Good day, all! I'm all here for this slate which is great because it's going to make for an enjoyable watch, and good for reading the board for DFS. I'm excited for this one, let's get into the money tonight!

Slate Preview

Carolina Hurricanes

On my first pass through the slate I stopped and circled the Hurricanes, particularly the top line even though the second line is seemingly never a bad play. It was more so I just really like this team and sometimes in daily fantasy, I just want to roster good lines that I enjoy watching. However, there's also a reason I think the Hurricanes are in a good position that's not 100% on the ice related.

Typically, I would probably shy away from rostering any line on the road in Montreal that's probably going to see a fair bit of the Nick Suzuki line, which is an excellent defensive line at even strength. However, tonight is the Montreal Canadiens home opener. It's been a dream of mine (and probably most hockey fans) to see a game at the Bell Centre, but last year during playoffs I really do feel that this was a team that struggled more at home. They lost two to Tampa Bay, two against the Sabres on home ice with one of those being an 8-3 loss, and both home matchups against this same Hurricanes club.

I've read that the introductions and pregame are longer for a Montreal home game and I can tell from just sitting on my couch that they are extremely high energy, with opening night being no different. I wonder if somehow that can lead to slower starts like we saw in playoffs? Sure, this has probably been a matchup every Canadiens skater has had circled all offseason, but on opening night this pregame is going to be like a pregame for an SEC football game. I'm leaning Carolina's top line tonight for everything we laid out, and as much as I would prefer not rostering William Carrier up with Sebastian Aho ($6,700) and Andrei Svechnikov ($5,800), but he does bring the total cost of that line down being priced at just $2,700.

Buffalo Sabres

I watched the Sabres game against the Blackhawks last week, and yes, the Blackhawks aren't great, but I thought overall they did play fine and wasn't what will be the typically pushover Hawks road game this season (bookmark that). What impressed me from this Sabres club was the way the second line played. Diving into the slate tonight, I like this club.

The Buffalo second line tonight is going to skate together at even strength and have full correlation up on the man advantage. That's for a second line with Jack Quinn, Zach Benson, and Noah Ostlund who as a trio come in at $13,100. That's the cost of a higher priced filler line and I can get them at good offensive production and be able to pair them with another good line on this slate or be able to spend up on defensemen or goaltending.

Buffalo as a club really struggles at the dot but if there's one opponent for them that I'm not going to worry as much about winning in the circle it would be a club like the Wild team, they'll see tonight that doesn't have as much depth down the middle. I'm leaning making three lineups tonight with one of them centered around Buffalo, particularly the second line. 

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings tonight are going up against the Florida Panthers on home ice, and I've said it since before the season started that I think the Panthers top six is going to be too slow overall. This is also a Panthers club that is going to be without arguably the best defensive center in the league tonight in Aleksander Barkov.  

As much as that stinks that Barkov is injured, this all plays right into a good matchup for the Kings. I'm throwing the 0-1-1 start out the window here for Los Angeles just eye test, I've really liked what I've seen early from Artemi Panarin and Quinton Byfield. Add in Adrian Kempe and now you have a top line in what should be a good matchup that's going to skate together at all strengths.  

Defense

My ceiling tonight would be Rasmus Dahlin at $6,700 and I think he plays fine with a Buffalo stack or on his own. Right below him in price, Matthew Schaefer at $6,500 is going to be both a solid play and not at his current price for long. That will likely be going up soon if he continues to play well.

In the middle-tier pricing, there wasn't a lot that caught my eye but do think Brandt Clarke at $5,200 is fine with or without a Kings stack attached to him.

For my cheaper plays on this slate, we'll go right back to Buffalo. Mattias Samuelsson at $3,800 I have circled along with his teammate Olen Zellweger at $3,100. I do also like K'Andre Miller for $3,500 and like Clarke and a Kings stack, I think Miller plays fine on his own even if you're not rostering the Hurricanes tonight.

Goalies

It's difficult for me to say that the highest I'm willing to spend up for goaltending on tonight's slate is Samuel Ersson at $7,600 with the Senators on the second night of a back-to-back, but it is against the Red Wings who…well…sorry Red Wings fans. This club is a mess right now.  

Ilya Sorokin, priced at $7,300, is fine at that price and if he doesn't give up the early lead like against the Leafs last week, he should make for a fine play on this slate against the Rangers.  

For a cheaper goaltender, I would play Juuse Saros for $7,100. He's going to see good volume going up against the Leafs and this is a goaltender who by pricing last season I played both matchups up against Toronto, with both of those contests ending in wins for Saros. He might be a popular play given his price, but if your lineup needs some salary relief then he makes sense at sub $7,500.

That's it for now — best of luck tonight!

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