Good day to all my DFS folks! I played an Ottawa Senators top line double-center stack yesterday and didn't cash…this was all while watching the Dallas Stars versus Washington Capitals game. Here in the States, for some reason, the TNT game is just never really entertaining. We need to give Wayne and Hank something better to talk about on the intermission show!

I like this slate tonight and usually when I check the board for the first time there's different stats, I like to look at but parts of tonight's board that jumped out to me were more eye test and feel on where I might go. Sometimes, that's all you need to fill out a lineup.

Slate Preview

Calgary Flames

Okay, so the other day I was on the Boston Bruins while tonight I might be playing against them and here's why: The B's are coming off a long west coast road trip and at some point I'd think the "let down" game would happen. This is a club that hasn't been back on home ice since December 23^rd, and hey, maybe tonight is the night the air comes out of the balloon after being gone for so long. Because I didn't have any concrete evidence that a let-down game is coming tonight after a long road trip out west, I did what you would do in the year 2026 – ask AI. Problem is that Copilot zagged and went the other way, stating that recent evidence suggests the opposite, and cited the 2022 Bruins. Now, that team won 65 games and eye-test was one of the best clubs I'd seen in a while at the time, they could have won a game back in Boston returning from a road trip in southeast Asia if they wanted to. What does AI know, anyways? Even though it did also cite the Hawks west coast road trips from back in the day…the "Circus Trips", Hawks fans will know what I'm talking about right around American Thanksgiving time. Anyway, I'll take Calgary here but really this is a spot to where I want my filler plays. I don't mind maybe a Mikael Backlund ($4,200) – Blake Coleman ($4,200), each with over 30 shots on goal in their last ten games. This is a spot I'll take pieces from in single-entry to help fill a roster, and of course, in multi-entry it depends on the contest size. 20-max, I'm sure you'll get some shares and I'm fine with that if they sneak their way into your mix.

Detroit Red Wings

I watched the entire Vancouver versus Buffalo game the other night…I had family friends at the game, otherwise I'm not sure that game gets the main screen. Just eye test here, there have been so many games recently where the Canucks look just flat out like one of the bottom teams (if not the bottom), club in the league despite whatever the record shows. Don't take the score of that game on Tuesday to heart either, Vancouver scored twice right at the end of regulation but for the majority of that contest it was all Buffalo running the play. For that, give me Detroit tonight and if I'm going anywhere, it's probably the second line so that I can play two of our Olympians, Alex DeBrincat ($7,400) and Patrick Kane ($5,500). I know the middle part of that sentence isn't correct, but it should be, if you ask me. You can remove Andrew Copp from that stack and add in Dylan Larkin at $7,100 if you want or even add in a couple of cheaper wingers that add up to around Larkin's salary for a nice 4-3-1 build. In single-entry I'm very interested in the Wings despite their power play correlation and do think this is a good spot to create a unique build around them in tournaments tonight.

Columbus Blue Jackets

All abord the Jackets train tonight! Now, I almost never stack going into Vegas, and I know that in the past I have told you all to avoid doing so as well…this is like the scene in Matrix where Trinity tells Morpheus that he told her to stay off the highway, "Now let us hope, I was wrong". Do 2000's movie quotes randomly pop into your guy's heads as well? Just me? Okay, anyways, I do like Columbus a fair bit in my single-entry tonight, and it has everything to do with the Vegas defense and goaltending. In the past month at even strength, Vegas ranks second-worst in shots against and in net, Carter Hart has been bottom five in the league at goals saved above average and even strength save percentage. I also like what Columbus offers as far as builds tonight, if you want to roster the fully correlated top line, I like that play and might be on the front lines with you if that's the case. I can also get behind the second line, and hey, it's a large slate to where sometimes we need a filler third line, and Columbus offers just that. Boone Jenner and Sean Monahan looked great together on Tuesday night and could make for a nice piece to go along with a stack elsewhere.

Defense

Hey, speaking of Columbus! If you add Zach Werenski at $9K to your Jackets build, it might really differentiate your lineup to set you apart from the rest of the field. I'm good with Roman Josi at $6,200 as he's been shooting more in the past month, and right below his price, I could see playing Rasmus Andersson at $6K. Noah Hanifin is going to play a boatload of minutes tonight at $5K, he had an assist on Sunday night' tilt against the Hawks and should be a fine play right in the middle price range. Aaron Ekblad is still a decent player to roster with the injuries to the Florida blueline at $4,400, Sean Walker at $4K is also a solid move, and for a cheaper d-man, I'll say Andrew Peeke down below $3K at $2,700.

Goalies

For me, my spend-up option tonight would be John Gibson at $8,300 going into a good matchup at home, but I do think tonight might be one where I won't have the salary to spend up to an above $8K amount. That said, right at $8K, I don't mind Jesper Wallstedt. Ilya Sorokin looked great on Tuesday, I don't mind him at $7,800 and Joseph Woll might be a solid start tonight on the road at $7,600. For a cheaper option…ride the lightning with me tonight folks, Jet Greaves at $7K. Lock and load.

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

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