five points over his last two outings. That brings him up to eight goals and 45 points in 81 appearances in 2024-25. Provided nothing changes, this will also be the fourth straight campaign in which he's appeared in all 82 games, which is especially impressive for a defenseman who puts his body on the line every game -- he has 210 hits and 179 blocks this campaign, the latter of which boosts his scoring in FanDuel leagues.
