When there are only three or four games, we will not put out the full DFS Playbook, but will do optimal lineups along with a breakdown of the slate. Tonight, we have the typical vanilla Wednesday Night Rivalry slate with four games to consider.
First off, a disclaimer. I highly recommend focusing on just GPPs on the shorter slate. I think there’s enough skill to play cash games, but there’s going to be much more variance than usual.
Montreal Canadiens at New York Islanders (NYI -115 favorites) - 7:00 PM ET
Starting Goalies: Al Montoya (MON) [Confirmed] vs. Thomas Greiss (NYI) [Confirmed]
Top Plays: Brenden Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk, Max Pacioretty, Shea Weber, and John Tavares
Top Values: Alexander Radulov, Tomas Plekanec, Arturi Lehkonen, Andrei Markov, Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, Nick Leddy, and Johnny Boychuk
The Habs have kicked off their season with a solid 5-0-1 start. This includes the solid 3-game run that Al Montoya had to start the season with Carey Price under the weather. With the Habs, it’s pretty simple, most of their production is going to be through their number one line with Brenden Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk, and Max Pacioretty. Nevertheless, their most reliable DFS option is going to be Shea Weber, who has filled in for P.K. Subban admirably.
As for the Islanders, they are playing some spectacular defensive hockey even though many would argue that their team just isn’t as deep upfront without Kyle Okposo. There has definitely been a lack of consistency on offense, but believe it or not, their hottest player has been Johnny Boychuk, who has two goals and an assist over his last two games.
Boston Bruins at New York Rangers (NYR -200 favorites) - 8:00 PM ET
Starting Goalies: Zane McIntyre (BOS) [Confirmed] vs. Henrik Lundqvist (NYR) [Confirmed]
Top Plays: Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, Torey Krug, Mika Zibanejad, Mats Zuccarello, Rick Nash, and Ryan McDonagh
Top Values: J.T. Miller and Jimmy Vesey
The Bruins are in a tough spot with subpar goaltending thanks to an injury to Tuukka Rask. They don’t exactly have much depth considering virtually all of their scoring has some on the power-play or from the top line. GPPs, if you’re feeling frisky, you can go with any Bruin that isn’t on the top line, but I wouldn’t feel good about it.
Chris Kreider is doubtful for tonight’s game, so expect J.T. Miller to slide into his spot on the Zibanejad line. By the way, if you’re keeping score at home, the Zibanejad line now features Mats Zuccarello. They should get better line matchups than the Stepan line, which features Rick Nash and Jimmy Vesey.
Washington Capitals at Edmonton Oilers (WSH -160 favorites after opening as -130 favorites) - 9:30 PM ET
Starting Goalies: Braden Holtby (WSH) [Confirmed] vs. Cam Talbot (EDM) [Confirmed]
Top Plays: Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson Connor McDavid, and Jordan Eberle.
Top Values: Marcus Johansson, Andre Burakovsky, Matt Niskanen, Leon Draisaitl, Andrej Sekera, and Oscar Klefbom.
The most compelling thing about the Capitals tonight is the fact that Head Coach Barry Trotz pulled the trigger on some line shuffling, but it wasn’t the likely flip-flop between Kuznetsov and Backstrom. Instead, Andre Burakovsky joins the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov while T.J. Oshie joins the second line with Marcas Johansson and Nicklas Backstrom. I expect Burakovsky to have huge ownership given the circumstances. He’s just way too cheap throughout the industry to ignore. Edmonton also fits the profile for a big Ovechkin game. They have averaged 33.2 shots allowed per game so far in the 2016-17 season, and as I’ve mentioned before, Ovechkin is the king of throwing pucks on net.
So the Edmonton Oilers are 5-1 and the entire province of Alberta is going crazy. Unfortunately, it’s more likely that the Oilers big run is fools gold. They’ve done this before, folks. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that they have one of the best first lines in hockey with Milan Lucic, Connor “McJesus” McDavid, and Jordan Eberle. Even with the tougher matchup against the Capitals, you have to understand that the Caps are far from perfect, and they’ve actually had hockey’s 4th worst penalty kill this season, killing only 71.4 percent of penalties.
Nashville Predators at Anaheim Ducks (NSH -120 favorites) - 10:30 PM ET
Starting Goalies: Pekka Rinne (NSH) [Probable] vs. John Gibson (ANA) [Probable]
Top Plays: James Neal, Ryan Johansen, Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Cam Fowler, and Sami Vatanen
Top Values: Viktor Arvidsson, Mike Fisher, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Antoine Vermette, Nick Ritchie, and Shea Theodore
Here is the big wild card game of the night. This game, on paper, doesn’t have many exciting pieces from a DFS perspective. The Ducks, under Randy Carlisle, are generally a boring team at even strength, and have done most of their damage on the power-play. It also doesn’t help that Ryan Getzlaf got injured last night and appears to be doubtful to play.
Besides that, both of these teams are dealing with so many missing pieces that it’s hard to figure out what lines we’re going to be dealing with tonight. The Predators are more so question marks thanks to a big food poisoning scare that took out close to 10 players over the past week. Given the circumstances, I’d say the safest plays in this game are going to be at defense.
Stacks to consider (Ranked from most confident to least confident):
NYR1: J.T. Miller-Mika Zibanejad-Mats Zuccarello-Ryan McDonagh
MON1: Max Pacioretty-Alex Galchenyuk-Brenden Gallagher-Shea Weber
WSH1: Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Andre Burakovsky-Matt Niskanen
EDM1: Milan Lucic-Connor McDavid-Jordan Eberle-Andrej Sekera
NYR2: Rick Nash-Derek Stepan-Jimmy Vesey-Nick Holden
WSH2: Marcus Johansson-Nicklas Backstrom-T.J. Oshie-John Carlson
BOS1: Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak-Zdeno Chara
NYI1: Andrew Ladd-John Tavares-Josh Bailey-Nick Leddy
NSH1: Viktor Arvidsson-Ryan Johansen-James Neal-Roman Josi (Updated after morning skate)
MON2: Arturi Lehkonen-Tomas Plekanec-Alexander Radulov-Shea Weber (or Andrei Markov or Jeff Petry if you’re feeling frisky)
ANA1: Nick Ritchie-Ryan Kesler-Corey Perry-Cam Fowler (With Getzlaf doubtful, will have to see what lines the Ducks are rolling)
Note: You can always take two or three of the four guys listed in any stack and create a mini-stack.
Goalie Rankings:
- Henrik Lundqvist (Confirmed)
- Braden Holtby (Confirmed)
- Al Montoya (Confirmed)
- Cam Talbot (Confirmed)
- Pekka Rinne (Probable)
- Thomas Greiss (Confirmed)
- John Gibson (Probable)
- Zane McIntyre (Confirmed)
The DraftKings example lineup and FanDuel optimal lineup was posted around 3:45 PM ET. If you have any questions, please let me know on Twitter @kle18. Good luck!