Welcome to the NHL DFS Man Advantage for a Monday night and we have a massive 14 game slate to break down!
The NHL schedule makers are at it again with a 14 game Monday night slate. After a 15 game slate on Saturday, followed by a 1 game slate on Sunday it is clear that the schedule makers either went crazy or got lazy at the end of the season. I will do my best to sift through this slate and find some of the best plays. As always make sure you are in discord throughout the day as some plays may pop up that I initially do not notice this morning when writing. We will almost certainly have some lines switching up at morning skate today as well which could result in some upgrading or downgrading of plays.
NHL DFS: Goaltenders
Cash Game Goalie:
Semyon Varlamov ($8,500/$7,900)/Juuse Saros ($8,100/$7,500)
With 14 games on the slate, I can comfortably say that ownership really won’t be super high on any one goalie. I feel that both Varly and Saros are safe plays in their matchups with Buffalo and Columbus respectively. Both teams are fighting for a playoff spot (Nashville) and playoff positioning (NY) so we know they will be playing their best lineups and playing hard. Their pricing on FD will most likely make them a little higher owned, but really you can use either Varlamov or Saros in GPP’s as well if you so desire.
Note: Both Pekka Rinne and Ilya Sorokin are great options if they start in place of the two aforementioned goalies
Other Options: Jack Campbell ($7,800/$8,100), Tristan Jarry ($7,800/$8,200), Alex Nedeljkovic ($8,000/$8,400)
GPP Goalie:
Mackenzie Blackwood ($7,000/6,600)
Blackwood is what would appear to be a stay-away matchup against Boston at home tonight, but this is the type of play we love for big tournaments. I will assume that he will go completely overlooked tonight but he has the potential for a big night. Blackwood has been okay over his last few starts, including 3 straight wins (all over Philadelphia) but he has allowed some goals in those starts. But, back to tonight’s opponent, Boston. On the season, Blackwood is 3-0-2 against the Bruins and has only allowed 9 goals in the five starts and stopped 171 pucks for a 34.2 per game average. If we can get a 34-35 save performance tonight and only allowing 2-3 goals we could definitely get the value needed for a good start out of Blackwood
Other Options: Spencer Knight ($7,900/$7,700), Cam Talbot ($7,400/8,200), Darcy Kuemper ($8,200/$6,900) – FD ONLY PLAY, Anton Khudobin ($7,300/$7,400), Igor Shesterkin ($7,500/$8,200)
NHL DFS: Slate Overview
All the Stars Are on Display Tonight
Let’s just get this out of the way before I move on to other things. We have the league’s best on display tonight and really you can’t go wrong with any of The Three M’igos: Matthews, McDavid, and MacKinnon. I wouldn’t say it’s a priority to get them in, but if you can make their salaries work either in a stack or as a one-off I say do it. All three are in good matchups tonight and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in a tournament-winning lineup.
Even though I like Blackwood tonight for tournaments, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t consider a Boston first line stack against him in cash games. They are the top overall line for me on this slate and they are also the most expensive line on this slate. With 14 games to pick through, I am sure we can find some value to make it work.
St. Louis Looks to Make Anaheim Sing the Blues
On such a huge slate some teams will get lost in the shuffle but St. Louis’ top line should not be one of them. One of the first things about them that I like is their salary. The Blues top unit will save you between $7-8K over some of the other top lines on this slate and we can definitely use savings like that tonight. David Perron ($6,000/$6,200) is currently riding a four-game point streak during which he has 2 goals and 5 assists. At the center of this line, Ryan O’Reilly ($6,400/$6,200) points in four of five totaling 5 goals and 4 assists. Brayden Schenn ($5,200/$4,700) is the only one who hasn’t been hot, but maybe tonight is his night. Justin Faulk ($4,800/$3,700) is the defenseman you can pair with any two-man combo of this line for a power-play stack as well.
Value in New York? Get Outta Here!!
No, really you can find value in New York. It’s not easy though, and I live here so I know! The Rangers’ 3rd line presents some of the top value on the slate tonight against Washington. If you want to fit in a tippy top-line stack you will need to find some cheap plug-ins and I really like this line for that. Both Kaapo Kakko ($2,600/$3,900) and Colin Blackwell ($3,000/$3,500) are on the Rangers’ second power-play unit. These two, along with Filip Chytil ($3,100/$3,900) won’t break the bank, and they probably won’t be atop the leaderboards tonight but they could easily net you enough points for a nice night and land you in the green.
Some Other Value Plays:
- San Jose 1 vs Col
- Pittsburgh 2 vs Phi
- NY Islanders 2 vs Buf
- New Jersey 1 vs Bos
- Washington 1 vs NYR
- Carolina 3 vs Chi
- Nashville 2 vs CBJ (LOVE this line, they’ve been fire lately)
There are SO many great plays on this slate both as for top units to stack or value stacks and I can’t name them all. Once again, make sure you are in discord as I may find some other plays later I like that I missed this morning (I started writing this article at 5 am on the east coast, cut me some slack!)
NHL DFS: Defensemen Rankings
** Remember to always try and pair your defenseman up with forwards. One-off dmen are not usually the best option**
Top Defensemen
- Jakob Chychrun (ARI) – Pretty much has a permanent place on this list
- Dougie Hamilton (CAR)
- Roman Josi (NSH)
- Cale Makar (COL)
- Adam Fox (NYR)
- Shea Theodore (VGK)
- Darnell Nurse (EDM)
- Thomas Chabot (OTT)
- MacKenzie Weegar (FLA)
- Seth Jones (CBJ)
- Connor Murphy (CHI)
- Ryan Pulock (NYI)
Top Value Defensemen:
- Connor Carrick (NJ)
- Gustav Forsling (FLA)
- Brady Skjei (CAR)
- Kevan Miller (BOS)
- Joel Edmundson (MON)
- Jamie Oleksiak (DAL)
- Ilya Lyubushkin (ARI)
- Esa Lindell (DAL)
- Ryan Murray (NJ)
- Jeremy Lauzon (BOS)
- Brett Pesce (CAR)
- Radko Gudas (FLA)
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.