Good day, all! Ever have a slate where you mean to enter in a lineup, work gets busy, and then at 5:38 CST DraftKings sends you that little reminder like, "Hey…ya gonna play today?". This happened to me last night, so needless to say I did not cash…honestly, I don't even remember who I played. Dallas Stars with a Justin Herbert one-off? Maybe?

This is a wild slate we have upcoming tonight. Therearea lot of the big dogs playing tonight and fair number of goaltenders that I don't really want to go up against right now. All morning, and that includes a work meeting, I've been looking for any edge I could find on a line or team and before I change my mind, let's dive in.

Slate Preview

Montreal Canadiens

This is a going-against-a-backup-goaltender play if I've ever seen one as the Bolts may be starting *checks notes*, Brandon Halverson. I think that guy was the kicker for the Packers last season, if memory serves, but I can get behind going up against a backup with Andrei Vasilevskiy unable to go in net for Tampa Bay. This is alsoa decent spot for a sub $19-$20K top line that's going to be fully correlated on the power play, and Montreal as a whole have been good at finishing so far on the season. I can't say for certain if this is going to be a top line that gets entered into a higher number of rosters, or if they go overlooked, but if you need a pivot from Dallas, Edmonton, or Colorado, then I do think they Habs are in an alright spot. The one hesitation that I do have is that Tampa Bay hasn't particularly gotten shelled for more than three goals against as that's only happened once in their last 10games played. Still, coming off a back-to-back on the road with a backup goaltender in net, this may be a spot worth keeping an eye on.

Carolina Hurricanes

I'll come right out and say it, Carolina might be in my favorite spot of the night. Coach Kent Murphy, "Let's go ahead and break this down, from a fundamental standpoint" …the Canes offer almost everything you could want. Are they at home? Check. Fully correlated power play? Yep. Good power play matchup? Check that box. Potentially a pivot from the chalk spots? That's a possibility as well. In the last four weeks, Carolina is third in expected goals for on the power play and that's going up against a Columbus team that,in their last ten games played, is 11^th in penalties taken and carrying the fourth worst penalty kill in that timeframe. Now, I'm going to guess Jet Greaves probably gets the start in net for Columbus, but in the event it's our guy Elvis Merzlikins, then that's even better as he's allowed five or more goals in his last five starts. Not my circus, not my monkeys, but Columbus just trust me here as someone who knows how goals against work and maybe try Greaves as the full-time starter. Anyhoo, I do really like either of the Carolina top two lines tonight and whichever direction you choose may come down to cost. I do wish the top line was slightly less salary, but I'll buy in for single entry.

Dallas Stars

I tried to talk myself into the Winnipeg side of this matchup, I really did. I even went back and looked at the game sheet from game five of the Western Conference second round where Winnipeg beat Dallas 4-0 to try and persuade me to go against Dallas but I'm finding this hard to do. By PDO, shooting percentage, high danger, you name it, Dallas has been red hot and my rule in DFS is that trends are your friends. This Dallas team is even third in power play percentage in their last 10games, and while Winnipeg doesn't send a man to the sin bin often, when they do, they're fifth worst by penalty kill in their last 10games. I don't think you need to full on stack a line or power play, but maybe a combination of both, as I could just see myself taking all the forwards off the top power play for a 4-3-1 build and add in maybe say depth from Anaheim or parts of Nashville's top line, and that would still give you funds to add in Jake Oettinger in net. In single-entry, I don't love putting all my eggs in one basket, but if I go to 3-max (open that contest again up, DK) or above, I don't mind going to Dallas on this slate going up against a goaltender in Eric Comrie, who didn't even make it out of the first period in his last start.

Defensemen

My spend up option tonight would of course be Zach Werenski, but odds are I'll be somewhere a tad bit lower than the $8,400 price tag that he carries. I like Matthew Schaefer sitting at $5,500 and can get behind Dougie Hamilton at $5,300 but that would only be in play for me if the power play time was there. He's a bit pricey, but Esa Lindell is in consideration at $4,400, and that's even with his price coming it at $3,400 a week ago. Noah Hanifin is a nice pivot offShea Theodore, and my guy Brent Burns at $4K is in a good spot for the Avs. I can get behind a Justin Faulk play at $3,800 as he's been shooting the puck enough for me to want to roster him, he's usually a player that I tend to avoid in DFS. His teammate Philip Broberg is a fine play as well, as he's sitting at $3,600. I don't have many sub $3K D-men written down, but Nikita Zadorov does play a good number of minutes and usually snaps a couple shots from the point with the possibility of some blocks included in a cheaper price.

Goalies

Yeah…so I only have four goaltenders tonight that I have any interest in playing. Just one of those nights! While I can't see myself spending all the way up for a goaltender priced about $8K, I can see myself justifying it for whoever gets confirmed for Carolina. Jake Oettinger (shocker) is in my mix at $7,800–he's been very good lately and at sub-$8K will likely garner some interest. I also really like Ilya Sorokinat $7,400– he has the second-best goals saved above expected going back a few weeks and is a big reason why the Isles record is where it is now. If you were to ask me who between the Isles and Knights would have a better record on December 9^th, I probably would not have thought New York would have been just a single point behind Vegas. The last name I have written down is Jeremy Swayman at $7,300 coming off a 4-1 win against New Jersey.

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

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