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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.
After a successful Monday night, we turn our attention to Tuesday’s massive 11 game slate. When the slates are this large it is impossible to cover every game and team as I did on Monday’s four-game slate. What I will typically do on slates this large is help you weed through everything to pick out the games to attack and the lines and players to pair with the “big boys”.
Unlike on Monday, I expect it to take a hefty score to cash as well. We have some of the league’s best offenses and players on this slate. With teams like Tampa Bay, Colorado, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Edmonton on the slate those will be the focus of our builds, but I won’t necessarily break those teams down for you. I will instead find you ways to build around an expensive Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl two-man stack to get the most out of your lineups. But you didn’t come here to read my ramblings about a slate this large, you just want the plays, so without further adieu…
NHL DFS: Goaltenders
Cash Game Goalie:
Juuse Saros ($8.3K/$8.4K)
On slates this large I recommend skipping cash games because there will be so many different ways to build, but with the teams, we have on this slate I can see a path for cash game builds.
Saros projects as my top-scoring goalie at home against the Kings on Tuesday. Los Angeles has the potential to put up big goal totals, but I don’t think that happens tonight. Saros is one of the league’s top goalies and has been solid to start the season. Nashville is winless on the season, but that ends tonight with a win at home against LA. Saros has seen a lot of shots in just two games, 56, and has stopped 51 of them, so we know the Preds defense is not shy about letting opposing teams shoot.
Other Options: Mike Smith (vs Anh), Cam Talbot (vs Wpg), Tristan Jarry (vs Dal)
GPP Goalies:
Alex Nedeljkovic ($7.7K/$7.5K)
Nedeljkovic had an outstanding rookie campaign for the Hurricanes last season, then got shipped off to Detroit. Surprisingly Detroit has come out swinging this season lighting up the scoreboard (more on that later). They have a really bright future and Nedeljkovic could be part of that but he can’t keep having third periods as he did in the opener when he allowed three goals to Tampa and the Wings lost in OT.
Last season with Carolina, Ned ended the season with 15 wins (23 games started) a save % of .932 (amazing!), and a goals-against average under 2. Now onto tonight’s opponent, Columbus. They do not instill fear in any team even though they put up 8 goals in their opener. Columbus has played Arizona and Seattle to open the season, two teams not even on their level. With such a huge slate, Detroit as a whole will go overlooked and we could get a win bonus and potential 35+ save bonus (on DK) from Nedeljkovic on Tuesday at sub 10% ownership.
Other Options: Thatcher Demko (@Buf), Connor Hellebuyck (@Min), Anthony Stolarz (@Edm), Elvis Merzlikins (@Det)
NHL DFS: Slate Overview
Like I mentioned in the open, this is a huge slate with 11 games to go through. The first thing I will mention is to play the Oilers, specifically McDavid and Draisaitl. I will mix and match who I play them with, but I expect to be 100% on McDavid. Edmonton has the Ducks on the back end of a back-to-back which makes them easy targets. There is a chance Nathan MacKinnon returns for Colorado tonight, so we need to watch that news. Lastly, we have Florida and Tampa playing each other which usually turns into a high-scoring affair and I expect tonight to be much of the same. That is probably my favorite game to stack up tonight. If you are like me and play multiple lineups (which I do suggest if you have the bankroll and time on slates like this) then you will need other teams to play besides the ones mentioned here and in the open.
On a Wing and a prayer
Detroit is once again getting a mention in this article, but when you have a slate this large certain teams will go completely overlooked, enter the Wings. I love this team tonight because of the goal-scoring prowess they’ve shown early on (9 goals in 2 games) and the fact everyone will focus on jamming in as many of the big boys as possible. These guys are cheap, only Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi are price higher than $6K on DK and only Larkin is over $5K on FD. I am interested in both of the Wings top lines, as well as their PP1.
My preference will be to fit in L1, but Robby Fabbri plays on the top power-play unit with that line and he can be had real cheap if you need him to replace a Bertuzzi. If you want to run a three-man stack with just two forwards and a defenseman I recommend using either Nick Leddy or Moritz Seider who are both super cheap on DK ($3K and under). Leddy plays on the first power-play, Seider is on PP2.
Islanders head to the Windy City
Chicago has been nothing short of terrible defensively to start the season so it’s hard to not love the Islanders even though their offense has been anemic so far early on. In their first three games, Chicago is allowing 4.3 goals per game, meanwhile the Islanders are only scoring 2 goals per game. Tonight, the Islanders finally get rolling and put up their season total in one game (four). One thing about Chicago is that they have been stout on the penalty kill, not allowing a goal in eight short-handed opportunities. Because of this, I will focus on using the Islanders 5v5 lines instead. Both of the Isles’ first and third lines are where I want to look tonight. Both Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee have notched goals this season and Kyle Palmieri has assisted on them both, so a line one stack looks promising with these three. On their third line, Oliver Wahlstrom has also scored, but both Zach Parise and JG Pageau are pointless. If you want to run a defenseman in stacks, then I would suggest Scott Mayfield or Noah Dobson.
Other top stacks
I mentioned I love the Florida/Tampa game stack but it’s both of their second lines that I prefer to use tonight, not their top lines.
Another game stack that will go completely overlooked is Vancouver at Buffalo. Both teams have shown they can score goals early on and can also give them up. My preferred lines from Vancouver would be their top two lines, but you can throw in Alex Chiasson for a cheap PP1 stack with any combo of Horvat/Pettersson/Miller/Hughes. As for the Sabres, look to their top power-play unit for pieces tonight. Vancouver has given up some PP goals this season and Buffalo has scored four in their first two games.
Pittsburgh has been hot to start the year with Sid and Geno. It hasn’t been the top line that has been scoring though, it has been their depth players. If you want to load up with a Fla/TB stack then I like the Pens third line as a really cheap value-stack against a tired Dallas Stars team.
Other Options: Line 1’s: Chicago, Montreal, Minnesota, Washington, Nashville. Other Lines: Nashville 2, Washington 2, Winnipeg 3, San Jose 2
NHL DFS: Defensemen
I have already mentioned a few defensemen above, but here are the top 10 for cash and GPP for me (not listed above)
Cash Game Defensemen
- Roman Josi (NSH) – If you are someone who likes to play 3 dmen, Josi is someone I can get behind doing that with
- Darnell Nurse (EDM)
- Dougie Hamilton (NJ) – See Josi
- Victor Hedman (TB)
- MacKenzie Weegar (FLA)
- Kris Letang (PIT)
- Cale Makar (COL)
- Brent Burns (SJ) – Another dman who plays like a forward sometimes.
- Seth Jones (CHI)
- John Carlson (WAS)
GPP Defensemen
- Erik Cernak (TB) – Super cheap, blocks shots, and has shown a scoring ability early on
- Danny DeKeyser (DET)
- Sean Walker (LA)
- Trevor van Riemsdyk (WAS) – Cheap piece to make Caps stacks work
- Radko Gudas (FLA)
- Brendan Dillon (WPG)
- Cody Ceci (EDM)
- Mark Pysyk (BUF)
- Chris Wideman (MTL)
- Tyler Myers (VAN)
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 for all things Fantasy Sports and make sure to check out WinDailySports.com for more money-making content.
