The slate we have tonight is a unique one. It has been several Saturdays since I've really harped on ownership being a key factor, but it will certainly come into play tonight. There are three glaringly obvious spots on this slate and I'd expect all of them to be heavily owned. I will run through each down below. You are probably going to have to make the decision to roll with this chalk and try to beat the field with your other lineup spots, or take the risk and go underweight on these high-owned teams.

If you go with the second option you are putting yourself in a high-risk, high-reward situation. If you use these three teams sparingly and any of the three go off, you're likely in trouble as you will be behind a large majority of the field. On the flip side, if these three struggle, it is probably going to hurt 75% or so of the entries in a given tournament. Reducing the tournament to 25% of its entries, if that is in fact what happens, puts you in a great position to get close to the top of the leaderboards.

Personally, I am taking the risk tonight and going underweight on these obvious spots by limiting them to about 40% of my lineups (about 8 of my 20) and using the remaining 60% on other stacks. However, I have been fortunate enough to be coming off a pretty good stretch where I can afford to take some chances tonight. But I wouldn't fault anyone for sticking with the obvious though as you can certainly still have a productive night with this route.

So what are these spots I'm talking about? Let's get into this eight-game slate and take a look. All prices are from DraftKings but players and strategies can be applied to Fanduel as well. 

Top Options – High Owned

These are the three "obvious" spots I talked about in the opening that will carry a majority of tonight's ownership.

TOR – Auston Matthews ($9,300), Mitch Marner ($8,000)

The Matthews from early in the season is back as he's scored a goal in six of the last seven games for a total of seven. He's also had multiple points in five of those games including three straight. Now coming to town are the Ottawa Senators fresh off a two-game sweep at the hands of Edmonton where we all saw McDavid and Draisaitl score four points each on Wednesday. I'd expect everyone to be lining up here to roster Matthews and it's hard to poke holes in why you shouldn't.

The only real reason to look elsewhere is the ownership and game theory angle that I talked about because sometimes weird stuff can happen in hockey. I know that's not the most comforting or analytical answer on why not to play Toronto here, but one of those doesn't really exist.

If you are rostering Matthews though, you'll likely want Marner to stack him with and you could consider a defenseman like Morgan Rielly ($5,100) or T.J. Brodie ($3,000) as well. The other winger on that line looks to be Alex Galchenyuk ($3,000), who I could take or leave, but certainly helps you stomach the price tag on Matthews. If you still want some exposure to Toronto but want to avoid the crowds consider the depth lines such as John Tavares ($6,200) or Alex Kerfoot ($2,900) and Jason Spezza ($2,800). Spezza was taking reps on the top power play in Friday's practice.

EDM – Connor McDavid ($9,200), Leon Draisaitl ($8,700), Jesse Puljujarvi ($4,100), Tyson Barrie ($6,300)

Speaking of Edmonton, they are another team in a good spot, which for this line you could argue is every game. I spoke on the four-point effort both McDavid and Draisaitl just put up this week, well that translated into 38.3 and 50.0 DraftKings points respectively, and is something that is always in the realm of possibilities with the talent these two possess.

I think Edmonton will see less ownership than Toronto so I'd feel better about going a little heavier here and if that's your plan I'd try to fit Barrie on to the stack as well. If that's too pricey I'd drop down to Puljujarvi or even Alex Chiasson ($2,500) and just hope he chips in a helper on the power play.

CAR – Sebastian Aho ($6,800), Andrei Svechnikov ($5,300), Vincent Trocheck ($7,300), Martin Necas ($5,400)

The Hurricanes were surprisingly low owned on Thursday at home against Florida, so there is a chance I'm overestimating their ownership tonight. If that were the case, I'd want to bump my personal ownership on Carolina slightly and include them in a bit more of my lineups. But I'd expect the matchup with Detroit, who just gave up seven goals, to draw some extra eyeballs this time around.

Each of the top two lines have been producing and each have been similarly owned over the last week, but I'd expect Trochek and Necas to come in at a slightly lower number. Trochek hasn't skipped a beat since returning from injury, with at least one point in all six of those games and an average of 18.2 DraftKings points per game. Necas has been quieter but ended a five-game scoreless drought with a goal and assist on Thursday.

If stacking I'd likely stick to a line stack, but these could be combined as Trochek shares power-play time with Aho and Svechnikov. Consider Dougie Hamilton ($7,500) or Brett Pesce ($4,100) as defensive add-ons to any stack.

Top Options – Low Owned

MTL – Tyler Toffoli ($6,700), Nick Suzuki ($4,600), Corey Perry ($3,33)

The injury to Brendan Gallagher along with the acquisition of Eric Staal ($3,100) has had a ripple effect down the Canadiens lineup resulting in some different line combinations. Montreal ended Thursday's game against the Jets with a different look which included Suzuki centering Toffoli rather than Staal. In limited minutes this line looked good with a 61% Corsi share so I'd expect this is how Ducharme will start things on Saturday. The price tags aren't bad here, the ownership will be low, and there's power-play correlation between Suzuki and Toffoli, so I like this spot from a tournament perspective.

Consider adding Shea Weber ($5,200) to the stack as well who joins Toffoli and Suzuki on said power play.

CHI – Patrick Kane ($7,800), Alex DeBrincat ($7,400), Kirby Dach ($4,000)

If I'm passing on the likes of Toronto and Edmonton, I'm going to want to pay up for somebody with the firepower than can match them and Kane and DeBrincat can certainly do that. In their most recent win Kane, DeBrincat, and Dach each scored a goal and chipped in two helpers which is an output you'd be hoping to capture here.

The Blackhawks are floundering in the standings but Columbus has been no better and has allowed 16 goals in the past four games. The loss of Zach Werenski for the season and the precautionary sitting of David Savard should only help open things up for Chicago. I'd prefer if this game was in Chicago for the Blackhawks, but I will simply make a bet on talent here in the hopes Kane can make some magic happen.

MIN – Kirill Kaprizov ($6,300), Mats Zuccarello ($4,600), Victor Rask ($2,600)

Picking on Ville Husso didn't pay off last Saturday, as he held the Avalanche to just two goals but if you stuck with that plan, it paid off on Monday when he let in five goals on 19 shots. With Binnington in net on Wednesday and Friday, and another game scheduled for Monday, it would make sense for Husso to get the start Saturday. Of course, with Friday night's 9-1 drubbing, St. Louis may stick with Binnington but regardless, I like the thought of taking a stab with the Wild here for a bounce back.

There's some guesswork here on my part on the Minnesota lines coming off a disaster of a night but no matter what, whoever is on the ice with Kaprizov is where you want to go for stacks. Kaprizov has five goals in the past six games and has put up 15 or more DraftKings points in four of those. At the end of Friday's game skating with him was Zuccarello and Marcus Johansson ($2,600), but given the fact Rask is on the top power play, where he picked up three assists on Wednesday, and has the chance to find himself centering Kaprizov at even strength as well, he is my preferred third stacking option.

You can add Jared Spurgeon ($5,000) to the stack as well who also skates on the power play, or Matt Dumba ($3,900) who should see some 5 on 5 time with this line. 

Quick Hitters

CGY/OTT – I can't stomach rostering Detroit given their lack of offense and the elite goaltending for Carolina, but both Calgary and Ottawa stacks will come in at super low ownership and have shown potential in the past. If you're fading Toronto and Edmonton, rostering a Calgary or Ottawa goalie and stacking their forwards will give you incredibly high leverage on the field. You don't have to stack both these teams together in the same lineup, but it is worth throwing in a few Flames or Sens lineups stacked with someone else into a big tourney just for the game theory reasons. I'd look at Johnny Gaudreau ($4,200), Elias Lindholm ($5,300), and Matthew Tkachuk ($5,000) from the Flames end and Brady Tkachuk ($6,500), Drake Batherson ($3,900), and Tim Stutzle ($4,000) on the Senators side.

SJ – I love having a late-night hammer and by the start of the second period in this one, every other game on the slate will be over. If looking to stack here I like the Logan Couture ($5,700), Evander Kane ($7,600), and Kevin Labanc ($4,400) line for San Jose on home ice. The Sharks had their way with the Kings in last weekend's two meetings and did so again on Friday. Kane is averaging just under four shots a game in his last ten, giving him a reasonable floor and the potential for a big number if some of those go in the net.

LA – I'm probably not stacking the Kings much in this one but I do like the idea of plugging in the likes of one or two of Adrian Kempe ($4,900), Jeff Carter ($4,100), Andreas Athanasiou $3,200), and/or Sean Walker ($3,900). Targeting the Sharks is something I've liked to do this season plus it keeps your lineups alive going into the final game of the night.

Top Value Options for Filling Out Lineups

C – Sean Monahan ($4,500), Anthony Cirelli ($4,400), Ryan Johansen ($3,200), Kerfoot ($2,900)

W – Jaden Schwartz ($3,700), Kailer Yamamoto ($3,500), Perry ($3,300), Spezza ($2,800)

D – Mattias Ekholm ($4,300), Pesce ($4,100), Brodie ($3,000), Adam Boqvist ($2,900)

Goalie Picks

Jack Campbell ($8,400)

Andrei Vasilevskiy ($8,200)

Mike Smith ($7,900)

Cam Talbot ($7,700)

Kevin Lankinen ($7,500)

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. You can also reach out to me personally and I'll do my best to answer any questions I can. Hope to see you on top of the leaderboards!