Today is a pretty big slate with 10 games on tap. That means lots of opportunities for value around the league.
Play The ‘Light The Lamp’ $75K Guaranteed Contest Tonight!
Chicago, Colorado, and Winnipeg are the biggest favorites in Vegas today (via Covers Experts), in that order. The New York Islanders and Nashville Predators are the next two biggest favorites after the three already mentioned. That means starting goalies in a cash game should probably come from one of those five teams.
For expected low-scoring games, SJS/BOS, NYR/NJD, DET/MON, and ARI/NSH are the games with an over/under total of 5.0. The rest of the games are at 5.5.
Finally, the only team playing a back-to-back tonight is Tampa Bay. That means the rest of the teams shouldn’t be fatigued tonight. Ditto goes for the goalies.
Players will be in order of perceived value, by position, and there should be enough to mix-and-match for each type of game available on Draft Kings. Some positions might only have a few plays, some might have several. It all depends on the day, the matchups, and the price.
Remember: players are in order of value, not necessarily in cost. Just because Sidney Crosby is $8000 one day doesn’t mean he’s a better value than Andrew Shaw at $4000.
Cash Games
| Centre | Wing | Defense | Goalie |
| Toews (CHI) – $6100 | Hossa (CHI) – $5400 | Leddy (NYI) – $3600 | Rinne (NSH) – $8400 |
| Ribeiro (NSH) – $4000 | Okposo (NYI) – $7200 | Ellis (NSH) – $3600 | Schneider (NJD) – $7500 |
| Scheifele (WPG) – $3700 | Neal (NSH) – $5300 | Enstrom (WPG) – $3800 | |
| Shaw (CHI) – $4500 | Versteeg (CHI) – $3800 | Severson (NJD) – $2900 | |
| Nelson (NYI) – $5400 | Hudler (CGY) – $4400 | ||
| Tavares (NYI) – $8900 | Byfuglien (WPG) – $5500 | ||
| Soderberg (BOS) – $4400 | Nieto (SJS) – $3400 | ||
| Conacher (NYI) – $3200 | |||
| Smith (BOS) – $3900 |
- Don’t overload on Blackhawks, but Chicago should be able to score their fair share of goals tonight against Philadelphia. Ditto for the New York Islanders.
- Most big-slate nights are good times to avoid paying for a defenseman, but tonight even more so. There’s no reason to spend more than $7500 of the total budget in cash games.
- I wouldn’t go heavy on Nashville. I like their matchup, but Arizona has been a bit unlucky this year. That has to stop soon.
- I don’t mind Kris Versteeg (CHI) tonight because of his price, but I would avoid the rest of the second line in Chicago. Bringing a new line mate on might take a while to develop some chemistry. It may not, but it’s not a risk worth taking in cash games.
Guaranteed Prize Pools/Tournaments
| Centre | Wing | Defense | Goalie |
| Scheifele (WPG) – $3700 | Byfuglien (WPG) – $5500 | Enstrom (WPG) – $3800 | Pickard (COL) – $6200 |
| Shaw (CHI) – $4500 | Kane (CHI) – $7300 | Keith (CHI) – $5800 | Hiller (CGY) – $7400 |
| Tavares (NYI) – $8900 | Okposo (NYI) – $7200 | Hamilton (BOS) – $4100 | |
| Ribeiro (NSH) – $4000 | Neal (NSH) – $5300 | Severson (NJD) – $2900 | |
| Monahan (CGY) – $4300 | Hudler (CGY) – $4400 | Josi (NSH) – $4500 | |
| Soderberg (BOS) – $4400 | Eriksson (BOS) – $4800 | ||
| Zajac (NJD) – $3600 | Jagr (NJD) – $4500 | ||
| Duchene (COL) – $6200 | McGinn (COL) – $3500 |
- There are a lot of nice matchups that I talked about at the top of the piece, with five teams favored at (-150) or higher. That could lead to a few lopsided games.
- Depending how a team is constructed, it’s possible to get higher-priced defensemen in a lineup. There are a lot of cheap pairings for forwards, which would make it easier to spend on the blue line (not that I’m doing that in particular, but it is an option).
- I’ll be hard-pressed not to have two-thirds of the top Islanders line in any tournament lineup tonight.
- San Jose hasn’t been that great defensively this year, and the Soderberg line should be able to avoid the San Jose top-six forwards and top defensemen. That could give them a lot of room to operate.
- The Nashville duo of Ribeiro/Neal is another one that’ll be hard to leave out of lineups, if only because of a cheap stacking price (combined, they’re still cheaper than just Steven Stamkos).
Slim’s Pickins (under $3000)
Nick Holden (COL-D, $2600) – Nick Holden has been seen on the top power play unit for Colorado recently. Regardless of the quality of his team, it’s a very good spot to be in for that price.
Johnny Gaudreau (CGY-W, $2900) – Calgary should get a weary Tampa Bay team playing its third road game in four nights (and without Victor Hedman). Regardless of who is in net for Tampa, it’s beneficial for Calgary, and Gaudreau should be able to avoid tough matchups.
Riley Sheahan (DET-C, $2900) – Sheahan has been on both the first and second power play units in recent games. If his line can somehow get some matchups against Montreal’s third line, Sheahan and company could get on the score sheet.
*Update: Reto Berra is in goal for Colorado tonight, not Calvin Pickard.
Good luck!
