Good day, to all my DFS pals! Sometimes…or well, most times, when I research a slate, I get so excited to play and even more excited to share what I'm thinking with you bunch out there. DFS is the absolute best, even when it's not…like if your Carolina top line/Minnesota second line stack with Jesper Wallstedt falls flat last night. Hey, it happens!

Tonight, I see a couple spots that might be popular but with good reason. Sometimes in a couple passes on a board, you just keep coming back to two or three games. With that, my double-shot espresso just poured, the needle just dropped on my Led Zepplin IV vinyl, let's dive in!

Slate Preview

Columbus Blue Jackets

This almost said "Winnipeg" instead of "Columbus" up top…I went back and forth on which spot I liked better but ultimately landed on Columbus, but there's a caveat to it. To my knowledge right now, the most recent line iterations of the Jackets have Cole Sillinger on the top line, Dmitri Voronkov on the third line, and a very mixed top power play unit. I went back to their most recent outing shift charts against the Utah Mammoth on Sunday and sure enough, their lines were broken apart at times to how we see them this morning. Now, if we come to either morning/optional skate or pregame and I can get a Kirill Marchenko ($6,100) – Adam Fantilli ($5,700) – Dmitri Voronkov ($4K) then I have real interest here in Columbus. The Flames have the worst road record (not by points %, that goes to Winnipeg), and Dustin Wolf has a goal against average over 4.00 in his last four games with a save percentage sitting at .975%. I like Columbus but I'm only playing them if I can get lines that are more suited for stacking and that would involve you to be around closer to lineup lock. If this game got off at 7 PM CST, then I would fade the spot, but at a 6 CST puck drop, we have the advantage to swap before the slate starts.

Edmonton Oilers

I just kept coming back to the Oilers on this slate and it probably has something to do with the 33.5 shots on goal per game in their last four outings. This is also a game that we saw a week ago and the Oilers took care of business on home ice against these same Predators with a 6-2 victory. This is the Oilers, which means I'm here to play the top line, which is going to cost you a pretty penny with Connor McDavid alone sitting at $10,300. This is a large slate, and on large slates I feel like there are always cheaper values to be found but this matchup (and the next) are two spots I just kept coming back to when looking over the board. For me, this is a spot to where I full stack Edmonton's top line and find cheap fillers or one offs to go with them as a dance partner. You can take pieces of the Montreal second line, Yanni Gourde as a one off, or even maybe Marat Khusnutidnov as another one-off option. There are ways to create a cheaper lineup and still have enough left over to roster say Ilya Sorokin in net at $7K.

Dallas Stars

So, this is more about going against the Anaheim Ducks then it is playing the Stars. The Ducks are currently allowing 29.5 shots against per game and are averaging four goals against per game in their last eight outings. Dallas is going to be popular, which is why if I decide to attack the Ducks, then I'll push all the chips in on the Stars and make this a power play stack or some sort of four-man build with Dallas goaltending in net. I usually don't go all-in on a team for single entry, but the numbers that are coming in on this Ducks team might just be too enticing to fully pass up tonight. If this is a 2-1 Dallas win, you might be sunk, but if Anaheim is going to allow four goals or more, then we're looking good in tournaments. To be fair to Dallas as well, I would have interest in almost any club right now going up against Anaheim, tonight just so happens to be one of the more expensive and popular clubs on the board.

Defense

I really wish that tonight was one of those nights where I like the cheaper side of the defensive board more than the top but that's not so much the case. I love Evan Bouchard at $7,300 for my top spend-up and could see playing him with or without an Edmonton stack tied to him. John Carlson at $6,200 is in a good spot tonight, along with Darren Raddysh at $6K, Lane Hutson at $5,900, and Josh Morrissey at $5,800. If we're going down in price, I like K'Andre Miller priced at $3,800 and Tony DeAngelo at $3,300. For a cheap $3K or below player, I'd say John Marino at $3K even for Utah is a fine play.

Goalies

My ceiling tonight is probably Karel Vejmelka at $8K coming off three straight wins, and right below him I like Andrei Vasilevskiy at $7,900. Ilya Sorokin fits well with plenty of builds tonight and has been stellar this month at an even $7K. Odds are, he's going to be my anchor netminder if I do decide to play in more lineups than my usual single-entry.

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

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