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.

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

Teams To Target

[cointent_lockedcontent article_labels=”hockey”]

Let’s start with the most obvious matchup of the night—the Montreal Canadiens hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs. If you stacked the Habs yesterday, you probably had a very good night in DFS. Tonight is no different. The Leafs are on the road and will be without Tyler Bozak and Jake Gardiner, making the matchup even more favourable for Montreal.

The top line of Tomas Plekanec ($6000), Max Pacioretty ($7600) and Brendan Gallagher ($5300) is the obvious choice to go with. They’ve been unstoppable to start the season and should have no problem racking up the points tonight. On defense, P.K Subban ($5900) and Andrei Markov ($4500) wrecked havoc on the Buffalo defense last night, especially Markov. Despite his five-point performance, his price tag remains the same, making him my go-to defenseman once again. If you want to save some salary and not pay up for one of the big boys, Jeff Petry ($3200) is an option to consider.

As for goaltending, Carey Price ($8400) has been lights out since the beginning of the season and should have no problem shutting down a very weak Leafs offence. His price tag is high, but he’s putting up a ridiculous 8.3 FPPG and is the safest option in cash games.

The second best matchup of the night belongs to the Ottawa Senators hosting the Arizona Coyotes. Mike Smith ($6000) and company have finally come back down to earth after a strong start to the season. Ottawa possesses the eighth best offence in the league (3.14 G/GP) and should have no problem filling the net against a below-average Arizona defense.

The one player that will be in all my lineups is Mike Hoffman ($5200). Hoffman exited last game early with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day, so his status needs to be monitored. But if he does start, he’s a must play. He’s still underpriced on DraftKings based on his production and should continue to be fantasy gold all season long. Pair him with Kyle Turris ($6000) and Mark Stone ($5600) for a top line stack if you decide to go Ottawa heavy.

On defense, Erik Karlsson ($6700) is the way to go. The question isn’t whether or not Karlsson will put up points, it’s more will he maximize his value. If you can fit him into your budget, go with him.

As of this moment, Craig Anderson ($6900) is expected to get the start. His price is a bit too high for my liking, but he’s got a very good chance to pick up a win and won’t be highly owned in GPPs.

The third matchup of the night that I really like is St. Louis at home against the New York Islanders. The Islanders will be playing their second game in as many nights and Thomas Greiss ($6600) is expected to get the start. St. Louis is ranked 10^th in goals-per-game (3.00) and should have no problem exploiting New York’s weak goaltending at home.

With Paul Stastny out due to a broken right foot, Jori Lehtera ($3900) has found himself on the top line between Alexander Steen ($6500) and Vladimir Tarasenko ($7600). Stacking the whole line is quite pricy, so a mini-stack of Tarasenko-Lehtera is where I’d spend my money. Throw in Colton Parayko ($2900) and you have yourself a three-player stack for under 15K that all play on the top power play unit. If you want to go with David Backes ($4900) and Troy Brouwer ($4400) as a mini-stack that won’t be heavily owned, I wouldn’t argue with you.

Player Rankings

Ranking are price sensitive

 Forwards

1. Jori Lehtera–$3900—St. Louis Blues
2. Kyle Turris–$6000—Ottawa Senators
3. Joe Pavelski–$6800—San Jose Sharks
4. Tomas Plekanec–$6000—Montreal Canadiens
5. Mika Zibanejad–$4400—Ottawa Senators
6. Jason Spezza–$5900—Dallas Stars
7. Max Domi–$5200—Arizona Coyotes
8. Tyler Seguin–$8400—Dallas Stars

Wingers

1. James Neal—RW–$6100—Nashville Predators
2. Vladimir Tarasenko—RW–$7600—St. Louis Blues
3. Jaromir Jagr—RW–$5700—Florida Panthers
4. Brendan Gallagher—RW–$5300—Montreal Canadiens
5. Patrick Kane—RW–$7700—Chicago Blackhawks
6. Mike Hoffman—LW–$5200—Ottawa Senators
7. Anthony Duclair—LW–$4200—Arizona Coyotes
8. Mike Cammalleri—LW–$5000—New Jersey Devils
9. Max Pacioretty—LW–$7600—Montreal Canadiens
10. Artemi Panarin—LW–$4700—Chicago Blackhawks

Defenseman

1. Colton Parayko–$2900—St. Louis Blues
2. Francois Beauchemin–$4800—Colorado Avalanche
3. John Klingberg—$4700—Dallas Stars
4. Andrei Markov–$4500—Montreal Canadiens
5. Brent Burns–$6000—San Jose Sharks
6. Roman Josi–$6000—Nashville Predators
7. P.K. Subban–$5900—Montreal Canadiens
8. Erik Karlsson–$6700—Ottawa Senators

Goalie

1. Antti Niemi–$6800—Dallas Stars
2. Carey Price–$8400—Montreal Canadiens
3. Martin Jones–$7000—San Jose sharks
4. Craig Anderson–$6900—Ottawa Senators
5. Henrik Lundqvist–$7900—New York Rangers
6. Pekka Rinne–$7900—Nashville Predators

[/cointent_lockedcontent]