Boston Bruins Vs. Washington Capitals
Super Bowl Sunday means afternoon hockey! The Bruins and the Capitals get us started at 12:30 ET, and for DFS players, that a headache. As of this exact moment, Only Tuukka Rask is confirmed to start and we won’t have an accurate idea of what lines might be with Ovechkin returning after serving his one game suspension. Despite all that, this is a matchup to consider when building your lineups.
Let’s start with the Capitals. Their top line of Backstrom, Oshie and presumably Ovechkin will see a ton of the Bergeron line. On a short slate like this one, it’s probably best to avoid Washington’s top line and move down to their second line. Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson are skating on the second line together and there’s a good chance that they will stick together on the top power play unit. They are both reasonably priced on FanDuel and they should have no problem attacking Boston’s depth lines.You can make it a three-man stack by adding John Carlson, the quarterback of the top Pp unit. Carlson’s price tag isn’t very appealing on either site, so don’t feel the need to absolutely pay up for him.
On the Boston side of things, Their top line is worth considering in GPP’s. Let’s not pretend like Washington’s top line is great defensively. Even with Backstrom out there, that line is on the ice to do one thing--score goals.
Bergeron is $8600 on FD and David Pastrnak is $8200. That’s a ton of salary invested in two players, but it’s worth it. You can make it a full line stack by adding Brad Marchand, but only in a GPP.
If you want to move away from the high ownership, Jake DeBrusk and Torey Krug join the other three on the top power play unit. DeBrusk is a nice single bullet option that won’t cost you much ($4800 on FD) and Krug is one of the better defenseman to roster on this slate. That’s probably the best route to take in cash games.
Edmonton Oilers Vs. Montreal Canadiens.
This game has the potential to be a very high scoring game, but not for the Oilers. They have the lowest implied team total on the slate (2.7), while Montreal is tied for the highest (3.4). Both teams played yesterday afternoon, but Edmonton was forced to travel to Montreal.
Let’s start with les Canadiens. Their top line will be in charge of slowing down Connor McDavid and his terrible linemates, so Montreal’s second line of Max Domi, Paul Byron and Tomas Tatar become very interesting. All three are reasonably priced on DK, so that would be the best place to use them.
There’s one small problem with rotating all three players-- not one of them play together on the same power play unit. Tatar plays on the top unit, Domi on the second unit and Byron isn’t seeing any power play time. You can still use all three in a GPP, but that about it.
If you want to get real creative, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and joel Armia are playing together on the third line and top power play unit. They will have an amazing matchup against an Edmonton bottom six that is just #NotGood. That duo will cost you below 10K to roster on DK, which would allow you to pay up for some other superstars. You can add Shea Weber to the mix and make it a three-man PP stack.
Carey Price is confirmed to start today’s game and he is probably going to be very popular. His $8200 price tag on DK isn’t great, but he’s one of the better goalie options on this slate.
On the flip side, Connor McDavid is always an option. If the Oilers do anything offensive today, it’s going to be because of him. His linemates are Milan Lucic and Ty Rattie, so you can just ignore them for DFS pruposes. You can roster the entire line in a GPP and hope something good happens, but there’s no reason to considering doing that in cash games. In all honesty, it’s McDavid as a single bullet or nothing.
Calgary Flames Vs. Carolina Hurricanes
This game has the highest total of the night (6.5) and both teams are expected to score over three goals. That being said, I refuse to buy into the numbers that say Carolina is going to score goals. This team loves to take a million shots per game and score one goals. We’ve all been burned by Carolina at least once and I’m not falling for it tonight.
Let’s start with the Flames. If you are going cheap everywhere else, you can now afford Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm. Of the three, Lindholm has the best price tag on FD. He’s returning to Carolina for the first time since being traded over the summer, so if you believe in “The Narrative”, you’ll want to roster him. If you can’t afford to roster all three in cash games, Gaudreau would be the best single bullet option.
On the blueline, Mark Giordano is worth his $6200 salary. He does a lot of everything for the Flames and his matchup on paper is above average. If you are like me and you don’t like to pay up for defencemen, T.J Brodie is a nice second option. He’s $3900 on DK, so that’s something to consider if you need to save some salary.
In goal, no goalies have been confirmed yet, but there’s a good chance David Rittich starts this game. He’s $8000 on DK and his matchup is elite against a team that loves to shoot the puck. That should make him a chalk play, but that shouldn’t discourage anyone from using him, even in GPPs.
On the flip side, Carolina is also expected to score some goals in this game, but as mentioned earlier, I’m not buying that. If you are on Carolina, Nino Niederreiter and Sebastian Aho is the only mini-stack to consider. The two play together on the top line and on the top power play unit. Niederreiter has a better price tag on DK, so that would be the place to use him.
You can pair the two with Justin Faulk, who continues to see top power play minutes. His $4400 price tag on FD is hard to beat, but there is some risk involved when playing him.