Daily Fantasy Saturday: Must-Win Motivates Dallas
Stephen Dotzel
2022-04-23
It is hard to believe we've reached this point of the year already but this is the last Saturday slate of the regular season. With the exception of a meaningless Seattle-Winnipeg makeup, the season will wrap up next Friday. That doesn't mean the end of DFS though, as there will be contests running throughout the playoffs for every day there is a game on the schedule, straight through until somebody hoists the Stanley Cup. With the launch of Dobber's DFS package, we will continue with content as well. If you want to give the service a look, see below.
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While there will certainly be Saturday slates in the playoffs, they will most likely be limited to five games or less depending how the schedule shakes out. We will not be seeing another eight-game slate like we have today until the fall, so let's make the most of this one. Keep reading for some spots I'll be targeting. All players and prices are from DraftKings but can be applied to any site.
Four-Player Stacks under $25,000
Dallas – When you get down to the final few games like this, some teams are fighting for their playoff lives while others are giving a look towards the future, and that's the case in this matchup. I want my money on the team fighting for a playoff spot, and the Stars are in a must-win situation as they try to hold onto a wild card spot. It should help they will be at home and the Kraken will be on a road back-to-back. I'm all in here on the trio of Roope Hintz ($6,700), Joe Pavelski ($5,800), and Jason Robertson ($6,200) who have combined for 100 goals on the season, which is six more than all the other Stars forwards combined! John Klingberg ($4,900) is where I'd go for the fourth option.
St. Louis – While locked into a playoff spot, the Blues are still battling with the Wild for home ice advantage in what will eventually be a first-round matchup between the two teams. They should have no trouble picking up a win here against the Coyotes who come in having lost eight straight entering Friday and will be on a back-to-back. There may not be a hotter line in hockey than the Blues one of Vladimir Tarasenko ($7,600), Pavel Buchnevich ($6,400), and Robert Thomas ($6,100). Over the past seven games the trio has combined for 15 goals and 29 assists. Tack on Justin Faulk ($5,200) to the stack who joins them on the power play, as we slightly break the $25K rule here ($25,200).
Chicago – The Blackhawks are a team regulated to playing for pride at this point, but they draw my attention on this slate because of the matchup. Their opponent, the San Jose Sharks, have lost 11 of their last 12 games. Yikes. The top line for Chicago of Patrick Kane ($7,300), Alex Debrincat ($6,300), and Dylan Strome ($4,700) can do some serious damage when clicking and I think they'll have that chance in this one. Look at Jonathan Toews ($3,500) or Taylor Raddysh ($2,500) to round out the stack.
Three-Player Stacks to Mix In
Los Angeles – The Kings picked up a much-needed win on Thursday and will try to repeat that result tonight. Standing in their way are the Ducks, who haven't presented much of a challenge for anyone lately having lost 17 of their last 20 games. Always priced way below most other teams' top guys, look at Anze Kopitar ($6,300), Adrian Kempe ($6,000), and one of Phillip Danault ($5,400) or Sean Durzi ($4,700).
Montreal – Obviously no playoff aspirations in this one between the Canadiens and the Senators, but a matchup with two teams that give up a ton of scoring chances could be good for fantasy. Both of sides of this game are in play but I'll give Montreal the slight edge with Ottawa having just played Friday night. Also, you know Montreal wants to put forth a good effort in the first game since legendary Canadien Guy Lafleur's passing. Look at the top line of Nick Suzuki ($6,000), Cole Caufield ($5,600), and Josh Anderson ($3,300), who are all skating on the top power-play unit as well.
San Jose – The Sharks have had a rough go of it of late, as I've already mentioned but the Blackhawks are certainly beatable themselves. Timo Meier ($6,700) is capable of scoring multiple goals every game and his price has come down significantly from where it was a month or two ago. Stacking him with Tomas Hertl ($5,900) and Logan Couture ($4,900) should capture you a large portion of any San Jose scoring.
By using the four player stacks from the first section (or plucking three of the four from those) combined with the three player stacks from above, you can build yourself 4-3-1 or 3-3-1-1 constructed lineups, which are two of the most successful large field tournament strategies.
Cheap Power Play 1 Plugs
C – Alex Wennberg ($2,500), Mikael Granlund ($3,400), Ryan Getzlaf ($3,600)
W – Raddysh ($2,500), Alex Chiasson ($2,500), Jordan Eberle ($3,000), Alex Killorn ($3,100)
D – Chris Wideman ($2,500), Ryan Merkley ($2,500), Jamie Drysdale ($2,900)
Goalie Picks
Jake Oettinger ($7,300)
Jonathan Quick ($8,300)
Juuse Saros ($8,000)
Anton Forsberg ($7,700)
Be sure to double check your lineups before lock for any last-minute scratches or goalie changes. 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!