So, who else is already tired of the phrase "Out of an abundance of caution"? Those dreaded words send your heart sinking down in to your stomach, knowing the list of postponements that are about to follow. While we all know COVID should certainly be taken seriously, and I wish a speedy recovery to all who have been or will be effected, it's a bummer from a fantasy perspective. The schedule for Saturday's action has gone from nine games down to six as of this writing, and hopefully that is where it ends. Of the six games, only four will be on the main slates across the fantasy sites, making for a light day. Nevertheless, there are contests to be played, so let's get into it.

With just four games this is a good time to touch on ownership as it pertains to daily fantasy, as it's something I reference often if you frequent this article. It stands to reason that on nights with only four games and therefore eight teams to choose players from, individual players will show up in lineups more often than they would if there were say ten games. Depending on the player, you could see ownership numbers come in at the 30%-40% range, if not higher. When ownership numbers get that high, there is a great opportunity if you're willing to go in a different direction.

To illustrate this point in simple terms, let's say you're in a tournament that has 8,000 entries and you roster a player who is 50% owned. That means that player can be found in about 4,000 of the 8,000 lineups. If he has a big night it will certainly help your lineup, however you still find yourself competing with the other 3,999 people who have the same player. You've effectively turned your nine-player lineup into an eight vs eight matchup with 3,999 others. Now let's say instead you rostered a player similar in price and skill to the 50% owned player but because of a perceived poorer matchup, this player comes in at 5% ownership. Well at 5% owned this player is only in about 400 lineups. If he's the one who has a big night and not the 50% owned player well now you're only battling with the other 399 people. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be trying to beat 399 than 3,999.

Hopefully by seeing the numbers broken out like that you can start to see how a low-owned player or stack can separate you from the field. It's important to keep an open mind because, after all, it's hockey and things don't always happen like you think. A hot goalie or a barrage of goals from the depth lines of a team can derail any top player or stack, we've all seen it. And when a player who is 30% owned or higher fails, it puts that percentage of the field behind the eight ball. They will have a difficult time overcoming that score particularly when it's someone they paid up for.

Now this doesn't mean you should never play guys who are going to be high owned – you certainly can. But you want to keep in mind that rostering them alone isn't going to win you a tournament. You are still competing with what could be, depending on the tournament you played, thousands of other lineups. So it's important to differentiate your lineups elsewhere in these situations. Stacking is one way to do this and is also something I reference frequently. If your 50% owned player's big performance carries some teammates with him, and you stacked those players with him in your lineup, you will gain a leg up on those who either didn't stack or stacked other teammates who didn't benefit. Another way to differentiate is by simply plugging low-owned one offs or other low-owned team stacks with your high-owned players.

The beauty of large slates with eight, ten, or even more games is that the sheer number of players in the player pool naturally creates low ownership in most cases. Oftentimes I barely even consider ownership on these nights, but when the slate size is shrunk down like it is on Saturday, it is something you want to be cognizant of. Without further ado, here's some suggestions on where the ownership is going to land on Saturday and how to go about handling the slate for tournaments.

All players and prices are from DraftKings Main Slate (7 pm EST)

Top Options – High Owned

TOR – Auston Matthews ($8,400), Mitch Marner ($7,600)

The good news for the Canucks is that they looked great against Ottawa, outscoring them 16-3 in their three meetings last week. The bad news is that they have been getting absolutely shelled by the rest of the Canadian (North) Division, having allowed 52 goals in just 11 games otherwise.  This includes the seven goals they gave up to Toronto on Thursday, which is who they find themselves up against again tonight. As a result, Matthews figures to be the highest-owned player on the slate. He's averaging 18.7 DraftKings points per game this season and that number rises to 21.9 if you only consider home games. Marner has been no slouch either and comes in on a six-game point streak and has 17 points in just 11 games. The only thing working against this duo is their price and ownership. To combat this, I like the thought of stacking Matthews with Zach Hyman ($4,700), who will be significantly less owned and is much cheaper than Marner.

EDM – Connor McDavid ($8,600), Leon Draisaitl ($8,200), Tyson Barrie ($5,900)

Edmonton hasn't played since Tuesday, and thank goodness because it's finally allowed the official scorers to catch up. In two games against Ottawa this trio racked up *double checks notes* 18 points! The matchup tonight isn't as friendly as Calgary, who has allowed the fewest goals in the division thus far. I think the Oilers will come with some ownership with that recent explosion fresh in everyone's minds as well as the lack of other options on the slate. It's never comfortable fading McDavid and friends, but I will likely take my chances and look elsewhere on this small slate.

Top Options – Low Owned

CGYPP1 – Matthew Tkachuk ($6,700), Elias Lindholm ($6,300), Johnny Gaudreau ($5,700), Sean Monahan ($5,300), Rasmus Andersson ($5,200)

Lost in the gaudy offensive numbers Edmonton has put up is the fact Ottawa was able to score seven goals in the two-game series. Going back either further and Edmonton has allowed 27 goals in the past seven games, just a shade under four per game. Calgary is coming off a pretty tough series with Winnipeg, and if there's one thing that can fire this team up, it's a matchup with Edmonton. You may remember these two teams have had some bad blood the past few seasons. This one could get a little chippy so stacking the Calgary power play with any combination of the players above is my favorite tournament play of the week.

TOR2 – John Tavares ($6,700), William Nylander ($5,500)

With everyone trying to fit in Matthews, per usual the second line will go a bit overlooked. I'm not expecting another Jason Spezza hat trick, so if Matthews isn't scoring there's a good chance it will be one of these two. You can add in T.J. Brodie ($3,500) to the stack who skates with both Tavares and Nylander on the second power-play unit.

Quick Hitters

ANAPP1 – Perhaps the worst offense and worst power play in the entire league, so what's not to like? The fact of the matter is with only four games and several pricey options we want to pay up for, you have to save some salary somewhere. The Ducks have been struggling but they showed some signs of life Friday night. The prices are cheap enough across the board on guys like Rickard Rakell ($4,400), Adam Henrique ($4,000) and Jakob Silfverberg ($3,900) that if you can find two goals that could be enough.

SJ – On the other side of that game, SJ has some cheap pieces in play as well with the likes of Timo Meier ($4,600), Kevin Labanc ($3,600), and Ryan Donato ($3,000) who you can plug in if needed. I particularly like the Sharks more if John Gibson were to get the night off.

NYI1 – Picking on the Penguins has been working out pretty well so far this year as they've allowed three or more goals in nine of ten games. It's the Islanders turn Saturday and nobody is going to pay $7,200 for Mathew Barzal with all the other top centers on the slate. Pair him with Anders Lee ($6,500), Josh Bailey ($3,500), and/or for Ryan Pulock ($5,000) for what should be a very contrarian stack.

Other Top Value Options for Filling Out Lineups

C – Mikael Backlund ($4,000), Jean-Gabriel Pageau ($3,600), Alexander Kerfoot ($3,000)

W – Jared McCann ($3,300), Tyler Motte ($2,900), Ilya Mikheyev ($2,700)

D – Nate Schmidt ($3,900), Alexander Edler ($3,600), Cam Fowler ($3,200)

Goalie Picks

John Gibson ($7,800)

Semyon Varlamov ($8,200)

Jacob Markstrom ($8,000)

Frederik Andersen ($8,400)

Thatcher Demko for a TOR fade ($6,800)

Be sure to double check your lineups before lock for any last-minute scratches or goalie changes, especially this year with the COVID protocols. If you follow me on Twitter @SteveDotzel you can subscribe to my "DFS-NHL" list which is comprised of several team beat writers tweeting the most recent news in real-time. I will also retweet any news I see that effects plays mentioned in this article. Feel free to reach out to me on there and I'll do my best to answer any questions I can. Hope to see you on top of the leaderboards!