Top Budget Plays

Center

Carl Soderberg $3100 – The center is a punt play at the least. However, playing against the Calgary Flames may set up very good as the center will draw depth Calgary match-ups which are below Corsi relative. He is going to get decent opportunities. Soderberg is still playing around 15 minutes a night. More importantly, Calgary’s penalty kill and defense can easily give up 3-4 goals a night. Both teams are not rested. Soderberg may not exceed value by a ton but value is value.   

Winger

Alex Tuch $3500 – Keep in mind that Tuch is taking full advantage of his increased role. He had an assist in his last game and will draw decent depth match-ups against Arizona. Do not expect much power play time but his speed will cause much frustration. Brandon Perlini and even Max Domi are viable options. There are several value options just in this game alone as the expected goals for is above six easily.

Defenseman

Shea Theodore $3100 –Vegas and Arizona could be a crazy one as the expected goals could approach seven! Theodore is now seeing special teams time and had three points on Friday night against San Jose. It will be intriguing to see if the coaching staff of Vegas continues to utilize Theodore in this way. His ability to rush the puck up the ice and fire hard, low slap shots is there. The experience will help him defensively get better. Arizona’s expected to yield many opportunities.
 

Goalie

Scott Wedgewood $6900 – This is a dangerous GPP play but Arizona just squeaked out an overtime win on Friday against Los Angeles. Wedgewood stopped 23 of 25 shots in the win. Vegas has 30+ shot potential on Saturday as their pace ticks higher on the road. The Coyotes played better defensively than on Friday but the feeling is their projection still will be around 30 shots allowed. If Wedgewood gets a quality start, that could mean a win and exceeding value.                         

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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Center

Brayden Schenn $6700 – People will run to this as it will be a chalky play that still has to be used in quite a few lineups. The center has a solid matchup against Minnesota’s Alex Stalock. Schenn has 30 points in 22 games including points in eight straight contests. His points per dollar on DraftKings is below $1400. Until that top scoring line can be stopped, they just have to be rolled out there. It is tough to completely fade them everywhere. Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz can be used along with Alex Pietrangelo. Choose wisely given the 11-game slate.

Winger

Alex Ovechkin $7500 – While Nikita Kucherov may be higher owned tomorrow, Ovechkin in Toronto has high scoring potential written all over it. He has 15 goals on the season already and is shooting at normal Ovechkin levels. Toronto allowed four goals against Carolina and nearly blew a three-goal lead. Ovechkin and Backstrom back together has resulted in two very good games so far. A third is likely.                     

Defenseman

Erik Karlsson $6800 – Again this could be moderately owned, but Karlsson has moderate to high point potential on Saturday. Ottawa has lost four straight yet seems to match up well against the Islanders. The Islanders are weak in net and just allowed four goals again on Friday to Philadelphia before staging a miraculous comeback. Karlsson has been unlucky to say the least with just one goal on the season despite moderate shots and high scoring chances. The dam may break in this contest.

Goalie

Carey Price $7800 – There may be better choices, but this has potential to work well. Buffalo often does not fare well on the back end of back to backs and Montreal is one of the few teams rested on Saturday night. Price returns after missing the past few weeks with what was termed a “lower body injury”. The first game of the year featured a Montreal win where both teams easily yielded 30+ shots. Price needs to see pucks early and often. This will get him back in game shape. It is very risky to go with a goalie that has not seen live action in weeks. This is why we are deeming this a high-risk play. If one wants to go safer, even Florida seems like a less risky choice on Saturday. Scary, isn’t it?

Chris Wassel has been playing DFS for the past couple years and has played Fantasy Hockey for three decades. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisWasselDFS. We are targeting the 11-game main slate to give readers more of a range on what to go on. Finally, please note that Saturday’s slate has several options. Thanks for reading and enjoy the slate daily fantasy hockey fans!