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. 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 at his position 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 at the position 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.

Stack Options

Buffalo is in action tonight, so we’ll start with their opponent, the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal has been as average as a team can be offensively over the last 20 games or so, but average is more than good enough when you’re facing Buffalo. The Habs are also at home for this matchup, so they’re a great stack option. Any Habs stack must start with the first line pair of Tomas Plekanec ($4,900, C) and Max Pacioretty ($7,700). Choosing a second line for a Habs-heavy stack is a little tougher. For the sake of being a bit contrarion since a lot of lineups will feature Canadiens, I’m leaning toward the third line assuming more people will gravitate to the top two lines. And as I’ve written about, I prefer to use depth lines when at home. So I’m going with Lars Eller ($2,900, C) and Jiri Sekac ($2,500, W). But Plekanec/Pacioretty is the only pair I’ll use in cash games. On the blue line I like Andrei Markov ($4,600, D) who plays on the top power play unit with Plekanec/Pacioretty.

The best combination of a good offense in a good matchup today is Nashville hosting Toronto. Nashville has been a borderline top ten offensive team in the last 20-ish games, and Toronto remains one of the five or six most favorable matchups for opposing skaters. Despite being at home I don’t see much value to be had with the Nashville depth lines. I’m going with the first line pair of Mike Ribeiro ($4,500, C) and Filip Forsberg ($5,700, W) and the second line pair of Mike Fisher ($5,700, C) and James Neal ($5,200, W). That wouldn’t be the cheapest of stacks, so on the blue line I’m keeping it cheap with Mattias Ekholm ($2,500, D) who plays on the second power play unit with Ribeiro.

The best offense in the league over the last 20 games is in action today and facing an essentially average defensive team. That would by my Dallas Stars who are hosting the Colorado Avalanche. Everyone knows the deal with Colorado. They give up a ton of shots, and Semyon Varlamov stops a large percentage of them. Only Buffalo is allowing more Corsi events against per 60 minutes than the Avs recently, and only Montreal and Chicago have a better save percentage. Add horrible together with awesome and you get average. I’ll take my chances with a great offense against average.

My favorite mini-stack of Stars tonight will be on the second line centered by Jason Spezza ($5,500, C). Erik Cole ($2,800) practiced fully yesterday, so I’ll pair him with Spezza if he’s back in the lineup tonight. If not, I’ll pivot to Ales Hemsky ($3,600, W). I’m tempted to go with the third line for a Dallas-heavy stack, but I can’t pass up the chance to roster Tyler Seguin ($9,000, C). Jamie Benn is too expensive to pair with Seguin, so I’ll go with the third wheel on the top line, Patrick Eaves ($4,100, W). And the on the blue line I like my new boyfriend, the chosen one, John Klingberg ($5,000, D).

Montreal, Nashville and Dallas players will take up a large percentage of my roster spots today, but if I find myself looking to diversify, I’ll probably lean toward Columbus hosting Arizona. Columbus has been a below average offense, but Arizona is the only team in the league that comes even close to being as good of a matchup for opposing skaters as Buffalo. I really like the value of the second line pair of Brandon Dubinsky ($4,400, C) and Scott Hartnell ($4,700, W). If you wanted to go Columbus-heavy, you could also throw in Ryan Johansen ($5,900, C) and Nick Foligno ($5,100, W).

If you’ve done your own research and are thinking about using skaters from Chicago, Tampa Bay or St. Louis, then go for it. Those teams just missed the cut for me.

Price-Adjusted Cash Game Rankings

Center

1. Tomas Plekanec – $4,900 – Montreal Canadiens
2. Brandon Dubinsky – $4,400 – Columbus Blue Jackets
3. Colin Wilson – $3,900 – Nashville Predators
4. Ryan Strome – $4,000 – New York Islanders
5. Lars Eller – $2,900 – Montreal Canadiens
6. Jason Spezza – $5,500 – Dallas Stars
7. Nicklas Backstrom – $6,200 – Washington Capitals

Winger

1. James Neal – $5,200 – Nashville Predators
2. Scott Hartnell – $4,700 – Columbus Blue Jackets
3. Marian Hossa – $5,100 – Chicago Blackhawks
4. Filip Forsberg – $5,700 – Nashville Predators
5. Max Pacioretty – $7,700 – Montreal Canadiens
6. Nikita Kucherov – $4,100 – Tampa Bay Lightning
7. Brendan Gallagher – $4,700 – Montreal Canadiens
8. Patrick Eaves – $4,100 – Dallas Stars
9. Nick Foligno – $5,100 – Columbus Blue Jackets

Defense

1. Dustin Byfuglien – $5,700 – Winnipeg Jets
2. Andrei Markov – $4,600 – Montreal Canadiens
3. Sami Vatanen – $4,400 – Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks
4. David Savard – $3,000 – Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Mattias Ekholm – $2,500 – Nashville Predators
6. John Klingberg – $5,000 – Dallas Stars

Center/Winger Mini-Stacks

1. Tomas Plekanec/Max Pacioretty – Montreal Canadiens
2. Mike Fisher/James Neal – Nashville Predators
3. Brandon Dubinsky/Scott Hartnell – Columbus Blue Jackets
4. Mike Ribeiro/Filip Forsberg – Nashville Predators
5. Jason Spezza/Erik Cole (or Ales Hemsky) – Dallas Stars
6. Ryan Johansen/Nick Foligno – Columbus Blue Jackets
7. Tyler Seguin/Patrick Eaves – Dallas Stars

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. Braden Holtby – $7,700 – Washington Capitals
2. Corey Crawford – $8,000 – Chicago Blackhawks
3. Frederik Anderson – $8,200 – Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks
4. Calvin Pickard* – $6,700 – Colorado Avalanche
5. Carter Hutton – $6,800 – Nashville Predators

Research Chart

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