Good day to all my DFS people out there! If I sound different right now, it's only because I'm coming off a big time 41^st place finish for a $2.50 reward. Hey, we take those! I played Washington's top line and outside of Dylan Strome, that line was again very good as they've been in their 50 minutes together leading up to yesterday's tilt against St. Louis.

Today is funny slate, there's matchups that I have interest in attacking a certain side, but there's also a lot of line shakeups that are keeping me away. Today just might be one of those slates where we look up at who took down your tournament and the winning lineup may just be throwing darts than anything.

Slate Preview

Montreal Canadiens

I wanted to play some Carolina going up against the Wild at home…and Carolina shifts their lines up. Okay fine let's pivot to New Jersey if Sam Montembeault starts…and the Devils mix up their lines. Alright, let's go to Buffalo against St. Louis, or maybe Los Angeles…closed doors everywhere I look tonight. For that, I'll look at one of the best lines on the slate in Montreal's top line.

I like this line for multiple reasons tonight, first being that they have led the Habs in shots for at even strength and are fully correlated come power play time. The Devils are right in the middle of the pack when it comes to minors taken, but with all the line shakeups on this slate, I'll take a fully correlated group where I can get it. The other reason I'm digging Montreal tonight is their price, as Cole Caufield (On Wisconsin) and Nick Suzuki are at their usual $7k and above pricing, but you can add Juraj Slafkovsky at $4,700 and have the spending to get creative with your stack. Tonight, if you spend up, there's cheap one-offs here and there, but full stacking Montreal's top line, plus Jakub Dobes, still leaves you with enough salary to add in Pittsburgh's top line along with them. In my single-entry, Montreal is on a pretty short list of stacks that I'm interested in tonight, and if they sneak into multiple entry or optimizers, then I wouldn't sway you in another direction.

Ottawa Senators

I can maybe dip my toes in the water here for Ottawa, and in part it's because how hot that top line has been running. In their last five games Tim Stutzle has nine points, Drake Batherson has 11, and Jake Sanderson on defense has six points. This is also going to Boston to face a Bruins club that has taken the most minor penalties so far this season and has the second highest expected goals against on the penalty kill, only edging out San Jose. This might not be a spot where I would attack even strength like it would be going at say St. Louis or Nashville, but one where I can get a line that's running hot going up against a club that has been shown the door to the box more often than any other club in hockey right now. I don't know if I make Ottawa a priority but sometimes, I like to build my lineups with three forwards from the same club, a one-off, and then two forwards and one defenseman from the same team. Ottawa fits that last mold perfectly and if you like the Sens here tonight and want to add Nick Cousins, I suppose that's fine but to me that would be entirely price driven.

Dallas Stars

Last night when I started looking at this slate, I circled the Stars, and it sort of goes against my "trends are your friends" mantra going up against the Anaheim Ducks at home. What drew me towards Dallas though isn't their play for the entire season, but in the past two weeks alone as this power play has been good with the Stars collecting the most goals for (nine) over that time period and that also comes with the highest high danger chances for on the man advantage. Add that with a fully correlated Dallas top line and that gives me enough to want to go up against an Anaheim club that's been the kings of volume lately. Now, this build is going to be expensive with all of the Dallas top-line members coming in over $7k, but there are enough depth lines to where I could feel comfortable stacking them in a line. In single-entry, they may make my lineup and if so, then I'm adding a piece from their blue line and fingers crossed Jake Oettinger in net. Again, this gets expensive, but there's enough decent depth lines on the slate tonight that I can mix and match Dallas with third lines from St. Louis, Los Angeles, or even New Jersey.

Defensemen

Top of the leaderboard at Augusta today is Roman Josi…who is hurt, so that pivots us to Dougie Hamilton at $6,500. I don't really want to spend up for New Jersey on the blue line, but below him at $6,400 is Jake Sanderson who I'm high on tonight. I played Jakub Chychrun last night and would go right back to the table tonight at $5,900, and if I'm playing Washington, I'm making it a point to add him into a stack. Miro Heiskanen sitting at $5,600 would be a play I'll make if I do indeed decide to full on stack the Dallas top line, or Thomas Harley at $5,200 if you need to save some coin. Charlie McAvoy at $5k is a decent price for me and while he didn't come up in my research last night, I can see myself adding in Jacob Trouba at $4,600. From here, we have the usual suspects in a row. Colton Parayko ($4,500), Sean Walker ($4,400), Mike Matheson ($4,300), and Noah Hanifin now back in the lineup at $4,200. If you really need someone cheap tonight, I'd look at Jake Middleton at $2,900.

Goalies

I have a pretty short goaltending list tonight and will start by saying that if I can get up to Jake Oettinger at $8,500, I will and that's coming from someone who rarely spends up for goaltending. It doesn't look like Alex Lyon is going to start for the Sabres, but if he does in fact guard the net, then I'm alright with him at $8,100. I'm in on Jakub Dobes at $7K but buyer beware, at that price he is going to be a very popular pick. I will say for me, if I'm pivoting off Dallas, then Lukas Dostal down at $6,900 would be someone that I'd have some interest in tonight.

Looking forward to this slate tonight and seeing you all out on the DFS streets along with me. Good luck tonight everybody!  

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