Good morning DFS squad! Show of hands, how many people had the St. Louis second line in a stack yesterday? Notice I am not raising my hand. Yesterday's lineup here was…well, I think they tried their hardest. It's a new day though! Let's make some money here tonight.

Before we dive on in, let's just address the chalk in the room here. Montreal is going into Colorado, having just played a very chippy game against the Hawks with Sam Montembeault in net, so tonight will likely be Jakub Dobes. If you feel so inclined to play Colorado one here plus Cale Makar, I'm not going to be the one to stand in your way. I may even be there with you. Time will tell.

Slate Preview:

St. Louis vs Columbus

It’s now January 4 of the new year. I can't say that coming into the season I'd be at this point in the season thinking about a Blues power play stack with Cam Fowler running it, but here we are. In DFS trends are our friends and the Blues second line of Dylan Holloway ($3,900 and STILL not a LW on ESPN fantasy), Brayden Schenn ($3,700) and Jordan Kyrou ($6,200), have been excellent as of late and extremely affordable. Even going up to the top line for full correlation here is a decent play as this is a Columbus club that hasn't had the greatest PK going out there for about a month now. I can see a world where St. Louis is a popular pivot here based on price and recent performance and I'm considering getting in on that action here with whatever lineup(s) I build. It's the Blues, they've never steered us wrong before. To be fair, I think I've actually made the most money in DFS off of the Blues, Ottawa, and Vegas in the past. What a group.

For the Jackets here, if I'm rostering them, it's right back to the top line, even with the pricing starting to really climb here. Sean Monahan is now up to $6,800, and Kirill Marchenko at $6,400. DK must not play a fantasy because I feel like Dmitri Voronkov should be right up there as well but is sitting at $5,200, but hey we'll take it. Outside of getting blanked by the Bruins at the end of December, this is a Columbus squad that has put up at least four goals in their last five games, with the top line and Zach Werenski ($8,500) doing some heavy lifting here. In single entry, they're on my list and might make a nice pivot with some decent chalk spots on the board and they will be on home ice hosting a Blues club that played last night.

Tampa Bay vs Los Angeles

On Thursday, the Bolts were one of the most popular clubs going into the slate on the road versus San Jose. I wasn't on them, and not sure I'm on them here again tonight. Still, it's Tampa and we need to at least give them some consideration here. The problem that I'm running into here first that their top line is crazy expensive coming in at a combined $26,000, and if Victor Hedman plays tonight, that's another $7K on top of that. That's combined with going into Los Angeles who has the best record on home ice, and while they might not have defensemen that we'd necessarily play in DFS or fantasy, they have some pieces on their blue line that can slow down any line. Even dropping to the Tampa second line and making a Brandon Hagel ($7,500) and Anthony Cirelli ($6K) two-man is a little pricey for how I think I want to build tonight. If you happen to get to some Tampa Bay here, that's fine, but for me I'm probably looking elsewhere.

For Los Angeles here, I think I'm on them tonight. This isn't a spot where I feel a lot of DFS players are going to be and just watching a good amount of Kings games this year, it feels like the games that they shouldn't be favored in or have a tougher matchup are the ones that they somehow play best in. Just going back, they played a road back-to-back going into Minnesota and won 5-1. They got blown out vs the Sharks in late November, which had everyone worried, but then hosted the Jets and won 4-1. The lost a game against the Caps late last month in a game that seemed over early, and then came back and beat the Oilers in OT a day later. I'm circling that one for round one, but that's another story.

What I might do here is mix and match the Kings and if that gives me a full power-play stack at the end of the build then so be it. I don't even really mind just chasing where the volume has been coming from in their last ten games here and going with say Adrian Kempe ($7,100), Kevin Fiala ($6,300), Alex Laferriere ($4,300), and Warren Foegele ($3,700). It would be a fun stack and definitely something different out there tonight from those rostering Colorado, Toronto, Columbus top line ride or die. I have yet to build my lineup here but strongly considering the Kings as a way to get a little different here and try to lap whatever tournament I find myself in.
 
Buffalo vs Vegas

So ya lost to Colorado in OT after blowing another big lead, huh Buffalo? You know what I say, who hasn't, right? I mean, I remember a game where the Avs played the Hawks that I believe Colorado was a -540 favorite. I don't dip too much into gambling on games/props but that has to be the biggest number I'd ever seen. It happens against that team, and even if you played the Buffalo top line, you still probably ended in the cash. I don't think I'll be full on Buffalo here if I decide to roster them but maybe a Tage Thompson ($7,700) and Jason Zucker ($4,200) two-man stack isn't a bad play. That would be about the extent of where I'd go here but that top line has been surprisingly good. If you're building multiple lineups here and you happen to get to some of the Sabres, I don't mind it. In single-entry I might be a bit more particular, but they at least caught my eye coming into today.

For Vegas, they are at home again, so you know I have interest here. It worked out for me on Thursday as they took care of the Flyers 5-2 and do have interest here again tonight. Jack Eichel ($8,700) has to lead the league in multi-point games. He'd be a pricey one off, but I don't mind that strategy at all here tonight. I'm not sure that I get to a four man stack here as there's other spots that I like as well tonight, but I will say if you're building around Vegas I would have to have Eichel included and if it's anyone on the blue line that you're looking to add, I'd say Shea Theodore would be where I would go at $5,700.

Defensemen:

I know I've made reference to this before, but back when I started playing DFS, Mark Giordano was almost an automatic play every night. That later became Roman Josi, and now maybe it's Zach Werenski? I like him tonight at $8,500 but that would be my tippy top of spending up for defensemen tonight unless the clouds part, sun shines down, and a filler stack to pair with Cale Makar ($8,700) and the Colorado top line appears. Evan Bouchard (BOO-chard) is at $7,100 and has been playing great for those in $7K range tonight.

There's a gap here in pricing for defensemen and I do think this is one of those nights where you can pair one of the expensive players that I mentioned with someone on the cheaper side. Lane Hutson at $4,500 is interesting here, along with Devon Toews at $4,200 on the opposite side of that matchup. Thomas Harley for the Stars at $3,900 with any Dallas stack is a good idea, Cam Fowler ($3,400) running the Blues top power play is going to see significant ice time, and Dmitry Orlov for the Canes is a nice cheap option at $2,800.

Goalies:

For goaltenders here tonight, the spend-up would be Connor Hellebuyck at $8K at home. I do really like the play here versus the Wings, but I'm not sure that I'll have the salary to get there. Dustin Wolf just below him at $7,800 I have circled here along with Joel Hofer at $7,600. If I'm not playing Dallas, then I like Karel Vejmelka at $7,100 quite a bit here and might be where I end up as he's been a decent option DFS. I am a little bit worried in that regard as Utah played Dallas recently and lost 3-2, but on that night Vejmelka was a full $5K more expensive. For cheaper goaltender(s) here… look I'm just gonna say it Jakub Dobes for Montreal down at $6,900…we just got done talking about Vejmelka who once upon a time shutout the Jets 1-0 stopping somewhere between 46-100 shots on goal, so crazier things have happened!   

Good luck tonight everybody!  

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