Welcome to the Saturday Slapshot, where I’ll go through the top NHL DFS Goalies and Stacks on DraftKings and Fanduel.
It’s Saturday and that means it’s time for the Saturday Slapshot! We have a solid-looking 7-game slate of NHL DFS tonight. For a Saturday, it’s one of our more manageable slates. We have some great teams in action, including the undefeated Vegas Golden Knights. Can they move to 8-0 vs. a decent Los Angeles Kings team? We’ll have to wait until very late to find out. There’s also a solid matchup between 2 5-2 teams in the Rangers vs. Canucks. This slate is going to be a fun one.
Let’s dig in and make some money!
NHL DFS Goalies
Elvis Merzlikins vs. New York Islanders
Of all the 14 teams in action tonight, no team has scored fewer goals per game than the New York Islanders. At just 2.67 goals per game, the Islander offense has really struggled to start the year. This all sets up for Elvis Merzlikins to rebound after a few rough games against the Canadiens, Ducks, and Wild. After starting out the season with 2 really good outings that saw him score 16 and 19 DK points, it’s been a struggle.
With a matchup vs. a bad offense team in the Islanders, I really like this spot for Elvis. It also helps that he’s just $7.4k on DK tonight. He’s far from a cash game play but since I only play GPP’s (they’re way more fun), he’s one of my favorite goalies on the night.
Logan Thompson vs. Los Angeles Kings
With Aiden Hill getting the nod in net yesterday, the Golden Knights will more than likely hand the crease over to Logan Thompson this evening. The Golden Knights backup goalie has been really solid to start the year. Through 3 starts, Thompson has a 3-0 record and a .933 save %. He also hasn’t been below 17 DK in any of these 3 starts.
This Golden Knights team has so far been very stout defensively, only allowing around 10 high-danger chances per game. This has been huge for their goalies and it will continue to be huge for them tonight. At just $7.7k on DK tonight, he’s another cheaper goalie that will allow us to save a little bit of money for our skaters.
Other goalies: Igor Shesterkin, Tristan Jarry, and Ilya Samsonov
NHL DFS Stacks – Main
Pittsburgh 2 (Evgeni Malkin, Reilly Smith, Rickard Rakell) vs. Ottawa Senators
This ought to excite our long-time NHL expert in @vecchio. I plan on going heavy with the Penguins tonight. So far this season the Senators have struggled with their goaltending. Although they aren’t giving up much in the way of high-danger chances or shots, they are giving up a healthy amount of goals. Through their first 7 games of the season, they are allowing nearly 3.50 goals per game. On just 28 shots per game, that’s horrendous.
In between the pipes for Ottawa tonight should be Anton Forsberg. His save % on the year is a measly .873. Anything under .900 is bad in my eyes and he’s nowhere close to that number. He struggled in his last outing vs. Buffalo, and he’ll struggle again tonight vs. Pittsburgh.
Over the last 5 games, this line has been pretty good. Geno(Malkin) and Reilly Smith are really where my interest is with this line tonight. The 2 have combined for 6 goals and 10 total points over the last 5. Of the 2, Geno is the more expensive but he’s only $6.9k on DK tonight. Smith is extremely cheap at just $4.6k on DK making this lineup very affordable. While this line is my favorite and those 2 are the ones that really stick out, the top line for Pittsburgh is also very much in play. They’re just a little bit pricier and outside of Rust, they haven’t been as productive.
Winnipeg 1 (Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, Alex Iafallo) vs. Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a team that is and always will be a fun team to stack against. An original 6 team, they are a team that continues to struggle defensively. Through 7 games, they have already allowed over 100 high-danger chances at 108. That is significantly higher than any other team playing tonight and it’s a number that we need to take advantage of.
In the net for Montreal tonight should be Jake Allen. While he’s been the better of the 2 goalies for Montreal, he’s someone that we’ve targeted quite a bit over the years and I’m targeting him tonight. He had a ton of games last season where he gave up at least a handful of goals.
This top line for Winnipeg is primed for a big night. While they have been mostly quiet over the last 5 games, this line has a ton of talent centered around Kyle Connor. Connor is currently at 4 goals on the season and is very likely to add to that total this evening against a bad defensive team. Connor has just 2 goals over the last 5 but it hasn’t been for the lack of trying as he still has 17 shots on net.
They’ll go in eventually and tonight they will. Alex Iafallo has also been firing at will as he has 15 shots over the last 5 and a team-leading iXG of 2.53. This line is also very affordable as Connor is the only one over $7k tonight. His $7.5k price tag is reasonable for the upside that he has.
Other stacks I like tonight:
Boston 1 vs. Detroit
Detroit 1 vs. Boston (all the talent in the world, but a tough matchup)
Columbus 1 vs. New York Islanders
Montreal 1 and 3 vs. Winnipeg
Toronto 1 and 2 vs. Nashville
Pittsburgh 1 vs. Ottawa
Rangers 1 and 2 vs. Vancouver
Value D
Alexandre Carrier ($3.6k)
Travis Hamonic ($3.1k)
Brayden McNabb ($3.8k)
Adam Pelech ($3.7k)
NHL DFS Summary
This is a fun but possibly low-scoring slate. Most of the teams in action have been pretty good defensively to start the season so we’ll need to be careful of the spots we pick. I’ve laid out the spots I like the most.
Make sure to drop into Discord where we’re constantly talking about plays for every slate.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green.
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