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. 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 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.
Minnesota Wild @ Florida Panthers
Odds: MIN -120, 6 o/u
Minnesota hosts the Panthers, and this game feels kind of flat. Neither team is doing much offensively or defensively and would be rather forgettable on larger slates. There are players in here, though. Ryan Donato is still far too cheap, and Jason Zucker has been consistent for the Wild. Stacking should be kept to tournaments. Goalie – Dubnyk has been better lately with only one dud in his last 7 games. But, I like FLA tonight and won’t likely have much outside of using him to hedge against a FLA dud because Dubnyk stood on his head again.
5 star plays – none
4 star plays – Donato (W), Parise (W), Zucker (W), Spurgeon (D)
Cash gamers – Donato, Zucker
GPP Sleeper – its a 4 game slate….sure, why not.
Florida finds themselves in the same boat of doing nothing particularly well. However, their power play has been on a roll. And, MIN isn’t great on the kill lately. There is an advantage that might slip a little under the radar tonight even on a short slate. I’ll be focusing there. Goalie – I don’t take a lot of underdogs on the road.
5 star plays – Barkov (C), Huburdeau (W)
4 star plays – Hoffman (W), Yandle (D), Ekblad (D)
Cash gamers – Eckblad
GPP Sleeper – FLA PP1 with several iterations..
New Jersey Devils @ Washington Capitals
Odds: WAS -345, 6 leaning over
Huge underdog tonight, and Jesper Bratt has even cooled off some for the Devils. The ultimate contrarian feels this is an opportunity to stack against the chalk goalie, and he’s not wrong. Long shot…..but not wrong. Goalie – might as well go all the way with it if you are stacking Jersey because, if it works, your goalie also wins most likely.
5 star plays – none
4 star plays – none
Cash gamers – none
GPP Sleeper – not for me
Well, if you are a short-slate, gpp-narrative kind of guy, we have a nice little “-300 jinx” tonight. When we see such huge favorites, often we fade them because if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Washington has stud power, an ok matchup tonight, and a great power play anchored by dot-camper Alex Ovechkin. In cash games, you are going to likely want pieces of Caps, but in gpps, the fade can be justified. Goalie – Big Vegas favorites command attention….likely your chalk goalie.
5 star plays – Ovechkin (W)
4 star plays – Kuzestnov (C), Oshie (W), Connolly (W), Burakovsky (W)
Cash gamers – Ovechkin, Burakovsky
GPP Sleeper – including the lower liners will be sneaky because the chalk will be up top.
What a weekend for NBA!! 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!!
Winnipeg Jets @ Carolina Hurricanes
Odds: CAR -170 and trending stronger, 6.5 o/u
Winnipeg is another schlep of the slate. But, they have a better chance than New Jersey. The Jets have firepower, but the Hurricanes are only allowing 1.7 goals against right now…..and are very tough defensively. Not a remotely good matchup for Winnipeg. Wheeler and Scheifele are solid, but expensive. But, I can see a contrarian PP1 stack here tonight provided you take value from the other games. You’ll be unique. Goalie – I can’t get on board here.
5 star plays – none
4 star plays – Wheeler (W), Scheifele (C), Connor (W), Trouba (D)
Cash gamers – none
GPP Sleeper – WPG PP1…or a one-off like Laine that can break a slate.
Carolina is set up very well tonight. The Jets don’t play as well on the road, and their road defense is suspect, too. Carolina, while no offensive juggernaut, has been scoring lately. They carry a normally high MU Score of 74 today, but on this slate…………it’s a score in the stratosphere. We should be focused hard here for our cash games and tourneys alike being Carolina has the best odds of really providing for DFS lineups. Goalie – Absolutely, and cash safe. Battle of the backups, but Mrazek has won his last 4 games and is 6-2 going back to Feb 1st.
5 star plays – Aho (C), Williams (W)
4 star plays – Teravainen (W), Neidereitter (W), Staal (C), Hamilton (D)
Cash gamers – Aho, Williams, Neidereitter, Staal, Pesce (D)
GPP Sleeper – probably not a “sleeper” here….just solid plays.
Montreal Canadiens @ Anaheim Ducks
Odds: MTL -125, 5.5 leaning hard under
Two games out west, and we haven’t seen a ton of firepower from the Canadiens. Anaheim is arguably the most defensive team of the road trip tonight, too. I’m not terribly high on Montreal, but I might toss some MTL2 around, or run Brendan Gallagher as a one-off. Paul Byron is also on my list as a more consistent performer of late. Goalie – GPP stuff, but playable.
5 star plays – none
4 star plays – Gallagher (W), Domi (C), Tatar (W), Byron (W)
Cash gamers – Byron, Benn (D)
GPP Sleeper – definitely a sleeper in any combination.
I am starting to look at the Anaheim offense again for DFS. I know I don’t need to play them to win at any point the rest of the year, but I can’t just simply write them off, either, after the burst they’ve put out lately. Not a great offense, but capable of randomly going off. Another tourney type play tonight. They won’t be in my cash lineups at all. Goalie – Hard to imagine it’s “safe,” but anything is possible for a tournament. He’s in play.
5 star plays – none
4 star plays – none
Cash gamers – none
GPP Sleeper – Jacob Silvferberg (W) and Adam Henrique (C) are the top producers right now, for whatever that’s worth.
Here is a one game view of our NHL Research Station matchup page. My daily videos typically walk you through this page and point out how I quickly decipher the best plays on the slate. When you unlock access to this page, 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. But, you only get it as a VIP. 99% of the stats I reference are directly from this single page. Your research has never been easier!!
Favorite NHL DFS Stacks for Tonight…
What is NHL without stacking?!
CAR1
WAS PP1
FLA PP1
GPP Sleeper stack = WPG PP1 – Carolina will be the chalky, but no one should be thinking of Winnipeg as a game stack being CAR is so defensive. But, WPG actually has the best PP in the league right now measured over 10 games. CAR’s penalty kill is no joke, so this is a risk. But, it gets you the lower ownership you are looking for tonight, and it has a little logic behind why you might gamboooooool….
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.
–> Get the Key Today! Start Winning With Us! <–
I hope to see you inside soon. Have a blessed day.