Welcome back to DFS Thursdays! Looking back on Tuesday we nailed out Vancouver pick against the Hawks. Hit on Nashville, but at least in my tournaments everyone else had a similar idea. I just got my entry fees back but hey, we take those. We have a fun little nine-gamer tonight so let's see what the slate has to offer.

Slate Preview

Minnesota vs Tampa

When I went up and down this slate for the first time I passed this game up, but then circled back as something in my memory reminded me that Tampa Bay I thought ran circles around this Wild team last time they played each other. The only reason this would ever stand out is because I was probably on one side or the other here in DFS that night and it turns out I wasn't recalling some random game on NHL23 last year, Tampa really did beat up Minnesota bad 7-3 last January and actually beat them 4-1 prior to that meeting. Tonight, we have Minnesota coming off a big win vs Florida, and I'm leaning the Tampa side here.

The problem with Tampa, Brandon Hagel ($5,100) is affordable, now on power play one, and of course is coming off a hat-trick, he's going to be a pretty popular play. If want to attack this game, I almost feel as though the top line is the way to go and that gets me to a very pricey Nikita Kucherov ($9,400) and Jake Guentzel ($7,200). I definitely have interest here, but a two-man stack would be about as far as I would go. Even if you wanted to add Victor Hedman ($6,500), you can if you have the funds available because this may be a slate were running one expensive defenseman and one cheap option could make sense.    

For Minnesota, I'd really just want the top line here if I was going to go in this direction. Really any line with Kirill Kaprizov ($8,900) is where I'd want to be if I'm playing Minnesota, but this may be a Tampa Bay game for me.

Dallas vs Boston

I'm not sure if the word is out yet on the B's, but we targeted Boston on the road in Nashville on Tuesday and that worked out for us. Tonight, I might be going right on back and playing some Dallas on the road and for me I could get behind the Dallas top line or even dropping down and playing pieces of the second line. Jason Robertson ($6,400) has gone down in price throughout the season so even if you want to take him as a one-off play, I think that's fine here. Even if you wanted to make this a power play stack you can as Boston still leads the league in times shorthanded, but for me, just getting pieces of the top six may be a good fit for my lineup tonight.

For Boston and speaking of one of plays, you guys know the deal by now. There is a player for Boston named David Pastrnak ($8,800). He is good at professional hockey. Want to play him? Go right on ahead, I'm never going to tell anyone who wants to put him in a lineup otherwise.

Colorado vs Utah

Oh here we go, this could be the main event of the night right here. First on the Colorado side, this is a team that's now won three games in a row, and even prior to that had some losses, but were still scoring four goals in some of those contests. If you want to full stack Colorado's top line, I may just be right there on the front lines with you tonight doing the same. The problem is, what it's going to be all season, and that's the price tag. It's $23,100 to full stack this line, so it's going to be bargain shopping to try and fit them in with something. This to me is a play where if you're three-maxing, you could have Colorado's top line be your anchor and pair them with cheap filler lines elsewhere. The Utah top line has given up their fair share of chances to start the season, so even dropping down and playing Casey Mittelstadt ($5,800) and going double-center with MacKinnon could be an interesting play.  

For Utah, this is still a Colorado team that has a goaltender in Alexandar Georgiev who's GSAA is over 50% worse than the next closest goaltender. This team can let in goals, so I don't mind the first line at all. You can take Nick Schmaltz ($5,500), Barrett Hayton ($5,000), Clayton Keller ($7,700) or Dylan Guenther ($6,200, and leading this team in SOGs), and play some combination of this group. In single entry, I don't think I'd necessarily get to Utah but 3-max and above I'd consider some exposure here.

Defensemen

Cale Makar ($8,500) is your leader in the clubhouse tonight and is $1,900 more expensive than the next closest D-man. For me I don't mind Hedman like we mentioned above if you want to pay up a little bit, but I like some plays here in the mid-tiers. Brandon Montour ($5,700) may have to do more for this club with Vince Dunn out, Moritz Seider ($5,600) has been blocking everything in sight and might have to do so tonight against New Jersey, block bot Mario Ferraro ($4,100) hit the block bonus the other night and is always in play, and Devon Toews ($3,900) is off injured reserve and makes a fine play with your Colorado stack(s). If you need a punt defenseman, Janis Moser ($3,800) is coming off a big game and has already put up a couple of them so far this season, along with Esa Lindell ($3,300) who is always there for us.

Goalies

Connor Hellebuyck is still below $8K at $7,800 and is always in play no matter what. If you're not playing Tampa tonight, Filip Gustavsson ($7,400) has been good to start the year and could help make a lineup unique.

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