DFS Saturday: Leafs and Habs Are Easy Builds

Andrew Santillo

2025-04-05

Good morning, all! We got a decent slate ahead of us tonight, team wise that is. The start times might be a little wonky, but I like the clubs we have on the board tonight. With that, let's see if we can't win a little money before the regular season ends.  

Slate Preview

Toronto

We're already into April, but have we had a good ole fashioned Toronto takes down the slate night? Two years ago, this happened about every other day, I remember because it was the easiest lineup build I've ever done in the 30 or 40 years I feel like I've been at this.

Toronto caught my eye because of the matchup at even strength, but more so on the power play. Going back a month, or a little less than 20 games, the Blue Jackets have the second worst expected goals on the penalty kill along with the second most high danger chances against and scoring chances against. With that said, I think it could very well be Toronto top line night. We're so back.

The Leafs are going to be popular because A) It's the Leafs, and B) It's the Leafs going up against Columbus, so if you want to get over the field and add John Tavares ($7,300) and William Nylander ($7,500), that's fine. Even going to that second line and mixing in Auston Matthews is fine, but really any way that you can get different on this build is in play. Rarely does an entire power play get on the score sheet in a single game, but there's a good chance that the Leafs can get there at even strength as well. I understand that this club is going to run up the price quickly, so in single-entry it's a decision that I'm alright with walking away from, but in MME they have to be in the conversation tonight.

Colorado

I watched a good portion of that Colorado game Thursday night against the Jackets, and it was a competitive game for about seven minutes in the first period then it was all Colorado. I smartly played the Avalanche, which was fun, but threw them in with cheap Tampa players which was…well, I mean on paper it was smart?

Tonight, I'm here for going back in on the Avalanche and if I do just that in my single-entry then I'm doing exactly what I did on Thursday with some sort of broken stack. Nathan MacKinnon is going into the stew regardless at $9,500 but I don't mind throwing in Artturi Lehkonen at $5,000 and maybe Ross Colton at $3,200 along with this duo. If you decide to stack Colorado and have salary leftover, then I don't mind at all spending up to another higher-priced Avalanche forward or saving the money and taking a cheaper defenseman on this club. I like this club more and more going into the playoffs and I like them tonight as well.

Montreal

This isn't a Montreal play as much as it is a going against the Flyers play. I feel for ya Philly, but if there's money to be got tonight from Montreal than I'll be on that side. Plus, I mean, you guys still have a Super Bowl in your back pocket, so that's at least something?

If I'm playing Montreal, the top line stands out because they are going to get me plenty of time on ice along with the trio being fully correlated on the top power-play unit. All that said, I don't think that going to the Habs for a depth line is a bad play here at all or even grabbing a cheaper defenseman. If you wanted to maybe throw my guy Brendan Gallagher ($3,900) into the mix or even Josh Anderson ($3,100), that's not a bad move at all. In single entry I'm really considering throwing them into my mix, and I would imagine the same goes for 3-max. Anything higher than that would be a case to where I would want to have some exposure to the top line at the very least.

Defensemen

Cale Makar is $8K and is a solid play but below him at $7,800 is Zach Werenski who has really cooled off with the goal scoring since around the beginning of last month. Lane Hutson is still at a price I would play him at $5,100 but on the other side of that matchup I could see getting to Travis Sanheim at $4,700 who is very much live for the block bonus tonight. Brent Burns is good at $4,600 but more so wanted to shout him out because he just passed Patrick Marleau for the Iron Man streak at 911 games, now three shy of fourth all time. Just had to give a quick shoutout, that's an unbelievable accomplishment. Devon Toews for a cheap Avalanche d-man is great for any Colorado stack; I'll have him in my mix if I go in that direction. Cam Fowler at $4,000 will likely be playing above 20 minutes tonight, I don't mind him for that reason, and he's been on a good roll as of late. Chris Tanev is a decent punt tonight at $3,300 along with Nikita Zadorov at $3,100.

Goalies

My ceiling tonight is probably either Colorado goaltender at a cool $8,000. They'll see volume from this St. Louis team and this could be a night where volume is king. In the opposite crease, I could be talked into either St. Louis starter, but for my money I'll likely either stay on the Colorado side of that matchup or look elsewhere, but if they end up in your mix, I could be alright with that. Karel Vejmelka is a decent play at $7,300 and to be honest, that might be the end of the line for me. I can't say I'd be gassed up to play any of the cheaper options on tonight's slate.

Good luck tonight everybody!  

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

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UPCOMING GAMES

Oct 07 - 17:10 FLA vs CHI
Oct 07 - 20:10 NYR vs PIT
Oct 07 - 22:10 L.A vs COL

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
SAM RINZEL CHI
ZACH BENSON BUF
CLAYTON KELLER UTA
TRAVIS KONECNY PHI
JORDAN KYROU STL

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
TY YOUNG VAN
JET GREAVES CBJ
MACKENZIE BLACKWOOD COL
DARCY KUEMPER L.A
YAROSLAV ASKAROV S.J

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency VAN Players
20.2 KIEFER SHERWOOD AATU RATY DAKOTA JOSHUA
19.6 MAX SASSON JAKE DEBRUSK BROCK BOESER
19.0 PIUS SUTER NILS HOGLANDER CONOR GARLAND

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