Thursday was quite painful, as eight of my nine lineups would’ve cashed in the $27 GPP, with 38 points minimum, had silly Mason Raymond been involved in any of the five Calgary goals in their 5-0 victory over the hapless Hurricanes, but today is a new day thankfully.

There are ten games on tonight’s slate, which is why I opened with a comparison to the Thursday slate. Hidden in the humble brag, is the fact that you really need a lot of points to cash GPPs (less in cash games) on big slates, so it’s all about hitting on the right players. Without further ado, let’s take a look at tonight’s big slate.

The main event on Draft Kings tonight is their $15,000 guaranteed Face-off tournament with a $27 entry fee. In addition, you can win tickets to the Millionaire Maker tournament, which is looking at a ton of overlay. If you are a new user to Draft Kings please use this link to sign up!

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Picks to Click:

Bargain Bin:

Lubomir Visnovsky | New York Islanders | Defense | $3,400: Visnovsky has been elevated to the top power-play unit in Long Island, which makes him a pretty nice value today

Anders Lee | New York Islanders | Center | $3,800: While this is probably pushing the upper limits of what qualifies as a “Bargain Bin” play, the 24-year-old Lee is now skating on the top power-play unit as well. In addition, he’s on a talented third line consisting of himself, Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome.

Cody Franson | Toronto Maple Leafs | Defense | $3,200: In our ever continuing trend of targeting value plays that see top power-play time, I bring you Cody Franson. While others may be scared off by the big red “#8” next to Franson’s name — which signifies Boston as being the 8th best in the league against opposing defense for fantasy points — but with Zdeno Chara out long term, things are about to change in how we view Boston defensively.

Dougie Hamilton | Boston Bruins | Defense | $3,900: With Chara’s injury, the Bruins will need to lean more heavily on this young defenseman. While also skating on the power-play, Hamilton is more likely to have the puck on his stick as the Bruins begin to bring the puck up the ice — since Seidenberg isn’t very good at that.

Darren Helm | Detroit Red Wings | Center | $3,100: Helm is seeing minutes on the top power-play unit for the Wings, and is also now skating with Pavel Datsyuk on the second line, as the Wings are looking to break up Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg so that they can spread their elite talent deeper. I fully expect the highly talented Sean Couturier and Matt Read — defensively speaking anyway — to be all over the Gustav Nyquist – Zetter – Justin Abdelkader line, leaving more opportunities for that Datsyuk line. Helm is a great value.

Damon Severson | New Jersey Devils | Defense | $3,600: It wouldn’t be an article written by Josh Kay without a Severson recommendation.

Jonas Gustavsson | Detroit Red Wings | Goalie | $6,200: “Monster” has played just one game, but it was a 30-save shutout performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs. I’m rolling him out against Philly — who is starting Ray Emery. 

Mike Smith | Arizona Coyotes | Goalie | $6,200: Sigh: oh the conundrum the Florida Panthers put you in. Smith is really a below average goaltender at this point, and he’s hard to stomach. He’s facing a terrible offense, but by no means is this the safe play that some may say it is.

Worth the Price:

This section will feature mostly just names, since the logic behind the picks is related to the bargain picks I’m on today.

Tyler Seguin / Jamie Benn | Dallas | Combined cost: $17,200

John Tavares / Kyle Okposo | New York Islanders | Combined cost: $15,700

Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Gustav Nyquist | Detroit 

Phil Kessel / James van Riemsdyk | Toronto | Combined cost: $14,600

James Neal | Nashville | $6,900: Here is the first one that is different from the others, in that Neal stands alone with my love tonight on Nashville. Neal is coming off a hat trick, and has a huge chance at a big revenge game against his former team — against whom is apparently unhappy with after his departure.

Alex Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | $9,100: Ovechkin is simply matchup proof. While Eastern Conference teams often have trouble on the West coast, this shouldn’t apply to the best pure scorer in the league — maybe aside from Steven Stamkos.

Final Notes:

I admittedly don’t have a great feel for the Chicago Blackhawks / St. Louis Blues game. This could easily be a 2-1 or 5-4 game — it just depends on game flow and randomness. Patrick Kane is too cheap at $6,900, as is Jonathan Toews at $6,200. I’m limiting my exposure to this game to GPP’s only.

Another game which I have only GPP exposure to is Montreal / New York Rangers. Both of these teams play a wide open style of hockey, but the presence of two elite goaltenders has me straying away from this game in cash. Max Pacioretty is exciting at $6,500.

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