Good day, all! Last night I played a Winnipeg top line with Nashville's top line and somehow cashed despite Igor Shesterkin three goals on 25 shots. I had a Florida double-defensemen that saved me to land at that sweet 102^nd place. Printing $1.50 wins at this point. Yes, hi. I'd like the Benz in red please.

I love this slate tonight…so much so, you guys are getting a bonus game in the Slate Preview. I can tell you all I'm going multiple-entry and hoping that I have the magic sauce on my builds because there's at least four paths to victory that I can see that jumped right off the page at me. As much as I'd love to get to Columbus going up against Anaheim on a back-to-back for the Ducks, this might lean more of a chalky slate for me and I'm here for it. Plus, I'm getting together with friends for hockey night, so I'm excited for this slate. Now, granted it's watching the Blackhawks, but there willbe enough MacBooks and another TV for the rest of the games. No time to waste, let's jump in!

Slate Preview

Toronto Maple Leafs

The 'Hawks are on the road so immediately that game gets a little star by it. Sorry, but thems the rules. While I'll be watching in either my Wrigley Winter Classic sweater or the black sweaters that they brought back (thank you, 'Hawks), this is a Leafs game for me. If David Alter's lines from yesterday are correct then we're looking at a fully correlated top line of Matthew Knies ($5,700) – Auston Matthews ($9,200) – William Nylander ($7,200), going up against a Blackhawks club that doesn't play out of this world on the road and can't stay out of the box. What am I missing, exactly? Sure, Spencer Knight has been great this season but has cooled off slightly since late November. I watched parts of the last game these two played against each other, and unless Colton Dach scores another late third period goal to put Chicago in front, I'm leaning Toronto. If the top line is too expensive and you want some sort of two-man stack or add in John Tavares at $6,700 I'm fine with that as this is a good spot for the Leafs who,odds are,will be a popular play.

Boston Bruins

Boston night? Boston night. Let's talk B's! Boston will be on home ice at the…is it TD Garden? Either way, home tonight and that's a good thing when we talk Bruins as this club currently has a top five home record so far on the season and will be going up against a Utah club that has had some issues in net. I searched Karel Vejmelka to check his stats and while some of the splits weren't stellar, one positive for him is that in the picture that comes up on Google/Copilot when you search him, he looks like a Bond villain and that's pretty sick. Anyways, back to Boston. This top line is where I'm interested David Patrnak drawing back on to the top at $8,300 along with Morgan Geekie ($6,400) and Elias Lindholm at $4,100. With Lindholm's price a little bit lower, it offers you the opportunity to match this line with some decent options, one of which is throwing them in with the Joel Eriksson Ek ($6,200) – Matt Boldy ($7,600) line along with Jesper Wallstedt in net. Every now and again, slates offer us good options for pairing lines, and when they do, I like to take note and consider them. In single-entry or above, Boston should be considered tonight.

Edmonton Oilers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Edmonton has bad goaltending. Pittsburgh has bad goaltending. Edmonton had bad goaltending…and hey, so did Pitt. See what I did there? Look, I'd have interest in Tristan Jarry against Stuart Skinner and his visa issues even if these two weren't involved in a trade together last week. You're telling me I can go up against the netminders that these clubs shot against in practice day…and both the Edmonton top line and Pittsburgh top lines are fully correlated? I guess sure, you have to pick a side for single entry and if that's the case I lean the line with the better player inConnor McDavid, but in multiple entries, I'm getting a lineup with each side in my mix and going from there. Look, sometimes in hockey there's that factor of a player coming back and playing against their old club and maybe there's some extra giddy up there or it's Chris Kreider not knowing how to get onto the rink at MSG last night. I'm putting my chips in that these goaltenders are who they have been this season and that either side (or both), dine on that.

Colorado Avalanche

So, I have been waiting very patiently to put a lineup in against the Kraken who have far and away had the worst penalty kill in the NHL the past month and the time has come. Now, Colorado is going to be expensive tonight, and spoilers, the rest of the season as well, but they are the best line on the board in arguably the best or second-best spot. Sometimes with Colorado we get caught in a spot to where they are just too expensive to roster with another line and when that happens, we're usually put in a corner of pairing them with cheaper one-offs, which seldom works out. Tonight though, there's a couple dance partners that we can throw with the Avalanche, first would be the Calgary top line that will skate together at all strengths of Morgan Frost ($4,300) – Jonthan Huberdeau ($4,600) – and Matt Coronato ($4,900), going up against San Jose. The second would be the opposing top line in this game that also has full correlation in Eeli Tolvanen ($3,700) – Matty Beniers ($4,900) – Jordan Eberle ($4,700). If the Avs want to play high event tonight then maybe the Seattle top-line isn't a bad selection out of the two, but I'm playing this as throwing in two Colorado lineups into my mix with pairs of each. I typically don't like to use an anchor line in more than three lineups, but this Colorado team is playing well enough that two is perfectly fine with me. I'm doing what I can to try and roster Colorado on most slates and have been waiting for the perfect time to go against Seattle. Stars aligned.

Defense

Top of the leader board here at Augusta National is Cale Makar at $8,200 that I would have interest in with some sort of Colorado two-man stack. I love Quinn Hughes at $7K but my price point might be slightly lower on tonight's slate. I'm all in on Moritz Seider under $6K as well as the defenseman right below him in Rasmus Andersson, who has been above 12 DK points in his last five games. Noah Dobson sitting at $5,200 is a good option going up against the Flyers tonight with his price remaining steady. I had interest in Jonas Brodin at $3,300 but would watch to see if he is indeed in the Wild lineup tonight. Ben Chiarot at $3,100 isn't in a bad spot and at that same price my guy Jake McCabe is someone I have circled. For a sub-$3K option I like Ian Moore for Anaheim. Hey, he blocks shots.

Goalies

I like any Colorado goaltender tonight at $8,400. Will I have the salary to roster them? That's a hard no but still don't mind clicking them into my lineup. If you're not on the Minnesota Wild train tonight then Logan Thompson is good at $7,900 and right below his price, Jeremy Swayman at $7,800 is good with me. Jesper Wallstedt is priced at $7,500…I'll happily take that price for him right now holding the best goals saved above average the past month of the season. For a cheaper-ish option I'd lean whoever gets the start for Calgary between Devin Cooley or Dustin Wolf at $7,300.

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

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