Written by LineStar Fantasy Wizard @ZeroInDenver.

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Welcome to the NHL Hat Trick.

Just a reminder, if you're new to NHL DFS, I put together a general strategy guide that's linked at the top of this newsletter and I've been sprinkling in tips and tricks both in the LineStar app and DFS in general. However, I'm wondering if there's any topics that you all are struggling with or need help with. What's your biggest challenge in NHL DFS or using the LineStar app? Anything you want me to go over (or go over again)? Any thing you want my thoughts on? Hit me up in 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

Thomas Greiss - NYI (DK: $8400, FD: $8100)

His price has shot up a lot since his last time out, at least on DraftKings. He's a much better value on FanDuel. Still, he gets Ottawa on the tail-end of a back-to-back and let's not gloss over the fact that he has a 2.00 GAA and .933 Save% this season.

Centers

Claude Giroux -PHI (DK: $6000, FD: $7300)

As always, I love to target players that have similar shot volume to that of more expensive players. On a slate like tonight, I think there's going to be a lot of the herd that is gravitating towards Matthews, Bergeron, or MacKinnon when Giroux has been quietly putting 4.2 shots on net over the last 5 games.

Wingers

Alexander Radulov - DAL (DK: $6600, FD: $6700)

Dallas has looked better recently, and Colorado has looked worse, as they've been without Landeskog and Rantanen. I have a lot of interest in Dallas tonight and it starts with Radulov who has been averaging 4.4 shots on net a night with 2 high danger shot attempts over his last 5 games.

Defensemen

Nate Schmidt - VAN (DK: $4900, FD: $4400)

I don't think tonight is a night you need to spend up for defensemen. There are a lot of good options at the mid-salary tier. One of my favorites is Nate Schmidt. I've been stacking Vegas almost every night and I think Schmidt is a good option to add some additional correlation in your lineups.

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.

Charlie Coyle: BOS - C (DK: $3.4K, FD: $4.3K)

Denis Gurianov: DAL - W (DK: $3.5K, FD: $3.9K)

Adam Boqvist: CHI - D (DK: $3.2K, FD: $3.5K)

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.

I'm going to do stacks a little differently moving forward. I'm going to provide you with the 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. 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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