Hello! I’m off for Indigenous Peoples’ Day from my day job, so I’ve got some extra time on my hands. We’ve got a 5-game NHL slate on tap for tonight, and I figured I’d try my hand at some #hockey #content for the first time.
If you’re dipping your toes into the hockey waters for the first time, check out this NHL DFS strategy guide to help get you started. I won’t pretend to be a hockey expert, but I know how to play DFS, and I hope you’ll find this useful even if you don’t know a damn thing about the sport, either.
Here’s how tonight’s slate is lookin’.
Chalk Stacks – Utah Mammoth, Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils
As of now, most of the ownership I’m looking at is focused on these 3 teams. The Mammoth (dumb name, cool logo tho) are in Chicago to face the Blackhawks. This was one of the leakiest defenses in the sport last year, and they’ve started the new season by yielding 13 goals through their first 3 games. Not great! Spencer Knight will be in goal for the Hawks. He’s off to an 0-2-0 start, but he’s really not terrible, and he’s a decent bet for the 35-save bonus. As always, playing the goalie against the slate’s chalkiest stack is a strategy I like for GPPs.
Even as chalk, I’ll get some exposure to the Utah side. Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley look like the chalkiest of the chalk pieces along with Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz. I’m pretty much with the field on the Keller and Schmaltz ownership on the first line1, though I may come in under on Guenther and Cooley as a part of UTA2. JJ Peterka isn’t quite as popular as some of his mates on the 2nd line, and I think he’s a decent leverage play off of Cooley, in particular. I think the ownership thing is somewhat questionable considering Utah’s not a particularly dynamic 5-on-5 offense.
The Wild will host the Kings. When it comes to contrarian goalies against chalk stacks, I think Darcy Kuemper of LA will be my biggest stand of the slate. He’s projected for sub-10% ownership, yet I’m coming in around 30%-35% of him in early builds.
Because I try to play a balanced portfolio to lower volatility, I’ll still get to some Minnesota stacks against him. They’re not projected to be as popular as Utah, so it’s fine. Kirill Kaprizov, Marco Rossi, and Matt Boldy is a good 3-man, while I’m fine with plugging Zeev Buium in for salary relief, as needed.
The third chalk team appears to be the Devils at the Blue Jackets. Sounds like Jake Allen will start in net for Jersey with the impeccably-named Jet Greeves in there for the home side. Unlike with Kuemper and Knight, I’m not all that interested in Greeves for leverage. I’d much rather just eat this Devils chalk. Jack Hughes is the obvious standout in any New Jersey stack. I like Dougie Hamilton for value, while I’m paying up for Timo Meier and Nico Hischier from NJ2 more than I’m getting to Jesper Bratt on the first line.
New Jersey is my highest-exposed stack.
Leverage Stacks – Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Columbus Blue Jackets, LA Kings
The Devils are actually tied with the Blackhawks as my highest-exposed GPP stack. This is one of the worst teams in the league (fun!), but they’re cheap as a result. Pairing them with those expensive Devils is pretty easy to do. There’s still talent here, it’s just a young squad. I’ll start any stack with former No. 1 overall pick/wonderchild Connor Bedard.
Bedard is Chicago’s only skater north of $5,000. Sam Rinzel and Ryan Donato are decent values. Frank Nazar and Teuvo Teravainen don’t project great, but they’re both on Chicago’s PP1 line.
As of now, the slate’s chalkiest netminder is Philly’s Dan Vladar, which…ok? The Panthers are the 2-time reigning Cup champs. Even if they have some injuries and they’re on the road, this seems like a pretty obvious spot to attach Darth Vladar’s ownership. Sam Bennett is the only Panther projected for double-digit ownership, and his number is warranted. Brad Marchand and Carter Verhaeghe are the next priorities. All 3 primary defenders – Seth Jones, Aaron Ekblad, and Anton Lundell – are solid plays individually or as a part of your stack.
I mentioned the Devils starting their backup goalie tonight, and this is the home opener for Columbus. Zach Werenski is a popular defender pay-up, and I’ll pair him with Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko.
I’m also coming in pretty heavily over on LA’s minimal ownership. Adrian Kempe is fully capable of being the slate’s top scorer, yet he’s only around 10% pOWN%. Andrei Kuzmenko is the top value, and Kevin Fiala and Anze Kopitar round things out.
Good luck!
Leave a Reply