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Welcome to the NHL DFS Man Advantage for the 2021-22 season.
If you are new to my articles, NHL, or WinDaily Sports then I will tell you that my articles are not going to give you the chalk plays or the obvious plays. I try to dig in and find ways for you to build lineups for GPP contests. I will always point out those top plays to help you build cash but that is not the point of this article.
It’s a Mini-Monday slate
Tonight we have just three games on the slate that locks 30 minutes late than usual. In the early games, Vancouver is on a back-to-back in New Jersey one night after throttling the Rangers. Toronto, fresh off dropping 10 on the Red Wings, heads to D.C., and in the late game, Boston is in Hollywood.
NHL Bets:
Bruins puckline (-1.5): +185
Auston Matthews over 1.5: +170
Jack Hughes over .5: -200
(I typically do not bet and therefore may not place a bet on any or all of the above bets. Use caution when betting)
NHL DFS: Goaltenders
Jeremy Swayman (@ Los Angeles)
Swayman has won three straight starts and four of five and I fully expect the Bruins to win again on Monday as they continue their West Coast trip. What worries me is how stingy the B’s are defensively. Swayman has only had one game this season where he surpassed the 35 save plateau (bonus on DK). Looking on the bright side, Los Angeles is a team that shoots the puck a lot. If he was going to have a second 35 save performance, tonight could be the game for it. I know it doesn’t seem like much to love about this play, but on a slate this small, there isn’t much to choose from.
*** If Linus Ullmark gets the start, he is still the top goalie on the slate as well. ***
Other Options: Jaroslav Halak (@ NJ), Petersen/Quick ( vs Boston), Mrazek/Campbell ( @ Washington)
Teams to build around:
As I have mentioned already, this is a small slate with not a lot to really pick from with only three games on it. I believe that the Leafs/Caps game will garner most of the DFS attention and probably be the popular game to attack. That is not necessarily a bad idea after what we saw Toronto do on Saturday and what we saw them allow to Detroit. Since that will potentially be the popular way to go, let’s break down another path that could be successful.
Vancouver Canucks @ New Jersey Devils: Game stack
New Jersey themselves gave up eight in their last game after dropping six on the Penguins the night before so they have recently shown they can put up goals in bunches and allow them as such. In their eight-goal drubbing in Chicago, the Devils did score five of their own. So, eleven goals for and nine against in their last two games, that sounds like a team I both want to stack and attack.
Jack Hughes has been on fire since returning to the lineup. In his four games since coming back, he has three goals and six assists, and points in all four. Hughes also has hit the shoots on goal bonus on DK twice and has put up over 20 DKFP in all four games. Playing with Hughes on the top line is Yegor Sharangovich who himself is on a six-game point streak and three-game goal streak. Sharangovich has four goals and five assists during his current streaks. Rounding out the top line is Dawson Mercer with just two goals and two assists for the Devils in his last three games.
New Jersey is unique in that there are so many ways to stack them. Only Hughes plays on the top power-play unit from this line. He joins Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt from the second line (also a GREAT stack tonight with Pavel Zacha), and Nathan Bastian from the fourth line. On defense on that unit is Damon Severson. As for Sharangovich and Mercer, they are on the second unit with the aforementioned Zacha, Tomas Tatar, and Dougie Hamilton. If you are looking to find some value on defense, and I know you are, Jonas Siegenthaler is near min price on DK and is coming off a three-point performance in the Devils’ last game.
…”and now do Vancouver”
As for the Devils’ opponents tonight, the Canucks are fresh off a five-goal performance last night at MSG. Now, we usually don’t use a team’s fourth lines but every night I tend to see the Canucks fourth line pop up as a potential stack but I never go there. It’s a fourth line, what kind of value can they have? Well last night you would’ve been wise to do so, Juho Lammiko netted his 6th goal of the season, and Matthew Highmore also scored a goal and added an assist. They are joined by Tyler Motte on this line who adds the ancillary points (blocked shots, SOG). This is by no means the only way I want to attack the Canucks tonight, but instead, I just wanted to show some love to a line that can be useful tonight in the expensive Leafs/Caps game stacks.
Vancouver’s top 2 lines have pieces that are good, but as a whole, they have not been productive lately. Elias Pettersen is killing it now with eleven points in his last four games but his linemates on the second line have not chipped in. Both Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser have three points in their last five, but only one goal from linemate Podkolzin. As two-man or one-off plays, they are fine, but I am not looking to stack their lines or the power-play from Vancouver (NJ ranks 8th in PK% and is one of the least penalized teams in the league).
It’s the Canucks third line that I have interest in on Monday. They are the most expensive stack from Vancouver but they are the best stack and it starts with JT Miller. During his current six-game point streak, Miller has four goals and nine assists, including two last night. Tanner Pearson is on his own four-game point streak with three goals and two assists during this streak. Lastly, Conor Garland is not on a point streak, but he has three goals and an assist in his last 5. All three of these guys are top plays on this slate for me and my preference is to stack Pearson and Miller with Travis Hamonic on defense. Hamonic hasn’t scored much, but he has hit the shots blocked bonus three times in the last five games.
Other top stacks:
Boston L1 and L2: You can use either of these lines as a three-man unit or take two forwards to pair with a defenseman. Dmen to use: Reilly, Carlo, McAvoy
Toronto L1: Bunting – Matthew – Marner. Dmen to use: Rielly, Liljegren, Brodie
Los Angeles L1 or L2: Similar to Boston, if you want to run these as full lines that is fine or you can use them with a defenseman in a two or three-man stack. Dmen to use: Doughty, Roy, Durzi
Washington L2: Snively – Backstrom – Wilson. Dmen to use: van Riemsdyk, Orlov, Carlson.
Obviously, any line Ovechkin is on can be in play, but he has not been productive like his typical self lately and I don’t know if I am comfortable paying that salary on a small slate with so many other great options.
It’s value time!
There is not a lot of value on this slate, but these are a few lines along with Vancouver L4 you can use.
Toronto L3: Kerfoot – Kampf – Mikheyev
Washington L4: Hathaway – Dowd – Hagelin
Los Angeles L4: Kaliyev – Lizotte – Lemieux
New Jersey L3: Tatar – Boqvist – Johnsson
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