Written by LineStar Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver.

Check out the NHL Season Preview & Strategy Guide

Got NHL DFS questions or want to see something covered in this newsletter? Hit me up in LineStar Chat.

Welcome to the NHL Hat Trick.

I hope NHL DFS has been treating you well.

4-games on tap for tonight and lock is a little later than usual (8:30PM Eastern). Let's jump right in.

Tonight's Slate

Here are the team numbers for tonight's slate. Remember, this looks at times over their last 10 regular-season games, going back to the 2020-2021 season.

I mentioned this in chat, but I often use this to look for mismatches (teams that give up a lot of shots facing teams that take a lot of shots) and spots where both teams have sub 50% CF%. So if you're looking for "sneaky" stacks, that's where I start.

Tonight's Targets

Goaltender

**Not all goaltenders have been confirmed as starters at the time of this writing**

My preference is to correlate goalie with one of my stacks, but my favorite tonight is:

Jordan Binnington - STL (DK: $7800, FD: $7900)

I definitely subscribe to the Budaman DFS gospel of "what's supposed to happen usually don't", but I'll admit to chasing the win equity here.

Center

My favorite:

Boone Jenner - CLS (DK: $5400, FD: $3900)

As an admitted Avalanche homer, I don't have a lot of faith in their goaltending. At the same time, with a number of top-tier centers on the slate, I know I'm going to need to spend down if I want to slot one in my lineup, which leads me to Boone Jenner.

Wing

My favorite:

Vladamir Tarasenko - STL (DK: $6400, FD: $8100)

Still a bit of a bargain on DraftKings, but I'd still target him on FanDuel as the Kings are 3rd on the slate for giving up the most fantasy points to the opposing top line.

Defensemen

My favorite:

Erik Johnson - COL (DK: $3000, FD: $3600)

This is a spend-down on defense night for me, and Erik Johnson should be a popular pick tonight.

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?

Spending Down

Some people call these "value" plays or "salary savers", but 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.

My favorite:

Arthur Kailiyev - LAK (DK: $2900, FD: $3800)

If we're going to punt a one-off, let's go for one on the top line and top powerplay unit.

Line Stacks

Before going further, let's make this clear:

You 👏 dont 👏 have 👏 to 👏 stack.

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.

Here are my favorite stacks (ranked in order of preference) for tonight:

And the RISK IT FOR THE BISCUIT stack... let's go with STL2.

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.

🚨 Get 3 Free Months of LineStar Premium 🚨

Get 3-months of LineStar Premium for new users to Monkey Knife Fight who deposit/play $10!

Terms: Partnership offers do NOT renew. See Monkey Knife Fight landing page for full terms and conditions. Must be a new user to SuperDraft and deposit and play a minimum of $10 to qualify. If you have an existing LineStar Premium subscription you get a Hat/Tee combo instead of the 3-months.