Good day, DFS'ers! How'd everyone's weekend plays go? I missed out on cash by a mile on Saturday, but that said, I did make my lineup in I'd say a minute in a half. These things happen. This is an interesting slate tonight because we don't have Edmonton, Colorado, Toronto, or Minnesota, on this slate so there's going to be unique plays to get into cash. This could be a wild one tonight everyone, buckle up!

Slate Preview

NY Rangers vs Nashville

There I am last week watching the Blackhawks go into MSG and win a game that felt like it should have been 4-1 Hawks. The Rangers were so slow in their own end and constantly made errors dropping the pass back in the neutral zone on an already slow attack up ice. I kept this in my NHL memory database, which is now about 98.9% filled, but promised myself that I was going to play a lineup against the Rangers, particularly next time they go on the road. Well…here we are, and yippee, it's against the Preds who are right now tied for last in points. So, if that's the case, maybe we get some Rangers in a stack here tonight. The problem is with the lines and the way that they're currently constructed with Artemi Panarin likely out, I'm not sure that we're going to have much correlation here and that these lines are going to remain the same throughout the first period, let alone the full 60 minutes. If I'm going anywhere though, I could take a stab at a Vincent Trocheck one-off at $6,500 or even Mika Zibanejad just below him at $6,300. If Panarin does draw back in, we'd need to know sooner rather than later because his $8,500 price tag is steep to try and work around if he is out, along with this game locking at 7 PM CST. There are pivots if that's the case, but I might just be here for the center spot and move right along. I can say, I have no interest in the Rangers blueline, and I mean zero. Adam Fox has one goal on the season and is priced at $5,800…going to have to pass there but thanks for the offer, DK!

For Nashville…let's get a little two-man top line action here. I really thought Steven Stamkos ($5,500), was going to be a disaster at center with Ryan O'Reilly out, but so far, it's been fine with points in his last three games playing in the dot. I like a two-man stack of him and Filip Forsberg at $7,200, with Forsberg shooting the puck here a fair bit with 18 shots in his last five games. Even if you want to add in Jonathan Marchessault at $5,300 for a fully correlated top line, I think that's fine. I probably won't go too overboard here on Nashville, but I like the spot and promised myself I was going to play anyone against this Rangers team the next time that they head out on the road on a decent sized slate.

NY Islanders vs Carolina

Let's talk about the other NY team that I think has been brought up in almost every slate write-up I've done. Tonight, though, they're not in a great matchup like they've been in seemingly every slate since Halloween, but I can't help liking this team here tonight on the road in Carolina. This probably not a single-entry play, but I think getting them in 3-5 max could be a really fun play here tonight. What catches my eye with them is that there's been games the past week with them where they have absolutely dominated in the faceoff circle. Sure, that stat means nothing for DFS, but it does lead to stats that do, and that's what intrigues me here tonight. The way I would build this Isles club tonight would likely be two forwards, a D, and then maybe go net as well. For forwards, I like the second line here and go Brock Nelson ($5,200) and Kyle Palmieri ($5K) with Noah Dobson ($6K) as my defenseman. I can't decide if I'm going single-entry or above tonight, but this might be the one time I can get this Isles club in a not-so-popular spot and get past a good amount of the field here if they can get on the scoresheet here tonight.

For the Canes, this is a team that likes playing at home with a 12-4-0 record on home ice at the Dukes Mayo Center. That's probably not what their rink is called (pretty sure it's Lenovo), but my in-laws live in the Carolinas and Duke's is popular down there, so Duke's Mayo Center it is. Either way, I love the Carolina second line here of Andrei Svechnikov ($7,200), Jasperi Kotkaniemi ($3,700) and Martin Necas ($7,700). I swear, if Necas played for Colorado, Toronto, or say Edmonton, he'd well about $8K so to get him here at $7,700 is perfect. Even if you don't want to play Kotkaniemi here that's fine, but the Carolina second line is the one line that they have that has stayed together the most here in the past three games. If you have the salary and want to bump up to Sebastian Aho at $7,400, I'm fine with that play here, but for me I might try and get that second line all together and see what else I can build from there.  
 
Winnipeg vs San Jose

Like I mentioned from the start here, there's no Toronto, no Edmonton, no Colorado, and no Minnesota here tonight…so why are not all playing the Jets in an excellent matchup? Why overthink this? The Jets have the most goals on the rush this season, and they're going up against the club who is second worst at goals allowed off the rush. I think this could be a Winnipeg night here for me but could be talked into either going full lock-stock and submitting a lineup with the entire top line, or going one step further and adding in a defensemen as well. Sure, it'll be pricey, but this is a slate where you could get cheaper one-offs here and there to make rostering a fully correlated Winnipeg top line extremely manageable, especially with Gabriel Vilardi down at ($4,700). If I do go single-entry, I will absolutely get to some Winnipeg here, moving up from there in contest size, they have to be in your mix considering the spot that they're in.  

For the home Sharks, I want to say I'm willing to give this some consideration here, but I just still don't like these lines the way they're currently constructed. There was a brief moment in mid-November where that wasn't the case, but here we are today and I'm trying to talk myself into Macklin Celebrini ($6,400) and Nikolai Kovalenko ($2,500) who won't skate together on the man advantage. Don't get me wrong, I like Kovalenko and Celebrini as a one-off is alright, but this is a Jets game here for me tonight.

Defensemen

I'm making it known here that I love Noah Dobson at $6K, who shot the puck eight times last game and hoping for another eight here tonight. We believe in you Noah, you got this! The only players a little higher in salary than that number that I would consider here would be Brandon Montour at $6,400 and Josh Morrissey at $6,300. Although I just got done telling you all how I'm not on San Jose, Jake Walman is fine at $5,400 and Brandt Clarke at that same price caught my eye earlier this morning. Alex Vlasic for Chicago is fine here tonight at $5,100 and I might play him here only because we're just days away from the long-awaited return of Seth Jones doing absolutely nothing on the power play. For cheap defensemen here, and I don't why I'm remembering this now, but when I was at university there was a commercial (I think for a gas station), that had a person in a chicken suit with motto "Dirt dirt, cheap cheap"…as low-budget as Central Illinois commercials go, it's stuck with me all these years later so if I need a dirt dirt, cheap cheap, defensemen here tonight, I'd take Dante Fabbro ($3,400) who's been good for 3-4 blocks a game recently. I also don't mind Ryan McDonagh here down at $3,100.

Goalies

In net tonight…hear me out, what if we all agreed to not play that position here tonight over on DK? I like some of these spots, but don't think with the way that I'm building that I'm going to have the funds to spend up. If I am, Jacob Markstrom at $8,100 would probably be my ceiling here going up against St. Louis on the road. If Joey Daccord is in net for Seattle, that might raise interest for me at $7,800 as well, but don't think that I would go to Philipp Grubauer at that same price. Arvid Soderblom for the Hawks at $7,200 might interest me but as I type this sentence, I can just see Connor McMichael putting his second goal by him on an odd-man rush…however, I don't dislike the play if Soderblom is where you end up.

Good luck tonight everybody!  

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