Tonight’s Optimal Lineups are geared for cash games and were posted around 4:25 PM ET. It is always a very good idea to come back to this page by the 7:00 PM ET roster lock in case there are any changes. Also, if there are any unconfirmed goalies for the late games, you may want to double check their status before the game starts, especially if you play on DraftKings where there is late swap available. The swap from John Gibson to Jonathan Bernier on Wednesday ended up salvaging a few of my own lineups.
UPDATE #1: FanDuel (6:52 PM ET)
OUT: T.J. Oshie and Tyler Seguin
IN: Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin
Tonight’s DFS NHL slate is centered on just four games. Yes, it’s slightly better than the three game slate we had on Wednesday, but it still leaves a lot of room for improvement. Regardless, we are going to work with what we have, and give you the tools you need to put together some good lineups.
I am going to continue to roll with the format that I debuted this past Wednesday. I think it makes it much easier to get a good idea of what I’m liking for GPPs. Again, I will be posting cash game lineups, so you’ll already know some of my favorite plays for cash games.
Keep in mind, my favorite line stacks of the night will be in GREEN. Secondary line stacks will be in GOLD. Contrarian stacks will be in BLUE. Players who will be on the POWER-PLAY are going to be in BOLD CAPS.
EDMONTON OILERS at WASHINGTON CAPITALS (WSH -200 favorites; 5 O/U o155)
Starting Goalies: Cam Talbot (Confirmed) vs. Braden Holtby (Confirmed)
Edmonton Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
EDM1: PATRICK MAROON - CONNOR MCDAVID - LEON DRAISAITL
EDM2: MILAN LUCIC - RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS - JORDAN EBERLE
EDM3: Zack Kassian - MARK LETESTU - DRAKE CAGGIULA
EDM4: Jujhar Khaira - Matt Hendricks - Iiro Pakarinen
EDMD1: OSCAR KLEFBOM - Matthew Benning
EDMD2: ANDREJ SEKERA - Kris Russell
EDMD3: Eric Gryba - Brandon Davidson
EDMPP1: Lucic/McDavid/Draisaitl/Letestu/Klefbom
EDMPP2: Maroon/Nugent-Hopkins/Eberle/Caggiula/Sekera
Washington Projected Lines (Updated: 4:00 PM ET)
WSH1: ALEX OVECHKIN - NICKLAS BACKSTROM - T.J. OSHIE // good chance of being chalky
WSH2: MARCUS JOHANSSON - EVGENY KUZNETSOV - JUSTIN WILLIAMS
WSH3: BRETT CONNOLLY - LARS ELLER - Zachary Sanford // either Connolly or Nate Schmidt will take the final spot on PP2
WSH4: Daniel Winnik - Jay Beagle - Tom Wilson
WSHD1: Karl Alzner - JOHN CARLSON
WSHD2: DMITRI ORLOV - Taylor Chorney // can pair Orlov with either WSH2 or WSH3
WSHD3: Brooks Orpik - Nate Schmidt // Orpik is questionable; Aaron Ness would play if Orpik is out.
WSHPP1: Ovechkin/Backstrom/Oshie/Johansson/Carlson
WSHPP2: Kuznetsov/Eller/Williams/Connolly/Orlov
The Oilers went jumbled up their lines in their previous game against the Panthers, and it actually worked out well. We already know what you can expect with Patrick Maroon, Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl together, but the newly formed line of Milan Lucic, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle was a very pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, they get a tough matchup tonight against the Capitals, who are 24-5-1 this season at the Verizon Center. If you're using Oilers in cash, I think the safest bet is probably going to be Oscar Klefbom, who has been spectacular at both ends of the ice, and has supplanted Andrej Sekera as the team's number one defenseman.
At the other end of the ice, you have the Capitals, who will be without Matt Niskanen who went down with an injury against the Flyers. This will shake things up a bit, but the Caps have a track record of performing well when the chips are down. Offensively, you already know what to expect. Both of their top two lines are going to be in play as always. Alex Ovechkin has become a little bit of a headache considering his production definitely isn't as consistent as it was in previous season, but the nice thing is that you know you have a very safe pivot to either Nicklas Backstrom or T.J. Oshie in order to get exposure. John Carlson also gets a huge boost because he'll take over for Niskanen on the top power-play unit.
OTTAWA SENATORS at CAROLINA HURRICANES (CAR -135 favorites; 5 O/U o120)
Starting Goalies: Craig Anderson (Confirmed) vs. Eddie Lack (Confirmed)
Ottawa Projected Lines (Updated: 4:00 PM ET)
OTT1: RYAN DZINGEL - KYLE TURRIS - JEAN-GABRIEL PAGEAU
OTT2: ZACK SMITH - DERICK BRASSARD - TOM PYATT
OTT3: Tommy Wingels - Chris Kelly - Curtis Lazar
OTT4: Max McCormick - Casey Bailey - Chris Neal
OTTD1: Mark Methot - ERIK KARLSSON
OTTD2: DION PHANEUF - CODY CECI
OTTD3: Mark Borowiecki - CHRIS WIDEMAN
OTTPP1: Smith/Brassard/Turris/Phaneuf/Karlsson
OTTPP2: Dzingel/Pageau/Pyatt/Ceci/Wideman
Carolina Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
CAR1: SEBASTIAN AHO - VICTOR RASK - ELIAS LINDHOLM
CAR2: Joakim Nordstrom - JORDAN STAAL - Brock McGinn
CAR3: JEFF SKINNER - TEUVO TERAVAINEN - LEE STEMPNIAK // unlikely to be chalky
CAR4: PHIL DI GIUSEPPE - Derek Ryan - Victor Stalberg
CARD1: Jaccob Slavin - JUSTIN FAULK
CARD2: NOAH HANIFIN - Brett Pesce // Hanifin is only good to complete the CAR3 stack; would avoid playing him in cash games
CARD3: Klas Dahlbeck - Ryan Murphy
CARPP1: Aho/Staal/Teravainen/Lindholm/Faulk
CARPP2: Skinner/Rask/Di Giuseppe/Stempniak/Hanifin
The Senators will definitely be without Bobby Ryan, but they will also likely be without Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman for yet another game. It didn't exactly make much of a difference last time around because they were able to pull out a huge victory while shorthanded against the New Jersey Devils. The Devils aren't exactly a powerhouse, but neither are the Carolina Hurricanes who many feel waved the white flag after trading Ron Hainsey to the Penguins for a 2nd round pick (though, who wouldn't trade Ron Hainsey away for a 2nd round pick?). The good news being shorthanded is that you know that they are going to be leaning heavily on certain players. This includes Kyle Turris, who played a season high 26 minutes against the Devils, and will likely be a workhorse again tonight if both Stone and Hoffman are out.
I'm not exactly enthused about rostering many Hurricanes tonight, mainly because the Senators have been sneaky tough defensively throughout the season, but also because the Hurricanes have scored a whopping two goals over the three games they've played since coming off their bye week. If I'm playing anyone, it's probably going to be Jeff Skinner, who has remained aggressive through all of the team's troubles, and is still reasonably priced throughout the industry. Whether or not Cam Ward plays, I can assure you, I am not playing a Carolina goalie tonight.
CALGARY FLAMES at FLORIDA PANTHERS (FLA -165 favorites; 5.5 O/U u125)
Starting Goalies: Chad Johnson (Confirmed) vs. Roberto Luongo (Confirmed)
Calgary Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
CGY1: JOHNNY GAUDREAU - SEAN MONAHAN - Michael Ferland
CGY2: MATTHEW TKACHUK - MIKAEL BACKLUND - MICHAEL FROLIK // slightly prefer CGY2 over CGY1
CGY3: KRIS VERSTEEG - Sam Bennett - TROY BROUWER
CGY4: Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - Alex Chiasson
CGYD1: MARK GIORDANO - DOUGIE HAMILTON // Hamilton goes with CGY2
CGYD2: T.J. BRODIE - Michael Stone // Brodie goes with CGY1
CGYD3: Matt Bartkowski - Deryk Engelland
CGYPP1: Versteeg/Monahan/Brouwer/Gaudreau/Brodie
CGYPP2: Tkachuk/Backlund/Frolik/Hamilton/Giordano
Calgary is 3-4-3 when playing without rest.
Florida Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
FLA1: JONATHAN HUBERDEAU - ALEKSANDER BARKOV - JAROMIR JAGR
FLA2: JUSSI JOKINEN - VINCENT TROCHECK - REILLY SMITH // Trocheck was a little banged up against Edmonton, but he should be good to go.
FLA3: Michael Sgarbossa - NICK BJUGSTAD - JONATHAN MARCHESSAULT // one of my favorite stacks, but there is risk, and it will definitely be contrarian
FLA4: Shawn Thornton - Derek MacKenzie - Colton Sceviour
FLAD1: KEITH YANDLE - AARON EKBLAD
FLAD2: Michael Matheson - Jason Demers
FLAD3: Mark Pysyk - Alex Petrovic
FLAPP1: Huberdeau/Barkov/Jagr/Marchessault/Yandle // loved the way the top power-play looked against Edmonton, can consider stacking two from FLA1 with Marchessault and/or Yandle
FLAPP2: Trocheck/Bjugstad/Smith/Jokinen/Ekblad
In my opinion, the Flames are extremely difficult to read. Three of their four lines have plenty of offensive skill and they are a team that is always capable of putting up a lot of goals, but their issue throughout the season has been consistency. Even with that said, outside of the latter half of the 3rd period, they thoroughly dominated the Lightning last night in Tampa, and came away with a very convincing victory. The most consistent line at both ends ofthe ice is Mikael Backlund's 2nd line with Matthew Tkachuk and Michael Frolik. All three members of that line have the ability to breakout in any given game and are relatively safe plays as a whole. You also need to consider Dougie Hamilton who has five points over his last two games, and had a hand in all three goals last night in Tampa.
As for the Panthers, even though they didn't come away with a victory against the Oilers, the most promising thing we saw was their power-play getting back on track, largely thanks to Jonathan Marchessault and Keith Yandle. I really like Marchessault tonight because his third line is very likely to matchup against the Flames third line, which is a line that you can definitely pick on. Otherwise, the scoring has been very balanced since the return of Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov, and both FLA1 and FLA2 have shared the duty of matching up against the opposition's top line.
ARIZONA COYOTES at DALLAS STARS (Vegas line has not been released)
Starting Goalies: Louie Domingue (Confirmed) vs. Kari Lehtonen (Likely)
Arizona Projected Lines (Subject to Change)
ARZ1: TOBIAS RIEDER - MARTIN HANZAL - RADIM VRBATA
ARZ2: BRENDAN PERLINI - CHRISTIAN DVORAK - SHANE DOAN
ARZ3: MAX DOMI - ALEXANDER BURMISTROV - Ryan White
ARZ4: Jamie McGinn - Jordan Martinook - Josh Jooris
ARZD1: OLIVER EKMAN-LARSSON - Luke Schenn
ARZD2: Alex Goligoski - ANTHONY DEANGELO // DeAngelo can go with either ARZ2 or ARZ3, but make sure he's in the lineup if you're going this route.
ARZD3: Jakob Chychrun - Connor Murphy
ARZPP1: Vrbata/Hanzal/Perlini/Burmistrov/Ekman-Larsson
ARZPP2: Rieder/Dvorak/Doan/Domi/DeAngelo
Arizona is 2-6-1 when playing without rest.
Dallas Projected Lines (Updated 4:00 PM ET)
DAL1: JAMIE BENN - Cody Eakin - ? // Eaves was just traded to the Ducks
DAL2: Antoine Roussel - TYLER SEGUIN - PATRICK SHARP
DAL3: Curtis McKenzie - Radek Faksa - BRETT RITCHIE
DAL4: Lauri Korpikoski - DEVIN SHORE - JASON SPEZZA
DALD1: ESA LINDELL - JOHN KLINGBERG
DALD2: DAN HAMHUIS - Jordie Benn
DALD3: Patrik Nemeth - Jamie Oleksiak
DALPP1: Benn/Seguin/?/Sharp/Lindell // Eaves was just traded to the Ducks
DALPP2: Shore/Spezza/Ritchie/Klingberg/Hamhuis
Something's gotta give here. The Coyotes have stolen wins against some very formidable team's since the All-Star Break, but they have not been good when playing without rest. On the other hand, the Stars get a crack at shattering the "bye week" curse where team's coming out of their bye week have a record of 4-12-4. I can see this game being very high scoring. The Stars have been in games featuring seven goals scored or more in four of their last five games. If you're targeting Coyotes, there is just a ton of value throughout their lineup. You can go with their most consistent performers in Martin Hanzal or Radim Vrbata, or you can live dangerously with guys like Christian Dvorak and Brendan Perlini (dangerously to a certain extent, because they are all cheap).
As for the Stars, their big boys in Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin were starting to perform leading up to their bye week, so really, the question is going to be whether or not the bye week takes a little bit of steam away from them. Unfortunately, both of them are going to be expensive, so the safer plays may end up being guys like Patrick Eaves, Patrick Sharp, or even John Klingberg.