Written by LineStar Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver.

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Welcome to the NHL Hat Trick.

ICYMI - The NHL Season Preview & Strategy guide goes over the basics of NHL DFS and what I look for when researching players.

I don't know about you, but it's been a long and exhausting week. I'm ready to cap it off with some hockey tonight and we get 5 pretty good games on tap.

Time to break it down...

LETSSSSSSSSSSGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight's Slate

Here's numbers on the teams from their past 10 games. Generally, I start my research by looking for teams in good spots. For example, teams that score goals (GF60) that are facing teams that give up goals (GA60). I also look at teams that shoot a lot (CF60) that are facing teams that give up a lot of shots (CA60).

Based on this, teams I'm looking to target tonight include San Jose, Vegas, Toronto, St. Louis, and Washington.

Line Stacks

I stack Vegas every time they play and tonight is no different. There's a significant price difference between lines 1 and 2, but I don't think you're taking a downgrade to stack line 2. I'll have shares of both tonight.

All three Toronto lines are in play for me tonight. Love TOR1, hate playing Joe Thornton. The best you can hope for with him is luck boxing an assist or two. Alex Galchenyuk makes his debut for the Leafs tonight on line 2, and expect every homer in Leafs Nation to play him.

Jaden Schwartz returns to the lineup for the Blues and is min-priced on DK. That's where most of my shares of St Louis will be.

Really only interested in WAS1 or WAS PP1 tonight. The Rangers shut out Philly the other night, but I don't expect them to shut out the Caps tonight.

Risk It For The Biscuit

SJS1 is a clear favorite for me if you feel like getting nasty and stacking Sharks tonight, but I wouldn't rule out SJS2 or even SJS3. Not a lot to love about SJS3, but if you want to stack WAS PP1 and want to live on an island, SJS3 might be the line to pair with it.

Goaltender Rankings

How to Read This: 

I'm giving you a comparison of LineStar projections vs the average fantasy points scored over their last 10 games. I've also given you their save percentage (over 0.910 is ideal), goals allowed (lower is better), saves per game (more is better), GAA (Goals Saved Above Average), and my projected upside for each goalie.

Generally, if I'm stacking a team, I'll correlate a goalie if I can. In GPPs, I may not have the salary to make this work. In this case, I usually spend down on someone that I expect will take a lot of shots and could pick up the W.

As always - double-check that your goalie is starting before the game starts.

My Favorites:

CASH: Marc-Andre Fleury - VGK (DK: $8400, FD: $8400)

GPP: Thatcher Demko - VAN (DK: $6900, FD: $7600)

Forwards and Defensemen Rankings

How to Interpret C/D/W charts: In NHL DFS, I think it's most important to look at peripheral stats instead of goals which is why I put so much emphasis on shots. This includes shot attempts, high danger shot attempts (those shot attempts closest to the net with the highest probability of going into the net), shots on goal, and scoring chances. I've included projections and average fantasy points to see how each compares so you can more easily find value.

Center

My Favorite

Ryan Strome - NYR (DK: $5300, FD: $5800)

A stack that didn't make the cut but is still worth slipping in is NYR2. I think with other good matchups on the slate, they go overlooked. I really like a Strome-Panarin pairing as well.

Wing

My Favorite:

William Nylander - TOR (DK: $5900, FD: $6400)

Nylander is almost too cheap for his peripherals today. I wanted to pick Tavares for my C pick for the day, but Tavares-Nylander makes for a good pairing tonight.

Defensemen

My Favorite

Shea Theodore - VGK (DK: 6400, FD: $6200)

There's a lot of good forwards to spend up on that I wonder if Theodore goes underowned tonight.

Bottom of the Barrel

Here are my cheap calls for a skater to pick up a goal or assist.

Nic Dowd: WAS - C (DK: $ 3000, FD: $ 3300)

Reilly Smith: VGK - W (DK: $3800, FD: $4600)

Dmitry Orlov - WAS (DK: $2700, FD: $3700)

Disclaimer: Keep in mind, plays and thoughts listed are my own. You should all do your own research and you might (and probably should) disagree with me in some spots. Don't be afraid to go your own way.

Good luck today! Tag me in the LineStar Chat @ZeroInDenver if you have any questions or feedback. Follow me on Twitter @ZeroInDenver.

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