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. What was originally supposed to be a nice sized 9 game slate has turned into a smaller, but still fun 6 game slate thanks to some COVID postponements. My goal here will be to provide you with a solid foundation for your lineup.
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Before we dive in I want to highlight some terms you’ll see in my article that may be foreign to you:
- Corsi – Any shot attempt (goals, shots on net, misses and blocks) outside of the shootout
- Even Strength – Play where both teams have the same number of players (including goalies) on the ice. Includes 5v5, 4v4, 3v3
- Power Play – Play where the team has more players on the ice than their opponent due to penalties. Includes 5v4, 5v3, 4v3
- Penalty Kill – Play where the team has fewer players on the ice than their opponent due to penalties. Includes 4v5, 3v4, 3v5
Goaltending
Frederik Andersen ($8.2k DK/$7.9k FD) vs. Los Angeles Kings – Outside of the fact that the Hurricanes aren’t giving up much in the way of shots, I really like this spot tonight for Andersen. The Kings just haven’t been scoring much over the past 2 weeks with a goals per game under 3. The good news for is that even though the Hurricanes don’t give up much in the way of shots, the Kings do take a ton of shots.
My hope here is that the two teams meet somewhere in the middle and the Kings take enough shots to make paying more than $8k for Andersen worthwhile. Before giving up 3 goals to Detroit on Thursday night, Andersen had been playing some stellar hockey as he had given up just 4 goals in his prior 3 games. Look for him to get back on track tonight against the Kings.
Thatcher Demko ($7.5k DK/$7.3k FD) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs – This is far from a safe pick, but if we look past Auston Matthews tonight there’s not much else to love from the Maple Leafs. Tavares is on the COVID list and was one of their leading scorers over the last 2 weeks. Now you have your second line centered by David Kampf instead of Taveres which somewhat neutralizes William Nylander.
Toronto will not be sending out their best tonight and I’ll want to take advantage of it with a goalie that is playing some of his best hockey of the year. Demko hasn’t scored under 17 DK points since late November and is becoming one of the more reliable goalies in the NHL. He’s coming into tonight riding a 5 game winning streak. While it’s always scary playing against the Leafs, Demko is playing great right now and should be in consideration when picking your goalie tonight.
I have little interest in any of the other goalies tonight so will be sticking with the two that I mentioned.
Stacks
Edmonton 1 (McDavid/Puljujarvi/Foegele) + Nurse vs. Seattle Kraken
Going into their last game against Columbus I mentioned in our discord that this top line was due for some positive regression. Boy did they deliver with 74 DK points between them. This line has combined for 60 scoring chances over their last 5 games, with 27 of them being high danger chances. Still, they’ve only scored 4 goals, 3 of which were scored by Puljujarvi the other night.
There’s still some more positive regression coming for them and I want to make sure I have them in my lineup when it happens. Outside of McDavid this line is dirt cheap on DK. Foegele is only $2.8K and Pulj is only $4.4k. What if I told that you that of all the players available on tonight’s slate, only 2 have a higher iCF than Pulj over their last 5 games? Over his last 5 games Pulj has a iCF of 36 with 25 scoring chances. Him and McDavid are my priority here, but if you need the salary savings Foegele makes for a great value.
New Jersey 1 (Hughes/Zacha/Bratt) + Hamilton vs. Detroit Red Wings
Yes, I know that the Devils only have a 2.25 goal total coming into tonight’s slate. Vegas has that wrong in my opinion. Detroit has been a mess defensively of late. Over the last 2 weeks they have a corsi % of 47.58%. Only Ottawa has a worse %. They’re also giving up 4.5 goals per game thanks to some subpar goaltending. While the Devils aren’t one of the powerhouse offenses we think of in the NHL, they stand a strong chance of exploding tonight.
With this stack I’m going to focus on both Hughes and Zacha. Both guys have combined for 38 scoring chances over their last 5 games, 18 of them high danger chances. If you want to go for a full stack here I wouldn’t talk you off of Bratt. He’s also been solid of late with 4 points in his last 5 games. This trio also plays together on the top power play unit for Jersey. Look for the Devils to make Vegas look silly for the implied total tonight.
Ottawa 1 (Norris/Tkachuk/Batherson) + Chabot vs. Philadelphia Flyers
This game tonight has the makings of a 5-4 game as both goalies in this one are trash and neither team likes to play defense. Well they may like to play it, but are just not good at it. Both teams in this one have corsi %’s below 50. Below 50 in the NHL is bad. I’m siding with Ottawa in this matchup because the Senators offense has been pretty good of late, outside of their 2-1 loss to the Lightning. Lightning > Flyers.
If we think Ottawa offense, we automatically go to their top line. Their top line has been scoring at will of late and is one of the hottest lines in the NHL. Drake Batherson has been red hot. In his last 5 games he has 10 points. His line mates haven’t been slouches either. Both Norris and Tkachuk have combined for 9 goals in the last 5. This line is rolling and I just can’t see the Flyers slowing them down. Look for them to score often tonight.
Other stacks (Both top lines for Philly 2, Carolina 1 and 2, Van 2, Tor 1 (if you aren’t playing Demko), Det 1)
Top Defenseman
- Darnell Nurse ($6.8k DK) – Edmonton Oilers – 6 shots + blocks in his last 5
- Jacob Slavin ($5.3k) – Carolina Hurricanes – 5.2 shots + blocks in his last 5
- Thomas Chabot ($5.9k) – Ottawa Senators
- Quinn Hughes ($5.1k DK) – Vancouver Canucks
- Travis Sanheim ($3.1k DK) – Philadelphia Flyers – Great Value
- Jonas Siegenthaler ( $2.6k DK) – New Jersey Devils – Playing on the top D unit, great value
Summary
More than ever, you’ll need to keep on top of news tonight. Covid is running rampant in the NHL right now and we’re seeing scratches right up until games start. I can’t preface this enough, make sure you have pivots ready to your lineups. Games are getting postponed left and right.
With that all said, I anticipate this being a high scoring slate. Only 4 of the teams playing tonight are giving up less than 3 goals a game over the last 2 weeks. My preference in stacks are Edmonton, then Ottawa, then Jersey. Between values like Foegele and then some of the Defenseman I listed in the Top Defenseman section, you should have no issue fitting top plays into your lineup tonight.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
Make sure you are using our optimizer here when setting lineups.
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