Ryan Clifford brings you his top stacks and goalies for your NHL DFS GPP lineups tonight.
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Slate Breakdown Podcast
I’ll be doing podcasts to go along with my write-ups this season. I can cover a whole lot more this way…
NHL DFS Slate Breakdown Podcast, March 9
Slate Preview: Game/Team Projections
Top GPP Stacks
*The ownership projections I use are still not up as of 3:35 PM EST. If they come up eventually, I will then update these stacks with projected ownership
PHI: James van Riemsdyk/Sean Couturier/Joel Farabee
A team already on the ropes, the Sabres will once again be without Jack Eichel, and they’ll be putting third-stringer Jonas Johansson back between the pipes tonight in Philly. This all spells trouble for Buffalo, and one of the league’s most productive lines to this point will look to take advantage of the situation. The Flyers are averaging one goal every 10 minutes at 5v5 with their top line on the ice. Johansson has won just one of eight career starts, and drags a 3.93 GAA into tonight’s matchup.
FLA: Mason Marchment/Aleksander Barkov/Carter Verhaeghe
Florida’s projected 3.83 total tops the slate tonight. Columbus has lost six of their last eight games, and allow 3.2 goals against per game thus far, which ranks seventh-worst league wide. The Panthers, meanwhile, average 3.3 goals scored per game, which puts them fourth in the league. While Barkov is expensive, he’s in the midst of a six-game point streak, and has topped double-digit fantasy points in 10 of his last 12 games. After scoring two goals in his last three games, Mason Marchment will get a look on the top line at near min. price. We saw Vatrano come up and score in four of six games next to Barkov, so Marchment has a ton of upside with a player like this, and provides huge value tonight in this matchup. I love Florida here, whether it be this trio, Hornqvist/Huberdeau, or the mega-stack with Ekblad and/or Yandle.
CAR: Warren Foegele/Sebastian Aho/Brock McGinn
Sebastian Aho is one of only a few special players that just produces no matter the situation or linemates he’s with. Like the aforementioned Sasha Barkov, Aho makes anyone on the ice with him better, transforming even guys like Warren Foegele and Brock McGinn into capable producers. So, where you get the chance to roster Aho and his linemates for as cheap as it costs tonight with the two wings within $1,000 of minimum price, you have to jump on it. In their first game skating together, the Canes controlled 65% of the Corsi share with these three on the ice at 5v5. They produced a high number of shots and chances, and enter tonight’s matchup against Nashville with an xGF/60 over 5 goals.
DAL: Jamie Benn/Joe Pavelski/Denis Gurianov
I’ve watched a lot of Dallas hockey this past week, and I must say that these three look incredible together. Well it’s still a small sample size, the Stars are controlling nearly 70% of the attempt share with these three at 5v5 together, while generating an average of more than 22 high danger scoring chances per 60 minutes. Anything over 10 per 60 is a good clip for HDCF, so with almost 40 minutes together, it’s hard to believe these three have not found the back of the net yet. Jamie Benn is shooting at the lowest percentage of his career, while Denis Gurianov’s 4 goals on 53 shots (7.5%) is less than 50% of his 2019-20 rate. Some serious positive regression should be headed their way. The Blackhawks have the league’s fourth-worst PK, are allowing more shots against than any team in hockey, and allowing nearly 4 goals against per game over their last five.
NSH: Filip Forsberg/Ryan Johansen/Viktor Arvidsson
Ryan Johansen continues to be criminally underpriced on DraftKings, still just $3,100 tonight. The band is back together for Nashville, as their top line reunited last week, and have proceed to pile up 6 combined points in the two games since. Filip Forsberg is especially hot, of late, with a goal and 6 assists in his last three games. I have this game projected for the second-highest pace on the slate, so it comes as no surprise that I like both sides here. Roman Josi would make for a nice add-on on defense, correlating with Forsberg and Johansen on the team’s top power play.
NJ: Kyle Palmieri/Pavel Zacha/Mikhail Maltsev
Pavel Zacha finally seems to be living up to his potential. A former sixth overall pick in 2015, Zacha only just topped 30 points for the first time in his career last season. He’s on pace to shatter that number this season, scoring at a point-per-game pace over the last 14 games of his now age-23 campaign. He’s been a force on the PK, is now getting power play time (skating alongside of linemate Kyle Palmieri on the team’s top unit), and the Devils are in a pace-up spot against a Caps team that will be missing top defensive forward Tom Wilson for an extended time. Mikhail Maltsev has 3 goals in 9 games thus far, and is still priced below $4k. If you’re looking for a cheap stack with some upside and almost no ownership, look no further. Ty Smith can be added to the stack for some additional power play correlation to Palmieri and Zacha.
One-Offs and Defensemen
Boston: Matt Grzelcyk
Carolina: Martin Necas, Dougie Hamilton (FD), Jaccob Slavin
Chicago: Carl Soderberg
Columbus: Oliver Bjorkstrand
Detroit: Bobby Ryan
Florida: Patric Hornqvist, Mackenzie Weegar, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle
Nashville: Calle Jarnkrok
New Jersey: Travis Zajac, Andreas Johnsson, Ty Smith, P.K. Subban
NY Islanders: Jordan Eberle, Oliver Wahlstrom, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock
Tampa Bay: Ondrej Palat
Toronto: Auston Matthews, Joe Thornton
Washington: Nicklas Backstrom, Daniel Sprong
Goalies
Here are my top GPP goalies:
- Carter Hart, PHI
- Scott Wedgewood, NJ
- Semyon Varlamov, NYI
- Malcolm Subban, CHI
- Alex Nedeljokvic, CAR
