Ride Craig Anderson for daily fantasy success.

Top Budget Plays

Centers

Yanni Gourde $3200 – The center is a punt play at the least. However, playing against Florida adds a little intrigue to things because these rivalry games just tend to produce high event outcomes. He saw a spike up to 16 minutes in his last game because of injuries to three of Tampa Bay’s centers. Gourde is likely to get top six time almost by default. Ride the wave while it lasts here.

Wingers

Pavel Zacha $3200 – There is just a theme here that we must go insane. Zacha playing an Arizona team that allows the most daily fantasy points to top line centers. Wait, DraftKings has him listed as a wing. That is okay because they give up the most points to left wingers also. It will be intriguing to see how long the setup lasts but Zacha is in a very good spot. At the very least, he makes for a price relief play.

Defensemen

Paul LaDue $2700 – Hey, why not! LaDue has points in his last two games. He does not shoot a ton and his defense is at least okay. It does seem that Los Angeles is giving him more minutes. As long as his price stays low enough, he is worth taking a flier in a lineup, maybe even two. Sometimes going bargain basement is an acceptable thing to do especially with a good match-up.           

Goalie

Mike Smith $7300 – This is a dangerous GPP play but Arizona does play better at home. They are also playing a New Jersey team without their top center and losers of nine straight games. New Jersey even lost to Colorado which just illustrates how low things have become. Arizona has a young enough offense which can rattle a shaky New Jersey defense. The only problem is that the Devils are very hit and miss when it comes to shots and chances on goal.               

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.

Enter the DRAFTKINGS $37,500 forecheck…just $4 to enter or FREE if you deposit today!

Centers

Jack Eichel $7300 – People will run to this as it could be semi chalky. That just means Eichel will be owned at an elevated rate. He had a nice run of points and has 15 points in his last 10 games! Expect him to get more opportunities against the depth of Columbus which is below average to say the least. He still has great shot (46 shots in the last 10 games) and chance volume. There are several ways to stack him on Saturday including using the first unit power play. He will be a nice cash play as well.

Wingers

Vladimir Tarasenko $7000 – Though we may be going all in, Tarasenko has goals in two straight games. His shot volume is also creeping up. His chances per 60 had suffered mightily but that seems to have changed now. It is hard to keep a good sniper down. The Islanders could easily give up 30 or more shots here and the top line could go up against the Tavares line which should mean more offense. Expect a high shot count and potential to be higher for goals.             

Defenseman

Erik Karlsson $7400 – Again this should be a chalky play but Karlsson in Colorado against that horrendous defense seems like money in the bank. Expect many to spend up for him even on this kind of slate. He has 12 points and four goals in his last 10 games with 37 shots and 33 blocks in that span. Those are just unreal numbers. Even Brent Burns would be impressed by what Karlsson has been able to do of late as Ottawa is poised to continue their run to the playoffs.

Goalie

Craig Anderson $8300 – The choices out there may appear to be better but it is hard to go away from an obvious cash goalie. Colorado is still bad last we checked and even a win against New Jersey does little to change that. The goalie has eight wins in his last 10 starts and a .944 save percentage in that span. Colorado may have a tough time putting up shots though and that makes this a little dicey. He should be a highly-owned cash goalie on Saturday night so keep that in mind.

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. 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 that the bye weeks are over. Thanks for reading and enjoy the big slate daily fantasy hockey fans!