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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.
A rare big Monday in the NHL
Typically on Mondays, we have small slates, but this week the NHL has blessed us with a big seven-game slate. Vegas at Washington looks to be the marquee matchup on the slate with both Anaheim at Boston and Los Angeles at the NY Rangers being the undercard. As for the other four games, they are potentially pretty lopsided.
NHL DFS: Goaltenders
Kaapo Kahkonen ( vs Montreal)
If you’ve read my articles before or are in discord then you know I am not a big fan of paying up at goaltender, but this slate really leaves me little choice. Kahkonen is priced up, as he should be, against the Montreal Canadiens tonight at home. Since the beginning of January Kahkonen has been one of the best goalies in the NHL and appears to have an easy matchup tonight. In six games since 1/6 ( after Talbot was injured on 1/1), Kahkonen is 5-0-1 with an impeccable .937 save %. Kahkonen has allowed just 14 goals in those six games has hit the 35+ save bonus on DK four times in those six games. It will be a tough task for the Wild netminder to hit value tonight at his price, but I believe he can and I feel comfortable paying up for him tonight.
John Gibson (@ Boston)
Now, this is more of what you expect from me. Gibson’s matchup with Boston is not a safe one by any means, but there is plenty of potential in this spot for the Ducks goalie. Boston is a high-powered offense and averages the second-most shots on goal in the league (35.74) per game. On the other side, Gibson has been great this month stopping over 95% of shots faced (.952 sv%) while allowing just six goals in four games. Gibson has not faced the league’s worst during this stretch, ok well one game was against Philadelphia, but the other three were against Tampa Bay and Colorado twice. Those two offenses are two of the top ones in the entire NHL and he allowed just five goals in those three games. I know Gibson’s matchup with Boston will scare off a lot of people and that’s understandable, but you don’t get takedowns in DFS by playing all the safe, chalky plays.
Other Options: Igor Shesterkin ( vs LA), Pavel Francouz ( vs Chicago), Jonathan Quick (@ NYR), Jordan Binnington ( @ Cgy) – you all know I won’t play him, but he is in a decent spot against a Flames team who shoots the puck, a lot.
NHL DFS: Slate Overview
Teams to build around:
MInnesota should run wild on Montreal
Can you sense a theme to this slate? Minnesota overall is in a superb spot tonight against a team that has not been home since before the new year. This will be the Canadiens’ tenth straight road game and in the previous nine games, they are 1-4-4 allowing 4.1 goals per game during that stretch.
Minnesota has won five of their last six as I mentioned above when discussing Kahkonen. In a bit of irony, during that six-game stretch, the Wild have averaged 4.1 goals per game, it’s like a matchup made in hockey heaven tonight. This is a team that has three different 5v5 lines we can stack in different ways tonight. The first, and obvious play, is their top line of Kaprizov/Hartman/Zuccarello. This line is one of the hottest in the league and they are priced this way so you will have to find value if you want to stack them. One way to get value with that line is to remove one of them for a defenseman from Minnesota. Jared Spurgeon would be an inexpensive way to go and he could replace Hartman since Hartman does not play on the top PP unit for Minnesota, but Spurgeon does. Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy are also cheaper options that play on that same unit as well. Montreal has the 29th ranked penalty kill in the league and takes a lot of penalties so I expect to see this unit out a lot tonight.
Since I expect Colorado to once again be the popular pay-up spot, the Wild will probably carry far less ownership on this slate. If you do want to get some Av’s exposure, and I know I will have some, then you can look at the value on the second and third lines. My preference would be line 2 with the aforementioned Matt Boldy joining Kevin Fiala, who has five points in his last five and centering this unit, Frederick Gaudreau. Both Jon Merrill and Alex Goligoski are cheap defensemen who have been racking up fantasy points of late with blocked shots (Merrill) and shots and assists ( Goligoski).
The stars shine bright in Philly!
Right behind the Minnesota Wild on tonight’s slate is the team who used to call Minnesota home, the Dallas Stars. Dallas has a solid road matchup in Philadelphia tonight and project as one of the top plays on this slate, behind Colorado and Minnesota.
Like with the Wild, Dallas’ top line is the way to go. Jason Robertson is a point per game player in his short career thus far ( don’t believe me, just follow Nick Alberga on Twitter), Roope Hintz has emerged as one of the leagues best centers, and last Joe Pavelski has been one of many veteran leaders on this team leading by example. I love this line tonight and will probably try and get as many iterations of it into my lineups as I can. There is a downside, they are expensive so you will have to find value to make it work. If you want to get different with the Stars stacks, might I suggest a two-man stack of Tyler Seguin and one of his wingers, my preference would be Jamie Benn, but Denis Gurianov is also playing well of late. On defense, both Esa Lindell and John Klingberg have been racking up the fantasy points, and real points, of late.
Other Stacks to consider:
NY Rangers 1: Lafreniere/Zibanejad/Kreider – Dmen to use: Fox, Trouba
Calgary Flames 1: Tkachuk/Lindholm/Gaudreau – Dmen to use: Hanifin, Tanev
Washington Capitals 1: Ovechkin/Kuznetsov/Hathaway – Dmen to use: Carlson (** IF HE IS BACK **), Schultz, van Riemsdyk
Boston Bruins 1: Smith/Bergeron/Marchand – Dmen to use: Grzelcyk, McAvoy — You can use Pastrnak in place of Smith for a very, very expensive PP stack as well.
Value stacks:
Montreal Canadiens 1: Lehkonen/Suzuki/Toffoli – I know I love Kahkonen tonight, but if he is popular it’s not a bad idea to take a shot against him if you’re building multiple lineups, or if Hammond starts.
Los Angeles Kings 2: Arvidsson/Danault/Moore – Dmen to use: Durzi, Maata
Calgary Flames 2: Mangiapane/Backlund/Coleman – Dmen to use: Hanifin, Tanev
Washington Capitals 2: Wilson/Backstrom/Protas – Dmen to use: Schultz, van Riemsdyk
Anaheim Ducks 2: Grant/Lundestrom/Silfverberg – Dmen to use: Shattenkirk, Lindholm
Thanks for reading this article on the NHL DFS Man Advantage for today. Make sure you head to the Win Daily Sports Discord for up-to-date info and help directly from our pros! Head over to Twitter and give the @WinDailySports account and me (@MVecchio81) a follow! W cover all things Fantasy Sports and make sure to check out WinDailySports.com for more money-making content.
