My DFS friends…we, are, BACK! For those new here, welcome in! I help you make money (through DFS), along with sound financial decisions (normally squeezing in Vegas2). I'm so excited to be back talking DFS, there's no time to waste…gentlemen, start your…I guess optimizers if you use those?

Slate Preview

Boston Bruins

I watched all the Boston/Washington game last night going back-and-forth with the NLDS, and this game really got interesting at the beginning of the third period. Penalties didn't help the Capitals, but regardless, the Boston top line looked good out there together. At the beginning of the season, we don't have much to go off as far as stats or even eye test but seeing Boston's top line create offense was encouraging enough for me to put them into the mix. Plus, they go up against a Hawks team on the road who at points last season would lose ten or more games on the road in a row. I'm not going to overthink attacking this Blackhawks club, Boston's top line is in my mix for tonight.

Philadelphia Flyers

It’s a 14-game slate tonight, which means that there's going to be plenty of ways to have a unique build for a lineup and that's where Philadelphia comes into play. I don't have much interest in the top line, or really even any of the depth; my interest is focused completely on the second line of Travis Konecny – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett. This is a good line that if they stay together, will skate at even strength and on the power play which, whenever I see that, I circle it. I really like this line for the offense that they can bring, and if Zegras can work with these two wingers then this may be a line we target more often as the season goes on. For now, Philly might be a squad that is getting overlooked taking on the Panthers, so I don't mind going here to set your lineup on a unique path towards cash.   

Colorado Avalanche

Again, we don't have too much that we can go off to start the season but I'm looking at the Avs as a possibility tonight. I don't take much stock in the NHL preseason, but Utah caught my eye as a club that didn't play as well for a club that many are picking to be a surprise in the West. Granted, this is preseason, but I'll take any little nugget of information that I can in the early going. Last season I didn't do great in completely overloading a stack, but I think that's what you're going to have to do tonight if you're looking to stack the Avs. Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas is a fully correlated top line, so if you're going to play one, play them all. You can even add in another forward from this team for a 4-3-1 build to get over the field on anything Colorado tonight. Colorado is going to be a popular pick on any night so I would stay away from a MacKinnon one-off or even a Cale Makar one-off if you can help it. I haven't built my lineup yet because work is being its usual end of the week self, but for me, it's putting most of my chips in the middle tonight if I'm going to be stacking Colorado.

Defensemen

Cale Makar is at the top of the board today at $7,600 which is a manageable price for him, but if I'm spending up on a defenseman I'd go down $1k and to Rasmus Dahlin. I also think that you can even spend just a little less roster MacKenzie Weegar at $6,400, for a good spend-up d-man. Jake Sanderson might not be a bad play at $5,900 and slightly below him in price, I don't mind Travis Sanheim at $5,600. Lane Hutson at $5,100 is an intriguing play, but that's dependent on the health of Noah Dobson; if Noah is out then you can have a share of Hutson, but if they blueline is healthy than I might look elsewhere. Charlie McAvoy is at a decent price at $5k which helps in any Boston build, along with Nick Seeler at that same price for the Flyers. From there we hit a drop of interchangeable defensemen, until we get to Jared Spurgeon at $4,400. What I like about this slate is the punt-defense options that we have, particularly Andrew Peeke and Zach Whitecloud. Both are at $3,200 and both should see plenty of ice time tonight.

Goalies

Thatcher Demko is at the top of the list at $8,500…going to pass there, sorry Thatcher. I'll happily save some money and look more right under that $8k range with Igor Shesterkin sitting at $7,800. Although the Rangers lost their first game 3-0, Igor only let in one of those goals on a tough angle shot. Connor Hellebuyck is at home below $8k, so that's an automatic circle/star/highlight. I'll look at rostering Hellebuyck at home under that price any day, and if this season goes like last, he somehow rarely gets above the $8k mark. I'm making one lineup (for now), but I don't hate going with Jacob Markstrom at $7,300, at that price in a matchup to where he'll see volume, I can do a lot with my build around him. For a cheap option tonight, it's probably Spencer Knight at $7,200 but he might be a popular play given his price and the way he played against the Panthers on opening night…or opening afternoon depending on where you live.   

Good luck tonight everybody!  

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