For more analysis on the slate, check out Jake Hari’s Projections page as well as Awesemo’s NHL Player and Stack Rankings. And you can subscribe to the Awesemo.com YouTube Channel to get notifications when “Hit The Ice” (4ET Weekdays) goes live!
My Spotlight Stacks is up, while Jake is on vacation, and my Line Changes article is out as well.
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Forward
Anze Kopitar: Grade: A, Values: A
Sure, I could tell you to fire up some McJesus tonight, with nice matchup against the Kings on back-to-backs. And McDavid, with his double-A grade on both sites, is a fine play. However, he’s is likely going to be owned in somewhere around 30% of lineups tonight, so, if you’re using him, make sure to stack EDM1 to gain leverage in GPPs by using the far less popular Zach Kassian. I will have some McDavid, but there’s also value in the Kings top line that has been getting a whackload of minutes recently and should be in the 22-25 range again tonight. Kopitar and the rest of LAK1 will matchup with the McDavid line, who are allowing 30 SCA/60 and 15 HDCA/60 in 200 minutes together this season.
Cheap options
- The Kassassin is still up on EDM1, still getting swaths of playing time. No PP1 duties, but at this price and with reduced ownership compared to the rest of EDM1, he’s a great add tonight. Best DK bargain forward.
- Alex Galchenyuk is just $4300/$4600, playing with some decent talent on ARI4. Because of his reduced role, he won’t get much ownership tonight, but they generally role lines in Arizona, so he should get 15 minutes and PP time.
- If Getzlaf can’t go tonight, Sam Steel is the bare min. Top line minutes against weak opposition and PP time? Sign me up.
- I wrote up MTL1 in the stacks article. Part of what makes them appealing is Philip Danault’s price at $3900 on DK. As the perceived worst player on that line, he’ll get less ownership than Tatar and Gallagher, which is a mistake, especially considering Danualt is a centre. I almost never leave a centre off a stack, so Danult should give you access to that entire line at reduced ownership.
Defence
Thomas Chabot: Grade: A, Values: A, A
The Senators number one defecenman didn’t miss a beat, coming back form a two-week absence to log 27 minutes last game. The once vaunted Sabres, who ranked first in the league for points allowed to defencemen all year, has fallen to 11th. Chabot is reasonably priced at 6K on DK and is a STONE COLD LOCK on FanDuel at $4700. Seriously, hit that lock button – that’s the best value we’ve seen since Keith Yandle was the bare min on DK because of a misprice. 25-30 minutes, PP1 time. Sign me up.
Cheap options
- Any time Jacob Slavin gets below 4K on DK I like to fire him up. He’s one of these defecnemen that always flies under the radar, ownership wise, but has enough offensive upside to pop on the scoresheet once in a while.
- Friend of the column Lawrence Pilut is back in Phil Housley’s good graces – or maybe it’s simply that the Sabres have been eliminated from playoff contention. He is on the top pairing with Rasmus Ristolainen, has elite offensive upside and at the bare min. I also like Rasmus Dahlin at his price point. He gets PP1 time and has been shooting more an logging more minutes of late.
- Brandon Montour doesn’t get much love from DFSers, but he plays big minutes, and is in a plus matchup against the Senators, who allow the most points in the NHL to defecemen.
- Drew Doughty at just $4,400 on Dk is a bargain against the Oilers – even with the low total on the second of B2Bs. If he stops chirping for a minute and plays some hockey, he’ll make for a solid value play tonight.
- Andrej Sekera is the bare min and, with 15 minutes and a strong history of being a 30 point defecenman in the NHL, he’s could turn the corner at some point in the near future.
Goaltenders
This one is a bit scary tonight – because of the offensive fire power on the other side – but I’m going to trust Awesemo’s ranks and take the only Double A grade goalie tonight – Carey Price. The Habs are 11th worst in the NHL in shot suppression and the Panthers generate the 5th most shots. Despite that, the Panthers are implied for just 2.6 goals tonight and the Habs are a -180 favourite.
Second option
Not seeing much in the way of contrarian plays tonight, unless you wanted to grab the suddenly hot Kings and their netminder Jonathan Quick for a tough road matchup against the Oilers. I might throw a couple shares in and hope that the Kings can steal one, while eliminating a huge chuck of DFS lineups in the process – assuming highly owned EDM1 doesn’t go off.
