Good day, all! How'd everyone play last night? For me, I was in a weird tournament where 91.9 points doubled my entry fee, with a big gap between those in the 90's and the next big bump in rewards. Those happen sometimes! It's also weird saying but I would like to give a big thanks to the San Jose Sharks, something I don't think I've really ever said in DFS.

I can't say I'm in love with tonight's slate, this one just screams some weird line is going to absolutely take down everything. We'll get there, but when Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano go nuclear tonight, we can all say that we say this coming.  

Slate Preview

Edmonton vs Ottawa

Sam Montembeault now has shutouts against the Leafs and Oilers, I just wanted that throw out there! Goaltending is the reason why I like this game because in the last month Stuart Skinner and Linus Ullmark have the seventh- and eighth-worst GSAA. With both starting tonight, I could see goals on both sides of this one.

Edmonton will be going into Ottawa tonight on a road back-to-back and as much as I usually lean towards fade in those situations, it is Connor McDavid. This game is going to be chalky on the Oilers side so if you want to play them then I would think going all-in would be the play, a McDavid one off ($9,800, most expensive player on the slate) might still be a popular play so if you're going towards Edmonton then I would want to get over the field here. We're already spending up so throw on Leon Draisaitl ($8,300) and Zach Hyman ($6,800) and go with a three-man in a 4-3-1, or if you like to stack a lineup of three forwards then correlate forward with defensemen; this could be where you get your three F's.

For the Senators here, I'm not sure if you have to spend up to the Senators top line to bring in Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris, I'd rather go to the second line of Tim Stutzle ($6,300), Drake Batherson ($5,100), and Claude Giroux ($4,400). Between the two lines, neither one has really stood out offensively so for me I'd rather spend down a bit and get to Ottawa if I'm going there. In single entry, I'm considering them, maybe not going all out but some sort two-man. Rarely do I gamestack, but I do think that you can take both sides of this one and put them into a lineup and be able to get away with it tonight.

Tampa Bay vs Pittsburgh

Brayden Point is day-to-day, but is "trending in the right direction", and if that right direction is in the lineup tonight vs the Pens, then I think that first line of Point ($6,500), Jake Guentzel ($7,500) and Nikita Kucherov ($9,400) is in play here tonight vs a Penguins team that has done nothing but give up goals since their game against Montreal at the beginning of the month. If Point is back, that also puts the second line in play here for me as well, or I throw Brandon Hagel ($6K), in with whatever I'm building. With what I think I'm going to be doing tonight, I'll probably only get to Tampa in three-max contests as I do like the spot here…this all changes if Tristian Jarry is in net, then if I'm single entering my lineup, it might look like everyone on Tampa Bay, two punt defensemen, plus cheapest goalie on the slate.

On the other side of this game, part of me thinks that the Penguins top line has been more unlucky than good. While I don't think they're good enough to sway the outcome of a game when they get down, if they pop in a goal here and everyone gets involved, then that's great for us in DFS. Sidney Crosby ($8K) has hit the shot bonus twice in his last three games, and I like the way he's looked with Rickard Rakell ($5,500). That would be about the extent of Pittsburgh that I get to tonight and that makes things tough with how I'm going to be approaching this slate. As much as I'd want a Crosby one-off, at $8K, I have to have a decent line along with him that's affordable enough to not focus my whole lineup around one player.  
 
Anaheim vs Chicago

Yours truly will be boots on the ground tonight for what should be another memorable matchup between these two titans. Diving into the Hawks advanced numbers makes me sad, but things have to break here at home tonight vs a Ducks team on a road back-to-back. I really like Ryan Donato up with Connor Bedard, but because we can't have nice things, that line is going to be Bedard ($7K/hasn't scored since Oct26th/should be on a wing) with Jason Dickinson. Still, I'm not completely X'ing out Bedard here and that's just given the spot. You know what, if I play Bedard tonight (if I three max…probably), I'm throwing on Ryan Donato ($4,200) with him as a two-man. Message sent from over on DK to the Hawks front office and coaching staff.

For the Ducks here, I kind of want to lock-and-load here. While the Ducks PK% isn't stellar, neither are the Hawks and while the pricing might be $100 or $200 higher than I want on most of their players, they do fit with almost anything. I think the way I'd go about this game would be one-offs to put in each lineup if you're above three lineups with the one I'm targeting being Frank Vatrano at ($5,200). I also like Leo Carlsson at $4,700 and pieces of the blue line for this game.    

Defensemen

When I started playing DFS for NHL back around 2019, Mark Giordano was basically an everyday play for me when Calgary was on the slate. That honor changed to Roman Josi shortly thereafter, and now it might be Quinn Hughes as an automatic play? He's pricey at $7,400 and maybe tonight isn't the night going up against the Rangers, but I have to consider him in single or multi-entry. I do think that this is a slate though where you can get away with rostering defensemen in the sub-$4,500 range, starting with Ryan Pulock ($4,400); he's going to skate well over 20 minutes tonight and the block bonus is always in play for him. Both PP defensemen in the Ducks/Hawks game are in play with Alex Vlasic ($3,700) running the top PP with Seth Jones out, and Owen Zellweger ($4k) on the Anaheim side. I want to also give a shout to Aaron Ekblad down at $3,200 as a decent cheap option for tonight.

Goalies

There are three here on my board that I'm looking at tonight and that starts with Igor Shesterkin, who is down below $8K tonight at $7,600 and should see a good bit of volume vs Vancouver. Sergei Bobrovsky is also priced down at $7,300 and might sneak his way into a lineup here if I pair him with Ekblad on the blueline. If I decide to lean into the Ducks tonight, John Gibson is an option at $7,200.

Good luck tonight everybody!  

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