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.

We've got a 10-game main slate, but two 3-game slates for Turbo/Express and Late/After Hours. As always, if you feel that large slates are overwhelming, there's no shame in playing the smaller slates. They also pay out real money as well.

From a high-level, here's team numbers over the past 10 games:

You'll note that I added an "Avg" column to the slate graphic. That's basically my expected goals from each time by the slate. It's a combination of what teams have been scoring and allowing along with my secret sauce to get a number of goals that I expect to see from each game today. It's far from perfect, but I've found it useful.

Heads up - at the time of this writing, most goalies have been confirmed. Keep an eye on chat for updates throughout the day.

✅ Jaroslav Halak vs 🅿️ Roberto Luongo

✅David Rittich vs 🅿️ Sergei Bobrovsky

✅ Semyon Varlamov vs ✅ Casey DeSmith

✅ Connor Hellebuyck vs ✅ Thomas Greiss

✅ Craig Anderson vs ✅ Carey Price

✅ Frederik Andersen vs ✅ Linus Ulmark

🅿️ Louis Domingue 🅿️ Jimmy Howard

✅ Braden Holtby ✅ Marc-Andre Fleury

✅ Devan Dubnyk ✅ Anders Nilsson

✅ Adin Hill 🅿️ Jonathan Quick

Let's look at my favorites on the slate:

Goaltending

Playing cash games? Fill in your goalie spot first. Playing tournaments? Fill your skater positions and pick the goaltender with the biggest upside for the least amount of salary. Here are my three favorite goaltenders on the night:

Sergei Bobrovsky, CLS (vs CGY) (DK: $8.1K, FD: $8.8K)

Right now, it looks like Bob will be my #1 goaltender tonight in my lineups. This is risky, but I expect him to be low owned against the Flames. However, I do like the Jackets at home and BIG SAVE DAVE Rittich hasn't quite been that lately.

Frederik Andersen, TOR (@ BUF) (DK: $8.4K, FD: $9.3K)

Here's another questionable call that you probably didn't expect. Buffalo has been hot, but they're coming down to earth a bit. They're scoring 2.8 goals a game - good, but nowhere near best on the slate, while averaging a low 8.5 high danger scoring chances (tied with Detroit for worst on the slate). The thing with Andersen is that he's putting up good fantasy numbers, even when allowing 3 goals.

Adin Hill, ARI (@ LA) (DK: $7.6K, FD: $7.4K)

Hill's price tag is starting to catch up with his performance. Still, I like him against a Kings team that is scoring only 2.28 goals a game over their last 10 games.

#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):

Nathan MacKinnon: COL - C (DK: $7.9K, FD: $9.1K)

One of the best on the slate in terms of shot attempts, high danger shot attempts, and shots on net.

Alex Ovechkin: WAS- LW (DK: $7.6K, FD: $8.8K)

Ever have a player come across your research all day, but then you don't play him and he goes off? Ovi has kept popping in my research today. Nothing jumping off the page, but popping in enough places that makes him worthy of strong consideration today.

Patrik Laine: WPG - RW (DK: $7.8K, FD: $8.7K)

Laine is always on my radar because he's a hat trick threat almost every night.

Shea Weber: MON - D (DK: $5.7K, FD: $5.7K)

Weber checks so many boxes for me tonight - shots, ice time, powerplay unit, and matchup. He'll be a staple in a lot of my lineups

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: $4.1K, FD: $5.3K)

He's cheap and sees time on the top powerplay unit for Toronto which has been one of the best in the league.

Alex Killorn: TBL- LW (DK: $4K, FD: $4.4K)

The third line for Tampa has been productive and Killorn will see time on the second powerplay unit.

Dustin Brown: LA - RW (DK: $5K, FD: $6.1K)

Adin Hill has been outstanding, but I'm expecting regression. This means that I'll have solid Kings exposure, with Brown as a solid option tonight to be ready for when he does regress.

Jeff Petry: MON - D (DK: $4.3K, FD: $4.3K)

Solid alternative to Weber if you need the salary savings.

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.

Jeff Carter: LAK - C (DK: $3.9K, FD: $5.9K) **DraftKings Only**

Ryan Donato: BOS - LW (DK: $3.3K, FD: $3.1K)

Jordan Eberle: NYI - RW (DK: $3.7K, FD: $5.9K) **DraftKings Only**

Colin Miller: VGK- D (DK: $3.6K, FD: $4.4K)

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.

CLS: Panarin-Dubois-Atkinson (DK: $18.2K, FD: $21K)

Favorite stack tonight. At home this season, this line has 9 goals on 77 shots with a 57 CF% in 122 minutes of ice time together.

OTT: Dzingel-Duchene-Batherson: (DK: $17.5K, FD: $16K)

Mostly putting this here so I can mention Drizzy Bath. But I do like this line for Ottawa. In 35 minutes of 5v5 they have 15 shots and 2 goals.

PIT: Guentzel-Crosby-Simon (DK: $16.6K, FD: $19.8K)

Call this anti-homerism, but I don't like Varlamov outside of the Pepsi Center. Sure, he had a great game last time out against Detroit, but he'll face a much more challenging offense in Pittsburgh.

Risk-It-For-The-Biscuit Stack 🍪

FLA: Huberdeau-Barkov-Hoffman (DK: $17.6K, FD: $20.4K)

I know, usually I put cheap lines here, but this stack is interesting to me. We know that Halak can be pretty good for Boston. But in just under 23 minutes of 5v5, this line has a 53 CF% with 14 shots and 3 goals.

Good luck today! Tag me in the LineStar Chat @ZeroInDenver if you have any questions or feedback. Follow me on Twitter @ZeroInDenver.