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

With Roberto Luongo injured and Dan Ellis in net for the Panthers, the Dallas Stars probably have the best matchup of the night. It’d be nice if they had Tyler Seguin in the lineup, but the Stars have not had a problem putting just as many pucks towards the opposition’s net without him. Their Corsi for per 60 at even strength is actually higher with Seguin out of the lineup. Their shooting percentage is down a tick without Seguin, but facing a netminder like Ellis cam certainly help out a team’s shooting percentage.

With the Stars you can either get production at a high cost or value without a lot of production. The Stars really lack a second scoring line, so you can go with their pricey but productive top line or their 3rd line masquerading as a second line. Because second line center Cody Eakin ($4,700, C) had a two-goal game last week, his price is up high enough to make Dallas’ second line not quite valuable enough to use. So where I can afford it I’m rolling with the top line of Jason Spezza ($7,200, C), Jamie Benn ($7,600, W) and Patrick Eaves ($3,900, W). In cash games I’ll probably go with whole line to offset the cost of Spezza and Benn. But in GPPs I’ll probably just use Spezza/Benn and hope Eaves doesn’t poach a goal from them. On the blue line I like John Klingberg ($4,000, D) and will probably pair him with Spezza/Benn in GPPs.

The next best options are Boston hosting Calgary and Nashville hosting the Islanders. Boston has the better matchup, but Nashville has the better offense, so they’re similarly good plays on a team level. But once you start looking at salaries, Nashville looks like the better option.

The top line in Boston has upside, especially with Mark Giordano out for the Flames, but I’m not a fan of their collective price tag. I do think Brad Marchand ($4,900, W) has a nice price tag, but he doesn’t see the power play, so that hurts him as a cash game play. If you can fit Marchand and Patrice Bergeron ($8,200, C) into a GPP lineup, go for it. I also like the third line pair of Carl Sodergberg ($3,900, C) and Loui Eriksson ($4,400, W). They’re productive enough to use in cash games and can provide salary relief in GPPs. On the blue line I like Torey Krug ($4,900, D), and I also like Zdeno Chara ($4,700, D) if you’re using Soderberg.

As for Nashville, both of their top two lines are productive and priced to sell. They’ve mixed up lines some recently, but assuming they don’t make any line changes tomorrow, I like the top line of Mike Ribeiro ($3,600, C), James Neal ($5,100, W) and Colin Wilson ($3,400, C). In terms of production the top two lines probably aren’t all that different, but the first line will cost you a combined $12,100 (24.2% of your budget) compared to $15,800 for the second line (31.6% of your budget). That said, Mike Fisher ($5,400), Craig Smith ($5,400) and Filip Forsberg ($5,000) are also a viable option. However, the Isles used their top D pair of Boychuk and Leddy against the Fisher line when these two teams met a couple of weeks ago. That game was on Long Island and this one is in Nashville, so the Preds may be able to get that line away from Boychuk/Leddy at times. But my guess is the individual matchups are similar, plus the first line just provides more value. On the blue line, I only see value with the guys who play on  the second power play unit, Seth Jones ($3,200, D) and Cody Franson ($3,500, D).

There are a few other teams I’m considering, but I’ll just list the plays from those teams in the rankings below.

Player Rankings

Center/Winger Mini-Stacks (for cash or GPP)

1. Mike Ribeiro/Filip Forsberg – Nashville Predators
2. Carl Soderberg/Loui Eriksson – Boston Bruins
3. Mike Fisher/James Neal – Nashville Predators
4. Jason Spezza/Jamie Benn – Dallas Stars
5. Patrice Bergeron/Brad Marchand – Boston Bruins
6. Nick Bonino/Radim Vrbata – Vancouver Canucks
7. John Tavares/Anders Lee – New York Islanders

Trios (for cash games)

1. Mike Ribeiro/Filip Forsberg/Craig Smith – Nashville Predators
2. Jason Spezza/Jamie Benn/Patrick Eaves – Dallas Stars
3. Mike Fisher/James Neal/Colin Wilson – Nashville Predators
4. Steven Stamkos/Ryan Callahan/Alex Killorn – Tampa Bay Lightning
5. Patrice Bergeron/Brad Marchand/Reilly Smith – Boston Bruins

Defense

1. John Klingberg – $4,000 – Dallas Stars
2. Alexander Edler – $4,000 -Vancouver Canucks
3. Aaron Ekblad – $4,200 – Florida Panthers
4. Seth Jones – $3,200 – Nashville Predators
5. Torey Krug – $4,900 – Boston Bruins
6. Dougie Hamilton – $4,300 – Boston Bruins

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. Eddie Lack – $7,000 – Vancouver Canucks
2. Ben Bishop – $8,700 – Tampa Bay Lightning
3. Brian Elliott – $7,300 – St. Louis Blues
4. Kari Lehtonen – $7,400 – Dallas Stars
5. Braden Holtby – $8,500 – Washington Capitals

Research Chart

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