Written by LineStar Fantasy Wizard @ZeroInDenver

Welcome back to the NHL Hat Trick. Tonight is the largest slate so far this season at 12 games. Lots to dive into, but before we get into it, I want to give a few tips for playing large game slates.

1. You don't need to play the main slate. If you're overwhelmed, that's fine. There's Turbo (DraftKings) and Express (FanDuel) slates most nights that are smaller and more manageable.

2. Start by looking at what you can eliminate. That's usually where I start and this goes for all sports. Unless I think the general consensus is wrong, I pass on games with low implied or expected totals. That can usually knock a 12+ game slate to a more manageable 8 game slate.

3. Don't be afraid to play the best plays. Sometimes I think we try to get too cute on a large slate and ignore the obvious matchups and plays or even just go against our gut. Then, you find the players or stacks you liked, aren't as highly owned as you expected, and you miss out on a good night.

With all of that, there's a lot to dive into for tonight. I'm going to highlight my favorites. Hit me up in the chat if you have any questions.

Goaltending

My three favorite goaltenders on the night:

Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB (vs VAN) (DK: $8.5K, FD: $8.7K)

This feels like a trap, as Vancouver is scoring 4 goals a game this season, but Vasilevskiy played well in his first game this season and has shut-out potential. I don't think you need to stretch your lineup to fit him, but I wouldn't avoid him if you have the salary.

Carey Price, MON (vs LA) (DK: $7K, FD: $8.1K)

I don't have a lot of interest in LA tonight. Montreal is only allowing 1.98 goals a game and LA is only scoring 2.3 goals a game. I still think Price is one of the best goalies in the league and is underpriced on DraftKings.

Devan Dubnyk, MIN (vs CHI) (DK: $7.7K, FD: $8.3K)

There's some risk as Chicago has been averaging 4.91 goals a game. However, Minnesota is only allowing 2.4 goals a game. If Dubnyk can keep pucks out of the net, he could have a big night.

#BiscuitInTheBasketWatchList 🚨

For those of you who aren’t familiar with hockey, “biscuit in the basket” is a term for scoring a goal. Here I’m going to give a center, wing, and defensemen for the top and value pricing tiers that I think has a good chance to score a goal.

Auston Matthews: TOR – C (DK: $7.5K, FD: $7.9K)

His performance has been unreal. 7 goals and 3 assists so far this season.

Taylor Hall: NJ- W (DK: $6.9K, FD: $8K)

Hall was a staple in my lineups all last season and he gets Washington on the tail end of a back-to-back for their home opener.

Matt Dumba: MIN - D (DK: $6K, FD: $4.6K)

With so many top-tier players/stacks going tonight, I don't think you need to spend up on D. I love Dumba because he takes shots, blocks shots, and is on the ice a ton. Oh yeah, and he's facing Cam Ward tonight.

Value Sticks

Similar to the biscuit-in-the-basket watch list, in this section I’ll provide a center, wing, and defensemen who are priced in the value tier. If I can find someone under priced on both sites, I’ll highlight them. But in some cases, it could be site specific.

Dylan Larkin: DET – C (DK: $5.3K, FD: $6.4K)

Toronto is allowing 4.23 goals a game so far this year and Larkin is averaging over 3 shots on goal a game with a 65% CF%.

Eric Staal: MIN - C (DK: $5.2K, FD: $6.9K)

When I see Cam Ward starting, I instantly look at the other team. Staal centers the top line and is on the top powerplay unit for Minnesota and is averaging over 3 shots on net a game.

Brendan Gallagher: MON- W (DK: $4.8K, FD: $5.3K)

Until his production dips, expect to keep seeing him here.

Kyle Palmieri: NJ- W (DK: $5.4K, FD: $5.8K)

If you're playing Hall, he's a perfect pairing.

Zach Werenski: FLA - D (DK: $4.8K, FD: $5.2K)

I think he's a little underpriced. Takes a lot of shots and plays a lot of minutes.

Keith Yandle: FLA - D (DK: $4.6K, FD: $5.4K)

Plays on the top D pairing and the second powerplay line. Averaging over 23 minutes a game.

Bottom of the Barrel

I did this last season, and I’ll do it again this season. These are the players in the bottom of the salary barrel but are in a good spot.

Mikael Backlund: CGY - C (DK: $3.9K, FD: $4.9K)

Joel Armia: MON- W (DK: $3.9K, FD: $3.4K)

Will Butcher: NJ - D (DK: $3.4K, FD: $4.3K)

Justin Schultz: PIT - D (DK: $3.8K, FD: $4.8K)

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. Here are some of my favorites today:

Taylor Hall-Nico Hischier-Kyle Palmieri (DK: $17.1K, FD: $19.8K)

If you've read this far, it should be no secret that this is my favorite stack tonight.

Evander Kane-Joe Pavelski-Kevin Labanc (DK: $18.1K, FD: $18.4K)

Rangers are allowing 4.67 goals a game and are off to a terrible start this year. I'm hoping that SJ figured out hockey and can repeat what they did against Philly.

Johnny Gaudreau-Sean Monahan-Elias Lindholm (DK: $18.7K, FD: $20.3K)

St. Louis is giving up 4.9 goals a game and Calgary is scoring 4 goals a game to start the season. I think Calgary gets overlooked tonight in a great matchup.

Risk-It-For-The-Biscuit Stack 🍪

Justin Abdelkader-Dylan Larkin-Anthony Mantha: (DK: $13.1K, FD: $15.4K)

I mentioned before that Toronto is giving up bunches of goals a game. At the same time, this line is averaging a combined 10 high-danger shot attempts a game. I think this is a crazy stack that you could drop in a large field GPP that would go under 5% owned.

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