Pavel Zacha making an interesting Daily Fantasy Hockey play.

Top Budget Plays

Centers

Pavel Zacha $3300 – The center is almost a punt play at the least. However, playing against Carolina who is bad on the road seems to set up well. The past three games have gone well for him as he has assists in all of them. Shot volume is poor with the center but he does have six points in his last nine games and four of those are on the power play. New Jersey has the hottest power play in the league since February 5^th going 18 for 55.

Wingers

Artturi Lehkonen $3200 – There is just a theme here that we must go insane. Lehkonen has four points in his last nine games but he does have 27 shots on goal in that span. He is producing good shot volume but has been defensive responsible as well. The winger has points in three of his last four games to boot. He will occasionally see up to two minutes of power play time and playing Ottawa has been good for Montreal this year.

Defensemen

Travis Hamonic $3200 – Hey, why not! Hamonic has good block volume and decent shot volume since coming back from injury. His price is so low that he must be considered on Saturday night. Offense can be iffy for the defenseman with just a couple points in his last ten games. The fact that he has on the back end of a back to back may just lead to even more blocked shot opportunities.               

Goalie

Thomas Greiss $7300 – This is a dangerous GPP play but Boston has been in a bit of a slump lately. They gave up to six against Tampa at home and that was unexpected. The Islanders do play much better at home though it will be interesting to see how Greiss does with Jaroslav Halak splitting some time. Will this give the goalie a bit of a lift? That is the question. Greiss had a big win stopping 34 of 36 against the Rangers but will likely face 30+ shots again versus Boston. This is the Islanders third game in four nights.               

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

Connor McDavid $8400 – People will run to this as it will be chalky. That just means McDavid 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 Colorado which is the worst in the league by far. He still has good shot (26 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

Alex Ovechkin $8300 – Though we may be going hard against Arizona, it is justified given that the left winger is shooting like he did a few years ago. He has 54 shots on goal in his last ten games yet has just two goals. Power play points and shooting percentage is a good bit lower than it should be. The left winger will be a hair less owned because of the 10-game evening slate. However, Arizona could easily give up four or five goals. Their penalty kill is one of the four or five worst in the league so Ovechkin could have goal potential that way as well.               

Defenseman

Alex Pietrangelo $5600 – Again this might be a chalky play but Pietrangelo has nine points in his last ten games. That includes two goals, seven assists, 26 shots, and 20 blocks as well. Four power play points in the previous nine contests never hurts either. Calgary may not be the greatest match-up but there is still enough potential anyway. The recommendation is to give it a go or try to spend up a bit to Roman Josi even.

Goalie

Braden Holtby $8500 – The choices out there may appear to be better but this potential to work well. He has three straight wins while allowing just six goals. Arizona gives up a good bit over three goals a night which could give Holtby a little margin for error. The goalie had quite a slide before going on this mini run which has lasted five games now. This makes him a solid cash goalie option on Saturday but if you want a GPP higher priced option, some are going to try Jake Allen.

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 ten 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. Thanks for reading and enjoy the slate daily fantasy hockey fans!