Good day to all! I, for the first time in a long time, did not set a lineup last night and checked in on the Blackhawks for maybe a minute or two in the second period, then closed my laptop, and fell asleep. Sometimes stepping away from the grind isn't all bad, but let's hop right back in on a loaded slate tonight!

Slate Preview

Washington Capitals

I can't get the Capitals four-goal win over Carolina back in November out of my head here, and while I'm usually a Hurricanes truther in DFS, I'm finding myself on the other side of this matchup. I'm not even looking at the Capitals for a power play stack tonight, as Washington's goals-for at even strength have been near the top of the NHL for the past four weeks, along going 8-1-1 in their last ten games. For me in my single-entry lineup, if I'm going to Washington, it does get a little pricey with Jakub Chychrun up at $7,400, but if John Carlson is out,he'll likely play slightly more than he already does. You could make a three-man stack of Chychrun, Alex Ovechkin ($7,400), Dylan Strome ($6,200) and then even add Connor McMichael for $4,200 if you want to go Caps heavy for a four-man stack. 

New York Islanders

Tonight is a 13-game slate. That's a lot of clubs and among those in action we have Toronto, Tampa Bay, Vegas, Colorado, Edmonton, and Dallas. So, what better time to talk Islanders! Why does this always happen with the Isles being intriguing on large slates? Where is this club on a Monday or Wednesday four-gamer? Regardless, let's talk New York. The Islanders currently sit at 37 points on the season…Tampa Bay, who I guarantee will have higher roster numbers sit at 36. Maybe, just maybe, the Islanders are…good? They're going to be going up against an Anaheim team that since November is short-handed the fifth most in the NHL and in their last ten games have the most high danger goals against on the penalty kill, all while starting a backup in net. I don't mind going double-center and playing Mathew Barzal ($5,600), Bo Horvat ($6,500), and Matthew Schaefer on the blueline at $5,500. If I roster the Isles, I'm not leaving off Schaefer as his creating offense at all strengths has been excellent, so if you do roster this club, I'd make sure he's in your lineup.

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado doesn't have a home loss yet on the season and we're getting close to Santa coming down the chimney. Now, granted they don't have many road losses to account for either, but the Avalanche are going to welcome a Panthers team on the back end of a road back-to-back. The only issue I'm running into here is price, as now Nathan MacKinnon is over $10K on the season so the most I would do with this club is some sort of two-man stack with MacKinnon and Cale Makar at $8,200. If you pair these two and add in someone like Dan Vladar in net at $7,100 then that leaves you a little over $4K in available spend and this being a large slate, you have options on how to go about filling in the rest of your roster. Mason McTavish ($4,100), Beckett Sennecke ($3,700) as a two-man is one option, Jamie Benn under $4K for Dallas exposure is fine, and maybe add in Andrew Copp at $3K at the second center could work as he has six points in his last four games. Stepping back…I kinda like the way that lineup looks! This is what happens when you start to play with buttons, so to speak.  

Defensemen

Short list for defensemen for me tonight, with my number one being Quinn Hughes at $6,900. Hey, roster him and you get to root for him along with SN so they can get another 15 segments on trade speculation. You guys know he's related to not one, but TWO players on the Devils? Crazy, right? I like Matthew Schaefer with or without an Islanders stack;I think he makes for a good play as a mid $5K option. Someone in my salary league texted the group with, "Did you guys know that Darren Raddysh is awesome?"…yes he is, and he's $4,600 on this slate. I like Brent Burns who weirdly has a bunch of game winning goals for the Avs sitting at $3,900 and at that same price I also have interest in Tomas Harley for the Stars. For sub-$3K tonight I'd go with Josh Manson who did create a fair amount of offense in the Avalanche last game against Nashville.

Goalies

Got money for the Avalanche starter? Well, there's your netminder then! I typically don't spend up in net but I do like Ilya Sorokin at $8,100becausehe's going to see a very good amount of volume tonight and volume is king. Logan Thompson at $7,500 is a real possibility for me tonight, he's priced at a decent number to afford to roster him and right below that number at $7,400, I like Thatcher Demko if he gets the start tonight in a favorable home matchup at home against Buffalo.

That's it for now, good luck tonight everybody!  

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