WE ARE BACK!!!! Just like that, the new NHL season is upon us, and we are so excited for another year! We kick off the new season tonight at 5:30pm Eastern time, so be sure to have your builds ready to go early tonight. With just three games on the slate, it will be an interesting one, with some volatility. Remember, early season NHL DFS is very high variance, and we are going off of very little stats to start with. So, play light, have some fun, and good luck!

Goalies

Tristan Jarry – Pittsburgh Penguins: Jarry and the Pens host the Chicago Blackhawks tonight, in what should be a winnable game for the Pens. There could be some limited upside here, so it’s risky, but Jarry will carry plenty of ownership.

Juuse Saros – Nashville Predators: The Preds head to Tampa tonight to take on the Lightning, and this is an upside spot. Tampa should generate a bunch of shots tonight, and Saros has the talent to keep up with them. Keep in mind, this is a risky play, as Saros is historically not as good on the road as he is at home. It’s worth a look in deep GPPs though.

High Risk Goalie Pick – Phillipp Grubauer: The Kraken head to Vegas tonight to take on the defending champs, and this is a good upside spot for Grubauer. Vegas should throw some shots at him tonight, and while he may give up a couple, he has a chance at the save bonus on DraftKings.

Others to Consider: Jonas Johansson (TBL), Adin Hill (VGK)

Lines to Build Around

These NHL DFS lines are considered top plays for the night and can be considered the focal point of your builds. They will be listed by position in the following order: Center/Winger/Winger/Correlating Defenseman (if applicable).

Pittsburgh Penguins Power Play – Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin/Jake Guentzel/Kris Letang/Erik Karlsson: Yes, you read that right. The big acquisition over the summer was Erik Karlsson going to the Pens to bolster their blue line and give them some back end scoring. EK65 on the power play with Letang and company should give them a nice boost, and the Hawks were a bottom 10 penalty kill last year. Keep an eye on Guentzel, as he is a game time decision.

Tampa Bay Lightning Power Play – Brayden Point/Nikita Kucherov/Steven Stamkos/Nick Paul/Victor Hedman: The Lightning power play unit should continue to be dominant this year, and they are playable tonight against the Predators. Make sure you don’t play Saros in the same lineup if you go here. This unit will likely be the second most popular behind Pittsburgh.

High Risk Lines

These are NHL DFS plays that carry significantly more risk, but could pay off at low ownership. They will be listed by position in the following order: Center/Winger/Winger/Correlating Defenseman (if applicable).

Chicago Blackhawks 1 – Connor Bedard/Taylor Hall/Ryan Donato: Here comes Bedard! The rookie phenom and newest Hawk makes his debut on the road tonight against Pittsburgh. This top line had some preseason success, but we can’t be sure that it carries over to the regular season. It’ll be fun to watch him play tonight, but we don’t quite know how he will take to the big stage.

Nashville Predators 1 – Ryan O’Reilly/Filip Forsberg/Juuso Parssinen/Roman Josi: The addition of ROR here makes this line look very interesting. While they will not be that good defensively, they should be able to generate some scoring chances.

Vegas Golden Knights 1 – Jack Eichel/Ivan Barbashev/Jonathan Marchessault: We will find out tonight if there will be a Stanley Cup hangover, which is why this line is risky. They are a good scoring line, and should see some chances, so be sure to consider them tonight.

Seattle Kraken 3 – Yanni Gourde/Eeli Tolvanen/Oliver Bjorkstrand: One of the more prolific third lines in the league is this Kraken third line. While they are preferred on home ice, they should have a nice opportunity tonight against Vegas at very low ownership. Early in the season, it is good to stick to what we know from last year (until we learn more this year). So for now, we can confidently ride this line.

NHL DFS Honorable Mentions: SEA1, SEA2, NSH3, PIT2

Value Options – DraftKings

Consider these NHL DFS plays to help save you some salary in your lineups on DraftKings. Be sure to stack!

Center: Nick Paul ($3100) – Tampa Bay Lightning

Wing: Ryan Donato ($3100) – Chicago Blackhawks

Defense: Nicolas Hague ($2700) – Vegas Golden Knights

Value Options – FanDuel

Consider these NHL DFS plays to help save you some salary in your lineups on FanDuel. Be sure to stack!

Center: Nick Paul ($3700) – Tampa Bay Lightning

Wing: Ryan Donato ($3800) – Chicago Blackhawks

Defense: Nicolas Hague ($3600) – Vegas Golden Knights

Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Jon and the NHL team will be there answering questions right up until lock! Be sure to be on the look out for future articles at https://windailysports.com/daily-fantasy-hockey/

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