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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.
Monday night we have a small four-game slate that is almost completely devoid of stud players. There is one game that does have some star power when the Rangers head north of the border to play the Leafs. Auston Matthews is expected to make his season debut in this game, but he is priced to the moon on both sites. With this being his first game since 20-21 post-season I don’t see paying up over $8K for Matthews on this slate.
Looking at the rest of the slate, Seattle continues their tour of the league in Philadelphia before they head home for their first home game in franchise history. Anaheim is in Calgary where my top play in net will be in action. St. Louis and Arizona is the last game on the slate which has the potential to be the stack-up game of the night for me.
NHL DFS: Goaltenders
Cash Game Goalie:
Carter Hart ($8K/$8.1K)
Hart has the perceived easiest matchup on the slate at home against the expansion Seattle Kraken. Philadelphia has only played one game where the Kraken has already played three, all on the road. This Seattle team could be a little road weary at this point which could be helpful for Philly. Hart stopped 35 of 39 shots faced in the Flyers’ loss to Vancouver last week. Philadelphia is not a strong defensive team and only became weaker as they added offensive-minded defensemen in the offseason. I expect Seattle to pummel Hart on Monday, but I expect him to stand up and make the saves needed to propel the Flyers to a win. A 35+ save bonus on DK is definitely in play in the game.
Other Options: Jack Campbell (vs NYR), Jordan Binnington (vs Ari), Jacob Markstrom (vs Anh)
GPP Goalie:
John Gibson or Anthony Stolarz ($7.3K/$6.8K)
Anaheim is seemingly a revolving door on defense early in the season allowing 77 shots on goal in their first two games. On the flip side, Calgary took 47 shots on goal in their only game thus far, Saturday night in Edmonton. Calgary’s offense does not scare me, thus why I am high on whoever ends up in the net for the Ducks. Gibson is reportedly dealing with a minor injury and could play, but if not it is expected Stolarz goes. Gibson is one of the top goalies in the league, but Stolarz was solid against Minnesota last Friday. The Anaheim netminder stopped 41 of 43 shots in a 2-1 loss to the Wild. Whoever is in goal on Monday for the Ducks will be my GPP play.
Other Options: Philipp Grubauer (vs Phi)
NHL DFS: Slate Overview
Looking over this slate, we don’t have any real standout superstars, minus Auston Matthews. If you want to run Matthews as a one-off or part of a two-man in cash, go for it. I will not talk you off that because I do expect he will carry some ownership. As for GPP, I will be looking to the late-night hammer play for my top even-strength line stack on Monday.
St. Louis will have the Yotes singing the Blues!
Looking over the line matchups tonight, I don’t see anyone on Arizona who matches up against the Blues’ top line tonight that can stop them. This line has produced three goals and an assist in their first game this season. I expect much of the same from this line on Monday. As for salary, they are not super expensive and make it easy to fit my top PP stack in easily.
Realistically all of the Blues’ top three scoring lines are in play for me. You could swap out Saad for Vladimir Tarasenko for a power-play one stack. Also, you could swap out Saad for Torey Krug on defense for the same reason. Saad does see time on the second power-play unit so you could also take Perron out for Justin Faulk.
Power Plays from Philly!
Seattle has gone to the box a lot early on this season which is to be expected from a young team that is learning how to play together. On the flip side, Philadelphia was on the power-play three times in their opening game against Vancouver and scored once. Honestly, both of their power-play units are in play for me, but I would prefer to use their top unit. Travis Konecny scored the PP goal for Philadelphia in that game and he is my favorite play on this team once again. Keith Yandle is a nice inexpensive piece from that unit and is coming off a two assist game where he also added two shots on goal. James van Riemsdyk is an interesting pivot off of Konecny’s line one linemates (Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux). JVR plays on the third line for the Flyers but gets time on the top PP unit. He doesn’t see as much ice time as the rest of the unit and because of this, he will also be lower owned.
Other line stack to compliment the top:
I think Anaheim will be a low-owned option tonight as they are kind of priced up for their matchup with the Flames. I like young Mason McTavish as part of a PP2 stack with Kevin Shattenkirk or Cam Fowler on defense. Jacob Silfverberg also fits nicely into this stack. If you have the salary, Jamie Drysdale, Trevor Zegras, and Max Comtois are the preferred stack though.
Arizona is a cheaper stack to pair with St. Louis for a low-owned game stack. The Coyote’s third line has been one of their better lines and has near min-priced Travis Boyd at center. I prefer both wings, Lawson Crouse and Clayton Keller but if you need the savings Boyd can replace either of the wings. Obviously, if you are playing Coyotes, then Jacob Chychrun should be considered but he is priced up, which is fine. Both Crouse and Keller see time on PP1 with Shayne Gostisbehere so he is also a good pivot on defense.
Lastly, with the aforementioned Matthews return happening on Monday, the Leafs’ first line could get all the attention, but I prefer line 2 tonight. If you want to pay up or are making multiple lineups, then I do like the idea of a game stack here and adding either of the Rangers’ top 2 lines as well.
NHL DFS: Defensemen
I have already mentioned a few defensemen above, but here are the top 5 for cash and GPP for me (not listed above)
Cash Game Defensemen
- Ryan Ellis (PHI)
- Mark Giordano (SEA) – stack w/Sea PP1 – Philly did allow two PP goals on Friday
- Morgan Rielly (TOR)
- Adam Fox (NYR)
- Colton Parayko (STL)
GPP Defensemen
- Juuso Valimaki (CGY) – doesn’t see PP time but will get plent of minutes. Good for a cheap two man stack with Lindholm or Tkachuk
- Ryan Lindgren (NYR) – Recently bumped up to the top pair for the Rangers
- Victor Soderstrom (ARI) – Another cheap option to work in Coyotes stacks
- Justin Braun (PHI) – cheap shot blocking dman
- Rasmus Sandin (TOR) – Cheap and plays on PP2 for the Leafs. Has been hot to start the season.
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