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.

After a 14-game absence, Auston Matthews will return to the Toronto lineup. We've got a 5-game slate tonight. There's some obvious spots in Florida, Toronto, and Colorado. Calgary and (dare I say) Detroit are worth a look tonight as well. Here's high-level data for the slate today:

Heads up - at the time of this writing, only one goalie was confirmed. A couple of teams played last night (Anaheim, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Colorado, and San Jose). I'd expect most of those teams (if not all) to not have a morning skate so keep an eye out for confirmations throughout the day.

✅Jake Allen vs 🅿️ Jimmy Howard

🅿️John Gibson vs ✅ James Reimer

🅿️Aaron Dell vs 🅿️ Frederik Andersen

🅿️ Anton Khudobin vs ✅ BIG SAVE DAVE Rittich

🅿️ Casey DeSmith vs 🅿️ Semyon Varlamov

Let's look at my favorites 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 SJ) (DK: $8.4K, FD: $9.2K)

I don't usually like playing the most expensive goalie on the slate, but Andersen is one of the best cash options on the slate. His numbers have come down a bit, but he's favored for tonight and should see solid shot volume from San Jose.

Jimmy Howard, DET (vs STL) (DK: $7.5K, FD: $8.6K)

Howard was awful last time out, but I'm not going to let one bad night stop me from rostering him again. He gets a decent home matchup tonight against a St Louis team that is averaging 2.5 goals a game on 29.6 shots over their last 10 games.

James Reimer, FLA (vs ANH) (DK: $7.2K, FD: $7.9K)

Reimer isn't a great goalie. His stats won't impress you, but in this bottom salary tier, I think he gets the best matchup and the best opportunity to pick up a win bonus.

#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):

Nathan MacKinnon: COL - C (DK: $7.8K, FD: $9K)

At his price, I can understand anyone that wants to fade him, but he's got some of the best numbers on the slate tonight. He's got a 65 CF% with 6.6 scoring chances, 8.8 shot attempts, 4.2 high danger, 5.2 shots on net, and a goal and assist per game over his last 5 games.

Jake Guentzel: PIT - LW (DK: $6.2K, FD: $6.7K)

Guentzel has a 60 CF% and is seeing 3.8 scoring chances per night with 4.8 shot attempts (1.6 high danger) and 3.2 shots on net over his past 5 games.

Mike Hoffman: FLA - RW (DK: $7.3K, FD: $6.3K)

He's a great value on FanDuel tonight. Hoffman has been averaging 7 shot attempts and 5.2 shots on net a night over his last 5 games.

Kris Letang: PIT - D (DK: $6.4K, FD: $6.9K)

One of my favorite skaters on the night. He's got a 58 CF% with 5.6 shot attempts and 3.4 shots on net over his past 5 games while averaging just over one assist per game over that time as well.

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.

Nazem Kadri: TOR - C (DK: $4.5K, FD: $5.5K)

I expect there to be less interest in Kadri with Matthews back, but he's cheap and has been averaging 7 shot attempts (1.4 high danger) and 3.6 shots on net over his past 5 games.

Rickard Rakell: ANH - LW (DK: $5.4K, FD: $6.9K)

Much better value on Draftkings. Rakell has been seeing 3.6 scoring chances with 5.4 shot attempts (1.8 high danger), and 3 shots on net on over 19 minutes of ice time per night over the past 5 games.

Anthony Mantha: DET - RW (DK: $5.2K, FD: $4.6K)

Mantha had two goals last time out and I think his goal streak continues tonight. He's averaging 6 shot attempts with 4 shots on net a game over his last 5 games.

Brandon Montour: ANH- D (DK: $4.7K, FD: $4.3K)

Montour is averaging 3 shots plus blocks and an assist per game with over 24 minutes of time on ice over his past 5 games and is facing a Florida team that is allowing 3.87 goals per game over their last 10 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.

Tyler Bozak: STL - C (DK: $3.6K, FD: $4.4K)

Andreas Johnsson: TOR - LW (DK: $3.4K, FD: $3K)

James Neal: CGY - RW (DK: $3.3K, FD: $5.1K)

Ian Cole: COL - D (DK: $3.8K, 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 three favorite stacks on the night (minus the Tavares line for Toronto - do they need to be mentioned at this point?):

COL: Landeskog-Mackinnon-Rantanen (DK: $21.1K, FD: $24.5K)

Most expensive, but my favorite stack of the night. As a line, they have a slate best 13.96 shot attempts per game with 8.04 shots on net a night.

CGY: Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm: (DK: $18.4K, FD: $22.2K)

Dallas has prevented me from having nice things the last couple of times I've stacked against them, but I'm going to roll out Calgary stacks again tonight. I like both top lines, but like the first line more at home tonight.

SJ: Kane-Pavelski-Donskoi: (DK: $14.8K, FD: $17.8K)

Ever since I put down Frederik Andersen (again), I've kept saying to myself that it won't age well. As I mentioned, I expect him to see decent shot volume. Because of this, I think it's worth playing the other side.

Risk-It-For-The-Biscuit Stack 🍪

DET: Abdelkader-Larkin-Mantha (DK: $14.4K, FD: $14.5K)

Jake Allen is starting for the Blues tonight. Allen can be really good, or really bad. In case he's really bad, I want to have some Detroit stacks. I don't mind the second line for Detroit either, but at almost the same price, I think the top line is your best bet for the biscuit tonight.

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