Lineups were posted around 4:40 PM ET. Please be sure to check back by the 7:00 PM ET roster lock in case changes are made. 

Update #1: DraftKings (5:30 PM ET)

OUT: William Nylander and Sergei Bobrovsky

IN: Jonathan Huberdeau  and Joonas Korpisalo

While the lineups will be considered “cash” lineups, I generally recommend more of a GPP approach with a short slate. With fewer options, it actually caters makes it less overwhelming to approach the multi-entry GPPs with the bigger prizepools (by the way, shout out to both the Rangers and Coyotes 3rd lines for coming through for me). 

In my write up, I will include Top Plays and Top Values for every team. There are a lot of options available in this slate, but if I put (GPP) in parentheses, I wouldn’t recommend playing the player in anything other than a GPP. 

Toronto Maple Leafs at Columbus Blue Jackets (CBJ -170 favorites; 6 O/U o120)

Starting Goalies: Curtis McElhinney (Confirmed) vs. Joonas Korpisalo  (Confirmed) 

Top Plays: Auston Matthews (GPP), Nazem Kadri, Mitch Marner, Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno (GPP), Brandon Saad (GPP), and Alexander Wennberg (GPP)

Top Values: William Nylander, Tyler Bozak, Nikita Zaitsev, Brandon Dubinsky, Boone Jenner, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Seth Jones, and Zach Werenski

It’ll be interesting to see how Vegas sees this game. Normally, it’d be an easy move to target Curtis McElhinney with the short slate, but the career backup has actually performed extraordinarily well in a Leafs uniform. 

Regardless, I still prefer targeting Blue Jackets players in this situation. I have three big reasons.

a) The Leafs have not been good when playing without rest. They are 4-7-1 this season on the back half of a back-to-back situation.

b) McElhinney was the Blue Jackets backup goaltender for 3 1/2 seasons, and prior to that, played with Cam Atkinson with the AHL Springfield Falcons for an entire season. When you play against a goalie at practice for that many years, you are inevitably going to figure out the goalie’s weaknesses. Remember Niklas Backstorm the goalie last season? He returned to Minnesota after signing with the Calgary Flames, and he was absolutely bamboozled in every way imaginable. I honestly think it’s why Flames Coach Glen Gulutzan was so reluctant to play Brian Elliott earlier this year against the Blues. 

c) The Leafs are significantly worse on the road, having gone 12-9-7 while the Blue Jackets have done a better job at home, going 19-8-1. 

If you are targeting Leafs, to be quite honest, GOOD LUCK. One of the toughest things to do on a regular basis is predict the Leafs to roster on a nightly basis. Each of the three lines are capable of producing BIG numbers; however, they are generally on the pricey side considering how equal their minutes are. On top of that, the Blue Jackets have been consistent with their defense throughout the season, and it’s one of the reasons why Sergei Bobrovsky has had a very good year. The safest bet might be either to target a productive defenseman like Nikita Zaitsev or a more reasonably priced forward like Tyler Bozak. 

If you are targeting Blue Jackets, I definitely prefer Brandon Dubinsky’s top line with Boone Jenner and the aforementioned Cam Atkinson. Atkinson is one of my favorite plays tonight. I am hoping ownership on him is going to be on the low end considering how expensive he has gotten, and how long it has been since he has had a multi-point game. 

By the way, the Vegas line has the Blue Jackets as big favorites and the total is at 6 wth the Jackets having an expected goal total of roughly 3.33 goals. Every line is stackable in GPPs, but I would say that the top two lines are going to be the safest. Oliver Bjorkstrand is also an interesting punt play. 

St. Louis Blues at Detroit Red Wings (STL -115 favorites; 5.5 O/U u135)

Starting Goalies: Carter Hutton (Confirmed) vs. Petr Mrazek (Confirmed)

Top Plays: Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen (GPP), Kevin Shattenkirk, Alex Pietrangelo (GPP)

Top Values: Kenny Agostino, Patrik Berglund, David Perron (GPP), Jaden Schwartz (GPP), Henrik Zetterberg, Anthony Mantha, Tomas Tatar, Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, and Mike Green

The Blues have won four consecutive games and five of their six games under New Head Coach Mike Yeo. The biggest chance since the coaching change is the team’s ability to play defense CONSISTENTLY. Over those six games, St. Louis has only allowed EIGHT goalies combined, which averages out to just 1.33 goals/game. 

Offensively, the team is going to miss Paul Stastny, who had arguably been the team’s most consistent player over the last month. Alexander Steen moves to the middle where he’ll center a newly configured line with Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko. On paper, there’s a lot to like, but the matchup against Henrik Zetterberg’s top line isn’t the best. Zetterberg’s line has been one of very few positives for the last place Red Wings club. They are the club’s most consistent performers at both ends of the ice. Instead, it might be a better choice to target Patrik Berglund’s  2nd line. Berglund’s line has been the most consistent line in the attacking zone for the Blues, and they were able to put together Berglund’s first hat-trick of the season in their previous game against the Canadiens. They’ll also get a better matchup against either the Red Wings 2nd or 3rd lines. 

If you are looking to roster Red Wings, you can absolutely target the Zetterberg line. Zetterberg himself has put together a 64.29 GF% at 5v5, thanks to 45 goals for and only 25 goals against. The only two forwards that have more even strength goals at 5v5 is Jason Zucker and Alex Ovechkin. The other compelling option for me is going to be Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader. They are joined by Dylan Larkin at even strength, but Helm and Abdelkader with both get time on the power-play. Helm is someone I feel is very underrated offensively, and can supply you with some much needed salary relief. Actually, if you really think about it, the entire Red Wings team is full of value plays. 

Philadelphia Flyers at Calgary Flames (CGY -135 favorites; 5.5 O/U u145)

Starting Goalies: Michal Neuvirth (Confirmed) vs. Brian Elliott (Confirmed)

Top Plays: Brayden Schenn, Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau (GPP), Mikael Backlund, Dougie Hamilton, Mark Giordano

Top Values: Shayne Gostisbehere, Jordan Weal, Sean Couturier (GPP), Ivan Provorov, Michael Frolik, Matthew Tkachuk, and T.J. Brodie

While the Flyers have been struggling to put together goals at even strength, their power-play is consistent enough to target against weaker PK units. Enter the Flames, who have taken more minor penalties than any other team in hockey. The Flyers are heavily dependent on their top power-play unit, and you could make the argument to play anyone from that unit featuring Brayden Schenn, Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, and Shayne Gostisbehere. 

The Flyers have also recalled former Kings prospect, Jordan Weal, who has tore up the AHL level for both Manchester and Lehigh Valley. He’s another super cheap option who is actually getting time with the 2nd power-play unit, and could help open things up for the more expensive names like Burns or Tarasenko. 

As for the Flames, you can’t COMPLETELY blame them for their bad loss against the Coyotes considering that 75% of the teams playing their first game after the “bye week” have lost. Still, it’s a little disheartening to see someone like Johnny Gaudreau get pushed to the 4th line. Regardless, if we are basing it on possession, Calgary technically controlled the majority of the game, and the Coyotes were bailed out by a good showing by Mike Smith.

If you are targeting Flames, I think the safest single option is going to be Sean Monahan, but I think it’s very possible that we’ll see Mikael Backlund's line have a big rebound game after allowing three even strength goals to the Coyotes 3rd line. Backlund’s line is also going to be a more affordable stack if you’re looking to go that route in GPPs. 

Florida Panthers at San Jose Sharks (SJ -180 favorites; 5 O/U o120)

Starting Goalies: Roberto Luongo (Likely) vs. Martin Jones (Confirmed)

Top Plays: Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck, Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture (GPP), and Patrick Marleau

Top Values: Jaromir Jagr, Reilly Smith, Keith Yandle, Joe Thornton, Kevin LaBanc, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (GPP)

The Florida Panthers are finally healthy! They are finally able to put together four very good lines, and with the addition of Jonathan Marchessault and Keith Yandle to their stacked lineup, you could argue that this squad is better than the team that lost to the Islanders in the First Round of the 2015-16 Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

The most exciting returning player is arguably Jonathan Huberdeau, who has produced five points and 13 SOG over his first three games since returning from IR. He has been reunited with Sasha Barkov and Jaromir Jagr, who demonstrated such impeccable chemistry throughout last year’s campaign. The biggest change with Huberdeau and Barkov making their returns is that Vincent Trocheck won’t have to shoulder such a huge workload. He routinely saw over 21 minutes of ice time with half the team injured, but has gone back to a more manageable 18 minutes a game, and is coming off of one of his bigger games of the season, scoring two goals and assisting on another in their previous win against the Predators.

They face a Sharks team who are coming back from a disappointing four game road trip, where they lost their first three games before winning their final game against the Devils this past Sunday. Offense was definitely not an issue for the Sharks, who got production from both their top line and their second line centered by Joe Thornton and Logan Couture respectively. On top of that, things are looking up for Jumbo Joe, considering he scored his first two non-empty net goals of the season during the road trip.

Patrick Marleau has remained his aggressive self, and with Logan Couture back in the lineup, he’ll be back at LW on the 2nd line, where he has performed at his best this season. Oh, and you absolutely cannot forget Brent Burns. He’s expensive, SURE, but there is absolutely no one else on this slate that can give you the high floor and high ceiling combination that he provides night in and night out.

Suggested GPP Stacks:

CBJ1: Jenner-Dubinsky-Atkinson-Jones

STL2: Agostino-Berglund-Perron-Shattenkirk

PHI1: Schenn-Giroux-Simmonds-Gostisbehere

SJ1: LaBanc-Thornton-Pavelski-Burns

SJ2: Marleau-Couture-Boedker-Burns

CGY2: Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik-Hamilton

CBJ2: Saad-Wennberg-Bjorkstrand-Werenski

TOR2: van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner-Zaitsev

FLA1: Huberdeau-Barkov-Jagr-Yandle

CGY1: Gaudreau-Monahan-Brouwer-Brodie

PHI2: Weal-Couturier-Voracek-Provorov

TOR1: Komarov-Kadri-Nylander-Gardiner

FLA2: Jokinen-Trocheck-Smith-Ekblad

STL1: Schwartz-Steen-Tarasenko-Pietrangelo