The NHL is officially back with a two-game slate on Tuesday, sort of an appetizer before a more hefty slate hits us on Wednesday. If you haven’t jumped into NHL DFS before I strongly recommend you give it a shot as it’s one of the better DFS sports out there. With such a short slate, a simple cheat sheet should point you in the right direction or directions when building your lineup or lineups as the season gets underway!

NOTE: All pricing references pertain to DraftKings

Key Skaters

In most cases this section will include my top THREE overall skaters on the slate. In this case, I’ll stick to two with just two games.

C Brayden Point (TB)

In hockey, you have to be strong up the middle and that narrative pertains to NHL DFS. Point is the best center on this short slate and will have the best matchup against a Penguins team who I’ve targeted for years as one of the more susceptible teams defensively. Pittsburgh is weak up the middle as it is, now add Sidney Crosby not being available to the equation and we have an older, slower Jeff Carter and a defensive liability in Evan Rodrigues up the middle on the top two lines. All the Point for me.

W Mark Stone (VGK)

Between Stone and Max Pacioretty ($500 more expensive) I went back and forth but I will take the discount with Stone. The two-way forward fills the “fantasy sheet” in a multitude of ways – shots, blocked shots, assists, goals, power-play points – Stone does it all while playing at or around 20 minutes most every night. Vegas is loaded once again and should be a popular team to roster players from most nights this season. The 69-point scorer (nice) from last season is in a great spot against the expansion Seattle Kraken.

Favorite Line Stacks

Vegas Golden Knights

Nolan Patrick – Mark Stone – Max Pacioretty – Shea Theodore – Evgenii Dadonov

This is the full top power-play unit for the Golden Knights and there is some stand out value here – more on that in a second. Stone, Pacioretty, and Theodore are fixtures on the power-play for Vegas and rightfully so – this trio led the team in power-play points last season – Stone with 17, Theodore 15, and Pacioretty 12. Against a young nd likely undisciplined Kraken team I have to believe that opportunities will be there. As far as Patrick and Dadonov go, both are new, Patrick from Philadelphia and Dadonov from Ottawa and both are nice values with Patrick at $3,600 and Dadonov at $3,900. Both also skate together on the third line adding correlation at even strength.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Brayden Point – Steven Stamkos – Nikita Kucherov – Victor Hedman

This isn’t thinking outside of the box here, I know. All four skaters here skate together on the top power-play unit, a unit that has been together for years and has been absolutely deadly. With Pittsburgh already shorthanded without Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, common sense says that there will be shorthanded opportunities with other players being forced into situations they’re not used to, like dealing with the Lightning top skaters. Point and Kucherov skate on the top line, Hedman is always on the ice at the top defense spot, and Stamkos who’s egregiously priced down at $5,900 is the top scoring option on the second line.

Top Value Skaters

Center

• Anthony Cirelli (TB)
• Nolan Patrick (VGK)

Wing

• Steven Stamkos (TB)
• Jordan Eberle (SEA)
• Evgenii Dadonov (VGK)

Defense

• Alec Martinez (VGK)
• Mikhail Sergachev (TB)

GOALIES

• Robin Lehner
• Andrei Vasilevskiy

GOOD LUCK!!