Jared Levitt 
Welcome to Between the Benches, where I’ll go through the top NHL DFS Goalies and Stacks on DraftKings and Fanduel.
It’s Thursday and that means we have a Hockey Night! We have a massive 11-game slate tonight that we’ll want to navigate through. This slate brings us some really solid matchups. There are some lopsided matchups in this one and there are also some really boring games that we’ll be able to cross right off our list.
Let’s dig in and make some money!
NHL DFS Goalies
Karel Vejmelka vs. St. Louis Blues
When in doubt, play Vej! I plan on utilizing him heavily tonight as he fits the bill I’m looking for. He’s cheap. At just $7.6k on DK tonight he’ll give us some serious payroll flexibility without the loss of productivity. On the year, Vejmelka has had some decent numbers. While he’s 2-4, I’m more focused on the save % that’s north of .900. He also has a respectable GAA at 3.09.
The Coyotes have been a little more stout defensively this season as they’re only allowing around 33 shots per game over the last couple of weeks. That’s more than enough volume however to get us a goalie that should hit value tonight. With all that said, Vejmelka should be more reserved for GPP’s as there’s a good chance he does not get the W tonight.
James Reimer vs. Montreal Canadiens
The Detroit Red Wings will turn over the crease to James Reimer this evening and that has me really intrigued. He’s only started 4 games this season but boy has he been good! He’s sporting a .944 save % and a GAA of just 1.52. In the 4 games he’s started he’s failed to get into double-digit DK points just once. In that game, he was still positive as he scored 7 DK points. I’m willing to roll the dice with him here as he’s a very affordable $7.9k on DK. That’s a very fair price given his production and matchup.
This is a Canadiens team that just doesn’t have a lot of firepower. Over the last 2 weeks, they’re scoring just 2.83 goals per game, while taking around 31 shots on goal. This is a goalie you can certainly use in Cash games if that’s your thing. The Red Wings are heavy favorites here at -170. Lock and load with Reimer!
Other goalies: Thatcher Demko, Jake Oettinger, and Alexandar Georgiev.
NHL DFS Stacks – Main
Edmonton 1 (Connor McDavid, Ryan McCleod, Zach Hyman) vs. San Jose Sharks
With his being an 11-game slate tonight, there should be plenty of value options for us to find to be able to afford this top unit for Edmonton. While the Sharks are fresh off their first win of the season vs. the Flyers, this is a bad team that will continue to do bad things. Through 12 games this season, the Sharks have a -42 goal differential. They are on a record pace to be a historically bad team. Over the last 2 weeks, they’re giving up 5.50 goals per game and nearly 17 high-danger chances. They are bad and we should stack against them any chance we get, except when they play the Flyers of course.
The start of the season has surely been a disappointment for the top player in the NHL. Through 9 games, McDavid has just 8 10 points. For someone who had 153 points in 82 games last year, he’s off to a very slow pace. If ever there was a game on the schedule where we’d see a vintage McDavid performance, this is it! He’s an absolute lock for me this evening. I do wish he was playing alongside Leon Draisaitl, but he’s still in a great spot tonight.
I plan on locking him up with Zach Hyman by his side. These 2 not only play together on the top unit, they also play together on the top power-play unit for Edmonton. They’ll have plenty of chances to score this evening, making them a very intriguing option. Min-priced Ryan McLeod makes a nice addition for us at an extremely cheap price. He’s nowhere near a must-play, but this cheap playing next to McDavid is very appealing.
Vancouver 1 (Elias Pettersson, Ilya Mikheyev, Andrei Kuzmenko) vs. Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators are coming off a hard-earned win last night and should have some tired legs in this one. Because of that, I’m going to be stacking against them with the top unit for Vancouver I wouldn’t argue with you if you decided to drop down to the second unit but I’m mostly interested in this top line. The Canucks will more than likely be shooting on Anton Forsberg this evening.
Forsberg has not been good. Over his 4 starts this season, Forsberg has just a .861 save % and has allowed 3.42 goals per game. Both of those numbers are close to the bottom of all the goalies expected to start tonight. Whenever I see numbers like this, I stack against them.
My main focus on this line will be Elias Pettersson as he’s the anchor here. Over his last 5 games, Pettersson has been really solid with 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points. Only Quinn Hughes has more points for the Canucks over that stretch. Pettersson has also been averaging close to 3.5 shots per game, putting him right in the square of the offense. Neither Mikheyev nor Kuzmenko is a priority and they are both evenly priced. If I had to pick between the 2 of them, I’d pick Kuzemnko as he does just a little bit more on offense. Kuzmenko will also skate with Pettersson on the top power-play unit which makes him all the more appealing.
Other stacks I like tonight:
Boston 1 or 2 vs. Islanders
Detroit 1 vs. Montreal (they are close to my second favorite stack right behind Vancouver)
Ottawa 2 vs. Vancouver
Rangers 1 vs. Minnesota (Fleury is passed his prime)
Minnesota 1 vs. Rangers (Rangers are starting a 3rd string Goalie)
TB 1 and 2 vs. Chicago
LA 1 vs. Pittsburgh
Value D
Mason Lohrei ($2.5k) – Double digit DK points in 2 of 3 games
Jeff Petry ($2.8k) – Double digit DK points in back to back games
Neal Pionk ($3.2k)
Filip Hronek ($4.3k)
NHL DFS Summary
This is a great looking slate that should be high scoring. I’m all in on the Oilers as I think the Sharks come back down to earth after their dismantling of the LOL Flyers.
Make sure to drop into Discord where we’re constantly talking about plays for every slate.
Good luck and I hope to see you in the green.
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