DFS Saturday: Jersey Boys
Stephen Dotzel
2023-04-01
We are down to the final two weeks of the regular season and the playoff picture is starting to take shape. We know the majority of the teams that will be advancing to the postseason, but there are few spots that are still up for grabs thanks to Winnipeg and Pittsburgh sputtering down the stretch. If you play DFS daily, you'll want to keep an eye on team motivation down the stretch as certain ones may choose to sit out or rest a player or two. With two weeks left, that's not something I think we must worry about yet on this slate. We have 22 teams in action from 7 pm EST on, so while it may be April Fools Day, this slate is no joke! All player prices are from DraftKings, but the information and concepts can be applied to any site.
Top-Tier Stack to Pay Up For
If you looked at the schedule at all you can likely guess which team is going to land here. The Oilers in a home matchup against the Ducks is about as obvious of a spot that exists, so no need to re-invent with the wheel here. Edmonton will certainly be highly owned, but perhaps the presence of 21 other teams on the slate will spread things around a tad bit more than you'd initially expect. You're starting your stacks with Connor McDavid ($10,200) and from there I'd continue with the rest of his line and power play mates which includes Zach Hyman ($7,400) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($6,900). You can certainly include Leon Draisaitl ($8,400) as well but that is a lot of salary to commit so I'm okay leaving him off my stacks and taking the chance that the first line soaks up most of the production, carried by McDavid of course.
Mid-Tier Stack to Target
The Blackhawks are in the midst of a seven-game losing streak and beyond pride have very little to play for down the stretch. That is certainly not the case for the Devils, who are still within striking distance of the Hurricanes for the Metro Division crown and at worst want to hold off the Rangers and secure home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Jack Hughes ($8,600) has predictably been the top option for New Jersey of late with three goals in the last four games and at least 15 DraftKings points in four of the last five. His price tag is certainly not "mid-tier" but if you stack him with his linemates Jesper Bratt ($5,000) and Ondrej Palat ($3,600) the cumulative salary averages out to a middle range.
Cheap Stack to Build Around
When trying to identify a good value stack you're often left with either top lines from bad teams or depth lines from good teams. When "bad teams" are in play, a couple things I look for are ones at home and ones playing teams on back-to-backs. Well, the Flyers check both those boxes tonight as they host a Sabres team traveling to Philadelphia after playing the Rangers on Friday night. While the Flyers have struggled throughout the season, they have won five of their last seven games entering Saturday. I'm looking to target the top line here of Morgan Frost ($3,800), Joel Farabee ($3,500), and Owen Tippett ($5,900). Over that seven-game stretch Frost and Tippett lead the team with eight points each and Farabee is right behind them at seven points. A point-per-game level production is a solid value at those price tags.
Goalies
Between the pipes I'm typically looking to stack my goalie with one of my stacks from that lineup. However, if looking for a standalone option, I'd consider Ilya Sorokin ($7,300). I can only assume DraftKings dropped Sorokin's price because of the matchup at Tampa Bay, because just last Friday he was $8,400 and in two starts since has put up 23.5 and 20.0 DraftKings points. At an $1,100 discount from his price last week and as one of the six cheapest goalies on the slate out of 22 options, Sorokin presents too much value to ignore here despite the matchup.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @SteveDotzel so you can follow my "DFS-NHL" list which is comprised of dozens of team accounts and beat writers providing important updates throughout the day. Also, give a look to our tools at DFS Central to see who our formulas are liking for this slate. Best of luck with your lineups!