Kenneth’s NHL Slate Breakdown – Tuesday 4/6

Today’s NHL Slate Breakdown goes over Tuesday’s nine (9) game main slate, which will lock at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT. 

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Please be sure to keep an eye on late news by looking at our NHL Team Beat Writers lists on Twitter by clicking here. 

Beyond that, you should also absolutely use Left Wing Lock for lines by clicking here and goalie confirmations by clicking here.

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Positional Cash Game Rankings

Centers

1. Patrice Bergeron, Bruins (DK: $7700, FD: $7500) // the worst goalie over the last few months of the season, Carter Hart is back in net; I am not convinced this break is going to help fix his issues and I am willing to be overexposed to Boston to target the hell against him
2. Manu Ginobili Roope Hintz, Stars (DK: $6100, FD: $6000) // you would assume Hintz is a 50 year old past his prime with how often he has to sit out due to injuries, but when he plays, he’s amazing
3. Sam Reinhart, Sabres (DK: $4300, FD: $4500) // still listed as W on FD; moving him to C has helped him find his game
4. Tomas Hertl, Sharks (DK: $5600, FD: $6100) // generates a ton of point blank scoring chances
5. Alexander Wennberg, Panthers (DK: $3200, FD: $4600) // DK preferred in cash; now on PP1
6. Kirby Dach, Hawks (DK: $3500, FD: $3600) // still too cheap to ignore

Wingers

1. Jason Robertson, Stars (DK: $5200, FD: $4500) // FD pricing algorithm is broken; should probably be more like $6k
2. David Pastrnak, Bruins (DK: $9000, FD: $8200) // it’d be nice if Pasta was reunited with Marchand/Bergeron, but I don’t mind him either way… he’ll get to eat tonight no matter what
3. Evander Kane, Sharks (DK: $7300, FD: $7400) // with the Ducks sending down Zegras, they lack the firepower to keep up with the Sharks big guns
4. Calle Jarnkrok, Predators (DK: $3900, FD: $4000) // injuries to Forsberg, Duchene, and Arvidsson basically puts Jarnkrok in a position where he’s getting a ton of high quality minutes, and given his overall impact while he’s on the ice, there’s not many scenarios where he won’t give you the necessary points to hit value at this price.
5. Timo Meier, Sharks (DK: $5100, FD: $4600) // 2nd PP unit pretty much revolves around his zone entries; high upside at a low cost
6. Craig Smith, Bruins (DK: $3900, FD: $4200) // regardless of the line he’s playing on, he has had a very productive last few weeks
7. Kevin Labanc, Sharks (DK: $4200, FD: $4500) // wish he shot the puck more and wasn’t so passive, but is in a good spot and is a cheap alternative to Kane.
8. Luke Kunin, Predators (DK: $3000, FD: $3400) // similar situation with Jarnkrok, but I don’t think he has as much trust from Coach Hynes (though he is producing)
9. Max Comtois, Ducks (DK: $4300, FD: $3700) // probably my favorite Duck to roster tonight
10. Tage Thompson, Sabres (DK: $3200, FD: $3300) // favorite exposure to BUF1

Defensemen

1. Matt Grzelcyk, Bruins (DK: $5100, FD: $4300) // has stepped up big this season with the absence of Torey Krug; minutes boost and prime matchup against Hart make him a top play for me
2. Erik Karlsson, Sharks (DK: $4400, FD: $4700) // inconsistent, but cheap considering his importance to San Jose’s attack and has a good matchup
3. Miro Heiskanen, Stars (DK: $5500, FD: $4600) // as consistent as it gets at the D position at this point, and still relatively affordable
4. Filip Hronek, Red Wings (DK: $4900, FD: $4000) // prefer to use him on FD; like him mainly because of price, but i’m also still not convinced Nashville’s PK issues have been resolved
5. Victor Hedman, Lightning (DK: $7600, FD: $6700) // high probability of some type of production, but just very expensive for a D, which makes him more of a FD play
6. Brandon Montour, Sabres (DK: $3800, FD: $3900) // at one point in his career, he was the Ducks best offensive defensemen; we’ve finally seen him show off his skill the last couple weeks

Goalies

1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning (DK: $8500, FD: $8600) // I smell a Lightning rebound after an embarrassing loss to Detroit.
2. Martin Jones, Sharks (DK: $7900, FD: $7800) // arguably the best goalie in hockey the last few weeks
3. Juuse Saros, Predators (DK: $8100, FD: $7600) // coming off of a shutout on Saturday and has been solid since coming back from injury
4. Jeremy Swayman, Bruins (DK: $7700, FD: $6500 // this is if he starts… tough to ignore $6500 on FD, and his numbers do suggest he’s good, though there’s obviously other factors in play when 

Cash Game Core Four

DraftKings: Patrice Bergeron, Jason Robertson, Calle Jarnkrok, Erik Karlsson
FanDuel: Patrice Bergeron, Jason Robertson, Calle Jarnkrok, Matt Grzelcyk

GPP Stacks

Before I go through my favorite stacks of the day, let’s take a close look at the updated Pace of Play chart, which will include the overall pace (Corsi For and Corsi Against Per 60 Minutes) and as an added bonus, the high-danger “Pace of Play” (High Danger Corsi For + High Danger Corsi Against Per 60 Minutes). This will take a close look at the pace of play over the last two weeks. I’ve highlighted the specific game matchups in different colors so it’s easy to spot each matchup.

*Stacks are listed in order from perceived chalk to least chalk

BOSPP1: Patrice Bergeron/David Pastrnak/Brad Marchand/Nick Ritchie/Matt Grzelcyk // can also use whatever BOS1 ends up being and whatever BOS2 ends up being

SJ1: Evander Kane/Logan Couture/Kevin Labanc

SJ2: Timo Meier/Tomas Hertl/Rudolfs Balcers

Possible add-on: Brent Burns or Erik Karlsson // SJ2 will have lower ownership

NYR2: Artemi Panarin/Ryan Strome/Colin Blackwell

Possible add-on: Adam Fox // tough to play them in cash due to price (talking about Panarin/Strome/Fox) and likely slow pace, but for GPP, I am all for it.

DAL2: Jason Robertson/Roope Hintz/Joe Pavelski

Possible add-on: Miro Heiskanen or John Klingberg // need to check on Hintz’s status prior to lock

FLA2: Jonathan Huberdeau/Alexander Wennberg/Patric Hornqvist // with Ekblad out for the year, Wennberg steps up to the PP1, which is a huge boost to his value

NSH2: Calle Jarnkrok/Mikael Granlund/Luke Kunin

Possible add-on: Roman Josi or Mattias Ekholm // make sure this line doesn’t change due to Arvidsson’s injury; he left Saturday’s game and we don’t know if lines have changed

BUF2: Victor Oloffsson/Sam Reinhart/Kyle Okposo // possibly the epitome of “GPP play”

*Note: I also feel like any of Philly’s top three lines can be considered GPP plays, but they fall outside my top eight because they are just so inconsistent. The reason they’re in play? Dan Vladar’s probably going to play the 2nd half of a back-to-back, or they’ll end up playing a very good, but also very young Jeremy Swayman, who is fresh out of the University of Maine and is only 22 years old