Hello all! You may remember me from such Dobber articles like, Capped and Looking Ahead…but I asked if I could write about DFS and was given the green light. I am beyond excited to share with you all the thoughts I have on each Tuesday and Thursday where we have decent sized slates (ideally more than four games).

Before we get going, my DFS credentials. I started playing DFS baseball back in 2017 when playing Carlos Correa everyday at Util was the cool thing to do, then moved over to hockey where you did something similar except it was Mark Giordano. Since then, I've been hooked, and probably take more time than I should looking into my lineups. Even if I'm only playing a $1 dollar single-entry. If you look at my iPhones past photos besides pictures of my wife cat Pippa, it's all screenshots of DK lineups that I've sent to my friends. Having this platform to share my DFS thoughts with all of you is going to be so much fun and hopefully we can get some shackles back in the process.

For this article and those moving forward, all the pricing you'll see will be from DraftKings, as I haven't played over on FanDuel in years. Seriously, I don't even remember my login for them. FanDuel at the beginning was my go-to but once their pricing got out of control and they added the second Util spot, that was a no for me dog.

Slate Preview:

The Leafs can go 0-2? Sheldon Keefe revenge game? And what do we make of the teams we have yet to see play? I've stared and stared at this slate, and I think that there's a couple ways you can go here that we'll get into shortly, but one call out I wanted to make first. I considered going against the Penguins heading into Detroit because I know that Pittsburgh looked awful last night, but I'm not sold that the lines as we see them right now for Detroit are going to stick together, for that reason I'm probably out on Detroit. Don't get me wrong, it could be a good smash spot, but I just want to see what this looks like from the Wings before playing them in a DFS lineup for the time being.
Stack of the night:

You know what, give me the Islanders top line and here's why. I'm not sure if Utah is just new jerseys/same(ish) players? This was the club last season that allowed the most goals shorthanded, and although I think Mikail Sergachev really helps, I wouldn't mind taking a stab at something on the Isles PP. Bo Horvat ($6,500), Mat Barzal ($6,300), and Noah Dobson ($6k) lead the charge here, but if you want to get a little bit of salary relief and plug in Anthony Duclair ($3,800) off the top line I think that's a fair play.

I have to give partial credit here to the Blues going into San Jose, and it looks like DK has the same idea with these prices. I'm not sure I want to get up to Robert Thomas at $6k, but if you have the space and want to build around Jordan Kyrou at $6,900 and Pavel Buchnevich at $6,600 could be a way to go against the Sharks.

Filler stack du jour:

How are we feeling about a little Kings second line action? I watched both of the Buffalo games in Europe and saw exactly what you did. We can take parts of the Kings second line and get Quinton Byfield ($3,600) and Warren Foegele ($3,700), those two should be able to plug into whatever build you decide to go with tonight, both should see good minutes and are will skate together on even strength and the power play.

"P" is for Power Play :

The Leafs went 0-4 on the man advantage last night, so as much as I love a good Leafs PP stack I'm going to stay away for tonight. As I mentioned you can go with something from the Isles, but another alternative tonight could be Minnesota going up against Columbus. Buyer beware, it gets pricey quick as putting a MN PP1 stack together without defense adds up to a cool $29k.

I don't really game stack…but if I did…:

I was actually sort of leaning of maybe making a gamestack out of the FLA/OTT game but the numbers just don't math here on how I'd want to build this. Josh Norris ($3,500) is going to be too popular for me tonight and the FLA top six forwards outside of Evan Rodrigues ($4,200) would price me out of any build. You can make some kind of Matthew Knies ($3,200) – Mitch Marner ($5,800) two-man with John Tavares ($6,300) with Nico Hischier ($6,700), Dawson Mercer ($3,100), and Jesper Bratt ($6,400) for the TOR/NJD game and still have salary for defense. I would stay away from Timo Meier though, as I think he'll be a popular play tonight given how early he was drafted in most leagues.

One-off special:

David Pastrnak ($9,100). It's a tough pill to swallow at that price point but I like the spot for him tonight. I know Boston may not have looked great in game one against FLA, but it felt like every time Boston got something going, they would take a bad penalty, leaving Pastrnak watching from the bench. If the B's can take advantage of the Habs on a back-to-back on the road then I think the Boston first line will have a good chance to get on the board here. Don't think we need to elaborate anymore here, it's David freakin' Pastrnak.

D-Fence:

Roman Josi leads the charge tonight at $7,900 but I think there's plenty of places to go tonight where you won't have to break the bank for a defensemen. Morgan Rielly at $5,100 is an interesting play especially if he shoots the puck as much as he did last night. David Savard at $4,100 could be alright as long as he doesn't try to scrap three minutes into the game like last night, also don't mind Alexander Romanov at $3,600 if you need someone cheap.

Netminder(s):

I'm going to zag here just a little bit tonight and target Juuse Saros at $7,600 and try and maybe catch some of the field sleeping here. Saros is listed DTD with an upper body injury but has been skating at practice doing some light work and if Nashville does what Nashville tends to do, they won't announce goaltending until late. It's going to be infuriating for my fantasy team tonight but for DFS if he's not confirmed until right before lock I'm going to make a play here for Saros. If Saros can't go, I may ride the lighting here with Scott Wedgewood at the same price. Remember folks, volume is king when it comes to DFS goaltending and either goaltender should see a healthy amount tonight.

My lineup that I inevitably change ten minutes before lock:

Centers : Quinton Byfield ($3,600), Maro Rossi ($3,400)

Wings : Mat Barzal ($6,300), Anthony DuClair ($3,800), David Pastrnak ($9,100)

Defense : Noah Dobson ($6k), Morgan Rielly ($5,100)

G – Juuse Saros fingers crossed ($7,600)

Util – Jake Neighbours ($4,700)

Remaining Salary – $400

So there you have it. Our Thursday night will be dependent on the Islanders, a goaltender who may be confirmed 20 minutes before puck drop, and a St.Louis Blue. We ball.

For continued fantasy news and notes, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz.