Welcome back to DFS Thursday's! How'd everyone's lineups do so far this week? Following Tuesday's slate I was juuust out of the money, but was only in a low dollar tourney last minute. Nailed my Dallas third line pick, along with Jake Middleton and even plugged the right Columbus players…not named Elvis Merzlikins. We got a cool 11-game slate tonight with a couple nice spots I think we can target here.

Slate Preview

Ottawa vs New Jersey  

Initially when I did a couple quick passes on this slate, I was thinking that I would be more on the side of targeting against Green automotive and the Sens, but as I dove in, I surprisingly changed my thought process here. My thoughts went from trying to stack against the Josh Norris line but so far in a very limited sample size, I don't mind getting in a track meet against the Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes lines for New Jersey, in particular the Jesper Bratt – Jack Hughes – Timo Meier line that has the fourth highest goals against per 60 as things stand right now.

Even more intriguing here, New Jersey has the highest xGA at all strengths as a team right now and this is a club that has already played more games than most any other club given their two games to open in Europe against the Sabres to start the season. If you do go to the Ottawa side of this game, I don't think I'd go all in on a power play stack or want to get parts of the depth lines, I'd focus more on say a Brady Tkachuk – Tim Stutzle two-man stack ($14,700 combined). If you want to add Jake Sanderson ($5k) as a defensemen you can, but this is a rare slate where I actually like a lot of defensive options tonight.  

On the New Jersey side, if you want to take parts of the top six I wouldn't disagree with it. The Devils are the only team right now that have kept two offensive lines together in over 50 minutes of ice time so maybe the familiarity helps in this situation. Still, this might be a spot in any field tournament that picking the road Senators might be a unique play.

Montreal vs Los Angeles

The Montreal top line of Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafkovsky is getting run out of the rink right now. In all offensive lines with at least 30 minutes played together this group is over a full goal ahead of the next closes team at expected goals against per 60. That said, time to play the Kings with a lot of our closest friends here tonight. The Kings top line of Alex Laferreiere ($3,600) – Anze Kopitar ($6,300) – Adrian Kempe ($6,900) is going to play together at even strength and on the man advantage. This is going to be a popular line tonight, but you can mix and match here if you wanted to attack Montreal. You can take the two top wingers on the top line plus Kevin Fiala ($5,900) and make it a three-man or possibly go double-center with Kopitar and Phillip Danualt ($4,200). The question here is if you're playing LA, how much do you want exposure to in your lineup? I think tonight given the slate size there's ways to get different, but for my money, taking parts of this Kings team may be the way to victory tonight. Between this game and the Ottawa/New Jersey game above, this could be a night where you'll know if you're in the money or not by around 8pm Central.

Vancouver vs Florida

Last season either of the Florida top lines were almost always in play and there's a chance here that we get to that point again this season. For tonight though, I'll really consider Florida if Vancouver decides to go with Artus Silovs in net, who is sporting a -3.57 GSAA, good for fourth worst in the NHL. In the event the Canucks turn to Kevin Lankinen that changes my approach to this game for sure, but Florida is a team that I'll never say don't go out and play.

For Vancouver here, I can see them potentially ending up with not very high roster numbers for tonight. I don't know if I would get to them if I'm only playing one lineup, but in three I might give them some consideration. You can take a two man off of either top line, and I don't really mind Vancouver's third line as a filler as Connor Garland ($3,900) looked good in their last game against Tampa, along with his linemate Nils Hoglander ($3,200).

Defensemen

There's so much to like on the blue line tonight, rarely do I suggest a double-defensemen but if you want to take both Capitals top defensemen in John Carlson ($6,400) and Jacob Chychrun ($4,200) I think it's a decent play and one that would set you on a very unique path against any field. Jaime Oleksiak ($3,100) for the Kraken has been a great option early, and don't really mind if you have the money to spend up to Brandon Montour ($5,400) or even Vince Dunn ($5,100) to go in that direction.

On the expensive side, Zach Werenski ($7k) has 17 shots on goal to start the season, along with two points. One possible play here would be to potentially play him as a one off defensemen in a 4-3-1 DFS build and pair him with a cheaper defenseman.

Goalies

I was hoping that this wouldn't be a night where I play three lineups with the same goalie in each, but the more I look at it, the more I'm tempted to play Andrei Vasilevskiy ($7,800) in multiple lineups or even in single entry. Other than Vasilevskiy, if you're not playing any Kings and want to fit in Sam Montembeault ($6,900) is another goaltender to potentially target.

For continued fantasy news and notes, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz.