Below I’ve got a discussion of the best matchups and potential stacks of the day followed by cash game rankings for tonight’s DraftKings contests. At the bottom of the post I’ve embedded my research chart for the day. Here is just a snippet of the chart I’ll use to explain what you’re looking at.

First the colors. Purple/blue is amazeballs, green is great, yellow is good, orange is bad, red is awful and deep red is no effing way.

The first column that isn’t self-explanatory is the fifth one, the one that is titled ‘z’ to the right of salary. That is how far above or below average the player’s salary is compared to all other players in action today. ‘Pts/Gm’ is a projection derived from my own Marcel-like projection system. The ‘z’ next to the projection is how far above or below average the projection is compared to all other players in action today. And then ‘zDIFF’ is the projection z-score minus the player’s salary z-score. The zDIFF column is really what we’re looking at.

Make sure to check Twitter for any injury news and line changes, and check Daily Faceoff for starting goalies.

Teams to Target

Tonight is the night of the home teams. According to my calculations, there are ten of 22 teams in action tonight that have an above average matchup, and eight of those ten are home teams. And from those ten, there are four teams that are separated from the pack with great matchups. All four of those teams are playing at home.

One of those four teams with a great matchup is Columbus hosting Buffalo. But surprisingly, the Jackets come in fourth of those top four teams. That’s partly because Columbus is the worst of the four top teams offensively, and partly because the Sabres haven’t given up more than three goals in a single game this month. For those reasons, and because the Jackets current line combos kind of split up their best players, they’re not really a GPP play for me tonight. But the first line pair of Ryan Johansen ($5,500, C) and Scott Hartnell ($5,200, W) is a good mini-stack for cash games.

The best matchup of the day belongs to the Islanders. Well, the best matchup belongs to the Hurricanes against the Flyers with Rob Zepp in net. But the Isles are much better offensively than the Canes, so they grade out as the better play. The problem with Isles is a lack of value. Because they’ve been so good offensively, their prices are inflated. For that reason, they aren’t the best cash game play. But either of their top two lines is worth a look in GPPs. I prefer the top line of John Tavares ($9,000, C), Anders Lee ($4,700, C) and Josh Bailey ($4,100, W). If you throw in Lubomir Visnovsky ($3,000, D), who plays the point on Bailey’s side of the ice on the second power play unit, you’ll have good exposure to both power play units.

As for the Hurricanes, the value play is their third line of Riley Nash ($2,700, C), Alexander Semin ($3,600, W) and Jeff Skinner ($5,600, W). I know some of you play on FanDuel and can only use two centers. If you like to stack wingers in those two lame wing spots, Semin/Skinner is an option for that today. The Canes top line is also a really good option. The top line is Jordan Staal ($4,400, C), Eric Staal ($5,600, C) and Jiri Tlusty ($4,200, W). I kind of like that line better because one of the Staals and Tlusty play on the top power play unit while the other Staal is on the second unit. Throw in Andrej Sekera ($3,700, D) who also plays on the second unit, and you’ve got good exposure to both power play units.

The other top play of the day is the Rangers hosting the Flames. The problem with the Rangers is the same problem we have with the Isles; they’re just a little too pricey. Of their top two centers, only first line center Derick Brassard ($5,100, C) has a price tag I can stomach. The value play for cash games is a mini-stack of Brassard and Mats Zuccarello ($4,500, W). And for GPPs, you could throw in Rick Nash ($8,500, W) along with them. If you use all three, throw in Dan Girardi ($4,000, D) to give you good exposure to both PP units.

Outside of the top four teams, there are a couple of other lines that have to be mentioned. The first is the top line in Nashville, assuming Filip Forsberg ($5,200, W) is still on it tonight. The Preds basically shit the bed on Sunday in Buffalo, but they have an excellent chance to rebound at home tonight against Colorado. Along with Forsberg, James Neal ($5,600, W) has a very appealing price tag tonight. Their center, Mike Ribeiro ($4,300, C) is priced about right, so there’s a good combination of price and production on that line. And Forsberg/Neal is another good winger pair for those of you that need one on Fanduel. I’m leaning toward Cody Franson ($4,200, D) on the blue line, but both Shea Weber ($6,400, D) and Roman Josi ($5,700, D) have seen their price reduced greatly from where it was Sunday, so they’re both options.

And then finally, I have to mention the opponent of my Dallas Stars, who are a complete mess right now. After allowing seven goals to the Red Wings on Saturday, they allowed six in the third period to Minnesota on Sunday. That alone makes Dallas’ opponent today, the Jets, worth looking at. But some Jets also have really nice price tags. I’m tempted to go with their top line given the good values on both top line wingers. But as you may know, I love to pick on Dallas’ second D pair of Trevor Daley and Jyrki Jokipakka, and I know that pair won’t match up with the top line. You’d think Dallas would change it up on D given how bad they’ve been recently, but if things stay the same, you have to go with Winnipeg’s second line to pick on that D pair. That’s Mark Scheifele ($4,600, C), Drew Stafford ($4,000, W) and Dustin Byfuglien ($5,800, D). Because Byfuglien plays on the top power play unit with the first line and is classified as a D-man, you could easily throw in Blake Wheeler ($5,800, W) from the top line to give you good exposure to both PP units.

Price-Adjusted Cash Game Rankings

Center/Winger Mini-Stacks

1. Mark Scheifele/Dustin Byfuglien – Winnipeg Jets
2. Mike Ribeiro/Filip Forsberg – Nashville Predators
3. Mikko Koivu/Jason Pominville – Minnesota Wild
4. Ryan Johansen/Scott Hartnell – Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Riley Nash/Jeff Skinner – Carolina Hurricanes
6. Bryan Little/Blake Wheeler – Winnipeg Jets
7. Jordan Staal/Jiri Tlusty – Carolina Hurricanes

Defense

1. Dustin Byfuglien – $5,800 – Winnipeg Jets
2. Ryan Suter – $4,200 – Minnesota Wild
3. Lubomir Visnovsky – $3,000 – New York Islanders
4. Roman Josi – $5,700 – Nashville Predators
5. Jacob Trouba – $4,500 – Winnipeg Jets
6. Andrej Sekera – $3,700 – Carolina Hurricanes

Goalie

Goalies with an asterisk next to their name are second on their team’s depth chart, so don’t count on them playing. Any players in bold have been confirmed as the starter for the day. And players with a line through their name will not be starting tonight. Make sure you always check Daily Faceoff for starting goalie updates in case I am unable to update the list throughout the day.

1. Scott Darling – $7,000 – Chicago Blackhawks
2. Jaroslav Halak – $7,800 – New York Islanders
3. Eddie Lack* – $6,800 – Vancouver Canucks
4. Curtis McElhinney – $7,400 – Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Devan Dubnyk – $8,400 – Minnesota Wild
6. Pekka Rinne – $9,200 – Nashville Predators

Research Chart

You can download the research chart from this Google Sheet page here.