Written by LineStar Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver.

Check out the NHL Season Preview & Strategy Guide

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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 remember thinking at some point last year while we had no sports going that it would be amazing to have all the major sports going at once. We'd have so many DFS slates to play. However, this is definitely a "be careful what you wish for" thing. It's definitely challenging to play multiple sports at once. NHL and MLB should be easier in that news come out well before lock, usually.

For me, I've found that it's easiest to build NHL lineups during my lunch break. NHL is more of a "set it and forget it" sport for DFS. I generally check Twitter 20 minutes before lock to see if anything has changed and adjust accordingly. That way I'm not trying to create lineups for multiple sites and multiple sports in the crunch-time before lock.

We have a pretty good 7-game slate on tap for tonight so let's dive in!

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, my favorite teams to target on this slate are Colorado, Vegas, Arizona, Toronto, and Boston.

Line Stacks

Colorado is a "stack every slate" team, and tonight is no different. I don't love the matchup, but the Avs are scoring a slate-best 4.6 goals a game over their last 10 games. All 3 top lines are in play with COL1 being the expensive favorite.

St. Louis is allowing 3.1 goals a game and Vegas is one of the best teams in the league. VGK2 is my preference tonight.

Arizona. Weird, but again, I like to target teams doing well when both teams have sub-50% CF% numbers.

Toronto is another "stack every time" team for me. TOR1 is the preference.

Risk It For The Biscuit

Boston has a great matchup tonight against Philly. I think they'll have some solid ownership, but I don't know how I feel about Pastrnak on the second line. My preference would be a PP1 stack of Marchand, Bergeron, and Pastrnak.

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: Connor Hellebuyck - WPG (DK: $8400, FD: $7500)

GPP: Mike Smith - EDM (DK: $7400, FD: $7400)

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

Claude Giroux - PHI (DK: $4800, FD: $6400)

Solid one-off if you're trying to squeeze in an expensive stack.

Wing

My Favorite:

Kirill Kaprizov - MIN (DK: $6100, FD: $6000)

Not a lot of love for the Wild tonight, but if I'm getting exposure to that game, I want Kaprizov.

Defensemen

My Favorite

Jakob Chychrun - ARI (DK: $6000, FD: $4500)

Every. Time.

Bottom of the Barrel

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

Artem Anisimov: OTT - C (DK: $ 2500, FD: $ 3000)

Nick Ritchie: BOS - W (DK: $4200, FD: $4400)

Jared Spurgeon: MIN (DK: $4100, FD: $4400)

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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