Justin Elick 
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Saturday Slapshot. I’ll be focusing on tonight’s nice-sized 9-game main slate of NHL DFS on DraftKings and FanDuel. We’re now close to a full month into the season. This is getting to be my favorite part of the year as we now how have plenty of data to tell us who is good and who is bad. Which teams to target and which teams to avoid.
Let’s dig in and see if we can make some money.
NHL DFS Goaltending
Carter Hart ($7K DK/$6.9k FD) vs. Carolina Hurricanes – If you aren’t following the play of Carter Hart this season, you are severely missing out. Hart is 5-0 to start the season and has been playing some absolutely brilliant hockey. He has a 2.00 GAA and a .947 save percentage. Both numbers are just insane. While they are much higher than his numbers over the last 2 seasons, if we look at his first 2 seasons in the NHL, they’re not too far off and this just might be the goaltender that he is, really good.
He’ll face a Carolina Hurricanes team today that just isn’t scoring many goals this season. Through 7 games, they’re scoring just over 3 goals per game, while taking over 36 shots per game. Ilya Sorokin had a great game against them last night and Carter Hart will again tonight. His price on both sides is just egregious.
Jordan Binnington ($8.5k DK/$8.9k FD) vs. Montreal Canadiens – If you want to pay up for goalie tonight, Jordan Binnington is your guy. He’s priced up on both sites due to his play and matchup. He’s probably more reserved for Cash games tonight though. Binnington has also been brilliant this season. He’s 3-1-1 through his first 5 games and is sporting a 1.74 GAA and a .936 save percentage.
He gets a great matchup vs. the Canadiens tonight. The Canadiens just haven’t been good. They’re scoring just 2.5 goals per game and less than 30 shots on goal. With how well Binnington has played, he’s almost a lock for the W tonight as the Blues are heavy favorites to win tonight.
NHL DFS Stacks
Toronto 1 (Matthews, Marner, Kerfoot) + Rielly vs. Los Angeles Kings
Is this the breakout game for Toronto’s top line? It’s quite possible. To say Matthews has had a slow start would be an understatement. Through 8 games, he has just 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points. He’s well off of his career pace per game. Last season, he’s had 60 goals in 73 games. At some point,he’s going to break out and there are certainly some signs that he’s getting there.
Over his last 5 games, he has over 30 scoring chances and is averaging close to 5 shots per game. Few players have the upside that he has and with a price pushing $9k on DK I have a feeling his ownership will be lower than it should be. The Kings are giving up over 4.3 goals per game so there should be some scoring in this one. Hopefully, that involves Matthews tonight. I’ll look to pair him with Marner and Rielly tonight. You can certainly add Kerfoot there to save some loot, but he just isn’t fantasy relevant on most nights.
Calgary PP1(Kadri, Toffoli, Lindholm, Huberdeau) + Anderson vs. Edmonton
Only 3 teams have given up more power-play goals this season than the Edmonton Oilers. They’ve given up 10 so far through 8 games. I’m going to target that, especially with the Flames being on home ice tonight. Their top power play unit has a lot of firepower in it. I’ll start with their big free agent signing in Nazm Kadri. Unsurprisingly, Kadri is playing some great hockey right now. Over his last 5 games, he has 4 goals and 4 assists. He’s also added 14 high-danger chances and a total of 24 scoring chances. His goal total could be a whole lot higher. On DK, Kadri is priced very fairly at $6.6k and he won’t break the bank for us.
Next up I’ll try to prioritize getting Toffoli with him. Toffoli has also been playing, with 4 points in his last 5 games. I’ll pair those 2 with Rasmus Anderson. Anderson has 5 helpers in his last 5 games and is also averaging nearly 3 shots plus blocks over that stretch. He’s been consistently around that 10 DK point mark all season long.
Minnesota 1 (Gaudreau, Zuccarello, Kaprizov) + Spurgeon vs. Detroit
The matchup isn’t one that is amazing tonight, but you have to respect what this top line for Minnesota has done. Over their last 5 games, Zuccarello and Kaprizov have combined for 14 points. They are extremely pricy and will be tough to pair with the other 2 lines I recommended, but they may just be the hottest line in the game right now. Each player has 7 points in their last 5 games and is generating just a ton of scoring chances.
Combined, they have 72 scoring chances and 33 high-danger chances. They are doing damage and I’ll absolutely want a piece of them tonight in my NHL DFS lineups. Detroit can be tough at times, but we saw them just give up 5 goals to the Bruins on Thursday night. They can be had and there’s a great chance Minnesota has a solid night tonight.
Other Stacks: Chicago 1(value), Minnesota 2 (value), Detroit 1, Philly 1, STL 2, Col 1
NHL DFS Top Value Defenseman
- Mark Giordano – $3.3k on DK – Gets a decent amount of shots and blocks.
- Jamie Oleksiak – $2.7k on Dk – Goals in back-to-back games. Would be chasing though
- Brady Skjei – $3.5k – Heavily involved in the offense.
Summary
Tonight should be a fun slate of NHL DFS. I plan on going heavy with the Wild and Toronto tonight. Then sprinkling in some value pieces along the way.
Make sure to use our Projection model when setting lineups.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
Make sure you follow me on Twitter at @rangerzfan79 and be sure to sign up for an ALL ACCESS GOLD ACCOUNT here at Win Daily Sports. Gain access to our Projection Models and jump into our Discord where we will have our experts talking plays across every sport and slate!
