Welcome back to another season of NHL DFS! If you’re like me, you’ve waited all summer for this—the time to build NHL lineups and watch your favourite team play! It’s early in the season, so projections and data will be a work in progress until about mid-November. In the meantime, we’ll do our best to break down which players you should be targeting and which players you need to avoid completely.

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As always, make sure to check out LeftWingLock for goalie confirmations.

Teams To Target

Let’s start with the most obvious play of the night—the Florida Panthers. The Buffalo Sabres aren’t exactly a great defensive team, making Florida’s top six a great option.

The top line of Jonathan Huberdeau ($6000), Jaromir Jagr ($5000) and Aleksander Barkov ($4800) will be highly owned, but their prices are very reasonable and they should be able to pick on a relatively weak Sabres defense.

If you want to go all out on the Panthers, throw in defenseman Aaron Ekblad ($5200) and goaltender Roberto Luongo ($7000) and you’re set. If you want to go with a mini-stack, go with Barkov, Jagr and Luongo for a smooth $16,800.

My second favourite matchup of the night is St. Louis at Edmonton. The Blues beat the Oilers last Thursday in St. Louis and should have no trouble doing it again tonight.

Vladimir Tarasenko ($7200) is one of the most expensive plays of the night, but if you pair him with Paul Stastny ($4900), you get a very good mini stack for just over $12,000. If you can’t afford to get Tarasenko in your lineup, Jori Lehtera ($3900) and Jaden Schwartz ($5400) play together on the third line and on the second power play unit. For the combined price of $ 9,300, they may be the best value of the night.

On defense, Alex Pietrangelo ($5000) and Colton Parayko ($2600) are the two options I would consider. With Shattenkirk presumably out tonight, Pietrangelo will get a shot on the top power play unit, while Parayko gets a chance on the second power play unit. If you decide to go with Tarasenko/Stastny, go with Pietrangelo. If you go with Lehtera/Schwartz, then go with Parayko.

My third favourite matchup of the night has the Minnesota Wild visiting the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes are 3-0 to start the season, but I’m not ready to buy into the hype of them being a good defensive team. They’re playing their second game in as many nights and back up goalie Anders Lindback ($6000) is expected to get the start, making this a perfect time to stack the Wild.

The top line of Zach Parise ($7200), Mikael Granlund ($4000) and Jason Pominville ($5300) is the best way to go if you decide to take the Minnesota route. Parise’s value isn’t great, but if you pair him with Grandlund, the duo will cost you $11,200, which is fairly reasonable.

If you want to throw in a defenseman, Ryan Suter ($4200) and Matt Dumba ($3500) are options to consider.

Player Rankings

Ranking are price sensitive

Forwards

1. Aleksander Barkov–$4800—Florida Panthers
2. Paul Stastny–$4900—St Louis Blues
3. Jori Lehtera–$3900—St. Louis Blues
4. Mikael Granlund–$4000—Minnesota Wild
5. Steven Stamkos—7300—Tampa Bay Lightning
6. Evgeni Malkin–$6900—Pittsburgh Penguins
7. Sidney Crosby–$7900—Pittsburgh Penguins
8. Alex Galchenyuk–$4900—Montreal Canadiens

Wingers

1. Vladimir Tarasenko—RW–$7200—St. Louis Blues
2. Jaromir Jagr–$5000—RW—Florida Panthers
3. Zach Parise—LW–$7200—Minnesota Wild
4. Max Pacioretty—LW–$7600—Montreal Canadiens
5. Jason Pominville—RW–$5300—Minnesota Wild
6. Jonathan Drouin—LW–$4500—Tampa Bay Lightning
7. Mark Stone—RW–$5600—Ottawa Senators
8. Jonathan Huberdeau—LW–$6000—Florida Panthers

Defenseman

1. Aaron Ekblad–$5200—Florida Panthers
2. Alex Pietrangelo–$5000—St. Louis Blues
3. Erik Karlsson–$6800—Ottawa Senators
4. Ryan Suter–$4200—Minnesota Wild
5. Colton Parayko–$2600—St. Louis Blues
6. P.K Subban–$6100—Montreal Canadiens
7. Shea Weber–$5700—Nashville Predators
8. Seth Jones–$3900—Nashville Predators

Goalie

1. Roberto Luongo–$7000—Florida Panthers
2. Carey Price–$8400—Montreal Canadiens
3. Jake Allen–$7200—St. Louis Blues
4. Pekka Rinne–$8300—Nashville Predators
5. Devan Dubnyk–$7100—Minnesota Wild

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