Decisions, Decisions

McDavid, Ovechkin, Point, and Rantanen highlight some of the stars in good spots on Tuesday’s gnarly 11-game NHL slate. Follow along below as I’ll guide you in the right direction(s) as we build some DFS lineups!

Key Skaters

W Patrick Kane (CHI)

Kane has started off with four points (1 g, 3 a) in his first four games and gets a chance to add to that total against the team that has allowed the most scoring chances per 60 minutes at 5v5 thus far. The Islanders are allowing 37.64 SCA/60 at 5v5 and Chicago is actually second in this category. I’m looking for this to be a high-paced game with scoring chances galore and with that sort of script I’ll lean on Kane who will be heavily involved obviously and should see about 20 minutes of ice time.

C Aleksander Barkov (FLA)

The Panthers’ captain is one of the best two-way centers in the game and in his first two games has a goal, two assists, four shots, and two blocked shots. Barkov saw 26 minutes in his first game and followed that up with 18 in his last. He’ll face the Lightning whom he recorded eight points in eight games against last season and while Tampa is where the Stanley Cup has landed each of the last two seasons their defense has been lacking early on. To this point their allowing 3.36 goals against per 60 and their all-world goaltender has been sub-par to this point as Tampa has the second-worst high-danger save percentage. Barkov was third in scoring chances per 60, fourth in high-danger scoring chances per 60, and first in points per 60 at 5v5 for the Panthers last season.

C Anze Kopitar (LAK)

One of the forgotten stars in the league over that last 15 years is Kopitar, probably because he plays out West for the Kings. The five-time All-Star, two-time Selke Award winner (best defensive forward), and two-time Stanley Cup Champion had 50 points in 56 games last season and already has four goals and three assists in two games this year. At his salary and perceived difficult matchup no one will play the Kings captain as L.A. faces the 0-2 Nashville Predators. Kopitar is a guy, very similar to Barkov, in fact, you can say that Barkov is a younger carbon copy of Kopitar.

Favorite Line Stacks

New York Islanders

Mathew Barzal, Anders Lee, Kyle Palmieri, Noah Dobson

When talking about Kane above I mentioned that I expect this game to have a lot of scoring chances. The Islanders’ top line has full correlation on the power-play as well as the top even-strength line. Barzal is one of the better playmaking centers in the league and on the precipice of being a star. Lee and Palmieri are tremendous goal scorers with the ability to get to the front of the net, an area where the Blackhawks defense had major issues defending last season and didn’t do much to improve in the offseason. There’s tremendous value with Noah Dobson at $2,900 on defense. He skates on the second pairing but more importantly runs one of the points on the top power-play unit.

Edmonton Oilers

Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Jesse Puljujarvi, Zach Hyman

It’s going to cost a pretty penny but matching with the Ducks in Anaheim’s second game in as many nights can’t be a bad thing for a team with the offensive firepower that Edmonton has. McDavid and Draisaitl – you don’t need me to tell you about these guys, right? Pujujarvi is a mid-range play skating with those two stars on the first line and Hyman finds himself on the second line but top power-play unit. Anaheim continues to commit penalties at a high rate while killing off an unsustainable amount of those penalties. I expect Edmonton to zamboni Anaheim.

Montreal Canadiens

Nick Suzuki, Tyler Toffoli, Cole Caufield, Mike Hoffman

The difficulty with stacking Montreal is how deep they are as a team and how spread out they get as far as even strength and on the power play. The top even-strength line features Suzuki, Toffoli, and Caufield – an extremely talented and affordable top line. When throwing in Mike Hoffman (second line, top power-play unit) at a value ($4,000) making his season debut there are a ton of possibilities when it comes to building around this stack. Hoffman has been one of the more underrated snipers in the league over the years and getting him at this price is more than solid. Toffoli and Hoffman skate on the top power-play unit while Suzuki and Caufield find themselves on the second unit.

Value Line Stacks

Los Angeles Kings

Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Viktor Arvidsson

• Through two games the top line for the Kings boasts the highest expected goal’s for rate per 60 minutes at 5v5. I understand that the sample size is small but Kopitar is a stud who I spoke of before, Brown is a great value and someone that’s been a fixture up front for the Kings for years, and Arvidsson has come over from Nashville where he was arguably the best forward on the team. All three skate on the top power-play unit as well.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn, Steven Stamkos

• With the absence of Nikita Kucherov, the Lightning are going to need contributions from multiple lines and the second line is extremely solid, in fact, it would be the first line on most other teams in the NHL. Killorn and Stamkos find themselves as critical parts on the top power-play unit while Cirelli runs one of the points on the second unit.

Top Positional Skaters

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

Center

• Connor McDavid (EDM)
• Brayden Points (TB)
• Jack Hughes (NJ)
• Nazem Kadri (COL)
• J.T. Miller (VAN)
• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM)

Wing

• Mikko Rantanen (COL)
• Leon Draisaitl (EDM)
• Steven Stamkos (TB)
• Alex Debrincat (CHI)
• Patrik Laine (CBJ)
• Ondrej Palat (TB)
• Mike Hoffman (MTL)

Defense

• Roman Josi (NSH)
• Victor Hedman (TB)
• Seth Jones (CHI)
• Drew Doughty (LA)
• Quinn Hughes (VAN)
• Ryan Suter (DAL)
• Duncan Keith (EDM)
• Noah Dobson (NYI)

Goalies

• Mike Smith (EDM)
• Connor Hellebuyck (WPG)
• Jaroslav Halak (VAN)
• Elvis Merzlikins (CBJ)
• Jake Allen (MTL)

NOTE: All pricing references pertain to DraftKings

GOOD LUCK!!