Good morning, everyone! How'd everyone's five game slate that became a four-game slate go yesterday? I wasn't going to throw a lineup in but right before lock thought why not and got into a three-max tournament…that if I wasn't in a hurry, would have read that it was a winner take all. One of the lineups was a B's power play stack plus Joonas Korpisalo and the thing is, I was actually in first for a good part of the night until the Bruins decided to send it to overtime versus New York. Hey, sometimes you just run into elite offenses like…the Rangers. Still, I knew my chances of cashing would have been slim even in the typical tourneys I usually play in, reason being where my score needed to be. Okay, so obviously higher score is good, but I've been at this for a while now and do like to keep track of how my lineup(s) finished along with the winning lineup and what it looked like. It sounds crazy, and honestly probably is, but I've come up with a number that I've found usually gets you into the cash and that number is 128. Sure, there are outliers to where sometimes that number can be lower and you get into the money, or higher and lose out, and some of these are tournament dependent but 128 is the number I've found over the years that is the benchmark that I try to hit.

Tonight, is a very interesting slate we have on hand, and I'll say this – I don't outright love any one spot but have found I'll say four or five that are all B minuses? It's just one of those funky slates!

Slate Preview

Detroit Red Wings

So, the Wings will be headed up against a Los Angeles Kings club that does keep the shot volume down, but it's likely Darcy Kuemper now in net with yesterday's game getting postponed and he's someone I think we can target against. In his last seven starts, he has just one win carrying a 3.55 goals against average and hey, maybe the weird travel for the Kings disrupts this club. Two seasons ago, the Vegas Gold Knights had a delayed flight coming into Dallas and if memory serves, the Stars won handily. For me, it's probably a Detroit top line night with Dylan Larkin ($6,400) – Lucas Raymond ($5,600), and you know what, I'll add in Marco Kasper at $3,200. He has six points in five games, so why not? The only issue I run into with the Wings is that it is the Kings after all, who tend to keep volume down, and I don't love only getting two players on top power play on this first line where I can find that elsewhere on this slate. If I decide to play Detroit, then my hope is like a 3-1 victory with an empty netter where I get the top line to contribute on offense.

Boston Bruins

So, first let's talk about the matchup for the Bruins. They're hosting the Nashville Predators who have given up at least three goals in a game going back to January 11^th and they do have a lower PK% in the last month so that's encouraging. What's drawing me to the Bruins is their price for the top line that fits perfect with the top lines of Detroit and Montreal, or the second lines of San Jose and Minnesota. You can even pair them with parts of the Buffalo Sabres going into a matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs where they should be able to produce at even strength. This is encouraging for playing Boston and worrisome because I imagine rostering them would be a popular spot. Still, this is not a bad spot for the Bruins, as I watched the Predators game last week against Buffalo and this is the perfect play style matchup for this club, back and forth with the Predators at 32.7 shots against per game in their last three matchups. Rostering them may be a popular pick, so I would only venture here in multiple entry. For my single-entry friends that want to roster Boston tonight but may fade them, fear not, we'll be chatting about this club later on in the week.

San Jose Sharks

I'm just telling you all right now if Vancouver is on the slate, the club they're playing is in consideration and tonight that would be the Sharks. This is also in part to the volume at which some of their skaters have been shooting and maybe some injury news. Normally, I would be all over wanting to stack the Sharks for some sort of power play correlation but this season we've seldom got that, and even if we show a correlated line going into a matchup, it typically gets split up. For me, I'm not rostering this club without Macklin Celebrini ($9,500) and I'll be adding Tyler Toffoli to that mix at $5,100. Just the pair of these two would be fine for me at the frequency at which they've hit the shot bonus in the last month of the season, but if Kiefer Sherwood draws back into the lineup tonight, then I will add him as well as he may go overlooked in making his Sharks debut and is only priced at $3,500. If you want to add in Pavol Regenda or Willam Eklund as well, I suppose that's in play but just be prepared for this stack to look a little funny when you take a step back from it. Still, this is going up against a struggling Vancouver club that may have Kevin Lankinen in net tonight. San Jose is one club that I may be looking to roster tonight and probably be asleep by the time they take the ice for the second period. Sorry, San Jose.

Defense

My ceiling is Rasmus Dahlin at $6,700 with eight points in his last eight games. I suppose Miro Hesikanen is fine as well sitting at $6,200, I don't mind him on this slate going up against St. Louis. John Carlson at $5,400 has been shooting the puck a bunch in the past month, so I'm good with him with or without a Capitals stack to pair with. Close in price, Dougie Hamilton and Noah Dobson are two d-men I have interest in tonight at $5,100 and $4,800. Brandt Clarke priced at $4,500 is alright with me and below him in price, I'd go down to Colton Parayko at $3,500, Adam Larsson $3,400, and Jake McCabe for blocks at $3,300.

Goalies

The volume for me is a worry, but I like John Gibson at $8,300, even with myself not typically spending up for goaltending. For me, either Seattle goaltender at $7,400 is alright. Just below them, I have interest in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at $7,300 but weirdly worry about volume here as well versus the Leafs. Connor Hellebuyck is below $8K…and $7,500, that could make for an interesting play, and he should see plenty of shots on goal against this New Jersey club. If you want to play Spencer Knight down at $7K I'm good with it – the Hawks' penalty kill being top five in the league in the last month of the season, but this would only be a start for me if I needed to save salary and on this slate I think can get away with spending up slightly in net.

That's it for now, best of luck tonight everybody!  

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