NHL DFS Man Advantage: Saturday October 20
By Matt Vecchio
Welcome to NHL DFS Man Advantage for Saturday October 20th! Tonight we have a 9 game slate on tap for us to dissect today. We have some of the best offensives teams in action in Toronto (hosting St. Louis), Chicago ( in Columbus), Boston continues their tour of Western Canada in Vancouver, and two of the leagues surprise teams battle in Canada’s capital when Montreal visits Ottawa.
We have a lot of top end NHL DFS talent in action tonight and some really good value as well. I will try to help you sift through all the games and find value when I breakdown some of the projected high scoring games and then give you the Best of the Rest in the last section. I will start as always with the top goaltending options on the night. Let’s build some lineups!
NHL DFS Goalies
My top goalie on the night is John Gibson who is criminally under priced on DraftKings at $7.5K against the Golden Knights. Vegas is one of the top teams when it comes to total shots (222 7th in the league) but is 30th in shooting % with 6.3 %. Gibson is the league leader in goals saved above average with 8.65, almost 2 goals more than the next best goalie(what this means is the goals this goalie prevented given his save % and shots faced vs the league avg save % on the same number of shots).
For my next goalie I am going to take the duo that is expected to be starting in Ottawa. This game features Montreal and Ottawa, 2 of the most pleasant surprises early on this season. Craig Anderson ($7.1K) and Carey Price ($8K) are expected to get the starts on Saturday night and this game has a 6 over/under and Montreal is a slight favorite. Both goalies have played well early, Anderson is 3-1-1 with a .925 sv % and is averaging 6.6 FPPG and Price is 2-1-1 with a .912 sv % and a 2.24 GAA.
Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Lightning travel to Minnesota to take on a Wild team that ranks 27th in-goal for and 25th in shooting % as a team. Vasilevskiy leads the league in save % and GAA (among qualified goalies) with .954 and 1.48 respectively. Vasilevskiy could be a highly owned option in net like Gibson because of price ($8.1K)
My last pick for goalie is Michael Hutchinson based solely on the fact he is playing one of the worst teams in the league in the Detroit Red Wings and their complete lack of offensive talent. Hutchinson has only played one game this season and it did not go well giving up 5 goals on 26 shots against a high-powered Philadelphia offense that is miles ahead of the Red Wings team he sees Saturday night. One reason I might avoid Hutchinson would be price, he is $8K on DK as opposed to the best goalie in the league, John Gibson, being only $7.5K against VGK. Hutchinson is a viable GPP option because game log watchers will be put off by his previous start.
One goalie I am not going to entertain using is Martin Jones taking on the Islanders. Jones has had a disappointing start to his season with a decent 2.63 GAA but a horrible .896 SV% and a -1.47 GSAA. Another reason I am not on Jones is his $8.4K price tag as the highest priced goalie on Saturday. If Aaron Dell starts in place of Jones I am still not interested despite his .917 SV% and 2.49 GAA.
NHL DFS Game Breakdowns
St. Louis Blues @ Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto was held scoreless for the first time this season in their last game against the Penguins, I don’t think that happens again on Saturday night. As with most games this season the Maple Leafs top 6 forwards are in play. There really isn’t much value up front with the Leafs. Kasperi Kapanen is still a good play since he moved to the top line, but he is up to mid tier pricing at $5.8K and is up $1.1K in the last 8 days and he doesn’t see PP time. Zach Hyman plays on the second line but does not see PP minutes so he is not a good one-off option either like Kapanen. If you want to use either of them it would be best to do so in a line stack. On the point Morgan Rielly is the best and most efficient offensive option, you can also use Jake Gardiner who plays on the second PP unit.
St. Louis has only scored 17 goals in 6 games on the season thus far but they will get some opportunities to add to that against a Maple Leaf team who has allowed the most shots this season (253). Brayden Schenn now centers the top line for the Blues and leads the team in points (6), he has 3 goals and 3 assists. Vladimir Tarasenko has 5 points on the season and 32 shots on goal which is 14 more than any other player on the Blues. I like Tarasenko as a one-off or mini stack with Schenn to score tonight. Defenceman Vince Dunn has 2 goals and 10 shots on goal and plays on the 1st PP unit.
Chicago Blackhawks @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Chicago is averaging just under 4 goals a game this season and is one of the leagues pleasant surprises. Jonathan Toews and Alex DeBrincat lead the team with 10 points each and line mate Dominik Kahun has 4 points (1 goal 3 assists). Patrick Kane is an expensive one of option ($7.4K) with 5 goals and 3 assists and 34 shots this season, or Kane can be stacked with Toews and/or DeBrincat to make a PP stack. On defense Henri Jokiharju, Duncan Keith, and Erik Gustafsson are options and within $500 of each price wise and play on the PP.
Columbus has scored one less goal (22) in the same amount of games as the Blackhawks so this one has the potential to be the highest scoring game on the slate. Like Chicago, Columbus’ best line is their top line. I am on Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson for tonight as a mini stack. Panarin leads the team in assists (6) and points (9) and Atkinson is tied for the team lead with 4 goals. Josh Anderson is a value candidate for Saturday ($4.6K) and is tied with Atkinson for the team lead in goals. Zach Werenski is a good option on defense, but he is high-priced at $5.7K. Werenski plays first PP unit minutes and has 1 goal and 2 assists on the season to go along with 18 sog.
Boston Bruins @ Vancouver Canucks
If you fade the top guys from Toronto then your next best high-priced options is the top line from Boston. My advice would be to stack from the Bruins instead of Toronto because of the matchup. Patrice Bergeron leads the team in points with 13, David Pastrnak leads the team in goals with 8, and Brad Marchand leads the team with 10 assists. There is not much value with Boston right now, but you can use David Krejci ($4.4K) who has 1 goal and 5 assists with defenceman Charlie McAvoy who also has 1 goal and 5 assists since they both play together on the second PP unit.
Vancouver is top 10 in the league with 23 goals scored on the season, but with leading scorer Elias Pettersson still out they are having to find scoring elsewhere now. Vancouver’s current top line of Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and Sven Baertschi have combined for 8 goals and 6 assists, Horvat leads the way with 4 goals. Alexander Edler leads all Canucks with 5 assists and plays first PP unit minutes with the first line mentioned above.
Nashville Predators @ Edmonton Oilers
Nashville’s leading scorer Filip Forberg (5 goals 4 assists) has scored 4 goals in the last three games on 13 shots, making him a good one-off play to get exposure to this game. Viktor Arvidsson has 3 goals and 2 assists and Ryan Johanson leads the team with 7 assists. All three play with Craig Smith 2 goals and 1 assist and 21 shots and P.K. Subban 1 goal and 4 assists on the Predators 1st PP unit.
Edmonton started slow losing their first 2 games, but have now won 3 straight and scored 10 goals in the process. Nashville is on the second night of a back to back after beating Calgary 5-3 on Friday and could be due for a let down. Edmonton is only as strong as Connor McDavid and his line mates are. McDavid has 4 goals and 7 assists on the season scoring 3 goals and 5 assists in the 3 straight wins. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has 2 goals and 5 assists along with 14 sog playing alongside McDavid. Leon Draisaital has a goal and 3 assists (2 and 4 on the season) in the last 3 wins. Both defensemen Darnell Nurse and Oscar Klefbom play power play minutes, but have not produced much on the season, but are the best options if you are looking GPP defensemen in this game.
NHL DFS Best of the Rest
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa and Steven Stamkos have started to get rolling of late. Stamkos finally scored his first goal last game against Detroit, and his line mates Yanni Gourde and Brayden Point are tied with Tyler Johnson for the team lead in points with 5.
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Florida Panthers
Coming off a 6-5 shootout victory over the Caps on Friday the Panthers get a visit from the Red Wings. Vincent Trochek centers the Panthers second line and leads the team in scoring with 2 goals and 5 assists. In his last 3 games Jonathan Huberdeau has 2 goals and 2 assists, and Evgenii Dadonov has 3 goals and 3 assists the last 4 games. On defense Keith Yandle is starting to heat up with 5 assists in the last 4 while taking 11 shots on goal
Ottawa Senators
Ottawa is averaging 4 goals a game on 26.8 shots per game this season. They also have a league best 14.9 shooting %. Thomas Chabot and Chris Tierney lead the team with 8 points each. Defenseman Maxime Lajoie leads the team with 4 goals, and Mikkel Boedker has been heating up with a goal and 3 assists in his last 3 games.
New York Islanders
As odd as it sounds in 2018, Valtteri Filppula leads the Islanders with 4 goals. Mathew Barzal leads the Islanders with 6 assists on the season, line mate Josh Bailey has 2 goals and 3 assists and makes for a reasonably priced mini stack. Scott Mayfield makes for a surprising and inexpensive ($3.5K) defenseman with 1 goal and 4 assists to start the season.
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