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. Today we have a split slate. A 5 game slate starting at 1 pm EST, and then a 4 game slate at 7 pm EST that includes this year’s NHL Winter Classic.
Goaltending – Early Slate
Linus Ullmark ($8.3k DK/$8k FD) vs. Buffalo Sabres – Ullmark is a bit more than I typically spend on a goalie, but the spot this afternoon is just too much to pass up. Coming out of the extended Christmas break, the Sabres have only scored 4 goals in 2 games. The 2 goals per game are pretty much in line with the whole month of December as they averaged just 2.1 goals per game in 10 games played.
Ullmark has played pretty sparingly this season, but when he’s played he’s been pretty good. In the 6 games he’s played since November 20, he’s been under 15 DK points just once. In those 6 games, he has 2 games over 30 DK points. I can easily envision him getting around the 25 point mark tonight against one of the more low-powered offenses in the NHL.
Sergei Bobrovsky ($8.5k DK/$8.5k FD) vs. Montreal Canadiens – Like Ullmark, Bobrovsky is in the salary range I tend to stay away from. That said, he too is in just a great spot. In the month of December, the Canadiens scored just 1.67 goals per game in their 9 contests.
Bobrovsky hasn’t been overly sharp this year. He’s given up at least 3 goals in all but 3 contests this year. This is a great bounce-back spot for him though with how poorly the Canadiens have been.
Ilya Sorokin ($7.5k DK/$8.4k FD) vs. Edmonton Oilers – I like this play much better on DK than FD and this is strictly a GPP play as Edmonton can score goals in bunches. It’s not safe by any means. Sorokin has quietly put together a very solid season. On the year he has a 2.49 GAA and a .926 save percentage.
If we look at his season as a whole, he’s had one dud and that was all the way back on November 16 vs. the Panthers. He scored under 13 DK points just once in the month of December. This is the Oilers third road game in 4 days and I expect to see some tired legs out of them. Sorokin is a risky play this afternoon, but he’s been solid all year and we aren’t paying an arm and a leg for him.
Stacks – Early Slate
Carolina 1 (Aho/Niederreiter/Teravainen) + Slavin
Columbus is one of my favorite teams to stack against when playing NHL DFS. They’ve been giving up goals in droves this season. During the month of December, their opponents scored more than 3.5 goals per game against them. A lot of this has been due to how poorly defensively they’ve been playing. No team on the early slate gave up more high danger chances per game in December than the Blue Jackets at 12.67. Giving up that many high-quality chances is just asking for trouble.
With the Hurricanes healthy post their covid outbreak, they’re back to being a high-powered offense. This trio is where the offense starts. Of the 4 goals the Hurricanes scored on Thursday, 3 came from this line, and the line combined for 5 total points. They should have no problem replicating that today against a poor defensive team. My favorites on this line are Niederreiter and Teravainen as they are the cheaper parts to it. Over $8k for Aho is a lot, but if you can afford it, go for it.
Florida Power Play 1 (Barkov/Duclair/Huberdeau/Reinhart/Weegar)
No team has given up more power-play goals in the NHL this season than the Montreal Canadiens. They are currently tied with the Canucks with 31 power-play goals against. The majority of this power-play unit plays together on the second line so if you want to save some money, you can certainly cut out Barkov.
My preferences here with forwards are Duclair and Huberdeau. Duclair has 3 goals in his last 4 games and Huberdeau has 7 points in 5 games. The two of them plus Weegar should be able to put up some damage today.
Islanders 2 (Pageau/Beauvillier/Dal Colle) + Dobson
I’ve given 2 pretty high-priced stacks in Carolina and Florida. Although I love the Islanders’ first line, we need to find some salary savings. We can get that with the second line of the Islanders today. I love the Oilers. They have 2 of the best players in the NHL on their team. That said, they are awful defensively. During the month of December, they gave up 3.73 goals per game. That’s top of any team on this afternoon slate. It’s bad, very bad.
This second line should get Beauvillier back today as he cleared Covid protocols yesterday. This season has been a bit of a struggle for Beauvillier and Pageau as they have combined for just 9 goals this season. That said, they’re in a great matchup today and one of these guys should be able to put the puck in the back of the net.
Other stacks (Bos 1, NYI 1, Car 2, Fla 1, Edm 1, Nash 1)
Top Defenseman
- Noah Dobson
- Mackenzie Weegar
- Jacob Slavin
- David Savard
- Jake McCabe
- Charlie McAvoy
- Darnell Nurse
Evening Slate Notes
I’m not as big of a fan of the evening slate as I am with the early slate. That said, I love hockey and will probably still throw in a lineup. With goaltending, we shouldn’t get fancy. He’ll be highly owned, but Thatcher Demko is playing amazing right now. He’s won 8 of his last 9 contests and in that stretch, he’s given up 2 goals or less 7 times. Don’t overthink this one, even though he’ll be very popular.
In terms of stacks for tonight, look no farther than the LA Kings as they get to take on Martin Jones and the Flyers. The majority of the offense with the Kings comes from their top line of Kopitar, Iafallo, and Kempe. You’ll also want a piece of Matt Roy if you are playing the Kings. He’s still priced under $5k on DK which does seem like it’s a bit low for his production of late.
I’ll also want to grab a piece of the NHL’s Winter Classic between the Wild and the Blues. This should be a fun game as both offenses have been pretty good of late. You could make a case for a game stack here. For St Louis, their second line is where I always start. Robert Thomas is back and is still at just $3.7k on DK. I love pairing him with Tarasenko tonight.
On the Wild side of things, I’d go Hartman and Kaprizov. The only concern though is they are very pricey. A cheap way to get some extra exposure to them is to pair them with Alex Goligoski. He plays with them on the top power-play unit and is also on the top defensive unit. His cost is only $3,300 and has been producing of late. He’s been under 10 DK points just once in his last 4.
When setting NHL lineups today, make sure you are using our optimizer.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
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