Today's two-game NHL DFS slate is highlighted by Adam Fox and the New York Rangers taking on Elias Pettersson and the Vancouver  Canucks. Also don't miss out on some of the great value plays available at center today with Sam Steel of the Wild facing the Stars. Remember, you can use the lineup generator powered by Fanjections to help put your lineup together.

 

Canucks at Rangers

The Rangers come into this game as not just a heavy favorite to win, but also with the highest implied goal total at 4.1. Mika Zibanejad has been the Rangers’ best forward recently, and really all season long (he also has the highest likelihood as an anytime goalscorer today at -110). He is coming off a game where he had three points and eight shots on goal, and in a game where he is facing a struggling goalie, those shots could lead to at least a goal or two. Artemi Panarin is currently playing with Zibanejad so they are a natural pair to stack. The Rangers have also been getting production from Filip Chytil if you’re looking for someone to add at a lower price. Vancouver’s forwards are difficult to predict. Elias Pettersson has been a star and you can certainly pair him with either Andrei Kuzmenko or Anthony Beauvillier, or you can look at J.T. Miller who hasn’t been as productive but also won’t see as much attention and play him with Connor Garland and still get some powerplay time and likely less ownership as well.

On defence in this game, we really have three primary targets. On the Rangers, you have the points upside with Adam Fox, and you have the floor of Jacob Trouba. Both players can be very productive. To some extent, you can also look at Ryan Lindgren as he will block shots and he is inexpensive. For the Canucks it’s really just Quinn Hughes. He is a player who gets points in bunches and will also have games where he puts five or more shots on goal, but he also has no real floor as he also has games where he doesn’t shoot at all.

We are expecting to see Igor Shesterkin in goal for the Rangers in this one. He will see a lot of ownership(likely the most amongst goalies)  and he has played much better as of late so he is likely your best bet in a cash game. For the Canucks it looks like Spencer Martin will get the start. He should see very low ownership on this slate, and with how he has played he is a real risk if you play him, but if he can get the win there is certainly a reward there to be had.

 

Wild at Stars

On paper, we should have a pretty evenly matched game. You have two goalies that have played well all season, and the implied goal totals are similar 3 (Dallas) versus 2.6 (Minnesota). The other factor that plays in this game though is you have two top 15 scorers in the league, Jason Roberton and Kirill Kaprizov, so there is potential for the implied goal totals to be exceeded. The Stars’ top line accounts for the vast majority of the goals the Stars score, so if you believe that Dallas will score a lot today you will want to invest in some combination of Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz. Robertson is the most expensive of them but you should be able to get the other two at a reasonable price. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin could also be of interest, but they are less likely to contribute. For Minnesota, the majority of their points come from Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek, but they do not share a line in the way the Dallas players do, which makes trying to pair Kaprizov with Zuccarello more enticing as they almost always play together, or you can add Sam Steel into the mix who centers their line and is very inexpensive.

We don’t get a lot of options on defence in this matchup. For the Wild, you can look at Jared Spurgeon who will give you some shots and will block shots, or you can also go with Calen Addison who gets the top powerplay time and is a solid value play because of it. With the Stars, it’s pretty well Miro Heiskanen or bust. Heiskanen is a threat to get points but he isn’t a volume shooter and it’s rare that he blocks many shots.

In goal for this matchup, we will have Filip Gustavsson facing Jake Oettinger. Gustavsson doesn’t hold the name value of Oettinger, but he has been just as good this season, and he has a 0.913 save percentage or higher in four of his last five starts for the Wild. Oettinger, while he hasn’t lost in any of his last five starts has struggled as he only has a save percentage over 900 in two of those five games. There is certainly some edge for him to be had with this game at home, but my preference would be to take the discount with Gustavsson.