Written by LineStar Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver.

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Welcome to the NHL Hat Trick. I hope you took some time during the break to analyze your own play and adjust as necessary.

The newsletter returns tonight with 6 games on tap. As always, keep an eye on twitter and the chat in the 30 minutes before each game starts. We all know anything can happen now with covid protocols. We all hate it, but it is what it is, for now.

LETSSGOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Tonight's Slate

Here are the team numbers for tonight's slate:

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

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

Thatcher Demko - VAN (DK: $7300, FD: $7700)

Spend Up On...

New section...

I want to try something and see if it resonates with you all.

I've been trolled (and rightfully so) sometimes for touting the most expensive player at a position. Let's be honest. You don't need me to tell you to play McDavid, Matthews, or MacKinnon any given night. They're the best players in the league and are priced up for a reason.

So let's take a look at who I have ranked as the best studs on the slate and then see who bubbles up below the $7500 salary mark.

My favorite:

Alex Ovechkin - WAS (DK: $9700, FD: $10200)

Center

My favorite:

Jared McCann - SEA (DK: $4600, FD: $5400)

Wing

My favorite:

Brock Boeser - VAN (DK: $4100, FD: $6800)

Defensemen

My favorite:

Quinn Hughes - VAN (DK: $5300, FD: $6900)

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:

Alex Tuch - BUF (DK: $2500, FD: $3900)

Tuch makes his return and debut for Buffalo tonight after being part of the Eichel trade.

Today's Parlay

Long shot for a Friday. I ended playing each as singles too. Goal parlays are so hard to hit.

Let me know if you're tailing...

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 PHI1

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.

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?

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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