DFS Saturday: Oilers Back on Home Ice
Stephen Dotzel
2022-06-04
If you read Thursday's article, you're already aware of the two different ways to play DFS for Saturday on DraftKings. If you didn't, here's a quick rundown. First off, there is a two-game slate posted with the "classic" format that we're used to from the entire season with the normal nine-player lineup. The two games are comprised of the Saturday game plus the Sunday game. Keep in mind players don't lock until their scheduled game, so you'll have the ability to swap players you have rostered for Sunday, even after Saturday's game.
The only DFS style at our disposal for Saturday is the "showdown" format we discussed last week. That one is only for the Saturday game and is composed of a captain who scores 1.5x the points and costs 1.5x his regular salary. The rest of the lineup is composed of five flex players, at least one of which has to be from each team. Let's take a look at some options for both formats.
Two Game Slate (Saturday-Sunday)
With the Avalanche out to a 2-0 series lead, and the Oilers having just been shut out, I'd expect the majority of players to play Colorado here. I like the idea of taking a gamble that a shift to home ice can get the Oilers on the board in the series. I'll roll with the top line of Connor McDavid ($9,800), Leon Draisaitl ($7,500), and Evander Kane ($6,200).
That's an expensive stack, so we're going to need some value pieces in the lineup. There hasn't been much better value of late than the "kid" line for the Rangers. Filip Chytil ($2,800), Alexis Lafreniere ($2,800), and Kaapo Kakko ($2,500) are all within $300 of the site minimum and have combined for six goals and seven assists over the past four games. They all fit easily with Colorado as well if you rather go that route.
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Single Game Showdown
The highest risk/highest reward captain on the board for Saturday is likely Mike Smith. He is barely going to be owned and has the chance to put up a big score if he can stop all but one or two of the 40 or so shots he'll probably see. Of course, that's not something he's shown he can do against this team yet, hence the risk part. But he could pay off if you have the guts to do it.
The more rational approach to showdown on this slate will be focusing on the offense. I like the idea of looking at someone like Kane or Gabriel Landeskog at captain. They're cheaper than the elite options and will allow you to build a better balanced lineup with the money you save. Consider Cody Ceci and J.T. Compher as salary savers.
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!
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