Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to the Saturday Slapshot where I’ll be highlighting some of my top plays for tonight’s NHL DFS slate on Fanduel and DraftKings. Tonight we have a solid-looking 9 game slate.
Let’s dig in and see if we can make some money.
Goaltending
Igor Shesterkin ($8.4k DK/$8.1k FD) vs. Arizona Coyotes – This is about as high of a salary for a goalie as I’ll go. While the Coyotes have been scoring more goals of late, it hasn’t been against the stiffest of competition. In the games they scored more than 3 goals, they were facing teams like the Canadiens and Blackhawks. Last night they were shut out by a solid defensive Islanders team.
While the Rangers aren’t a defensive juggernaut, they have one of the best goalies in the NHL in Shesterkin. Since November 1, Shesterkin has just 2 games under 10 DK points. He has a .938 save % on the year and has to be in the Vezina conversation. After struggling a bit to start the game vs. Maple Leafs on Wednesday Shesterkin settled down nicely to finish the game with 35 saves and a Win. There’s a very real chance he makes the Coyotes go back-to-back games without a goal. Love the spot tonight for Igor.
Jacob Markstrom ($7.7k DK/$7.8k FD) vs. Edmonton Oilers – Something is wrong with the Oilers and until they fix it, we can attack them with goalies. Over the last month, what should be a dynamic NHL offense, this team has mustered just 2.29 goals per game. Of the 18 teams on tonight’s slate, that’s the lowest number. Now some of this can be attributed to scheduling conflicts due to covid, but I’m still going to attack them until they prove me wrong.
In Markstrom, we have someone that has been up and down this season. At times he’s been brutal, but at times he’s been remarkable, as evidenced by his 28 save performance vs. the Panthers team that had been coming into the game scoring goals at will. Because it’s the Oilers, this is a risky spot. That said, I do like the spot tonight and Markstrom has a chance to be one of the top goalies on the night.
After those 2 goalie gets a little murky. Whoever gets the nod tonight for Minnesota should do well against a Blackhawks team that is anemic right now. Darcy Kuemper is also in a good spot tonight but he’s very pricey. I just can’t live with myself paying $8.5k for him on DK tonight. That’s just too much, even with a matchup against a poor Canadiens squad. I’d rather take my chances with Markstrom tonight.
Stacks
I don’t need to tell you how good of a spot it is for the Avalanche tonight. Montreal is dreadful and giving up more than 4 goals per game over their last 8 games. They are one of the worst teams in the NHL. The top line of MacKinnon, Landeskog, and Rantanen is always in play and tonight is no different. They are in a great spot tonight but are extremely pricey. If you can fit them, go for it.
Calgary 1 (Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau)
I highlighted above that the Oilers have been struggling offensively. That actually pales in comparison to how bad they’ve been on the defensive side. Of the 18 teams on tonight’s NHL DFS slate, no team has a higher goals against average over the last month than the Oilers. As a team, you stand no chance of winning if you are giving up 4.71 goals per game. Their goalies have been atrocious as they have an 84.86 save percentage over that period.
While such a low number like that isn’t necessarily sustainable and there will be regression, it’s still something that we want to attack. This top-line for Calgary is still very affordable. The most expensive player in this stack is Gaudreau at $6.7k on DK. My priorities here are going to be Tkachuk and Gaudreau. The two have combined for 14 points, 40 scoring chances, and 20 high danger chances over their last 5 games. I’m not overly interested in any of the defensemen from this team.
New York Rangers 1 (Kreider/Zibanejad/Kaako) + Fox
This could be the homer in me, but I love the spot for the Rangers tonight. They struggled in Carolina against the Hurricanes last night but get to go back to the Garden tonight against a much lesser opponent in the Coyotes. My priority with this stack is Kreider. He is red hot right now as he has 5 goals in his last 5 games. Over those 5 games, he has 14 high danger chances and 19 scoring chances. The duo of Zibanejad and Kreider have been extremely lethal this season and love pairing them together tonight.
Carolina 2 (Trocheck/Svechnikov/Niederreiter) + Slavin
My final favorite stack tonight brings us to Newark, NJ with the Carolina Hurricanes. Goaltending for the Devils has been a struggle of late as they’ve let in 3.5 goals per game over the past month. With Blackwood expected to be in the net today, I love this sport for the Hurricanes. Over his last 10 starts, he’s failed to give up less than 3 goals just once.
While the Hurricanes’ offense is always tough to gauge, I really like their second line tonight. The pairing of Trocheck and Svechnikov have combined for 10 points over their past 5 games and 30 scoring chances. Slavin makes a nice compliment to this stack as he’s only $4.3k on DK and he’s getting us some ancillary stats as he’s averaging more than 4 shots + blocks per game.
Other stacks (Min 1, Tor 1, Ari 2, Ott 1, Was 1, Col 2, TB 1 and 2, SJ 1)
Top Value Defenseman
- Christopher Tanev
- Kris Russell
- David Savard
- Calvin De Haan
- Moritz Seider
- Ben Chiarot
- Adam Pelech
- Scott Mayfield
Summary
We have some solid spots to attack tonight. I didn’t write them up, but I love Minnesota again tonight. They made for a profitable night last night and get the same matchup tonight, but at home and vs. a lesser goalie. Their top line of Hartman and Kaprizov would be the place to go, but they are pricey. Another spot I didn’t write up is Washington vs. Ottawa. Ovechkin should add to his tally and get closer in his chase of the great one. There are a lot of great spots for offense tonight and it has the makings of a very high-scoring night.
Make sure to use our optimizer when setting lineups!
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
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