Almost a week into the NHL season, and it has been a fun ride already. Between MLB playoffs, the NFL, and now hockey, October is one of the best months for sports fans. The NHL slates so far have been manageable, and tonight is no different, with a nice five game slate. All games start at 7pm Eastern. Let’s dive into the best NHL DFS plays for tonight. Good luck!

Goalies

Joseph Woll – Toronto Maple Leafs: The Leafs host Chicago tonight, and this is your ‘safe’ goalie pick. Woll is a candidate for cash and single entry lineups. He should pull a win, but the shot volume may not be there for deeper GPP.

Vitek Vanecek – New Jersey Devils: This is a nice looking pick tonight, as the Devils host the Panthers. Florida should fire a bunch of shots toward Vanecek tonight, giving him a good look at some upside. Florida has also been struggling to score, so a win is not out of the question.

High Risk Goalie Pick – Petr Mrazek – Chicago Blackhawks: This is the ultimate leverage play tonight. The Leafs will fire a ton of shots at Mrazek tonight, and the Hawks are on the road, so there is a ton of risk here. However, the shot volume will be there, and Mrazek doesn’t have terrible numbers to start the season. If he shuts down or limits the Leafs, the leverage could be huge in deep GPPs.

Others to Consider: Igor Shesterkin (NYR), Jacob Markstrom (CGY)

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).

Toronto Maple Leafs 1 – Auston Matthews/Mitch Marner/Tyler Bertuzzi/John Klingberg: Auston Matthews is on an absolute tear to start the season, netting a hat trick in both of their first two games. This line is hot, and in a great spot against Chicago tonight. Expect them to be heavily owned, and for good reason.

Detroit Red Wings 1 – Dylan Larkin/Lucas Raymond/Alex Debrincat/Moritz Seider: This is a fantastic looking line tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets. They should match up against the top line, who is bleeding chances in the first two games of their season. This is a great GPP pivot off of Toronto, and could be the key to tonight.

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).

New York Rangers 2 – Filip Chytil/Artemi Panarin/Alexis Lafreniere: The Rangers host the Coyotes tonight in their home opener, and this is a good spot for the second line. They should see a bunch of the depth for Arizona tonight, opening them up lots of chances. You can also consider a power play look here, as Arizona has been pretty rough on the PK over the last few years.

Calgary Flames Power Play – Nazem Kadri/Elias Lindholm/Jonathan Huberdeau/Matt Coronato/Rasmus Andersson: The Flames have a good matchup tonight on the road against a Washington team that has limped out of the gate to start the season. The top line is the even strength play here, so mixing in Kadri will help differentiate and get exposure to the second line.

Florida Panthers 1 – Aleksander Barkov/Carter Verhaeghe/Evan Rodrigues/Oliver Ekman-Larsson: The Panthers’ top line is in a good even strength matchup against the second line for the Devils tonight. They are risky because they have been playing poorly to start the season, but this might be their chance to turn it around. Don’t stack them against Vanecek in the same lineup.

New Jersey Devils 1 – Jack Hughes/Tyler Toffoli/Jesper Bratt/Dougie Hamilton: Don’t trust Florida yet? That’s ok! We can turn to the top Devils line instead. They should see a lot of the Florida depth tonight, which puts them in a plus matchup.

NHL DFS Honorable Mentions: FLA2, NJDPP, TORPP

Value Options – DraftKings

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

Center: Filip Chytil ($4400) – New York Rangers

Wing: Corey Perry ($3000) – Chicago Blackhawks

Defense: Chris Tanev ($2800) – Calgary Flames

Value Options – FanDuel

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

Center: Andrew Copp ($4300) – Detroit Red Wings

Wing: Corey Perry ($3800) – Chicago Blackhawks

Defense: Erik Gustafsson ($4000) – New York Rangers

Cash Considerations

Consider these NHL DFS plays in your cash lineups tonight. Be sure to stack!

Center: Auston Matthews – Toronto Maple Leafs

Wing: Alex Debrincat – Detroit Red Wings

Defense: Adam Fox – New York Rangers

Goalie: Joseph Woll – Toronto Maple Leafs

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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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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It feels like the season just ended, yet here we are watching the NHL Draft in Nasvhille. In our recap below, we will run through some of the surprises and some of the not-so-surprising picks of round 1. We will also touch on the teams we think did well and didn’t. Let’s get right into it!

The Expected

Connor Bedard (CHI): The Canadian phenom who has been making headlines all over the place went first overall to the Chicago Blackhawks. He led the league in points at a whopping 143 in 57 games. He is easily the top prospect that was on the board, and should have an immediate impact for Chicago. The Hawks are a team in a rebuild, so this is a great first step towards a potent team. Bedard will be high on our list of plays this coming season.

Matvei Michkov (PHI): There were a ton of rumors flying around Philly and being really high on Michkov going into the draft. The KHL prospect comes in at number 2 on the international skaters prospect list, and will make a very big impact for the Flyers…eventually. There are a lot of geopolitical issues and other possible roadblocks for Michkov to make it to the NHL. However, this is a team that has finally committed to a rebuild, so even if it takes three years, he should make an impact when he gets there.

The Surprises

Leo Carlsson (ANH): Everyone expected Carlsson to go high, but not to Anaheim. This is where Fantilli was supposed to go, but the Ducks pulled a fast one and went with Leo. He is the 7th player from Sweden picked in the top three in the draft, and should be a solid foundation piece for Anaheim. The Ducks are a young team, and Carlsson should pair really well with the likes of Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish.

Adam Fantilli (CBJ): Here was Columbus, a team that hasn’t been very successful, waiting to see who would fall to them at the third overall, and little did they know it would be Fantilli. Fantilli is considered the second best prospect in North America, and is a Hobey Baker award winner (think Heisman, but for hockey).

Dmitriy Simashev (ARI): The Coyotes ‘technically’ pulled the first big surprise of the draft by selecting a seemingly middle of the road defenseman. Simashev comes from the KHL and is ranked 19th in the international prospect skater pool. The Coyotes did fill a need here, as their blue line has been depleted with guys like Chychrun and OEL leaving for greener pastures. He won’t make an immediate impact, but once he gets to the NHL, he can become a top-pair D-man.

Gabriel Perreault (NYR): Perrault comes in at number 10 on the North American prospects list, and he was taken all the way at 23rd by the Rangers. This feels like a steal for a team who has a great blend of young talent and veteran presence. The Rangers continue to draft well and are on the upswing.

Winners and Losers

Every draft has winners and losers, and the NHL is no different. Here are some teams we think had good and bad first rounds in this year’s draft:

Winner – St. Louis Blues: The Blues had a very solid draft, as they picked 2 centers and a defenseman. As they try to bolster the middle of their lineup, these are solid picks along with the addition of Kevin Hayes from Philly in a trade. The addition of a D-man helps their blue line and should be a steady presence. With three picks in the first round, the Blues definitely came in as winners.

Winner – Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers picked two solid players in their first round, kicking off their rebuild with some fireworks. After some trades and moves to get younger and stockpile talent, the Flyers made the first great step to rebuild.

Loser – Arizona Coyotes: The Coyotes didn’t really have a BAD draft, but they passed on some talent when they didn’t need to. For example, they could have had Michkov at six, and they decided to choose a D-man who was ranked 19th on the prospect list. Moreover, the Coyotes desperately need scoring, and they would have been able to get some scoring talent that high in the draft.

Loser – Vegas Golden Knights: A couple of things here – how can you be a loser in the draft when you won the Cup? And, you only had one pick and it was the last one. However, the Knights hedged their future for a win-now attitude, and they are very much lacking from a prospect perspective. They will need to stock up this season to start thinking about the future. If not, then their Cup run and success this year may be short-lived.

Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Jon and the NHL team will be there to talk more NHL all draft and summer long! Be sure to be on the look out for future articles at https://windailysports.com/daily-fantasy-hockey/

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