DFS Tuesday: Calgary Value; Los Angeles’s Top Line; Quinn Hughes A Target, and More
Andrew Santillo
2024-12-10
Good day, all! I've been rolling on the DFS streets the past few slates I've been able to play, so let's keep a good thing going. I will say, I do like this slate overall. There are some very clear smash spots today but for me I might be going to some clubs that are in decent spots and may get less roster numbers.
Slate Preview
Calgary vs Nashville
I watch hockey most nights, and I kind of go off eye test a lot with what the stats tell me as reinforcement. Like for example here, next time the Rangers are on a slate I'm going right at them with how slow they are in the own end, along with the mistakes that they make brining the puck into the zone…like oh say, when there's three minutes left in a game vs the Blackhawks. That said, I watch Calgary and don't think this is as bad as a club as they've had the perceived reputation of being this season, they're one point out of the second wild card as I'm writing this. They're going up against Nashville, who may be the worst club in the league overall right now, so I do want to get to some of Calgary if I can. There are some issues that I'm running into here though, first of which is that Calgary mixed up their lines, giving us less than ideal correlation. The other issues here are this Flames team is much worse on the road than at home, and some of Juuse Saros underlying numbers aren't terrible despite the Predators outcomes as of late. I want to get to something here for Calgary, but I'm leaning that this is where I get my defensemen and possibly goaltender. Without knowing what the lines will look like before warmups (and presumably morning skate), I don't think I'll be here much for the forwards, but if you want to play them, going up against Nashville has been a great play so far.
For Nashville…I want to tell you all that playing their top line that's fully correlated is the way to go tonight, but on an 11-game slate, I just think there's better spots. To be honest here, only reason I'm talking Nashville is because I have interest in Calgary. I mean…Roman Josi one off, sure, always in play, but this is a Flames game for me.
Los Angeles vs NY Islanders
I've loved what I've seen from the Kings the past week, so let's try and get some into our lineup here tonight. I don't know if I grab my centers from this game, and if I did, I'd only really be going to Anze Kopitar ($5,500) and then (spoilers) Bo Horvat on the other side of this one at $5,100. To me it's the Kings wingers that have my interest here with Adrian Kempe ($6,600) right at the top of that list. I don't typically mind playing across lines as well, so if want to drop down and add in Kevin Fiala ($5,500) or Alex Laferriere ($4,200) that's fine as well. I don't think I'll be going too overboard on LA here, but I do think in single entry they're in my mix, and in 3-max or above I would definitely be considering them.
For the home team NY Islanders, this marks the first slate of the season where they are not in a chalk spot. It's December 10th to by the way. That said, Anders Lee ($5,400), Brock Nelson ($4,800), and Kyle Palmieri ($4,400), are fully correlated on the second line here tonight. If you want to go here, I think it's fine, for me this would be not missing out on the one time all season that the Islanders are in a not-so-great matchup and go off. This is fear of missing out to the max. Isles nuke the slate – confirmed.
Florida vs Seattle
Let's look for a minute at who is on this slate…Carolina at home vs San Jose, chalk city there. Colorado playing literally anyone (tonight, Pitt, buckle up), probably very high up there in popularity. Toronto vs Sheldon Keefe and the Devils, we say this earlier in the season, but there will be people all over that one. And finally, Minnesota on the road in Utah. With all that, how much shine is Florida going to get on the full 11-game slate? I'd imagine that maybe they come in under those matchups and they're going to have a fully correlated top line of Aleksander Barkov ($7,300), Carter Verhaeghe ($6,800) and Sam Reinhart ($8K). Maybe I'm reading too much into this and that they'll be right up there in terms of number of people playing them, but I don't dislike going to this spot. In single-entry you're going to have to plant your flag somewhere, and Florida more often than not, is usually a safe bet.
For Seattle…and here's the thing…I might be on them tonight. Typically, I do not play Seattle in DFS, because they're lines are usually not correlated at all, and I never really have a grasp on which line is going to play the most minutes. That said, I liked how they looked this past road trip, winning three of four games, and are now back on home ice tonight. The line that interests me the most here is the third line, going to Shane Wright down at $2,600, Oliver Bjorkstrand ($3,600) and maybe mixing and matching those two with other wingers on the top six. What I might do here tonight as I have not built my lineup(s), is go 3-max and have two lineups where you can take expensive Colorado, or Edmonton, even Minnesota, and pair them with this group. If this burns me, hey oh well, but I marked this team down coming into today and will likely get them in my mix. For single-entry if you like a line here a lot of tonight that's expensive, here’s your filler stack. Same goes for three-max and above.
Defensemen
For defensemen Quinn Hughes ($7,700) is always in consideration for me, because he's good at hockey. Analysis. Really though I think the way I'll build tonight is one pricey defenseman and one on the cheaper side. I do like Roman Josi ($7,400), Victor Hedman ($6,600), Dougie Hamilton ($6,500 and would pair with NJ stack), MacKenzie Weegar ($6,300), and in the middle of pricing Charlie McAvoy at $5,100. For cheaper options Oliver Ekman-Larsson at $3,500 if he can get power play time, Cam York at $3,300, and Jamie Oleksiak at $3K.
Goalies
If the Kings go with Darcy Kuemper at $8K, you have my interest. The volume is what worries me there, but this would be my spend-up option here tonight. I do like Dustin Wolf and only Dustin Wolf at $7,500, Anthony Stolarz at $7,400, and Andrei Vasilevskiy at $7,200. I think Vasilevskiy would be the cheapest I would do to here tonight, but you could talk me in to Aleksei Kolosov at that same price if he is in net tonight for the Flyers going into Columbus.
Good luck tonight everybody!
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