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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.
Small slate Mondays are here again
Monday night is a small three-game slate, but it does not lack firepower. We have both the Capitals with The Great 8 and the Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews on this slate. Ovechkin and the Caps get the Buffalo Sabres who have come back down to earth recently losing four straight.
The New York Rangers return home after a long road trip that ended with them being trounced in two games in Alberta. They host the Florida Panthers who may be without Aleksander Barkov for a second straight game.
In the “late” game, Toronto hosts the LA Kings at 7:30 est. Los Angeles seems like a spot we would want to pick on, but this game may be low-scoring and a good spot to use a cheap goaltender.
NHL DFS: Goaltenders
Goaltender rankings:
- Jack Campbell (vs Los Angeles) : Campbell has bene on fire over his last four starts. During this stretch, Campbell is 4-0-0 with one shutout, a 1.23 GAA, and .960 save %. Now, LA is on a four game winning streak of their own but those were against three pretty bad teams and the Blues. During this winning streak LA has averaged 34 shots on goal.
- Spencer Knight (@ NY Rangers) : With Sergei Bobrovsky out, this is now Knight’s net. The Rangers offense has been hot and cold of late, but they are coming off being shutout by the Flames. Knight is 4-0-1 in his last five starts with a .918 save %. There is one downside to Knight, the Rangers do not shoot much. Over their last four the Rangers only average 22.5 shots on goal per game.
- Calvin Petersen (@ Toronto) : Petersen is cheap industry wide and has actually been on a great run of late for the Kings. In his last two starts, Petersen is 2-0-0 with a .922 sv% and a sub 2 goals against average. I know Toronto is the most potent offense he has seen in a while, but on a small slate where Toronto will probably be a popular team to play, Petersen could very well give you a distinct advantage.
- Ilya Samsonov (vs Buffalo) : Samsonov has not been great of late, but Buffalo has been terrible. The Sabres come in on a four game losing streak so the win bonus is definitely a possibility for Samsonov, or Vanecek, on Monday.
NHL DFS: Slate Overview
Pay the price for The Great Eight
Ovechkin is priced in McDavid territory on Monday, but with good reason. On the season, looking at DK fantasy points, Ovechkin’s lowest point total is 11.5 and he scored that night. Ovechkin has 10 goals and 18 points in just 11 games this season. Ovi has points in nine of his eleven games this season including six multi-point games. So, if I am hitting the lock button on Ovechkin tonight, who am I playing him with.
The obvious options are Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov. I will not discourage you from playing those guys, but they are expensive and limit how many top guys from Florida and potentially Toronto you can roster. Instead, I like using Connor Sheary as a two-man PP1 stack. Buffalo has taken a lot of penalties so far this season, and during this losing streak, they are averaging three penalties per game. As far as defensive pairings for the Caps. John Carlson is the perceived obvious play and if you want to spend the salary then go for it, I m not. All three of Nick Jensen, Martin Fehervary, and Trevor van Riemsdyk are the way I’d go, again for salary relief. Buffalo has allowed 17 goals during their losing streak, this is why I have Washington as my top stack.
No Barkov? No problem!
Florida may be without their captain and best player, Aleksander Barkov, on Monday night. On Saturday night Florida slotted Eetu Luostarinen in for him. Luostarinen has been playing very well the last five games with all three of his goals coming over that last five. Another line one piece that has been hot is Anthony Duclair. Over the Panthers’ last five games, Duclair has four goals, four assists, and 13 shots on goal during his five-game point streak. Duclair is more of a DraftKings play as his price is still super cheap, unlike FanDuel.
Carter Verhaeghe is going to cost more, actually the same on both sites ($4,900), but he and Loustarinen play on PP2 together while Duke doesn’t see power-play time for the Cats. Now, if Barkov does play that changes up things slightly, but he is actually pretty cheap on DK ($6,100), so you can just slot him in over there. But, even if Barkov is back playing a two-man Luostarinen/Verhaeghe stack is perfectly ok. Adding either Gustav Forsling or Brandon Montour is a good way to complete your stack. Obviously, the usual Panthers like Huberdeau, Reinhart, Tippett, and Ekblad are all in play on Monday as well.
If you wanted to game stack here, which I can potentially see being fruitful, then the Rangers’ top line/power-play unit is the only place to go. They will be costly so you will have to either use the Panthers value or play Kings to make this work.
More value? Sure, why not!
As if I didn’t already find enough value for you on this slate, here’s more! Toronto and Los Angeles have the potential to be a low-scoring, 2-1 type of game. With the value I have already mentioned above you can easily run an Ovechkin/Matthews line. If you want to pay up for the line one stack from Washinton, then may I recommend going with John Tavares in place of Auston Matthews. Tavares has five goals and four assists in his last five games as well as 18 shots on goal.
If you need to save some salary, Alexander Kerfoot has been playing well of late with a goal and three assists in his last five as well. Of course, if you have the salary then there is always Mitch Marner. Morgan Rielly and TJ Brodie are probably my two favorite defensemen on the Leafs. Rielly is a PP1 play, and Brodie is a min priced dman who can block shots and occasionally get on the scoreboard
If you are looking to go against the potential chalk goalie in Campbell, which I will do in at least one lineup, then Los Angeles’ second line is where I would start. The combination of Iafallo/Danault/Kempe has combined for seven goals and nine assists in their last five games. Kale Clague correlates with Kempe on the top power-play unit where you can add Anze Kopitar or Arthur Kaliyev to complete that stack. Iafallo and Danault play together on the second unit, but I don’t want to play anyone else on that one. Tobias Bjornfoot is another solid, cheap, play on defense.
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