Richard Masana 
With Jared transferring over to the dugout for baseball season, the Hot Shot will now be appearing on Saturdays as well. Now let’s take a deep dive into tonight’s nine-game slate!
4/9 NHL Main Slate of Games – Beginning 7 p.m. ET
Montreal Canadiens (+320) at Toronto Maple Leafs (-425) – 6.5 Projected Goal Total
Columbus Blue Jackets (-115) at Detroit Red Wings (-105) – 6.5 Projected Goal Total
Ottawa Senators (+215) at New York Rangers (-270) – 6 Projected Goal Total
Calgary Flames (-225) at Seattle Kraken (+185) – 6 Projected Goal Total
Anaheim Ducks (-110) at Philadelphia Flyers (-110) – 6.5 Projected Goal Total
New York Islanders (+135) at St. Louis Blues (-165) – 5.5 Projected Goal Total
Colorado Avalanche (-145) at Edmonton Oilers (+120) – 6.5 Projected Goal Total
San Jose Sharks (+120) at Vancouver Canucks (-145) – 5.5 Projected Goal Total
Arizona Coyotes (+285) at Vegas Golden Knights (-370) – 6 Projected Goal Total
4/9 NHL Favorite Lines Per Dollar
Top Line – Toronto One “Auston Matthews ($9,600), Mitchell Marner ($7,800), Michael Bunting ($4,400)”
The Maple Leafs’ top line should be the chalk of the night. However, sometimes you can eat a little chalk considering they’re -425 favorites in a 6.5 total game. The last time we saw the Canadiens they were winning us money via a 7-4 win over the Devils. Toronto will be looking to drop at least four here against a defense that seems shaky. While Jake Allen has provided some stability in net for Montreal, he has not been that great since returning.
Over their last ten games, this line leads all lines in the NHL in goals scored. I’m not sure what more needs to be said than that.
Secondary Line – Calgary One “Elias Lindholm ($7,200), Johnny Gaudreau ($7,500), Matthew Tkachuk ($7,200)”
Calgary One is just hard to escape in the world of NHL DFS. Not surprisingly, they are the line just behind the Maple Leaf’s top line across the last ten-game sample above. As far as the span of the season goes they have been ever better. They get a matchup versus a leaky Kraken team here that hasn’t been winning much, to say the least. The Flames are -225 favorites as of writing for this one and of course if there is a six total we can expect Calgary projected for at least four of them. If that happens, well given their strong ratio in regards to team scoring and were looking at two full-line goals for these young studs.
4/9 NHL Honorable Mention: Vegas One “Jack Eichel ($7,800), Chandler Stephenson ($3,900), Evgeni Dadonov ($4,500)”
While this newly formed line has seven full-line goals over their last ten games, the SATF and peripheral stats are lacking. Nevertheless, perhaps this will be an opportunity for positive regression in that regard. The woeful Coyotes are coming to town and Vegas falls behind only Toronto on this slate as strong -370 money line favorites. All three skaters are featured on the Golden Knight’s top power-play unit, offering us a bit more bang for our buck. As is they are super cheap with a lot of upside to match.
Top Defender
Shea Theodore – Vegas Golden Knights – $5,900 – If looking for a defenseman pairing with one of the lines listed above, then search no further. As he has a correlation with the first line on open ice and with the top power-play unit, Shea Theodore makes the perfect pairing with the Golden Knights line listed above. He has put up double-digit DraftKings points in five of his last six games. However, there are likely some ceiling nights coming for Theodore in the near future.
Top Goalie
Thatcher Demko – Vancouver Canucks – $7,900 – There are only two 5.5 total games on this slate. However, it is hard to trust St. Louis goaltending, thus turning us over to the San Jose/Vancouver game. Thatcher Demko has been lights out all season with a stellar 2.66 GAA and the Sharks have not been scoring much. The sub $8,000 price tag is more than fair for this all-star netminder in a plus matchup.
4/9 NHL Best Bet
Philadelphia Flyers/Anaheim Ducks (-105) Ceasars – I was capping lines blindly and previously when these teams met in January it was a 5.5 total w a shorter lean on the under side “granted there has been some general adjustments across the board since then for the record scoring season”. That said, over their last ten games the Ducks have scored as follows, “two goals, one, five “against the Coyotes”, two, two, one, two, three, zero, three”. As for the Flyers, “four, two, four, three, one, four, three, five, three, two” for what makes one of their highest-scoring stretches of the entire season. Maybe there’s some value on the Flyers here as well but there’s no way this should be capped above 6 for even money. Not that it works this way when facing other teams, but under the combined totals above U 6.5 would have hit in 8/10.
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