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.

Seven-game slate on a Friday. Feels so weird. I'm going to start off with my rankings for today:

As you can see, Calgary is the standout. Gaudreau-Monahan-Giordano would make for a pretty solid stack, but it's going to cost you. With Pittsburgh, Columbus, and Toronto also in play, you're going to need some good value plays to fill out your lineup. We'll get into that, but lets start by taking a look at team numbers over the last 10 games from a high level:

If you're new, let's do a quick rundown of what each of the columns represents (remember these are numbers over the past 10 games):

W = wins, L = losses (excluding OT losses), CF% = Corsi (shot attempts) For %, CF60 = Corsi for per 60 minutes, CA60 = Corsi allowed per 60 minutes, HDCF60 = High danger Corsi for per 60 minutes, HDCA60 = High danger Corsi allowed per 60 minutes, SF60 = shots for on net per 60 minutes, SA60 = shots on net allowed per 60 minutes, SV% = save percentage, SOT = shots on target (percentage of shots taken that hit the goal or go in), Sh% = shooting percentage (% of shots that become goals), SCF60 = scoring chances for per 60 minutes, SCA60 = scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes, PDO = Called SPSV% by the NHL, is the sum of a team's shooting percentage and its save percentage, GF60 = goals for per 60 minutes, GA60 = goals allowed per 60 minutes, Avg = Projected goals (my projections) for the team, xTotal = projected over/under

Of course, if you have any additional thoughts or questions, be sure to hit me up in chat.

Slate News

Fortunately, only a couple of goalies have not been confirmed at this time, so keep an eye on the updates page for player confirmations and changes.

✅ Carey Price vs 🅿️ Joonas Korpisalo

🅿️ Garret Sparks vs ✅ Roberto Luongo

🅿️ Thomas Greiss vs ✅ Braden Holtby

✅ Anders Nilsson vs ✅ Petr Mrazek

🅿️ Matt Murray vs 🅿️ Darcy Kuemper

🅿️ Jimmy Howard vs ✅ Mike Smith

🅿️ Carter Hutton vs 🅿️ Jacob Markstrom

Now, lets look at my favorites on the slate:

Goaltending

This is your starting point when playing cash games. You want a goalie that has a solid chance to get a win, but will also face a decent number of shots. North of 30 shots on net is ideal. Here are my three favorites that check those boxes tonight:

Matt Murray (vs PIT) (DK: $8.1K, FD: $8.8K)

Remember that scene in Ghostbusters when Venkman watches Dana turn into that demonic dog and he says "so... she's a dog"? That's kind of how I feel about Murray tonight. He had a pretty poor game last time out, but it was against San Jose. He's still been pretty solid over the last month that I'm willing to roll him out in good shares tonight.

Carey Price, MON (@CLS) (DK: $7.6K, FD: $8.6K)

Yes, I know Price is facing Columbus. It's not a good matchup, but Montreal has limited goals allowed to 2.2 per game over their last 10 games. There's certainly upside if he can limit Columbus to that and get the win, as they're averaging 31.2 shots on net a game over their last 10.

Thomas Greiss, NYI (@ WAS ) (DK: $7.4K, FD: $7.9K)

This may be a surprise, but Washington hasn't played that great lately. They've only won 4 of their last 10 games and are only averaging 2.47 goals a game during that span. On the other hand, the Islanders have won 8 of their last 10 and Greiss has been serviceable over the past month and is coming off of a great outing against Tampa.

#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):

Pierre-Luc Dubois: CLS - C (DK: $6.3K, FD: $6.1K)

Dubois plays on the top line and top powerplay unit for Columbus and has been averaging 6 shot attempts (1.4 high danger) with 3.4 shots on net over his last 5 games. Tough matchup tonight though, so may be a little underowned.

Brock Boeser: VAN - W (DK: $5.8K, FD: $6.2K)

Almost skipped over Boeser tonight. I love putting forwards in my lineups that get over 20 minutes a game and take a ton of shots and Boeser has been averaging over 22 minutes with 8.4 shot attempts (1.4 high danger) and 3.6 shots on net over his last 5 games.

Thomas Chabot: OTT - D (DK: $6.1K, FD: $5.5K)

Chabot is back, and I couldn't be happier. Had a great first night back this week with 5 shots on net, an assist, and a blocked shot.

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: $4.4K, FD: $4.8K)

I almost didn't write anything out for him. Kadri has been in this value spot probably more than anyone else this season. Cheap for a center that gets PP1 time and he shoots the puck, as he's averaging 5.6 shot attempts (2 high danger) and 2.8 shots on net over his last 5 games with a solid 61 CF%.

Conor Garland: ARI - W (DK: $4.3K, FD: $3.9K)

Not sure why he's so cheap. He's been averaging a solid 61 CF% with 5 shot attempts (1.8 high danger) with 4 shots on net over his last 5 games. My only real knock against him is he doesn't get a ton of minutes, but he is slotted on the top powerplay unit for Arizona.

Jakob Chychrun: ARI - D (DK: $4.1K, FD: $3.8K)

Chychrun is the type of dude that I almost play when I'm looking for someone on the cheap side. Same with Garland in that he doesn't get a ton of minutes, but he's on the top powerplay unit for the Yotes and is averaging 5.4 shot attempts, 3.2 shots on net.

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.

Lucas Wallmark: CAR - C (DK: $3.2K, FD: $3.2K)

Nick Bjugstad: FLA - W (DK: $3K, FD: $4.6K)

Cody Ceci: OTT - D (DK: $3.8K, FD: $4.2K)

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 list two of the the highest-projected owned stacks, two of my favorite stacks, and two "biscuit" (high risk, high reward) stacks:

High-Ownership (Based on LineStar Ownership Projections):

CGY: Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm (DK: $21.5K, FD: $23.9K)

PIT: Guentzel-Crosby-Rust (DK: $19.2K, FD: $21.4K)

Favorite stacks:

CAR: Ferland-Aho-Teravainen (DK: $17.5K FD: $14.1K)

CLS: Panarin-Dubois-Atkinson (DK: $20.9K FD: $21.4K)

Biscuit stacks (high risk, high upside):

ARI: Galchenyuk-Cousins-Garland (DK: $11.9K, FD: $12.8K)

NYI: Beauvillier-Barzal-Bailey (DK: $16.3K FD: $17.3K)

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.