Written by LineStar Daily Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver.

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Welcome to the NHL Hat Trick.

I'd love to say "this is where it gets interesting," but that's a lie. The Stanley Cup Qualifier round was amazing. Both teams from the host cities, Edmonton and Toronto, were eliminated. The top seed in elimination play, the Pittsburgh Penguins, were knocked off by the team with the worst record in the tournament. Insane.

It gets even more real today. The first round starts and we have four games on tap for today

DFS Approach

I'll admit, I've never been a fan of playoff DFS for any sport. However, we went 3 months without professional North American sports and I love the March Madness-style format with games going all day.

Now, I don't have much experience with Stanley Cup playoff DFS, but what I can tell you is what hasn't worked for me. Specifically, I don't feel like full line stacking is the move. The teams are simply better and scoring can be more scarce. Let's imagine that half the games go 2-1, one goes 3-1, and another goes 4-0 today. That's 14 goals on the entire slate. That might seem like a lot, but if you're line stacking and those lines only factor in on 2 goals, you're probably going to be outside of the green.

Instead of line stacking, I'm going to focus more on good players. In other words, players that take a lot of shot attempts, get a lot of ice time, get top power play unit time, and block shots. Let me give you an example of where I might start:

Again - this is simply an example, but I want to point out a couple of things.

1. I'm focusing on players that get power play time. All but one is expected to be on the top power play unit.

2. I'm letting stacks happen organically, but at the same time it's perfectly fine to have players from the same team that aren't on the same line or same power play unit. It's reasonable to expect that not all goals will come from the same line. Running Toews and DeBrincat get me good exposure to both of the top 2 lines and both power play units.

3. This is an initial build to see where I'm at. I did zero research. I simply want to see where my biases are and what fits nicely together. Sometimes it can be really powerful to choose 4-5 players you really like and let the optimizer fill in the rest.

I could be wrong on this. If you think I am or have anything to add, hit me up. Any questions? Let me know in LineStar Chat

LETSSSSSSSSGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Goaltender

Guess who's confirmed for tonight at the time of this writing? Absolutely no one.

My Favorite: Cam Talbot - CGY (DK: $7600, FD: $7800)

I don't love spending up on goalie. I think that most of the time, you can do well with a middle of the road (salary-wise) goaltender and spend a little more on your skaters.

Talbot was great in his series against the Winnipeg Jets, posting a 1.5 GAA and .946 Save%. Of course, just make sure he gets the start.

Centers

My Favorite: William Karlsson - VGK (DK: $5500, FD: $6100)

Vegas is scary good and picked up the top seed in the Western Conference. Like I mentioned before, I don't think I need to do a full line stack, but I definitely want as much exposure to Vegas, and I'm starting with Karlsson because I think he comes in a little underpriced. Again, he checks a lot of boxes for me in that he's been averaging just over 3 shots on goal a game, gets PP1 time, and gets almost 20 minutes of ice time. If I'm going to pair him with someone, I'm going to pair him with Mark Stone.

Winger

My Favorite: Cam Atkinson - CBJ (DK: $5500, FD: $7100)

Unpopular opinion: Tampa is overrated. Plus, they give up a ton of fantasy points to the opposing top line. Cam is underpriced on DraftKings and I think he still goes overlooked on a slate that includes Patrick Kane, David Pastrnak, and Nikita Kucherov. If I'm looking to pair him with someone, I'm going to look at Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Defensemen

My Favorite: David Savard - NYR (DK: $4600, FD: $3800)

I feel like I say this in every newsletter, but I really like to fill my defensemen spots with players that take a bunch of shots, block shots, get 23+ minutes of ice time, and get time on one of the power play units. Savard checks those boxes for me. Easy.

If you take anything away from this, keep in mind that hockey is a high-variance sport. The top ranked player in each category could be a great play or be a dud tonight. Going all in on any player probably isn't a great move.

With DFS, I try to think of these things:

• Who makes the most sense to play?

• Where is the field leaning?

• Who has been the most consistent?

• Who has the most upside?

• Who will benefit me most if others are wrong?

Bottom of the Barrel

Some people call these "value" plays or "salary savers." I hate both terms. These are players that I like that fit at the lowest salary tier. It could be they're playing on one of the top forward lines or it could be that they've been playing well, but these are my cheap calls for a skater to pick up a goal or assist.

Kirby Dach: CHI - C (DK: $3700, FD: $4300)

Alex Tuch: VGK - W (DK: $4000, FD: $4000)

Joel Edmundson: CAR - D (DK: $3300, FD: $3600)

Line Stacks

Line stacking is a common strategy in GPP. You’ll see a lot of winning lineups where players are stacked from the same forward lines or power play lines. DraftKings allows a maximum of 6 skaters from the same team (with skaters from at least 3 teams) and FanDuel allows a maximum of 4 skaters from one team. In tournaments, you'll often see 3-3 stacks (meaning 3 players from one team and 3 from another team), 4-3, and 3-3-2 stacks.

Like I mentioned before, I don't think I'm going to run many full line stacks. To me, it's just too much risk if that line doesn't score or only scores one line. If I am going to do a full line stack, I'm going to lean towards lines where I don't have any issue with playing any one of the players individually, if that makes sense. Here are my favorites that fit that requirement:

Keep in mind, these are my favorites. These lines may change so keep an eye out for news during the day and during pre-game warmups. 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 to–day! Tag me in the LineStar Chat @ZeroInDenver if you have any questions or feedback. Follow me on Twitter @ZeroInDenver.

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