Key Skaters

W Matthew Tkachuk (CGY)

Through two games the Anaheim Ducks are allowing the eighth-most scoring chances per 60 minutes and the highest expected goals against rate per 60 minutes. Obviously, a two-game sample isn’t great but this sort of trend has been a thing for the better part of two seasons for Anaheim. Last season Tkachuk was first on the team in high-danger scoring chances per 60 at 5v5, first in expected goals per 60, and fifth in shots on goal per 60. He’s a force down low as one of the young, premier power forwards in the Western Conference.

W Artemi Panarin (NYR)

For Panarin it’s been a slow start through three games with just two points and two shots thus far. In a game against Toronto in which the Rangers will need to keep up the pace and get pucks to the net I expect Panarin, the team leader in points per 60 at 5v5 last season to make his way onto the scoresheet in a potentially high-scoring affair.

Favorite Line Stacks

New York Rangers

Mika Zibanajad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafreniere

As mentioned above I believe that the Rangers will need to push the puck and get pucks to the net against a Toronto team that has no problem doing just that. At even strength Zibanajad centers the top line with Lafreniere and Kreider on his wings. Kreider has been red-hot to start the year with three goals in three games and as I’ve said for years, play him when he’s hot and before he disappears for three weeks. “Laf” comes into his second season highly touted as a superstar in the making but we’ve yet to see that kind of play consistently. For that reason, he’s a nice value getting valuable ice time. Zibanajad and Panarin are the keys here. They are the high-priced talent that should be the guys taking over games. All except for Laf skate on the top power-play unit.

Calgary Flames

Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, Rasmus Andersson

The Flames matchup with the Ducks should present a lot of scoring chances which I touched on above in the Tkachuk piece. Calgary lost their first game of the season but played extremely well offensively, they just happened to run into a goaltender in Mike Smith that played fantastic with 45 saves on 47 shots. Lindholm, Tkachuk, Gaudreau, and Andersson combined for 17 shots on goal with Tkachuk accounting for 9 on his own. The power-play logged a goal as well, a unit that includes all four skaters here for maximum correlation. In two games the Ducks have logged 24 penalty minutes while killing 90 percent of penalties. That kind of performance is unsustainable so if the Ducks are willing to commit a bunch of penalties on this matchup Calgary will have something to say about it.

Philadelphia Flyers

Derick Brassard, Cam Atkinson, Joel Farabee

• Good value stack here with the second even-strength line with all skaters correlating on the second power-play unit.

St. Louis Blues

Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron, Brandon Saad

• Solid under-the-radar stack for the Blues who are a deep team that made quite the impression in their first game beating Stanley Cup hopeful Colorado. This line was responsible for three goals and an assist in that game and skated with a lot of continuity. O’Reilly and Perron are on the top power-play unit as well.

Top Positional Skaters

*Not mentioned in “key skaters'” section. Last skater at each position is my favorite value

Center

• Auston Matthews (TOR)
• Brayden Schenn (STL)
• Sean Monahan (CGY)
• Filip Chytil (NYR)

Wing

• William Nylander (TOR)
• Claude Giroux (PHI)
• James van Riemsdyk (PHI)
• Vladimir Tarasenko (STL)
• Jaden Schwartz (SEA)

Defense

• Adam Fox (NYR)
• Ryan Ellis (PHI)
• Torey Krug (STL)
• Noah Hanifin (CGY)
• Keith Yandle (PHI)
• Chris Tanev (CGY)

Goalies

• Carter Hart (PHI)
• Jacob Markstrom (CGY)
• Jordan Binnington (STL)

NOTE: All pricing references pertain to DraftKings

GOOD LUCK!!