Below we’ve got a discussion of the best matchups and potential stacks of the day followed by player rankings for Saturday’s 12-game evening slate of NHL contests on DraftKings and FanDuel.

As always, make sure to check Twitter for any injury news, and check LeftWingLock for starting goalies and line combos.

Game Breakdowns

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Chicago Blackhawks

Let’s get straight to the chalk play of the night: the Chicago Blackhawks. The Toronto Maple Leafs are a young team trying to learn how to win in the NHL.The Hawks on the other hand know exactly how to win games. On paper, this game is a mismatch, and there’s a good chance that on the ice, it will be a mismatch too.

It’s going to be hard to fade Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane in cash games. The duo play together both five-on-five and on the power play. They are an expensive bunch to roster, but they are worth their price tags.

Behind the paywall you’ll find the rest of today’s NHL DFS game breakdowns and player rankings

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Artem Anisimov joins them on the second line, but he isn’t seeing any time on the top power play unit, so if you want to play all three, that makes them more of a GPP option. If you’re looking for a single bullet to plug into a cash lineup, Richard Panik leads the league so far this season with five goals.

Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are going to be two very popular plays tonight, but only Keith is really worth a roster spot. Seabrook has had a pretty good start to the season, and his price tag on both sites reflects that. If you want to go with a power play stack, Kane/Panarin/Seabrook/Keith is the way to go.

San Jose Sharks @ Detroit Red Wings

Last season, the San Jose Sharks were a much better team on the road than at home. There’s no real reason to explain why, but if that trend continues early this season, the Sharks are a team to stack when playing on the road.

The top line of Tomas Hertl, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski is an excellent line stack to roll with in cash games. Despite Pavelski not offering much value, Hertle helps balance that out with his price tag, but he’s currently seeing time on the second power play unit.

This might sound like an unconventional mini-stack, but Pavelski and Brent Burns together in the same cash lineup is probably the way to go. They are both super expensive to roster, but Burns is almost matchup proof, and Pavelski is the best player on the team up front. If you’re going to pay up for two studs, make it these two. If you absolutely want to go with two forwards, Pavelski/Hertl is the way to go.

In goal, Martin Jones is almost certain to get the call. He’s an elite goalie who facing a team playing on the tail end of a back-to-back. The Sharks have given up their fair share of goals this season (15GA in five games), and the Red Wings have enjoyed some early season success when it comes to scoring goals (17G in five games), but it’s hard to see that trend continuing for both teams. Jones is worth a look in both cash games and GPPs.

Tampa Bay Lightning @ Ottawa Senators

Note: Tampa Bay has made changes to their lineup.

Killorn-Filppula-Kucherov

Palat-Stamkos-Namestnikov

Point-Paquette-Drouin

Boyle-Johnson-Browm

(courtesy Dailyfaceoff)

Palat/Stamkos is the mini-stack to go with in this game. Ottawa gets a bump in the rankings below

This games has all the makings of a 7-5 final. The Senators are a terrible team defensively, while the Lightning have been hit with poor goaltending so far this season. Both team can score goals, and in DFS, that’s all that matters.

Let’s start with Tampa Bay’s top line of Ondrej Palat, Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Drouin. Stamkos will be a popular play on this night, but his price tag is way up there and he’s separated from Drouin on the power play, so rostering him isn’t automatic. A Palat/Stamkos stack would work, but it’s not my favourite.

The same can be said for Tampa’s second line of Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov. Johnson is playing on a different power play unit than his linemates, and Killorn/Kucherov is a less than ideal stack. The best way to approach this matchup is to go with the power play stack, so Killorn/Kucherov and Palat/Stamkos are the two mini-stack to target. Depending on which duo you go with Victor Hedman could become a nice complimentary play. He joins Killorn/Kucherov on the second power play unit, so that makes an excellent three player stack.

On the flip side, Ottawa’s top line of Kyle Turris, Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone is an excellent option to consider. Hoffman/Stone play on the top power play unit together, so they are the duo to target in cash games. Pair them with defenseman Erik Karlsson to complete the power play three-player stack.

Columbus Blue Jackets @ Dallas Stars

This matchup on paper looks like a chalk play, yet when you dig a little deeper into the numbers, it doesn’t look as great. Head coach John Tortorella has made a mess of his offensive lines, and Dallas doesn’t look that good with Patrick Sharp out of the line up. Still, Dallas is still worth a look in this matchup, especially with Columbus playing two games in as many nights.

Outside of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, the Stars are pretty unattractive, so you’ll have to decide if paying up for the duo is worth it. As of this morning, Ales Hemsky is skating with both Benn and Seguin, but he’s penciled in on the second power play unit, so that kind of hurts his value just a bit. If you want to roll with a single bullet option, Jason Spezza should see a favourable matchup, and is seeing time on the top power play unit.

On the blueline, John Klingberg is another excellent play. He plays on the top power play unit and should continue to be a source of offence for this Stars team.

Player Rankings

Centers

1. Alexander Wennberg–Columbus Blue Jackets–DK:$3800–FD:$4700
2. Artem Anisimov–Chicago Blackhawks–DK:$5200–FD:$5000
3. Joe Thornton–San Jose Sharks–DK:$5900–FD:$5400
4. Kyle Turris–Ottawa Senators–DK:$5600–FD:$5300
5. Jonathan Toews–Chicago Blackhawks–$5700–FD:$6600
6. Steven Stamkos–Tampa Bay Lightning–DK:$7600–FD:$8200
7. Tyler Seguin–Dallas Stars–DK:$7500–FD:$8000
8. Alexander Steen–St. Louis Blues–DK:$6100–FD:$6500 (Listed as W)
9. Tyler Johnson–Tampa Bay Lightning–DK:$5300–FD:$6100
10. Anze Kopitar–Los Angeles Kings–DK:$5800–FD:$7300

Wingers

1. Artemi Panarin–Chicago Blackhawks–DK:$6600–FD:$6700
2. Mike Hoffman–Ottawa Senators–DK:$5900–FD:$5700
3. Brandon Saad–Columbus Blue Jackets–DK:$5100–FD:$6400
4. Joe Pavelski–San Jose Sharks–DK:$7000–FD:$8000
5. Richard Panik–Chicago Blackhawks–DK:$4600–FD:$4000
6. Alex Killorn–Tampa Bay Lightning–DK:$4600–FD:$5800
7. Patrick Kane–Chicago Blackhawks–DK:$8200–FD:$8800
8. Jamie Benn–Dallas Stars–DK:$7600–FD:$8200
9. Johnny Gaudreau–Calgary Flames–DK:$6900–FD:$7300
10. Nikita Kucherov–Tampa Bay Lightning–DK:$6300–FD:$6600

Defenseman

1. Brent Burns–San Jose Sharks–DK:$8100–FD:$8200
2. Victor Hedman–Tampa Bay Lightning–DK:$6000–FD:$6600
3. Erik Karlsson–Ottawa Senators–DK:$8000–FD:$7300
4. John Klingberg–Dallas Stars–DK:$5700–FD$5100
5. Duncan Keith–Chicago Blackhawks–DK:$5600–FD:$6100
6. Zach Werenski–Columbus Blue Jackets–DK:$4300–FD:$4300
7. Alexander Edler–Vancouver Canucks–DK:$4700–FD:$4500
8. Justin Faulk–Carolina Hurricanes–DK:$5700–FD:$5500

Goalies

1. Cory Schneider–New Jersey Devils–DK:$7600–FD:$8900
2. Braden Holtby–Washington Capitals–DK:$8000–FD:$9700
3. Scott Darling–Chicago Blackhawks–DK:$8100–FD:$8400
4. Devan Dubnyk–Minnesota Wild–DK:$7800–FD:$8400
5. Jake Allen–St. Louis Blues–DK:$7700–FD$8500
6. Martin Jones–San Jose Sharks–DK:$7600–FD:$8500
7. Jeff Zatkoff–Los Angeles Kings–DK:$7500–FD:$7600 (GPP only) *Not starting*
8. Semyon Varlamov–Colorado Avalanche–DK:$7400–FD:$8900

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