Welcome back in, to all my DFS buds! Last night I did well on the five-gamer in thanks to the Vegas second line and the Philadelphia top line…couldn't be more opposite groups, but hey, we take the wins when we can get them. Tonight is a funky slate, because when I originally went through each game, I had an idea of where I wanted to attack, but diving in further I'm starting to look elsewhere. I had originally put a star next to the Washington Capitals who will play the Seattle Kraken on a back-to-back but looking at this some more, I think there may be three other teams I like slightly over Washington…who needs to respond back to my sweater feedback. Swap the red on the torso and the white on the shoulders, and you got something.

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Edmonton Oilers

What's drawing me to the Oilers tonight? Connor McDavid only has one goal on the season so far, even with 11 points. The one goal stands out and all that could easily change going up against the Ottawa Senators here on this slate. The Oilers are probably going to see Linus Ullmark in net tonight who is worst in the league right now in Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAA) as well as Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx). That's just what to doctor ordered to fill the net. Let's just be honest with ourselves here, if we're playing Edmonton, it's going right to the top line and while I have been on this forum saying you play all three players on a line, I'm just looking to two-man Leon Draisaitl ($8,300) and McDavid ($8,800) but will likely add in a defenseman as well. If you want to build a 4-3-1 with Edmonton, I'm also good with adding in Ryan Nugent Hopkins ($5,300) with 18 SOGs so far on the season. I know it probably doesn't account too much for DFS, but the Oilers have a 15-3-2 record against the Senators in their last 20 matchups. Again, that's not something I'd lean on heavily, but on slates where I'm not 100% sure where I want my exposure, any little nugget of info can help. I don't mind the Oilers tonight in single-entry and of course in multiple lineups I'm good with them as an option.

New York Islanders

They're playing the San Jose Sharks.

Oh. Sorry. You probably want more information than that? You might think that San Jose leads the NHL in all the stats you wouldn't want to lead in at all-strengths. Things like high-danger shot attempts against (HDCA), expecte goals against (xGA), and all the not-so-great goaltending metrics we look at, and wildly enough they're advanced stats aren't great across the board but they're not outright as terrible as you'd imagine. Sometimes though friends, DFS can boil down simply games won…of which the Sharks sit at zero. I run a points pool with five friends so every morning I'm checking the standings and as much as we focus on individuals or line matching for DFS, I do take standings and previous games into consideration. This isn't like last season to where somehow the Islanders were in a good spot a couple times a week, but there's no denying that they're in a great matchup tonight. The Isles are going to be popular, so if I'm going to play them then I'm going to want to get over the field in exposure. For me, I'll just take the top power play unit and figure out my filler stack from there. I don't want the second group, and that's only because so far, the Islanders top PP unit gets around 67% of the play when on the man advantage. It's a broken even strength build but I don't mind for this slate. In my single-entry I'm 50/50 right now if they're a fade or play, but they are certainly in consideration. Even if you wanted to take pieces of the top six in a build or a two-man stack, I'm all on board with that play for the Islanders.

Florida Panthers

Okay let's just get this out of the way, Brad Marchand is coming back to Boston. We good? Okay cool now let's talk Panthers. I was not at all looking at playing Florida here tonight, but what's caught my attention are two things. First, the B's have taken the third-most penalties so far on the season behind the Minnesota Wild and my Chicago Blackhawks who feel like they get called for a trip every four minutes. At even strength, the Bruins are also third in the league in shots against (SA), fourth by xGA, and second by high-danger chances against. So even if they're not down on the PK, they're 5v5 is allowing plenty of offense, which is perfect for a club like Florida to take advantage of. The problem I run into though is just what line(s) I'm looking to play for Florida, as I can't get full correlation anywhere on the top six and they're priced at a point to where I'd feel more comfortable playing them if they had that. In single-entry they might be a hard sell, but where I think they make for a good option is in 3-max and above. If this morning we get new lines from morning skate, then they are an easy pivot, and if you're around at before lock then this could be a spot to where the lines adjust, and you can make your lineup changes accordingly. This is a 7:30 PM EST puck drops so unfortunately this one won't go off with the 7 PM starts but this could be something to watch for on the Panthers side of this matchup. I understand that this might be a hassle just to roster them, but the matchup strongly favors Florida.

Defensemen

You know it's a weird slate where I have interest in multiple defensemen. Top of the leaderboard at Augusta this week is Zach Werenski at $8,100, he makes a decent play as a one-off and I don't mind the spot for the Jackets tonight if you wanted to add him into a CBJ stack. Roman Josi at $6,600 always plays, and Jake Sanderson at $5,900 is a good option tonight even if you're fading the Senators forwards. Morgan Rielly at $5,500 is third in shots on goal per 60 minutes, so I don't mind him at all and right below him at $5,300 is Matthew Schaefer who I like with any Islanders stack. Vince Dunn should play a good amount with Brandon Montour out and Dunn is priced below $5k at $4,800 – Charlie McAvoy is just below him at $4,700 is fine as well. Jake Walman should be making his season debut for the Oilers tonight and is priced at $4,300 and maybe you can sneak him into a lineup without the casual can realizing he's active…even with him being activated Sunday. It's not a true punt, but I like Brent Burns a bit tonight at $4,200, with the lowest d-man I would play being Owen Zellweger at $3,900.

Goalies

Logan Thompson is your most expensive goaltender tonight at $8,500. I'm telling you all I can't even convince myself to pay up that high, even with a Capitals build. For me, the highest I'd go would be Scott Wedgewood at $8,100. I like the spot for Colorado, and Wedgewood so far on the early goings of this season has been one of the best goaltenders thus far. Can't say that I'm all-in on goaltenders tonight, and maybe I'm just lost because I'm not able to roster Connor Hellebuyck at $8k or below. I will say though, I'm looking at maybe Thatcher Demko ($7,800) in single-entry if I can't get up to Wedgewood in my build.

That's it for now, best of luck tonight everybody!  

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