Good morning, all! I'm going to say at 8:38 am CST that I love this slate and hopefully have that same sentiment at 8:38 pm CST. I have two spots that I have real interest in and then a game to where I may be going to get my filler stack.

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Colorado Avalanche

People who play Colorado each slate with random filler lines, how is it going? Let me rephrase that. Did you go with the A4 or went up to the SUV for the Q5? Tonight, I really like the Avalanche in this spot, but the way that I plan on building with them may not be stacking a full line altogether. With Nathan MacKinnon at the highest price point on the board tonight at $9,500, I may build around him with cheaper Colorado players and find my filler in the later games. I may do something like MacKinnon, add in Artturi Lehkonen for some top line correlation at $4,700 (also active on the second PP grouping), and then maybe go down and add maybe Ross Colton at $3,500. Along with this trio, you can add a cheaper Colorado defenseman like Devon Toews at $4,700 for a four-man stack. If I'm going with Colorado, the way I'm building is such to where I'll have the most expensive player on the board in MacKinnon but will still have money left over to either get in a mid-priced stack or expensive one-off.

Tampa Bay Lightning

I feel like we just saw this matchup against Ottawa and in it, Tampa Bay won 5-1 for an easy victory on home ice. Although tonight is on the road against a Senators club that is alright defensively at home, I do have interest in Tampa Bay, specifically on the top line. If I'm not on Colorado, then a two-man stack of Nikita Kucherov ($9,200) and Jake Guentzel ($7,500) will be where I'm going to build out my lineup. Typically, I don't like to just take two expensive forwards from a game with nothing else in my build, but adding in Kucherov who is on a nine-game point streak (with double-digit points in all but three of those games) and Guentzel on a four-game point streak, I have interest and not at all worried about the Shane Pinto line trying to slow down the Tampa top line. 

Winnipeg Jets

Usually I stay away from clubs going into Vegas, but I'm going to recommend the Jets as a pivot from the expensive stacks for one reason and that's the Vegas penalty kill, which has started to slide over the past 30 days. It's nothing alarming to where I'm running out to pay a top line stack against them, but enough so to gain my attention and want to take advantage of a struggling penalty kill. If I'm playing Winnipeg, it's no surprise where I'm going and that's right up to the top line of Kyle Connor ($6,900), Mark Scheifele ($5,700) and Alex Iafallo ($3,800). If you want to make this a four-forward stack and add in Nikolaj Ehlers at $5,600 that's fine. Even if you want to go to the blue line and add in Josh Morrissey at $5,900 that's also a decent play. The pivot tonight is that this club may just be going overlooked in an alright power play spot to where you may be able to get a unique build stacking this club on the road.

Defensemen

Cale Makar is again your leader for expensive defensemen at $7,800. I can't justify going that high up for a blueliner but if he ends up in your build, I'm never going to say he's not worth the start in your lineup. Thomas Harley makes for a great play going up against the Predators at $6,500 – he is going to get plenty of ice time and opportunities against a club that has had three brutal outings in a row going back to last Saturday. Jackson LaCombe is a maybe for me at $5,200 but I don't mind him with Anaheim stacks, as a one-off though, $5,200 is going to be too much for me. His teammate Olen Zellweger I've stayed away from for a few weeks now but can get on board with playing him on an Anaheim power play stack. The Ducks are sort of priced in a funny spot but if you're stacking them, then Zellweger makes sense. Mason Lohrei going out against the Habs is someone I have my eye on at $4,300 and I don't mind Ivan Provorov at $4K.

Goalies

I don't think I go all the way to the top for Calvin Pickard at $8,500 as I've seen enough nail-biter San Jose/Edmonton games in the past couple of seasons. Sam Montembeault's price has skyrocketed from $7,200 to $8,300, I guess that's what playing Boston does for you? I don't mind him if I'm paying up, but I think there's better options down the line. If you're not playing the Jets, then Adin Hill is fine at $7,800 at home, and on the other side of that matchup, I always have interest in Connor Hellebuyck when he is below $8K like he is tonight at $7,600. As much as I never ever (ever) play Pittsburgh, I watched the last time Tristan Jarry ($7,400) faced the Blues, where he absolutely stood on his head for 18.6 DK points. I just can't get that image out of my mind and am considering him if I need a cheaper option.

Good luck tonight everybody!  

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