It’s a big slate with 12 games tonight, and the only team playing the second night in a row is St. Louis. It’s not a great game to pick from, DFS-wise, if simply because both teams are pretty good defensively. That gives us 22 rested teams to pick from.
The only massive favorite today is the Boston Bruins, and they, too, are playing a team that is pretty good defensively. The other big favorite is the Philadelphia Flyers, who get an Edmonton team missing both Taylor Hall and Andrew Ference. No other teams are more favored than (-145), and that’s Washington.
Valeri Nichushkin should return for Dallas tonight, playing on their top line, but he’s officially a game-time decision. He hasn’t been added to the player pool, unfortunately, but it does move Jason Spezza off the top line as a result.
Finally, everyone’s favorite high-flying offense in the Pittsburgh Penguins get the NHL’s top team in suppressing shots in the Minnesota Wild. That makes most Penguins players unusable tonight, except maybe as a contrarian stack in a GPP.
Play Daily Fantasy Hockey on DraftKings Tonight!
As always, check Left Wing Lock for goalie confirmations, and Daily Faceoff for line combinations.
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 |
| Johansen (CBJ) – $6200 | Benn (DAL) – $6700 | Savard (CBJ) – $3000 | Rask (BOS) – $8900 |
| Vermette (ARI) – $3800 | Voracek (PHI) – $7200 | Daley (DAL) – $4300 | Holtby (WSH) – $6500 |
| Backstrom (WSH) – $5100 | Atkinson (CBJ) – $5600 | Streit (PHI) – $4600 | |
| Lehtera (STL) – $3000 | Boedker (ARI) – $4100 | Stone (ARI) – $3900 | |
| Sedin (VAN) – $4600 | Vrbata (VAN) – $6000 | ||
| Kadri (TOR) – $4700 | Skinner (CAR) – $5600 | ||
| Giroux (PHI) – $8600 | Winnik (TOR) – $3200 | ||
| Raffl (PHI) – $4000 | |||
| Tatar (DET) – $3900 | |||
| Kane (CHI) – $5900 |
- Philadelphia has a great matchup tonight but the top line is pretty expensive. I’ll probably avoid Giroux, but will take a long look at Voracek.
- There are some great values at centre tonight, and this makes it easier to swallow some higher priced wingers like Jakub Voracek/Jamie Benn, and Tuukka Rask in net.
- Vancouver gets a very good matchup tonight, but Colorado’s offense scares me enough to not use Ryan Miller.
- Toronto and Arizona should produce quite a few goals tonight, making them both good targets for cheap plays that could be big profits.
Guaranteed Prize Pools/Tournaments
| Centre | Wing | Defense | Goalie |
| Giroux (PHI) – $8600 | Voracek (PHI) – $7200 | Streit (PHI) – $4600 | McElhinney (CBJ) – $6200 |
| Lecavalier (PHI) – $4600 | Benn (DAL) – $6700 | Daley (DAL) – $4300 | Greiss (PIT) – $6500 |
| Seguin (DAL) – $8400 | Doan (ARI) – $4400 | Stone (ARI) – $3900 | Schneider (NJD) – $7700 |
| Vermette (ARI) – $3800 | Ward (WAS) – $4400 | Savard (CBJ) – $3000 | |
| Johansen (CBJ) – $6200 | Burakovsky (WAS) – $3800 | Franson (TOR) – $3400 | |
| Kadri (TOR) – $4700 | Atkinson (CBJ) – $6200 | ||
| Kessel (TOR) – $8800 | |||
| Winnik (TOR) – $3200 | |||
- Philadelphia has too good a matchup to pass on, but their price makes the rest of the roster inflexible. Caveat emptor, as it were.
- I don’t mind the top line for Washington tonight, but the Ward/Burakovsky pairing is fairly cheap, and gives exposure to the second power play unit.
- Curtis McElhinney is a good target tonight. The Blue Jackets have a pretty good matchup with Carolina and he’s exceedingly cheap. I don’t usually have confidence in him, but tonight is as good a night as any.
- Arizona has a nice secondary stack that is cheap as well. It makes stomaching the Phialdelphia top line or Washington top line a bit easier.
Slim’s Pickins (bargain plays)
Colin Wilson (NSH-C, $2700) – Secondary power play minutes and is taking shots at a fairly high rate at even strength (top 25-percent among regular NHL forwards).
Tom Wilson (WSH-W, $2500) – The fourth liner has found his way to the top line with Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin, though power play time is still missing.
Tim Erixon (CBJ-D, $2500) – Injuries to the Columbus blue line (namely James Wisniewski) has pushed Erixon back on the top power play unit.
Good luck!
