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Welcome to the NHL DFS Man Advantage for a Monday night and we have an 8 game slate to break down!
Another Monday and another large slate of NHL action to go through for tonight. We have two North Division games that are two of the top places to start when building tonight. Both Nashville and Florida are also in great spots tonight and are on my radar as teams that may get overlooked with Edmonton and Vegas, and even Calgary getting a lot of the attention tonight because of their matchups. We also have Carolina and Tampa playing, which could easily be game of the night, but just might not be a game we want to target in fantasy.
NHL DFS: Goaltenders
Cash Game Goalie:
Robin Lehner ($8,500) vs San Jose
Lehner has a pretty weak matchup in San Jose and is priced up accordingly. I believe Lehner will be the highest owned goalie on this slate along with Jacob Markstrom ($8,300/$7,500) as he and the Flames take on Ottawa. San Jose has been terrible offensively in their last five games, scoring just seven goals in that stretch. Contrasting that with how the Golden Knights netminder has played, winning four of his last five games while allowing just 9 goals in the process and is coming off a shutout in his last game on Friday.
Other Cash Options: Jake Oettinger ($7,200/$7,600), Sergei Bobrovsky ($8,100/$7,800), Kaapo Kahkonen ($7,900/$8,100)
GPP Goalie:
Juuse Saros ($8,000) vs Chicago
Nashville has been on fire in the second half of the season and a big part of it is their goaltending. Saros has been practically been a wall in net the last couple of weeks. In his last ten starts the Finnish netminder has a 7-3 record along with an outstanding .939 save % while allowing just 19 goals and averaging nearly 30 saves per game. I think the Preds goalie (I am assuming Saros starts, but if it’s Rinne he has been just as good) comes in low owned because people may be scared off by the matchup with Chicago. Nashville has won all five matchups with Chicago this season and allowed just 6 goals in those 5 matchups.
Other GPP Options: Mikko Koskinen ($7,800/$7,300), Jake Allen ($7,700/$7,400), Darcy Kuemper ($7,600/$6,500)
NHL DFS: Slate Overview
Dallas Stars Top Line vs Detroit
This of course is only relevant if Roope Hintz ($6,700/$6,400) decides he wants to play today. He has been like an NBA player this season with the constant will he/won’t he game-time decisions. If he is healthy Dallas projects as one of the top lines and one of the lines with the safest floors on the slate. Combining Hintz with veteran winger Joe Pavelski ($7,100/$7,400) and Calder Trophy front runner, Jason Robertson ($6,400/$4,900) this is one of the most unheralded top lines in the league. Robertson is an outstanding one-off on FD thanks to his stupid low price, he is basically a must-play over there.
The Connor McDavid Traveling Circus
McDavid and the Oilers are actually having a good season in 2021 and are always one of the top plays on the slate, and usually most expensive as well. Edmonton is at home to the Canadiens tonight and of course, are in a great spot to put up the fantasy points again. Leon Draisaitl ($8,700/$8,200) is back with McDavid (at the time of writing) and makes for a very expensive mini stack. I think we could see a dip in ownership on them because of the size of this slate, but in cash games, I would make them a priority and fill in with some of the value around the league (IE: Robertson and the Wild and Preds value)
Vegas Golden Knights Bring the Value!
We love to play Vegas every time they are on a slate, but they can be pricey. Of course, both Mark Stone ($6,600/$7,300) and Max Pacioretty ($8,200/$8,00) are outstanding plays tonight, but we can’t afford all the top plays (unless you play on SuperDraft where there are no salaries) so we need to find the value in top teams. Vegas’ third line has been a bright spot for this team since last week when they acquired Mattias Janmark ($2,800/$3,600). Janmark has picked up an assist and 7 shots on goal in his 3 games since joining the Knights. Unfortunately, DK has him listed as a center so this is one of those spots where if you line stack them you will use two center spots. Luckily there is plenty of winger depth on this slate (Draisaitl is a wing on DK) to make up for that. Both Tomas Nosek ($3,400/$3,600) and Alex Tuch ($3,800/$4,000) play on the Golden Knights’ second power-play unit and are actually my preferred plays from this line. Alex Pietrangelo ($5,900/$5,800) and Reilly Smith ($3,900/$4,300) round out this unit. Keep an eye on Smith’s status since he left Sunday’s game with an injury
The Best of the Rest
Both of Vegas’ top two lines are in play of course like I mentioned above, I also really like the Ottawa Senators’ top line of Batherson/Tkachuk/Norris for GPP’s, especially if Louie Domingue starts for the Flames. Another top-end value play is the Panthers’ 3rd line with Patric Hornqvist adding PP1 exposure. I also like a two-man stack of Barkov/Gusev from Florida as well. Nashville’s top line of Grimaldi/Johansen/Arvidsson is cheap and has a good matchup as I mentioned. Two other GPP lines I like are Montreal 1 & Minnesota 3, both lines have high ceilings and low floors.
NHL DFS: Defensemen Rankings
** Remember to always try and pair your defenseman up with forwards. One-off dmen are not usually the best option**
Top Defensemen
- Shea Theodore (VGK)
- Dougie Hamilton (CAR) – Might be low owned because of the matchup
- Darnell Nurse (EDM)
- Roman Josi (NSH)
- Jakob Chychrun (ARI) – Because he’s Chychrun and he’s awesome
- Alex Martinez (VGK)
- Victor Hedman (TB)
- Mark Giordano (CGY)
- Seth Jones (CBJ)
- Miro Heiskanen (DAL)
I have already mentioned Pietrangelo with the Vegas value, so that is why he is not on this list, but he is a great play as well
Top Value Defensemen:
- Brandon Montour (FLA) – Great play with the Barkov/Gusev 2 man
- Wyatt Kalynuk (CHI)
- Kris Russell (EDM)
- Jaccob Slavin (CAR)
- Juuso Valimaki (CGY)
- Scott Harrington (CBJ)
- Niklas Hjalmarsson (ARI)
- Ben Harpur (NSH)
- Gustav Forsling (FLA)
- Jamie Oleksiak (DAL)
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