Written by LineStar Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver

Welcome back to the NHL Hat Trick.

Before I start diving into a slate, I like to see how everything looks from a high level.

So this is what I look at first, just to see what stands out. These are team numbers over the past 10 games. Starred numbers are the 90th percentile or above on the slate. From left to right, I'm looking at wins and losses, corsi for and against, high danger corsi for and against, shots for and against, team save percentage, shots on target (percentage of shot attempts that end up on net, shooting percentage (shots on net that end up as goals), scoring chances for and against, PDO (basically luck) and goals for and against.

So a few things stand out to me, NYI and PIT could be another good game stack. Both give up a lot of shot attempts and are scoring over 3 goals a game. This could end up as a sloppy 6-5 game.

Same with Philly/LA. Both aren't scoring goals, but they're both giving up a lot of goals and have been relatively unlucky so far. I wouldn't talk anyone off of the top lines for each.

That aside, let's look into who else I like on the slate:

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:

Frederik Andersen, TOR (vs DAL) (DK: $8K, FD: $8.1K)

In early builds, Andersen has come up in a lot of my lineups and I have very little Dallas. I do like the second line for Dallas (projected to be Benn, Spezza, and Nichushkin) but aside from Seguin on the top line, Dallas lines are basically:

Some Dude-Some Dude-Some Dude

I'll take my chances. What could go wrong?

John Gibson, ANH (vs NYR) (DK: $8.2K, FD: $8.3K)

Anaheim has been giving up tons of shots, which gives Gibson upside. A little expensive, but you'll probably be on an island with Gibson tonight.

Jimmy Howard, DET (vs NJ) (DK: $6.9K FD: $7.3K)

If you're going to punt, might as well take the goalie that has played the best recently. Howard has done well against Columbus, Winnipeg, Carolina, and Florida so I'm willing to chance it in GPPs against New Jersey

#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):

Connor McDavid: EDM - C (DK: $8.2K, FD: $9.3K)

Not sure who is starting in net for Chicago, and I don't usually like spending up for players north of $8K, but McJesus is the best player in the game and gets a good matchup against a Chicago team that is allowing over 14 high danger shot attempts a game.

Jeff Skinner: BUF - LW (DK: $6.7K, FD: $6.5K)

Skinner is seeing 3.2 scoring chances a game and has 3.4 shots on net with an insane (though unsustainable) 29% shooting percentage over the past 5 games.

Timo Meier: SJ - RW (DK: $6.1K, FD: $5.2K)

Sharks disappointed last time out, but going back to the well tonight. Bobrovsky hasn't been good and I'm going to continue to play against him as long as Columbus continues to give up over 4 goals a game. Meier plays on the top line and top powerplay unit for SJ and has been averaging over 3 shots a game.

Morgan Rielly: TOR - D (DK: $6.3K, FD: $5.5K)

Rielly has been a favorite of mine when spending up at defense. He's on the top powerplay unit, gets a ton of minutes and takes shots while picking up a block or two a game.

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.

Boone Jenner: CLS – C (DK: $4.7K, FD: $4.7K)

I really like the Columbus second line tonight and Jenner comes in at great price while getting 3.4 shots a game and over 17 minutes a game while sitting on the second powerplay unit.

Brandon Saad: CHI - LW (DK: $4.3K, FD: $4.5K)

Saad had some great scoring chances yesterday, including a goal that was waved off last night and I like his price against Koskinen and the Oilers tonight.

Dustin Brown: LA - RW (DK: $4.8K, FD: $5.7K)

Want to get wild tonight? Stack LA, or at least play Dustin Brown with Kopitar. LA hasn't been scoring goals, so I would expect low ownership, except for donkeys like me in large tourneys.

Matt Niskanen: WAS - D (DK: $4.8K, FD: $4.3K)

Rated really high in my model today. He's shooting the puck more and getting over 24 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 tonight.

Tyler Bozak: STL - C (DK: $3.7K, FD: $3.9K)

Miles Wood: NJ - LW (DK: $3.7K, FD: $3.9K)

James Neal: CGY - RW (DK: $3.9K, FD: $5.5K) **DK Only**

Colin Miller: VGK - D (DK: $3.7K, 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.

I'm going to try something a little bit different with stacks. I'm going to present my personal favorite, as well as a value stack, and one with the best matchup. Here here they are for tonight:

NJ: Hall-Hischier-Palmieri (DK: $20.5K, FD: $20.1K)

Favorite stack of the night. In terms of fantasy production, they're the second best line on the slate over the past month. They have an outstanding 63.4 CF% with 89 shots and 17 goals in 134 minutes together at all strengths this season.

SJ: Kane-Suomela-Donskoi (DK: $13.8K, FD: $14.7K)

Value stack of the night. In 31 minutes together on 5v5 they have a respectable 56.9 CF% with 24 shots and 2 goals.

BUF: Skinner-Eichel-Pominville: (DK: $19.2K, FD: $18.3K)

Ottawa is worst on the slate for giving up fantasy points to the opposing top line, which is really no surprise because they've been matching their third line to the opposing top line. In almost 80 minutes of ice time together at 5v5, they have a 67.95 CF% with 11 goals on 70 shots.

Risk-It-For-The-Biscuit Stack 🍪

TB: Point-Johnson-Gourde: (DK: $15.7K, FD: $17.6K)

This stack ranked pretty high in my model and when I dove into numbers, I learned that in 22 minutes of ice time together, they have 20 shots and 6 goals.

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