Written by LineStar Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver

Welcome back to the NHL Hat Trick.

Eleven game main slate today. Enjoy it because there's a single game tomorrow. That's followed by a 12-game slate on Thursday and a 2-game slate on Friday.

In other words, there will only be a newsletter today and Thursday of this week. The good news is next week will be a bit more normal.

So let's make it count this week, starting with today.

Goaltending

Playing cash games? Fill in your goalie spot first. Playing tournaments? Fill your skater positions and pick the goaltender with the biggest upside for the least amount of salary. Here are my three favorite goaltenders on the night:

Jaroslav Halak, BOS (@CAR) (DK: $7.5K, FD: $8K)

Halak has a lot of upside tonight. Carolina has been averaging 40.5 shots on net a game this year, which should make up for letting a couple pucks cross the line.

Joonas Korpisalo, CLS (vs DET) (DK: $8.2K, FD: $7.8K)

A little bit better value on FanDuel. He doesn't have a high ceiling, but he's won every game he's started for Columbus this year.

David Rittich, CGY (@BUF) (DK: $7.2K FD: $7.7K)

Rittich has popped in a lot of early builds, and I'm sure that has to do with his price. It's a risky matchup, and I have interest in stacking Buffalo's top line, but it's a great GPP play for tonight.

#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. Remember - I gave some tips last week on numbers that I look for, and these players check most (if not all my boxes):

Logan Couture: SJ- C (DK: $6.7K, FD: $7.2K)

Couture has been on fire lately and is almost underpriced. 3 shots on net, 1 goal, and 1 assist per game over the past 5 games and a great home matchup against a Rangers team that is giving up 3.6 goals a game over the past 5 games.

Artemi Panarin: CLS - W (DK: $7.4K, FD: $7.7K)

Jackets have been one of my favorite stacks this season and I love their matchup against Detroit tonight. I have a lot of interest in Atkinson as well but Panarin ranked a little higher in my model this morning.

Oscar Klefbom: EDM - D (DK: $5.2K, FD: $5K)

Stalock is starting for MIN which makes me like him even more. Plus, I don't mind targeting the Wild away from home. Klefbom is playing on the top pairing and top powerplay unit (with McDavid) and is averaging 4 shots and 1.4 blocks a game. This burned me the last time but I like that as a solid floor.

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.

Elias Lindholm: CGY– C (DK: $5.1K, FD: $5.8K)

I'm hoping Calgary goes overlooked with them playing last night. Buffalo has given up 3.2 goals per game over the past 5 and Lindholm plays on the top line and top powerplay unit with Gaudreau and Monahan and is averaging 3 shots on net a game.

Rickard Rakell: ANH - W (DK: $5.5K, FD: $6.9K)

Philly has been terrible so I'm going to have some exposure to Anaheim tonight and Rickard feels a little underpriced, at least on DraftKings. Averaging 3 shots on net over the past 5 games

Mike Green: STL - D (DK: $4K, FD: $4.6K)

Averaging 3 shots and 1.7 blocks a game and facing the Jackets who are giving up 3.8 goals a game over the past 5 games.

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 tonight.

Adam Henrique: ANH - C (DK: $3.6K, FD: $4.8K)

Nino Niederreiter: MIN - W (DK: $3.8K, FD: $4.2K)

Richard Panik: ARI - D (DK: $3.4K, FD: $3.6K)

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 my favorite stacks tonight:

SJ: Hertl-Couture-Labanc (DK: $16.9K, FD: $17.1K)

Favorite stack tonight. I'm going to continue to stack against the Rangers as they are giving up 3.6 goals a game over the past 5 games.

CHI:  Panarin-Dubois-Atkinson (DK: $20.3K, FD: $20.4K)

I've probably played this stack more than any other line this year, and it's been very profitable. No reason to stop now.

NJ: Hall-Hischier-Palmieri (DK: $19.2K, FD: $20.1K)

Tough matchup tonight, but this line has hit their projections 58% of the games played so far this year and has the highest average combined fantasy points so far this season.

Risk-It-For-The-Biscuit Stack 🍪

BUF: Skinner-Eichel-Pominville: (DK: $18.2K, FD: $18.2K)

I know I mentioned my interest in Rittich, but I'm also going to hedge against that in a few lineups with the top line for Buffalo, in case he gets blown up. This line is second-best on the slate in terms of high-danger shot attempts and Calgary gives up the second-most high-danger shot attempts.

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