Written by LineStar Daily Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver.

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Welcome to the NHL Hat Trick.

Last day of the month, year, and decade and we get daytime hockey. However, I'm going to focus on today's 9-game main slate.

Before we dive into that, I want to bring up some numbers from last Friday's 11-game slate. To start it off, let's take a look at what teams scored the most fantasy points (excluding goalies).

What's interesting is the top 5 teams for projected ownership were Toronto, Colorado, Winnipeg, Boston, and Pittsburgh. Only two of those teams made it to the top scoring teams on the slate. To some of you, this might give you reason to fade top projected owned teams. On the other hand, you might feel justified in stacking those teams. I'd say both are right. The key, I think, is to focus on building good lineups. A Toronto stack won't mean much if you fill the rest of your lineup with donuts. Which brings me to this:

This is more inline with what I'd expect to see most nights. Primary scoring coming from the top line with some of the second and third line factoring into the scoring. The fourth line most nights should be nothing more than a handful of points, which is why I typically avoid them altogether.

Next, is the top forward lines from fantasy points scored on 12/27 overall. I've included their projection and ownership projection (summed) for reference.

Again, for the most part, the top lines are doing the majority of the scoring. I think this is important if you're stacking full lines. If you're picking and choosing one-offs and pairs, I think players from second and third lines are definitely in play.

Let me know what you think of all this and if you find it useful. Also, any questions on the slate tonight? Hit me up in LineStar Chat

Tonight's Targets

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

• HDCF60, HDCA60: This is High Danger Corsi For/60 minutes and High Danger Corsi Allowed/60 minutes.

• SF60, SA60: This is Shots For/60 minutes and Shots Allowed/60 minutes.

• SOT: Percentage of shots on target .

• 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.

• ScoreAgg: Summed numbers of a teams GF60, xGF60 and the opponent's GA60 and xGA60.

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

James Reimer - CAR (DK: $8100, FD: $7700)

Reimer has been pretty solid over the past month with a 1.83 GAA and .937 Save%.

Centers

Auston Matthews - TOR (DK: $7300, FD: $8400)

In just over 18 minutes of even-strength ice time together, the Matthews-Marner-Hyman line has a CF% of 63.64 with 15 shots on net (9 high danger shot attempts) and 7 goals scored this season. I think this makes for a solid stack, or you can simply play Matthews as a one-off.

Wingers

Patrick Kane - CHI (DK: $7000, FD: $8500)

Shot volume uber alles. To me, Kane is a little underpriced (at least on DraftKings) for being one of the best players in the league, especially with his recent shot volume and upside.

Defensemen

Alex Pietrangelo - STL (DK: $5600, FD: $6200)

Winnipeg has been allowing 3.8 goals a game over their last 5 games, so I definitely want a piece of St Louis tonight. For me, that starts with Pietrangelo, who has been averaging 7.2 shot attempts a game over his last 5 games with 4.8 shots on net.

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.

Jordan Staal: CAR - C (DK: $4.3K, FD: $5.1K)

Kevin Labanc: SJS - W (DK: $4.3K, FD: $4.3K)

Hampus Lindholm: ANH - D (DK: $4.3K, FD: $4.3K)

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.

Looking at stacks for tonight, here are LineStar's top projected owned stacks, my top ranked, and the "risk it for the biscuit" stacks (high-upside, low ownership stacks.

Keep in mind, these are my favorites. These lines may change so keep an eye out for news during the day and during pre-game warmups. 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 to–day! Tag me in the LineStar Chat @ZeroInDenver if you have any questions or feedback. Follow me on Twitter @ZeroInDenver.

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