Good day DFS'ers! I haven't played in a couple days, but my last lineup out featured the Kings against the Bolts in the lone game on the Lightning California road trip where they played well. Seriously. I watched the Sunday game against Anaheim and the Troy Terry line got to their spots easily.

This is weird slate here today as I think there are a couple smash spots, but the rest of these matchups look like rock fights. There are two games here today though that I'm targeting and may be building my lineup(s) around.

Slate Preview

Dallas versus NY Rangers

Oh Dallas. This team, if they're not out of gas come the later rounds in playoffs, might just make a Cup final, but I've had off and on success with them in DFS. We're in the trust tree here, I don't think I have any interest in rostering this club's top line here on this slate or moving forward. The depth though, now we're talking! Why pay up for Roope Hintz at $5,600 when we have a perfectly good Matt Duchene at $4,900 at home? I know it's' the Rangers here with Jonathan Quick in net, but I'm just off the top line for Dallas and looking to add some of the middle-six here in my builds, if there's correlation that's great, but taking pieces away from either the second or third lines are fine here tonight. Don't get me wrong, it's a good spot but I can't see myself full stacking a top line with Evgenii Dadonov at RW. If you're building a 4-3-1 lineup with, say Edmonton, or Toronto, maybe even Vegas, then I think Dallas could be where you could look to find some cheaper options to add into your mix. In single entry for me tonight, odds are I find my way to some of the Stars and if not they'll surely be on the list later in the week with Philadelphia and Montreal next on the schedule.

For the home Rangers, I can't say that their last game out versus the Hawks was a great litmus test as to where this team is at but I'm not completely shutting the door on them here. Artemi Panarin is down at $7,400 which is the lowest I've seen him since…was there a time in Columbus maybe where that number was that low? Even going back a month, Vincent Trocheck is $5,400 and almost $1K cheaper to where you could have gotten him a month ago. I like the idea of a two-man stack with these two the only problem I'm running into is that there's a team and line I like a little bit more here tonight. No spoilers here but a quick hint – This team plays in the same city as the Raptors. Still, if you're looking to pivot here tonight then maybe New York is a way to build something unique and if they can sneak a goal in you might just pass a good majority of the field in the tournament that you're in.  

Toronto versus Philadelphia

It’s hard for me to gauge the Leafs in the last month off of numbers alone, with Auston Matthews missing most of that time with a lower body, hip, back, it's never really been made clear, injury. That means we're going to eye test here for a club that I've caught a lot of including Sunday's game against these very same Flyers. This game happened two days ago and all I remember from it is Matthew Knies scoring…not too much else to report on that one from Scotiabank. Still, I like this spot here for Toronto and I think what I'm going to be doing here is full stacking line one with Matthew Knies ($4,300), Auston Matthews ($10K), and Mitch Marner ($7,800), then adding in someone from one of the depth lines, say Max Domi at $2,900. Going up against the Flyers is hit or miss depending on what lines see who, but this Toronto team without Matthews in the past month alone at even strength had the most shots for and expected goals for. I can only imagine with Matthews those numbers go up. I will say, if you want to make this a very expensive stack and add in William Nylander at $8K that's fine, as he will likely skate on both power play groups. Please note, that $8K price does not include that iPad before going in for intermission.

Now let's talk my favorite, Philadelphia Flyers. I like so many pieces on this club, but as even strength lines go, I may as well be throwing darts. Someone out there tonight is going to do just that and have a three-man stack of Owen Tippett ($4,800), Matvei Michov ($4,400), and my guy Tyson Foerster ($2,900) and somehow that's the magic lineup that ends up getting you well into cash. If you like certain players on this Flyers team, I'm not against it…but also not totally for it either. In single-entry I want to say that I'm brave enough to go there but may just stay on the Leafs side of this and go about my day. With multiple entries though, I guess I'd consider it and for those out there using optimizers, if the Flyers show up in your mix, then roll with it. For the most part across all lines the pricing is in place, it's just the unknown of how these lines could look if the Flyers get down early that has me looking elsewhere.

Defensemen

Zach Werenski is at the top of the board here at $8,500, over $1K more expensive than the next player in Roman Josi at $7,300. If I can, I will play Werenski every time, but for today I think I'll probably have to save some salary. Josh Morrissey ($6,100) going up against Nashville is in a great spot here and I also don't mind Moritz Seider at $5,800 coming off a three-assist night. Scrolling on down a bit we come across Charlie McAvoy at $4,900 with assists in each of the Bruins last three games and just below him on the other side of that matchup, I don't mind getting to Darnell Nurse at $4,900. In the $3K range, I like Thomas Harley here as well as Matt Grzelcyk and Cam Fowler, who I guess is a must play nowadays. For cheap defensemen tonight, look no further than Ty Smith ($3,200) who is still running Carolina's top power play and, who knows, might be doing the same for your favorite team later this season or next.  

Goalies

Connor Hellebuyck is at home at $8,400 against Nashville…still trying to work with the financial department to see if I can make that price work. Filip Gustavsson is going up against the Blues and myself in fantasy so go ahead and throw him in at $8,300 and sit back and enjoy the 35-save shutout. I actually don't mind Johnathan Quick here at $7,600 if I'm not adding in any Dallas to my lineup and just below him, and I think Andrei Vasilevskiy for Tampa here is at a decent price at $7,400. The cheapest that I would go to tonight would be Juuse Saros at $7K but he’ll be popular because Nashville for whatever reason still is, along with the fact that…well it's Juuse Saros, $7K for him is manageable on any slate.

Good luck tonight everybody!  

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