Written by LineStar Fantasy Life Coach @ZeroInDenver.

Check out the NHL Season Preview & Strategy Guide

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.

ICYMI - The NHL Season Preview & Strategy guide goes over the basics of NHL DFS and what I look for when researching players.

Moving things around a bit. I'm going to highlight who I think looks good on this slate and end with my thoughts on strategy for this slate.

Let me know what you think in LineStar chat!

Tonight's Slate

**The game between the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights has been postponed.**

Here's numbers on the teams so far this season. Generally, I start my research by looking for teams in good spots. For example, teams that score goals (GF60) that are facing teams that give up goals (GA60). I also look at teams that shoot a lot (CF60) that are facing teams that give up a lot of shots (CA60).

Legend: CF% = Corsi For Percentage, CF60 = Corsi For Per60 min, CA = Corsi Allowed Per 60 Min, HDCF60 = High Danger Corsi For Per 60 Min, HDCA60 = High Danger Corsi Allowed Per 60 Min, SF60 = Shots on Goal For Per 60 Min, SA60 = Shots on Goal Allowed Per 60 Min, SOT = % of Shot Attempts On Goal, Sh% = % of Shots on Goal That Are Goals, SCF60 = Scoring Chances For Per 60 Min, SCA60 = Scoring Chances Allowed Per 60 Min, GF60 = Goals For Per 60 Min, GA60 = Goals Allowed Per 60.

Goaltender Rankings

How to Interpret This: I've added LineStar Projected Ownership, LineStar Projected Fantasy Points, and Goalie GAA (Goals Saved Above Average), and Saves/60, along with my projected upside for each goalie. Generally, I'm looking for goalies that I think will get a win with a positive (green) GSAA and a high saves number.

As always - double-check that your goalie is starting before the game starts.

My Favorite:

John Gibson - ANH (DK: $7900, FD: $7400) *EXPECTED STARTER*

Gibson has a .948 Save % and 1.67 GA so far this season. Gibson has a good matchup tonight as well, facing a Yotes team that is averaging only 2.43 goals a game so far this season.

Forwards and Defensemen Rankings

How to Interpret C/D/W charts: In NHL DFS, I think it's most important to look at peripheral stats instead of goals which is why I put so much emphasis on shots. This includes shot attempts, high danger shot attempts (those shot attempts closest to the net with the highest probability of going into the net), and shots on goal. I've included projections and average fantasy points to see how each compares so you can more easily find value.

Center

My Favorite

Nazem Kadri - COL (DK: $4600, FD: $5800)

I think that Kadri will be popular tonight. Much of that may be to COL1 being the most expensive line on the slate and Kadri comes in at almost half of MacKinnon's salary. Kadri has a great matchup and gets exposure to the top powerplay unit of Colorado.

Winger

My Favorite:

Craig Smith - BOS (DK: $4100, FD: $4400)

You can run Craig Smith as a one-off, but I think on a slate like this, you'll want to pair him with someone else on the top line for Boston. I tend to lean towards Bergeron in that case, but Marchand would be fine as well.

Defensemen

My Favorite

Rasmus Dahlin - BUF (DK: $4200, FD: $4300)

I haven't mentioned this lately - but the $4000-$6000 range is my preference to spend on a defenseman. I've found that players in that range tend to have a better floor with a good ceiling. Besides minutes and shots, something I look at too is what power play unit they're playing on. In this case, Dahlin is on the top unit with Hall and Eichel. Correlation is king in NHL DFS, and I think it's important to pick players that will share ice time with players that can go off any given night.

Bottom of the Barrel

Here are my cheap calls for a skater to pick up a goal or assist.

Ryan Strome: NYR - C (DK: $4.3K, FD: $4.8K)

Zach Hyman: TOR - W (DK: $4.3K, FD: $4.7K)

Jordie Benn : VAN - D (DK: $2.8K, FD: $3.6K)

Line Stacks

Here are my ranked stacks for tonight:

Favorite Stacks Tonight:

Top-Projected Owned Stacks:

Again - this isn't an invitation to fade any of these lines. If you're playing GPP, you could pretty comfortably stack one of these top-owned stacks with a biscuit stack and get a fairly unique lineup.

Risk-It-For-The-Biscuit Stacks:

COL2 is a solid option if you can't afford COL1 in your lineup.

How I'm Approaching Tonight

Here are my team rankings for expected production tonight. What this means is that I'm going to have a significant number of players from these teams in my lineups. I may use forward lines from these teams as stacks, or I may look to fill in one-offs in my lineups with players from these teams.

One of the big questions I see (and this goes for all sports) is how should we approach large slates. For me, it starts by trying to determine what can I eliminate? When I think about that, I think about what the teams aren't scoring goals in combination with what teams are facing teams that don't give up a lot of goals. That's where I start to eliminate teams like Anaheim and Detroit. If I'm looking to eliminate teams that are facing teams that don't give up a lot of goals, I can consider crossing out teams like Washington, and Arizona. With a slate like tonight's 13 game slate, being able to eliminate even a third of the 26 teams can make lineup building a lot less stressful.

Of course, hockey is a high variance sport. A team like Anaheim or Washington could go off. It happens. It's rare, but it happens. However, for me, I want a solid portfolio of lineups that have a higher probability of scoring high. If I get burned by a 2% owned team going off, then that's ok. I don't want to waste lineups on low-probability teams.

Aside from that, I don't change my approach much. 3-3 stacks (3 players from one team and 3 players from another team) are my preferred approach. I don't bother with cash games. If I did, I would probably lean more towards a 2-2-2 stack. This could get me exposure to multiple good teams/players in good spots.

I don't do many 4-3 stacks or 3-3-2 stacks either. With a 3-3 stack, I'm stacking forwards from each team (C-W-W or C-W-C) which leaves me 2 defensemen and a goalie. I tend to prefer correlating a goalie with one of the teams I'm stacking, but I don't force it.

Also, I prefer to spend no more than $34K on DraftKings for my two line stacks and $36K on FanDuel. I find this allows me to not have to punt both D spots and I can fit a decent goaltender as well.

I'm working on building out some tools so we can take a look at other players and what they do, but this is my general approach.

Keep in mind, plays listed 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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