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 @LowOwnedWR and you can find me out on Twitter talking hockey and football, even a little WNBA. But, you’ll really find me in our VIP coaching forums inside coaching and detailing plays and strategic hockey maneuvers in an attempt to make our members better, more fundamentally sound players. If you are looking for it, we cover it as a team! Follow me, follow us, interact with me, interact with us, we welcome it all.
NHL DFS At A Glance
The first thing I do when starting my research is to look for strong teams facing weak defenses. I want the best odds I can find to get goals. I like the old Corsi number, as it denotes any shot attempt directed towards the net. It doesn’t matter if this shot attempt goes wide, gets blocked, or finds the back of the twine. You can’t score if you don’t shoot. I also love the “High Danger” metrics. These shots come from the slot (between the dots) and off quick passes or rebounds. They are what they say they are, and teams allowing a lot of high danger chances also tend to give up goals in bunches….perfect for the DFS player to attack.
If you have questions regarding these numbers or this chart, don’t hesitate to ask me on our coaching forums. Simply tag me (same name as my twitter name) and let’s get on the same page. First and foremost, I’m here to teach people wanting to learn the DFS side of this glorious frozen sport.
Columbus Blue Jackets @ Tampa Bay Lightning
Odds: TB -210, 6.5 o/u
Columbus Blue Jackets: After barely slipping into the playoffs despite adding Matt Duchene on top of a talented roster, I am not looking to roster Jackets unless TB shows signs of slipping in this series but I doubt they do, Tampa in 5.
5 star plays – none
4 star plays – none
Cash viable – none
GPP Sleeper – none
Tampa Bay Lightning: Stamkos ended the season hot and now has Johnson and Palat on his wings so his ownership should be lower than Kucherov and Point. Palat is on PP1 and cheap so I like a stack of him and Stamkos with one of Kucherov/Point to finish it. Yanni Gourde remains on TB2 making him an absolute lock in cash.
5 star plays – Stamkos, Kucherov, Point
4 star plays – Hedman, Gourde, Palat, Johnson
Cash viable – Kucherov, Point, Gourde, Palat
GPP Sleeper – none
Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Islanders
Odds: PIT -105, 5.5 o/u
Pittsburgh Penguins: The Islanders got really hot and then played average at best to finish the season out. Hornqvist and McCann are now PIT2 wingers alongside Malkin. Kessel is now on PIT3 with Bjugstad and Simon and that is the line I like as a pivot off of Crosby and Guentzel in GPPs. PIT1 value winger is now Bryan Rust and mini stack with him and one of Crosby/Guentzel is great in cash.
5 star plays – Guentzel
4 star plays – Bjugstad, Malkin, Crosby, Letang, Hornqvist, Rust, Kessel
Cash viable – Guentzel, Crosby, Rust
GPP Sleeper – Bjugstad, Kessel
New York Islanders: The worst team to make it into the playoffs in the East, I am not looking to roster them. I feel as if they will steal 1 or 2 games from goaltending, Pens in 6.
5 star plays – none
4 star plays – none
Cash viable – none
GPP Sleeper – none
St. Louis Blues @ Winnipeg Jets
Odds: WPG -120, 5.5 o/u
St. Louis Blues: The Jets did not come into the playoffs hot and I have seen a lot of people on the Blues this series because of it. People seem to be forgetting that the Jets have made a deep playoff run with this roster and that the Blues have gotten along with good play but also a very HOT ROOKIE goaltender. If I am rostering STL here I am going for the leverage and not eating the STL1 chalk that mostly everyone will go to for STL exposure. I like a Schwartz-Perron-Pietrangelo stack for that leverage.
5 star plays – Perron, Pietrangelo
4 star plays – Schwartz, O’Reilly, Schenn, Tarasenko
Cash viable – Schenn, Pietrangelo
GPP Sleeper – Schwartz, Perron
Winnipeg Jets: Despite being a favorite on a 5 game slate I expect the Jets to go overlooked with TB and PIT more than likely drawing the uber chalk. WPG3 ended the season on fire and now have Laine on the line, I am a big fan of that line to be used to help me pay up elsewhere. Byfuglien is now back in the line up along with Morrisey, look for WPG1 with Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler to go back to the powerhouse they were before. Jets in 6.
5 star plays – Laine, Scheifele
4 star plays – Byfuglien, Wheeler, Connor, Little
Cash viable – Laine
GPP Sleeper – Laine, Little, Copp
Dallas Stars @ Nashville Predators
Odds: NSH -160, 5.0 o/u
Dallas Stars: With the lowest total on the slate and with Dallas being a dog on the road, you should be able to get red hot Seguin and Radulov at reasonable ownership. If I am rostering those two it is hard not to look at Klingberg, most people who run a Dallas stack will be looking at a Seguin-Radulov mini stack, so adding a third piece along to that can really help you jump to the top if DAL1 goes off. Outside of them, I wouldn’t look to roster the Stars, the total on this game is low for fair reason.
5 star plays – Seguin, Radulov
4 star plays – Klingberg
Cash viable – none
GPP Sleeper – none
Nashville Predators: The Preds haven’t been good and their PP has been even worse, partner that with Bishop back and being in prime form, this has the makes of a low scoring series, especially for the Preds. Unless they show me some signs of better play, outside of the D core, I won’t be looking to roster Nashville against Dallas. Stars in 7.
5 star plays – none
4 star plays – Subban, Josi
Cash viable – none
GPP Sleeper – none
Vegas Golden Knights @ San Jose Sharks
Odds: SJ -140, 6.0 o/u
Vegas Golden Knights: Vegas draws a good Sharks team that has terrible goaltending. You need your goalie to be at his peak in the playoffs and it doesn’t look like the Sharks are going to get that out of Martin Jones. Cody Eakin is on PP1 making him an intriguing value play. I like Karlsson and Smith to go with him in a PP1 stack but all 5 on the unit are acceptable in a stack. This series is coming down to goaltending and I am taking Fleury over Jones, Vegas in 6.
5 star plays – Karlsson, Smith
4 star plays – Miller, Stone, Statsny, Marchessault
Cash viable – Miller, Eakin
GPP Sleeper – Eakin, Tuch, Pirri
San Jose Sharks: With Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns anything is possible, all SJ lines get a bump now that the team has both of those defensemen again. Fleury was hurt and only got one game of action after the injury before the playoffs, so if he is rusty the Sharks could light it up, when Fleury is bad he is REALLY bad. Hertl was playing very well and I expect that to continue, a stack of Hertl-Nyquist with one of Karlsson and Burns is where I am going for my SJ exposure. If you are trying to get creative in a large field GPP, rostering both Burns and Karlsson offers great leverage.
5 star plays – Hertl, Burns, Karlsson
4 star plays – Nyquist, Couture, Pavelski, Kane
Cash viable – Burns, Hertl
GPP Sleeper – Karlsson-Burns stack
Quick Read: NHL Cash Game Basics – Get The Fundamentals First
DFS NHL Goalies for Today:
Ben Bishop (GPP): He has been playing at the top of his game and with DAL/NSH having the lowest total on the slate, he is very rosterable tonight.
Andrei Vasilevskiy (CASH): TB finally has something to play for after having everything they needed wrapped up for the last month. They are the heaviest favorite on this slate for good reason.