Below is a breakdown of Friday’s four-game NHL DFS slate followed by example lineups. Please note that pivots in the lineups are geared more towards GPP contests. 

Teams to Target

Toronto and Washington are the two big favorites of the slate and have the highest implied goal totals, so they’re the chalk. They both have plus matchups per my matchup stat, so it’s hard to argue with Vegas today.

The Leafs will be in New York facing the Rangers, who are below average defensively up and down the lineup, so there is no individual matchup to target or avoid. Toronto’s top power play unit contains two members from each of their top six lines, so mini-stacks of those duos make the most sense in cash games. The options are John Tavares/Mitchell Marner and Auston Matthews/William Nylander. They’re all overpriced on DK and priced more reasonably on FD, so fit them in as you can. Tyson Barrie is the defenseman on the top PP unit with those forwards, and he will play with both top six lines at even.

The Caps are also on the road in New Jersey. The third line for the Devils centered by Jack Hughes looks like a slightly better defensive line per the numbers, but they don’t see tough competition and won’t take on either of Washington’s top six lines. Alex Ovechkin is worth paying up for in cash games when possible, and Tom Wilson is a nice value on FD at only $4,400 as the winger opposite Ovi at even strength. If Ovi is too rich for your blood on DK, you could roll with the second line pair of Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie who are priced fairly and play with Ovi on the top PP unit. John Carlson is another pricey option but a good one if affordable.

The Penguins have the third highest implied goal total of the slate per Vegas, but my matchup stat has them with the second-best matchup of the slate (on the road in Edmonton) behind Toronto but ahead of Washington. Their top line of Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust has all kinds of upside, and they could have some GPP stack appeal as they may not be as highly owned as Leafs and Caps. Collectively, they’re priced a bit better on DK, which is also the site where you’d rather roster pricey D-man Kris Letang who joins the top line on the top PP unit.

Since the Pittsburgh top line is priced better on DK than FD, we’ll give you a top line with upside that is priced better on FD. That would be Dallas’ top line of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov. The Starts should be even less popular than the Pens as they’re an underdog on the road in Florida, and the Stars are the only team on this slate playing for the second night in a row. That said, the Panthers are an above average fantasy matchup for opposing skaters. John Klingberg is the D-man on the top PP unit with that line if you’re stacking Dallas.

Value Plays

Bryan Rust and Tom Wilson were mentioned above as part of a potential stack or mini-stack, but both are priced very well on FD and can be used there as one-off plays due to their value potential. If you need a cheaper option, Ilya Mikheyev could be your man with at least 9.6 FD fantasy points in each of his last three games.

Mikheyev is also a good value on DK (any may be more attractive there as value is hard to find on DK) as is his center Alexander Kerfoot who sees some work on the second PP unit. Either one could be used as salary relief, or you could use them as a mini-stack if you’ve really spent lavishly elsewhere. Lars Eller could also be a salary relief option on DK. His price tag has fallen $1,200 from where it was four games ago, which is an extreme shift for mid-to-lower tier player. He averages about half a point per game and plays 17-plus minutes per night. At the same price as Eller but on the wing is Nikita Gusev who plays on New Jersey’s top PP unit.

If you’re looking for value on the blue line, Barrie is about as good as it gets on FD. However, if you’re looking for someone a little cheaper, New York’s Anthony DeAngelo is an option as he dominates ice time for the Rangers on the power play. Barrie is also a decent value on DK, but you also have a punt option there in the minimum priced Radko Gudas. Gudas doesn’t score much with no goals and eight assists in 35 games, but he can produce fantasy points in other ways. Take his game last Saturday as an example where Gudas had four blocked shots and five shots on goal. He added one of his eight assists that night, but even if he hadn’t, he would have had 18.7 DK fantasy points that night.

Goalies

Ilya Samsonov is my highest projected goalie of the slate with the Caps being one of two big favorites on the slate and a matchup against the tanking Devils. He will be particularly tough to pass up on FD where he is priced under 8K, but he’s also a good cash option on DK. If you’re looking for a GPP option on FD, Sergei Bobrovsky is priced appealingly, but Dallas’ top line may be a GPP option there, so you’ll have to choose one or the other.

Bob might make more sense as a cash game play on DK where he’s priced reasonably at $7,600. The Panthers opened as a -125 favorite against the Stars who, again, are the only team playing for the second night in a row. The GPP option on DK is Alexandar Georgiev against the Leafs. Save totals are more important in the DK scoring system, and Georgiev has the highest projected shots faced total per my model. He’s extremely boom-or-bust with three games with less than 15 DK fantasy points in his last six games but 30-plus in the other three. If you wanted to pair Georgiev with some Rangers skaters, Mika Zibanejad is priced well on DK and plays at even and on the top PP unit with Chris Kreider.