Welcome to the DFS Army NHL Game Break!! You have to start your research somewhere, and often times going game by game thinking about matchups and key players is the first step in our process. I’m your buddy @Choppodong and you can find me on both Twitter and YouTube with supplemental commentary and teaching. But, you’ll really find me in our VIP coaching forums inside coaching and detailing plays and strategic hockey maneuvers across all our main sports. If you are looking for it, we cover it! Follow me, watch me, interact with me, I welcome it all.
NHL DFS Matchup Rankings L10 Games
Last 10 games sample size. NHL Home teams in white, away in gray. GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against. MU Score is a combined metric showing how one matchup tonight compares to the others on paper. Green is good, red is bad. We are looking for the best matchups of teams scoring goals facing teams allowing goals. Not exactly rocket science, so don’t overthink it. PPMU is another telling metric, but I save that one for VIPs. Just ask me in our coaching forums…
My plan is to describe the NHL games some and drop quality players in these lists. You will get my player pool (VIPs might get bonus plays in our coaching forums later). My cash players are those I would happily use in head-to-head formats, 5050 contests, small leagues, and even some larger leagues. They will anchor my lineups in all formats and contain a lot of value plays and/or punts. The core gets you to the dance. The slightly funky plays off your core push you into the gpp money. Your core is everything! Even gpp-only players need a core of solid production to build from.
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Philadelphia Flyers
Odds: TOR -150, 7 o/u!
Lots of Maple Leafs from which to choose tonight. We have a paper-indicated shootout with MU Scores both in the 60s here. Toronto needs to keep the foot on the gas to outpace their own leaky defense right now, and PHI isn’t elite. I’m not calling for some 6-5 game, but I am saying most of the goals tonight should come from this one……load up. Goalie – Not in a 7 o/u game.
5 Star Plays – Tavares (C), Hyman (W), Marner (W)
4 Star Plays – Matthews (C), Rielly (D), Muzzin (D), Nylander (W)
Cash viable – Nylander
GPP Sleepers – high total game, nothing sneaky here
Philadelphia has fallen into a bit of a crapshoot lately with some of their offensive punch fading into more of a 3rd grader slap fight. I don’t know where the scoring is likely to come from, and I won’t be shocked if I wind up disappointed, but I’m going to want pieces on a shorter slate and with TOR giving up 4.o goals against over their last ten games. I will be leaning on the usual suspects on the top 2 lines and power plays, but again, I’m not super sure this is where scoring is coming from tonight. Goalie – Not in a 7 o/u game.
5 Star Plays – none
4 Star Plays – Voracek (W), Coutrier (C), Gudas (D)
Cash viable – Gudas
GPP Sleepers – high total game….nothing sneaky here
New York Rangers @ Boston Bruins
Odds: BOS -330, 6 o/u
Most will completely overlook this game….and for good reason. However, on short slates, we look to stack against the chalk goalie and Tukka Rask should be him. I can’t completely condone a full Rangers stack. But, I can pick a couple plays you might consider. Most of the bigger names here are ice cold or I would be calling out a stack for larger gpps. Goalie – Not against the highest MU Score team also scoring nearly 4 goals per game.
5 Star Plays – none
4 Star Plays – Buchnevich (W), Lettieri (W)
Cash viable – Buchnevich
GPP Sleepers – Buchnevich, and if you must stack his line.
Like Madonna once said……..here’s where you’ll find it. Too much is going right for Boston right now. Close your eyes and throw darts. You will likely land on viable plays across all lines and all stacking combos. You also draw a sweet matchup giving us the highest MU Score on the slate with a bright green 70. There are expensive, chalky plays here, and there are value plays like David Backes coming back from the dead. Charlie Coyle is another not to be overlooked. Goalie – CHALK ALERT! -330 and facing what is deemed to be a horrible Rangers team……….easy, lazy pick that just might be the nut pick tonight making all the fish feel right with the world.
5 Star Plays – Bergeron (C), Marchand (W), Pastrnak (W)
4 Star Plays – Backes (W), Chara (D), Coyle (W), Heinen (W)
Cash viable – Bergeron, Marchand, Backes, Coyle, Heinen
GPP Sleepers – If you were to run Marchand with Coyle/Heinen or something you’d be a sleeper type stack but it doesn’t correlate super strongly.
Baseball opens this week!! And, our track record speaks for itself. Our coaches have done a lot of explaining, and our members have done a lot of winning. The edge clearly resides in coaching. Content and tools are nice, but how can you exploit your opponents when you don’t have the experts teaching you how to apply the content and tools? That’s where DFS Army steps in. Become a VIP and see what all the fuss is about…..#RaiseYourEdge!!
Dallas Stars @ Calgary Flames
Odds: CGY -170, 5.5 o/u
Dallas does not score at a high rate. Never have, never will. Sure, they have their outbursts, but they don’t often score more than twice a game. They also draw a matchup vs CGY who is only allowing 2.1 goals against right now over their last 1o games. Not a strong matchup at all. I’ll have pieces of Seguin as a one-off that can win me a gpp, but I’ll temper expectations on anyone else tonight. Goalie – Might be a great gpp pivot off Rask. Expensive, but can shut anyone out, too.
5 Star Plays – Seguin (C)
4 Star Plays – Radulov (W)
Cash viable – Seguin?
GPP Sleepers – Seguin?
Calgary doesn’t have a good MU Score tonight at 51, and that’s largely because Dallas only allows 1.7 goals per game. This game has low-scoring written all over it and is best avoided outside of a couple one-offs used very sparingly. Goalie – Should be safe being favored, home, and facing a team struggling to score.
5 Star Plays – Giordano (D)
4 Star Plays – Hathaway (W)…if plays, Mangiapane (W), Backlund (C)
Cash viable – hard to be cash viable when salaries are this high
GPP Sleepers – DAL is a defensive team….hard to want to stack CGY skaters
Vegas Golden Knights @ Colorado Avalanche
Odds: VGK -115, 5.5 o/u
Vegas draws another mediocre MU Score at 58, and Colorado is playing solid defense right now allowing only 2.1 goals against. I’m not chasing this situation and will stay focused on the early games. Goalie – Playable for sure in what should be a safe game to avoid heavy damage.
5 Star Plays – Karlsson (W)
4 Star Plays – Smith (W), Miller (D)
Cash viable – Karlsson?
GPP Sleepers – Anything here should be a sleeper on this slate, but that doesn’t make it smart.
Colorado’s offense has virtually disappeared yet again. When they draw a solid defensive team, it’s a spot to definitely avoid. I won’t have exposure to this game outside of a player here or there. The takeaway is to focus on TOR, PHI, and BOS more than any other team this slate. The rest are very sketchy for DFS purposes. Goalie – Perhaps, but I won’t be here. I see more upside in the Vegas goalie.
5 Star Plays – none
4 Star Plays – Barrie (D)
Cash viable – none
GPP Sleepers – Same as Vegas
Here is a quick game preview of our NHL Research Station page. If you remember, the game shot out and was an easy spot to point out via most research processes. However, the specific targets also matter. Our page helps you quickly assess game by game and scoring line by scoring line to find the best targets for the DFS dollar. As a VIP, you unlock access to this page, and you get team stats with large and small sample sizes to pick up trends, all the basis statistics, pricing, scoring lines, power play lines, scoring production including shots and blocks, and you get it all in one easy to read view. 99% of the stats I reference are directly from this single page. Your research has never been easier!!
Hockey is incredibly similar to baseball. Are you getting spring fever? Fire up a quick refresher with The Top 5 Stats You’ll Only Find At DFS Army!
Favorite NHL DFS Stacks for Tonight…
Those specific combos are inside our coaching channels for VIPs. However, I will drop a sneaky gpp stack on you. It’s not for the feint of heart, and it has a high likelihood of failure. But, I saw this on the matchup sheet and will be playing it sporadically myself tonight…
GPP Sleeper stack = NYR2 – Very risky, but stacks against what should be the chalk goalie. Very simple strategy for a very simple slate. I wouldn’t overuse this idea today……..it’s not likely to work well.
Hopefully, those pointers get you started in your research. I will be bouncing in and out of our NHL coaching room all day, with the rest of our coaches, to guide anyone with questions. I plan to drop a slate video showing our research process most days, and with a little time, our VIPs request shorter, strategy videos to help them shore up fundamentals, too. All free videos can be found on my YouTube channel, but all VIP videos need the key to unlock the vault.
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I hope to see you inside soon. Have a blessed day.