Brent Burns always makes a great daily fantasy play.

Top Budget Plays

Centers

Pavel Zacha $3,700 – The center is a crazy play but the Devils are on the road in Philadelphia against a team just back from their bye week. Zacha does not shoot a ton but he is generating chances on the bottom six which is a welcome improvement. He does have eight shots in his last three games and one goal. It is a risk but then again, the Flyers were giving up tons of opportunities before their time off.

Wingers

Brandon Perlini $3,400 – There is just a theme here that the risks must go higher. Perlini has five points in his last nine games and that includes four goals. The problem is the winger is a rookie on a team going nowhere. That is also a good thing because he will get a little more ice time than maybe he should. At least, the price is low enough to spend up elsewhere and Tampa Bay coming in should make for some entertaining hockey.  

Defensemen

Ryan Murray $3,400 – Hey, why not! Zach Werenski should be back but Murray is still worth a shot in all day or early slates. He has four assists in his last eight games and has a slightly improved floor (shots and blocked shots). For the evening slate, Esa Lindell (Dallas) may not be bad just for the blocked shots. He also is playing anywhere from 23-26 minutes so the blueliner is logging big amounts of time.     

Goalie

Calvin Pickard $6,700 – This is an extremely dangerous GPP play because of how good San Jose can be at home. The Sharks are on their third game in four nights. Colorado is slightly better on the road and Pickard will be at least a high risk option to save some dollars. His numbers aren’t great and neither are Mike Smith’s but either might be something to consider.          

Since we saved some money on the budget plays let’s look at the few of the pricey options that are worth paying up for today.

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Centers

Auston Matthews $7,500 – People will run to the chalk but another meeting against Ottawa can never hurt. It may be time to spend even higher for Tyler Seguin. However, Matthews will have an ideal match-up against depth defensemen. Toronto’s going to be favored and he will be targeted for higher ownership. He is a point a game player of late with moderately high shot volume and expected points for that is elevated against the Senators. Matthews will even be a threat on the power play which is a top ten unit.

Wingers

Wayne Simmonds $6,400 – Though we may be going all in, Simmonds against a subpar defense might be just what the doctor ordered. Yes, Philadelphia is going to be rusty and most of the players will be. However, Simmonds is just one of those forwards that plays the game from 30 feet on in as they say. His goal potential and point possibilities are enough to try on Saturday. The good news is that another entertaining team is back in action.        

Defenseman

Brent Burns $8,200 – Again San Jose should be a ridiculous favorite on Saturday. Burns has seen his shot volume decrease by a good bit over the last ten or eleven games but still has 1.4 points a game in that span. Burns has five goals on his previous 35 shots. Blocks have come up to nearly two a game. Burns expects to be the highest owned defenseman easily on Saturday. Colorado has had an awful time matching up with teams with top defensemen. They allow the second most fantasy points to blueliners in daily fantasy. Erik Karlsson may be a viable pivot but does not have the perfect match-up.    

Goalie

Carey Price $8,100 – The choices out there may appear to be better but it is hard to go away from an all-world goalie. Price has to get his game back going again eventually, right? It has been ugly over the past 10-12 games or so. Six of his last ten starts have seen less than a .900 save percentage and only three quality starts in that span. People might go off of him to other choices on Saturday. It will not be easy to stand by him but Buffalo may be a good match-up.

Chris Wassel has been playing DFS for the past couple years and has played Fantasy Hockey for over two decades. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS. Please note that this is a mega Saturday slate. We are targeting the nine-game evening slate to give readers more of a range on what to go on. Finally, please note that Saturday’s slate has several options and smaller Late options. Also, remember there are no games next week due to All-Star Weekend. Thanks for reading and enjoy the big slate daily fantasy hockey fans!