Written by LineStar Fantasy Wizard @ZeroInDenver.

Check out the NHL Season Preview & Strategy Guide

Got NHL DFS questions or want to see something covered in this newsletter? Hit me up in LineStar Chat.

Welcome to the NHL Hat Trick.

Last night was the first night of the NHL season and we have two big winners. Babyregg3200 took first in the Puck Drop on DraftKings for $50,000 and soak71 took first in the Breakaway on FanDuel for $20,000. Congrats to the winners. Here are their lineups.

A couple thoughts and takeaways from this: Stacks are and probably will still be king in NHL. The second, and I don't know that I've talked about this before in previous newsletters, is that sometimes it might be a good idea to include the goalie for one of the teams that you're stacking. The reasoning behind this is if the team you're stacking goes off, they're also most likely going to win. Personally, I don't force this, but I don't prevent it either. Win equity can be huge. A goalie win on FanDuel is 12 points and on DraftKings a win is 6 points.

In case you missed it, DraftKings updated their scoring for NHL. I have to say that I like the changes. It's not just the higher scoring either. I'm really liking the new bonuses.

Here's the new scoring on DraftKings:

You can see that there's a 3 point bonus for players that get 5 or more shots on net, 3 or more blocked shots, OR 3 or more points (combined goals and assists). Now I always feel like DFS is a game of inches. Everyone in the top 100 is one goal, one assist, or maybe even a couple of shots away from a takedown. Since goals are somewhat rare events (you'll see plenty of 2-1, 3-2, and 3-1 games), you want to make sure that you can squeeze as many fantasy points out of your players as possible.

I think this is going to change the way we need to approach lineup building. It used to be that you could pick a minimum priced defenseman and hope that they're able to pick up a few blocks or get lucky and have a shot tipped in, but I don't think that's the correct way anymore. I think we're going to want to focus on players that are on the ice and are involved. Fortunately, LineStar makes it really easy to find these players

Tonight's Targets

If you remember last year, I had a lot of fancy graphs that I used to rank players at each position where you could get a visual indication of how they match up. That's coming, but I need some data. So it's coming, but give it a couple weeks.

But for tonight, we have 16 more teams starting the season. Let's take a look at some of my favorites:

Goaltender

Connor Hellebuyck - WPG (DK: $7500, FD: $7300)

As we found out last night, the more shots a goalie faces, the better. In fact, as johnchilll mentioned in the chat, Frederik Andersen only scored 0.20 points more than Craig Anderson last night, who gave up 5 goals. So I think I'm going to lean towards goalies that will face a lot of shots and can make a lot of saves. Hellebuyck checks those boxes for me.

Full transparency: I play a ton of lineups. I play 150+ every night. I feel a little disingenuous saying that I like a certain player when I'll have 12 different alternatives in lineups too. But I'm also trying to give some insight into players that I like a lot. Like I mentioned before, I'll add in my own graphs as we move into the season so you can see how everyone measures up in my model. That said, here's my favorite at each position.

Center

Nathan MacKinnon - TOR (DK: $7300, FD: $8700)

If you're paying up, I think MacKinnon is the best play at center. The Pepsi Center will be fired up tonight for the Avs opener and MacKinnon shoots the puck a lot and is on the ice a ton. Makes for a solid floor with a lot of upside.

Wing

Jake Guentzel - PIT (DK: $6700, FD: $7400)

One of my favorite filters on the LineStar app is the Skaters vs Opp Team (Last 20) --> FPPG to Line. This is useful in that it helps decide what line I should be stacking against a given team. In this case, I think you could run a full stack of the Pittsburgh top line or you could use Guentzel as a one-off in your lineups.

Defensemen

Shea Weber- MON (DK: $5400, FD: $5700)

I'm kind of chasing bonuses with Weber, and I don't feel like I need to spend up past him tonight. He takes a bunch of shots and blocks a bunch of shots and hovers around 22-23 minutes of ice time. If he can't get a goal or assist, I'm hoping he can make up for it in volume.

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 for tonight 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.

Roope Hintz: DAL - C (DK: $3.8K, FD: $5.2K)

Victor Olofsson: BUF - W (DK: $3.5K, FD: N/A)

Travis Hamonic: CGY - D (DK: $4K, FD: $4.1K)

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.

Here are some of my favorite stacks for tonight:

RISK IT FOR THE BISCUIT STACK

This is my low ownership high upside stack. DFS aside, this is one of my favorite lines to watch. They combined for 93 goals last season and I would expect them to be just as productive this year. The risk is that they're facing one of the best goaltenders in the NHL currently. Either way, they should be low owned.

Keep in mind, these are my favorites. 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.

🚨 Get 3 Free Months of LineStar Premium 🚨

Get 3-months of LineStar Premium for new users to SuperDraft who deposit/play $10!

Terms: Partnership offers do NOT renew. See SuperDraft landing page for full terms and conditions. Must be a new user to SuperDraft and deposit and play a minimum of $10 to qualify. If you have an existing LineStar Premium subscription you get a Hat/Tee/Pen combo instead of the 3-months.