Good day to all my DFS folks! There are a lot of "ifs" on this slate upcoming. If certain players are going to be healthy, if lines are going to stay the same, if certain starters are in net, tonight is going to be a slate that you'll need to check in on morning skate line rushes, and even who is skating where come warmups. It can be a hassle, but someone else in your tournament is doing just that and going through different checks throughout the afternoon. Sometimes it can be more than just plug and play!

Slate Preview

Ottawa Senators

I want to get to some Ottawa here tonight, but I have a hard time stacking the Sens without Brady Tkachuk ($8,100), who is currently listed as day-to-day. I'm going to be monitoring this one close, because if he is slated to play tonight then I have interest in either a Tkachuk – Tim Stutzle ($5,900) or spreading out where my plays go throughout the Senators lines but anchoring it all with Tkachuk in my mix. Elvis Merzlikins has been on a major slide over the last month, and if I can get in on a game where the Senators might have a four- or five-goal night, then I would imagine Tkachuk is part of that effort. If he's listed as out, you can disperse his cost elsewhere by either a one-off or rebuild your stack, but I would want to know as soon as I can. Thankfully, this game locks early enough to where we won't have to change up our lineups too drastically, but I want to be able to get in on the Senators in a good matchup. I know this club has been flukey at times and gone on runs throughout the regular season, but if this game is high scoring, then I don't want to have it left of the slate. In my single-entry this is, I would say right now, 70% chance where I decide to go unless there are different starting goaltenders that are announced in the later games that I may want to target.

New Jersey Devils

New Jersey is going up against a Boston Bruins team that I played last week…twice. All the optimism of a quick turnaround and things will be right back around for the Bruins. On one hand I see it, but on the other I just have to ask, are we sure? In a vacuum though, this is a New Jersey night for me, but it might not be where you'd think. If you want to play Jesper Bratt ($7,100) and Nico Hischier ($7,500), that's fine but my interest is more on the second line. Timo Meier ($7,600) has been keeping this group afloat, and I could see myself either adding him as a one-off or throwing him and Dawson Mercer ($4,600) in as a two-man with a cheaper New Jersey defenseman and going about my build. Meier has close to 40 shots on goal in the last 10 games, with Mercer coming in at 20. The output is enough for me to want to at least keep them in my mix for the time being in single-entry. In MME, I wonder if the roster numbers are going to be higher just because it's a club going up against Boston, or if the Devils may go slightly overlooked. For this, I think the second line makes even more sense as I could see people gravitating more towards the top line.

Dallas Stars

I have stayed away from stacking the Stars for about a month or so, and along with that, actually made a decent amount stacking against this club over that time frame. Tonight though, I have interest in Dallas but more so if Kevin Lankinen is in net who has been brutal over the past couple weeks. If it's Thatcher Demko instead, I suppose that's fine, but I still may want to get a piece of this Dallas club. If I'm going anywhere, I'm going right up to the top for a fully correlated top line and adding them all into my mix, as this also could be a spot where the prices for the Dallas top line go up again by next week. Jason Robertson ($8K), Roope Hintz ($6,100) and Mikko Rantanen ($6,900) are all down in price and I may be looking to take advantage of just that. I can just see this game being a 4-1 final with how much I've watched both of these clubs the past month, with that I have interest in Dallas, but they would almost be a lock for me if Lankinen is in net tonight.

Defensemen

My ceiling tonight is from the team we just talked about, as I like Thomas Harley for $6,700 going up against the Canucks. Just below him, Jake Sanderson is a good play at $6,600 and I never am going to say no to Quinn Hughes at $6,500. Moritz Seider might be a tad expensive for me at $5,700 as a solo play, but if you're stacking the Wings tonight, then adding him onto your stack is alright. Luke Hughes at $5K is also just a little bit higher than I want to pay, but it's 2025. Everything's more expensive anyway, right? I'm here for Devon Toews at $4,500; I've played him more recently with Colorado but could see playing him as a one-off defenseman tonight as well. For a cheaper defenseman, Adam Larsson is a great option at $3,800.

Goalies

I could see talking myself into Jacob Markstrom all the way up at $8,500 because he's in an excellent matchup where he's live for a shutout. From there, we have a slew of goaltenders that are overpriced until we get to Ilya Sorokin at $7,900 and Sam Montembeault at $7,800. I think Montembeault might be popular tonight, but I actually like the opposite side of that matchup and getting to Cam Talbot at $7,600. For someone to punt in net, I don't mind Spencer Knight at $7,200 but would not play Arvid Soderblom if the Hawks went in his direction instead.

Good luck tonight everybody!  

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