Written by LineStar Daily Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver.

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Welcome to the NHL Hat Trick.

In the last issue, we talked about the Toronto chalk. Tonight, I'm expecting Boston to be the top-owned stack. So far this season, the top line for Boston has felt like Coors slates did for MLB. If you're only running a few lineups, I think it's hard not to play them. At the same time, I don't think the second line for Boston is a bad alternative. They're significantly cheaper, but this feels like stacking the 6-7-8 hitters at Coors. Maybe it works, but I think I'm going to lean on the top line. They share so much time together and their numbers are significantly higher than the other lines.

Let me know if you find this helpful. I'm happy to make this more of a regular thing for the chalkiest team on the slate if you're interested in finding worthy pivots. Hit me up in LineStar Chat.

Tonight's Targets

Here's a high level look of team numbers for tonight:

First - a lot of this data might be foreign to most of you, so let me break it down (numbers over the last 10 games):

• W and L: Wins and Losses

• CF%, CF60, CA60: This is Corsi For %, Corsi For/60 minutes, Corsi Allowed/60 minutes: Corsi is shot attempts that the team has taken and allowed. "Shot attempts" include shots that are blocked or miss the net. CF% is the ratio of shot attempts made to shot attempts allowed. Elite teams and lines will have a CF% of 60% or greater.

• HDCF60, HDCA60: This is High Danger Corsi For/60 minutes and High Danger Corsi Allowed/60 minutes. "High Danger" means shot attempts in the area closest to and in front of the goalie.

• SF60, SA60: This is Shots For/60 minutes and Shots Allowed/60 minutes. These are actual shots that hit the goal (or went in).

• SOT: Shots on target. This is the percentage of shots attempted that end up being a shot on goal.

• Sh%: The percentage of shots on goal that are goals.

• SCF60, SCA60: Scoring chances for and allowed per 60 minutes

• GF60, GA60: These are goals for and goals allowed per 60 minutes. This is an average of the goals scored or allowed over the last 10 games (in this case 1-3 games).

I'm overgeneralizing, but I want teams that aren't afraid to shoot the puck. More shot attempts the better. Then I narrow it down more based on teams that are hitting the net and getting goals. Again, really high level stuff. Don't go all in based on one or even a few numbers, but I think it's more useful than just going off of implied goals.

Now let's dig into this slate.

Goaltenders

Pekka Rinne - NSH (DK: $7700, FD: $8600)

I don't care that Rinne has been a sieve lately. I think he gets a good chance to bounce back and has a lot of upside against a Vancouver team that is averaging 60 shot attempts a game over their past 10 games.

Centers

Aleksander Barkov -FLA (DK: $6800, FD: $8200)

Barkov is one of my favorite players for NHL DFS and I think FLA-BOS could be a shootout tonight. I already have a healthy amount of Florida stacks in my lineups so far and Barkov is in most of them.

Wingers

Evander Kane - SJS (DK: $7500, FD: $7400)

You might be wondering why Kane is here when I have Mike Smith as my top-ranked goalie a little bit above. Remember, my model is based around upside. Mike Smith could pull out a shutout, but in my mind, that's highly unlikely. Even if Smith only allows a couple of goals, I think Kane stands a good chance of being a part of that.

Defensemen

Cale Makar - COL (DK: $5200, FD: $5000)

Makar has been a big part of the Colorado offense lately, and while he is a little underpriced, I'm going to keep playing him.

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.

Adrian Kempe: LAK - C (DK: $2.9K, FD: $3.8K)

Oliver Bjorkstrand: CLS - W (DK: $4.4K, FD: $4.9K)

Jakob Chychrun: ARI - D (DK: $4.3K, FD: $3.9K)

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.

Looking at stacks for tonight, here are LineStar's top projected owned stacks, my favorites, and the "risk it for the biscuit" stacks (high-upside, low ownership stacks. Along with these stacks you can compare their prices, see how LineStar projects them, as well as their combined average fantasy points per game over the last 5 games.

Keep in mind, these are my favorites. These lines may change so keep an eye out for news during the day and during pre-game warmups. 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.

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