Happy Saturday to everyone looking to get in on the DFS action, we’ll have 11 games on the slate tonight to choose from. Let’s jump right in…

TEAMS TO TARGET

The game with the biggest fantasy impact Saturday could perhaps be the Colorado Avalanche at the Washington Capitals. The Avs are nearing the end of a seven-game road trip and coming off an emotional 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh Thursday night. They have a laundry list of issues right now, namely that 57% of their games are being played in their defensive zone. Reto Berra and his .934 save percentage has kept Colorado in some games, but Berra is crashing hard back to reality, having given up eight goals in his last two games.

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The Caps haven’t been particularly great at home, but with a 54% Corsi percentage paired with a shooting percentage of only 6%, you can argue their luck certainly has not been great at all. He’ll be pricey, but the pressure is off Alex Ovechkin to break the Russian-born goal scoring record, and he scored two goals in the two meetings ofthese teams last season, so he’s in a great spot here again at home.

The line of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene is hot right now for Colorado and will likely matchup against Ovechkin for much of the night. Ovi should absolutely be in play, but the biggest value for the Capitals will come from their second line in the form of Evgeni Kuznetsov, who should be considered a must-start, and John Carlson on the backend, who should benefit from some more favorable matchups, zone starts and power play time.

Another game that jumps off the screen right away is the Dallas Stars hosting the Buffalo Sabres. There are a lot of reasons to go big on Dallas, of course the highest scoring team at home against one of the teams near the bottom of the standings would be a great place to start. But from a puck possession stand point, Buffalo has not been a bad team on the road. They’re in the positive with a Corsi rating of 50.6%, and 34.85% of their faceoffs are occurring in their offensive zone – good for second best in the league. Dallas, of course, is still one of the best home teams in every known statistical category, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Naturally, the glaring difference between these two teams has been shooting percentage – Dallas hold the significant edge here thanks to their group of snipers, so this certainly shouldn’t be considered a game you would look to fade Dallas. In this instance, the players a little further down their lineup who come with a smaller price tag may be the more opportune avenue, especially when you consider the job Ryan O’Reilly has done matching against oppositions top-lines. In their last meeting, O’Reilly spent 68% of his ice time against Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, holding them scoreless until Seguin connected on an empty netter. Despite being on the road this time around, he should still see plenty of matchups against that line, which decreases their value. The better value will come with Vern Fiddler, Colton Sceviour and Ales Hemsky, who have produced five goals in their last ten games together, and Jason Spezza who scored in the last meeting.

Finally, let’s conclude in Boston where the Bruins have a good opportunity to exploit a Toronto Maple Leafs team who won via shootout last night in Carolina. The Bruins have the third best offense and top ranked power play, while the Maple Leafs come in ranked 19th in defense and 17th in penalty killing. Unfortunately, James Reimer will be in goal again for Toronto after making 33 saves last night, had it been Jonathan Bernier instead, this could be the most favorable matchup of the night.

Patrice Bergeron‘s 12 points from the power play and David Krecji’s nine are first and fourth highest in the league. Bergeron will be priced much higher, so Krejci will be much easier to fit into a lineup given the large slate. If we’re talking who you definitely exclude in a stack strategy, Loui Eriksson will be priced considerably lower, leads the team with a 56.2% Corsi for, skates with Krejci, and sees more power play time than Brad Marchand. That said, if you’re building a lineup with Boston in mind, you may want to try to start with Bergeron and Erikkson. Torey Krug gets a big bump in value in this spot as well.

Player Rankings

Ranking are price sensitive

Centers

1.) Patrice Bergeron – $6,300 – Boston Bruins

2.) Tyler Seguin – $9,000 – Dallas Stars

3.) Evgeny Kuznetsov – $5,700 – Washington Capitals

4.) David Backes – $4,600 – St. Louis Blues

5.) Kyle Turris – $6,300 – Philadelphia Flyers

6.) Derek Stepan – $5,200 – New York Rangers

Wingers

1.) Jamie Benn – $8,200 – Dallas Stars

2.) Alex Ovechkin – $9,600 – Washington Capitals

3.) Patrick Sharp – $6,200 – Dallas Stars

4.) Patrick Kane – $8,600 – Chicago Blackhawks

5.) Loui Erikkson – $5,200 – Boston Bruins

6.) Mike Hoffman – $5,100 – Ottawa Senators

7.) Artemi Panarin – $5,700 – Chicago Blackhawks

8.) James Neal – $6,500 – Nashville Predators

Defenseman

1.) Torey Krug – $5,700 – Boston Bruins

2.) John Carlson – $6,400 – Washington Capitals

3.) Erik Karlsson – $7,300 – Ottawa Senators

4.) Roman Josi – $6,400 – Nashville Predators

5.) Keith Yandle – $4,700 – New York Rangers

6.) Alex Goligoski – $4,500 – Dallas Stars

Goalie

1.) Tuukka Rask – $7,400 – Boston Bruins

2.) Braden Holtby – $8,000 – Washington Capitals

3.) Kari Lehtonen – $7,100 – Dallas Stars

4.) Henrik Ludqvist – $8,100 – New York Rangers

5.) Jake Allen – $7,500 – St. Louis Blues

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