Daily News:

Paul Stastny returns tonight for the St. Louis Blues and sadly, while he is not in the player pool, his presence should have a profound effect on the rest of the team. Stastny has been inserted onto the top power-play unit and the second offensive.

Zach Parise will be out indefinitely with a concussion and is obviously unavailable tonight against the Ottawa Senators. Thomas Vanek ( $4,700 ) has been elevated to the top line.

Now let’s get to the plays of the day:

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Line Stacks:

1. Vladimir Tarasenko / Jaden Schwartz : Combined Cost $11,000 | St. Louis: The Devils have the second worst penalty kill in the league at 68.8% and the Blues have the eighth best power-play. The speed these two bring on a nightly basis should give the Devils fits at even strength as well. For what it’s worth, Joakim Lindstrom ( $2,500 ) is also usable in a stack with David Backes ( $4,400 ) but it’s best reserved for a full Blues stack — which I really don’t mind at all if you pair them with Kevin Shattenkirk ( $4,900 ). 

2. Logan Couture / Patrick Marleau: Combined Cost: $12,900 | San Jose: The Canucks have a great penalty-kill (the fourth best in the league at 88%)  so making a San Jose power-play stack has me a bit timid, but I have the utmost confidence that this duo will reek havoc on the Canucks.

3. Steven Stamkos / Valtteri Filppula: Combined Cost: $13,500 | Tampa Bay: The Lightning have the third best power-play, while the Flames sport the fifth worst penalty-kill. This duo seems primed for a big performance tonight. In addition, I like a mini-stack of Ondrej Palat ( $5,100 ) and Tyler Johnson ( $6,300 ) in this game as well.

4. Jeff Carter / Tyler Toffoli / Tanner Pearson: Combined Cost: $12,900 | Los Angeles: This trio seems poised for a big game against the Islanders backup goalie Chad Johnson. The Islanders lost 6-0 to the Colorado Avalanche earlier on this road trip and the Kings are significantly better than the Avs. This is a pretty strong option.

5. A Five Man Bruins Offense stack: Reilly Smith, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Chris Kelly, Seth Griffith. In particular, Griffith and Kelly are the “who do you like for value” guys, as each of them is $2,900. The Bruins have struggled offensively at times, which is why I don’t have them higher on my list. Obviously though, any team facing Edmonton is a good option.

Defense:

Dougie Hamilton ( $4,600 ) is the most obvious play on the slate due to the ease of opponent and the heavy ice time he is seeing since the injuries of Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug. Finally, Dennis Seidenberg ( $3,500 ) is a nice option as well.

Marco Scandella ( $4,000 ) has had a strong season for the Minnesota Wild and the Ottawa Senators are yielding the second most shots per game. I like him a lot tonight

It’s incredibly difficult to trust anyone in the Leafs @ Avs game because this game can easily be 2-1 or 6-5. That said, I do like Tyson Barrie ( $4,200 ) quite a bit in GPPs tonight, I do like Erik Johnson better, but he is probably too highly priced at ( $5,800 ) to use in a GPP. In cash games, I don’t mind paying up for him, but again it goes back to risk tolerance because Colorado and Toronto are so sporadic in their production.

Another risk I don’t mind from that Leafs @ Avs game is Cody Franson. Priced at $3,800, he’s right in that group of defensemen that have enough upside to tease you, but enough downside to make you slightly skeptical. Franson is seeing power-play time on the number one unit, as well as top defensive pairing minutes in even-strength situations.

Goalie:

Tuukka Rask ( $8,800 ) is the safest play on the board at first glance, but internally I have serious questions about how long the Bruins defensemen can last without being completely exposed. There has yet to be a blowup game for the Bruins defensively as of late, and the Oilers aren’t exactly the team you would expect to get one from, but if the Bruins come out lazy and overconfident, Rask could allow a couple early goals. Rask makes for an obvious across the board cash game play, and a shrewd fade in GPPs due to price and unforseen (by others) risk.

Steve Mason ( $6,400 ) throughout the year has shown that when he faces sub-par competition he really shines, and when he faces top teams he is exposed as a average goaltender. He is the perfect guy to move towards as a GPP candidate if you were to fade Rask.

Final Sneaky Contrarian GPP Plays:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have randomly disappointing performances on the road, but Sidney Crosby facing Ondrej Pavelec is a situation that I feel like I cannot pass up. Sprinkle in some Crosby/Patric Hornqvist/Chris Kunitz/Evgeni Malkin/Pascal Dupuis into some of your lineups.

Jason Pominville / Thomas Vanek are a combined $10,400. They are a GPP risk only in my opinion, because these two have not yet played together so I am uncertain as to how things will work out chemistry wise. A really sneaky GPP play in the MIN @ OTT game is actually Nino Niederrieter but at ( $4,600 ) it’s a price that leaves a lot to be desired.

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