Written by LineStar Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver. Got NHL DFS questions or want to see something covered in this newsletter? Hit me up in LineStar Chat.

Welcome back to the NHL Hat Trick.

Four-game slate tonight, so this will be short and sweet. Let's start with my top ten ranked skaters tonight. This is my own sauce, but based on recent performance and matchup.

Here's a look at team numbers over the last 10 games from a high level:

If you're new, let's do a quick rundown of what each of the columns represents (remember these are numbers over the past 10 games):

W = wins, L = losses (excluding OT losses), CF% = Corsi (shot attempts) For %, CF60 = Corsi for per 60 minutes, CA60 = Corsi allowed per 60 minutes, HDCF60 = High danger Corsi for per 60 minutes, HDCA60 = High danger Corsi allowed per 60 minutes, SF60 = shots for on net per 60 minutes, SA60 = shots on net allowed per 60 minutes, SV% = save percentage, SOT = shots on target (percentage of shots taken that hit the goal or go in), Sh% = shooting percentage (% of shots that become goals), SCF60 = scoring chances for per 60 minutes, SCA60 = scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes, PDO = Called SPSV% by the NHL, is the sum of a team's shooting percentage and its save percentage, GF60 = goals for per 60 minutes, GA60 = goals allowed per 60 minutes, Avg = Projected goals (my projections) for the team, xTotal = projected over/under

Of course, if you have any additional thoughts or questions, be sure to hit me up in chat.

Slate News

I write this pretty early (in other words, before morning slate for most teams) but trying to bring you up to speed with anything you might have missed or could impact your lineups tonight.

As expected, most of the west coast games don't have goalies confirmed yet. Keep an eye on the updates page for player confirmations and changes.

✅ Carter Hutton vs 🅿️ Petr Mrazek

🅿️ Jimmy Howard vs ✅ Laurent Brossoit

🅿️ Roberto Luongo vs 🅿️ David Rittich

🅿️ Matt Murray vs 🅿️ Chad Gibson

Not a lot of news this morning. However, Jack Eichel is expected to play for the Sabres tonight.

Keep an eye on chat for updates throughout the day.

Now, lets look at my favorites on the slate:

Goaltending

This is your starting point when playing cash games. You want a goalie that has a solid chance to get a win, but will also face a decent number of shots. North of 30 shots on net is ideal. Here are my three favorites that check those boxes tonight:

Matt Murray (@ ANH) (DK: $8.3K, FD: $8.8K)

Matt Murray has been so good lately (1.25 GAA and .963 Save% over the last month) that I have no problem rolling him out tonight in all formats.

Laurent Brossoit, WPG (vs DET) (DK: $7.8K, FD: $7.8K)

Brossoit has been really good this season (2.10 GAA and .939 Save%). I think he is another great choice for tonight and will probably share top ownership along with Murray.

Carter Hutton, BUF (@ CAR ) (DK: $8.2K, FD: $7.7K)

I've mentioned this before but picking goalies against Carolina has been fairly profitable for me this season. Carolina always has a chance to go off (they've been averaging 2.80 goals a game over their last 10), but you can expect them to take a lot of shots each night, so there's always upside for the goalie facing them.

#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):

Dylan Larkin: DET - C (DK: $6.5K, FD: $6.7K)

Going against the grain, since I already mentioned my interest in Brossoit, but that's what can win tournaments on small slates like this. Larkin has a respectable 57 CF% and is averaging 4.6 shot attempts (1.6 high danger) with 2.8 shots on net on 23 minutes a game over his last 5 games.

Bryan Rust: PIT - W (DK: $5K, FD: $5.2K)

I don't like the idea of running him naked since he doesn't get any powerplay minutes. I'd prefer to stack him with one of his linemates, but he's been playing well enough lately that I wouldn't try to talk you off of doing so.

Kris Letang: PIT - D (DK: $6.3K, FD: $7.1K)

Letang is a regular in this spot. Takes shots, blocks shots, gets lots of minutes, and plays on PP1. What's not to like?

Value Twigs 💲

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.

Mikael Backlund: CGY - C (DK: $5K, FD: $5.3K)

Same as last time - He's a great option if you want to pivot from the top line for Calgary. Not a bad play either. Backlund is averaging 4.8 shot attempts (1.4 high danger) with 3 shots on net over his last 5 games.

Frank Vatrano: FLA - W (DK: $4.5K, FD: $3.9K)

He's got a solid 63 CF% with 4.4 shot attempts and 34 shots on net over his last 5 games and is another solid pivot from a top line.

Jacob Trouba: WPG - D (DK: $4.9K, FD: $5.1K)

In over 24 minutes a game he's averaging 5.8 shot attempts with 1.8 shots on net and 2.2 blocks a game over his last 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.

Greg McKegg: CAR - C (DK: $2.9K, FD: $3.2K)

Daniel Sprong: ANH - W (DK: $3.2K, FD: $3.7K)

Josh Manson: ANH - 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.

I'm going to list two of the the highest-projected owned stacks, two of my favorite stacks, and two "biscuit" (high risk, high reward) stacks:

High-Ownership (Based on LineStar Ownership Projections):

CGY: Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm (DK: $22.4K, FD: $24K)

WPG: Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler (DK: $20.1K, FD: $20.6K)

Favorite stacks:

PIT: Guentzel-Crosby-Rust (DK: $19.2K FD: $21.6K)

FLA: Huberdeau-Barkov-Dadonov (DK: $18.1K FD: $19.5K)

Biscuit stacks (high risk, high upside):

DET: Bertuzzi-Larkin-Nyquist (DK: $15.2K FD: $16.5K)

CAR: McGinn-Aho-Teravainen (DK: $14.4K FD: $15.4K)

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.