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.

Tonight we get a 5-game slate with all games on the East coast, which means no late night hammers or the need to stay up late to see where you land on the leaderboard. Also, we get a full week of solid slates so you can expect a newsletter each day.

Here's high-level data for each of the slates today:

My initial impression of this slate is that there are no obvious plays. I could make a case for any team on this slate and probably counter that with an argument against them. It makes me a little nervous in that I live and die by line stacks, but tonight could be one of those slates that a one-off lineup could do well. Let's look at who I like for both slates 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:

Frederik Andersen, TOR (vs BOS) (DK: $8.9K, FD: $8.9K)

Andersen has been pretty solid for DFS this season, and even though he has a tough matchup, I'm going to have a lot of shares of Andersen tonight. Over the past month, he has a 1.91 goals against average and a .942 save percentage.

Thomas Greiss, NYI (vs WAS) (DK: $7.5K, FD: $8.1K)

Another tough matchup, but Greiss is priced right and has a lot of upside if he can stick to his numbers over the past month (2.1 goals against and a .931 save percentage).

Jimmy Howard, DET (vs CLS) (DK: $6.9K, FD: $8.5K)

I don't like his price on FanDuel, but love his price on DraftKings. Howard has a 2.13 goals against average and a .937 save percentage over the past month.

#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: $5.7K, FD: $6.2K)

One of my overall favorites on the night. He has a tough matchup against Bobrovsky, but Bob has been leaky at times this season. Larkin has a 58 CF% with 8 shots attempts (1.6 high danger) and 5.4 shots on net over the last 5 games.

Brady Tkachuk: OTT - LW (DK: $5.7K, FD: $4.5K)

With several top-tier left wingers on the slate (Ovechkin, Hall, Marchand), it might seem weird slotting Tkachuk here, but I love his price and he's been great value for someone on second line and top powerplay unit who's averaging 3.2 shots a game with 2 high-danger shot attempts over his past 5 games.

Cam Atkinson: CLS - RW (DK: $7.1K, FD: $7.2K)

If I knew an MLB batter was getting 7.2 at bats a game, I would probably find a way to get him into my lineups. In this case, Atkinson is averaging 7.2 shot attempts a night over his past 5 with 1.4 high danger shot attempts and 5 shots on net.

Thomas Chabot: OTT - D (DK: $6.2K, FD: $5.3K)

His production has dipped slightly while his price has gone up slightly, but he's still my favorite as he's averaging a slate best (for defensemen) 6.6 shot attempts a night and getting over 25 minutes of ice time over his last 5 games.

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.

Nazem Kadri: TOR - C (DK: $4.8K, FD: $5.6K)

Kadri has been shooting the puck more and is averaging 3.4 shots on net a game (2.5 on average over his last 20 games). Great value play for someone on Toronto's top powerplay unit.

Anthony Beauvillier: NYI - LW (DK: $4.5K, FD: $3.9K)

I luck-boxed him on his hat trick 11 days ago. I wouldn't expect another ceiling game, but he's been moved up to the first line (always subject to change) and is shooting the puck more at 2.8 shots over his last 5 (compared to 1.9 over his last 20).

Josh Anderson: CLS - RW (DK: $5.2K, FD: $4.4K)

Josh has been shooting the puck more at 3.6 shots a night over his past 5 (6 shot attempts and 1.8 high-danger shot attempts) and is a solid value play on FanDuel tonight.

Ryan Pulock: NYI - D (DK: $4.1K, FD: $4K)

He's cheap, and even though he's averaging only 2 shots on net a game, he's got a cannon for a shot and also blocks a shot or two, plays on the top powerplay unit, and gets over 21 minutes a night.

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.

Pavel Zacha: NJ - C (DK: $3.6K, FD: $3.5K)

Andreas Johnsson: TOR - LW (DK: $3.9K, FD: $3K)

Michael Rasmussen: DET - RW (DK: $3K, FD: $3.6K)

Johnny Boychuk: NYI- 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 are my three favorite stacks on the night:

NYR: Kreider-Hayes-Chytil (DK: $15.5K, FD: $15.6K)

Value stack of the night. They get a solid matchup against an Ottawa team that is allowing 4.5 goals per game over the last 10 games.

NJ: Hall-Hischier-Palmieri: (DK: $19.8K, FD: $20.2K)

This usually doesn't age well, but this is my favorite stack of the night. I'll be honest, they haven't helped my lineups much lately but they're in a good spot tonight against a Florida team that is giving up 3.68 goals a game over their last 10 games.

WAS: Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson: (DK: $20.6K, FD: $21.3K)

I've waffled on this stack a lot today. They're expensive, but have a high ceiling. NYI has been giving up 3.25 goals a game, but Greiss has been known to stand on his head. This stack came up as one of my model's top lines and I'll throw my laptop out a window if this line goes off and I didn't play it.

Risk-It-For-The-Biscuit Stack 🍪

OTT: Tkachuk-White-Stone (DK: $16.5K, FD: $15K)

I don't think Ottawa is sneaky anymore, but I'm going to keep playing. Combined, this line has 5.45 high danger shot attempts a game over their last 5 and although the Rangers have done really well at limiting high-danger shot attempts, I'm going to risk it. for. the. biscuit.

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