Below I’ve got a discussion of the best matchups and potential stacks of the day followed by player rankings for tonight’s DraftKings contests.

Teams to Target

I’m going to keep this section of the post short today because I had to get up early this morning for real work and was trying to get to bed as soon as I could last night. But I went through my entire normal process, no shortcuts were taken. I just didn’t have time to type up my thought process in as much detail as usual. I also didn’t include the research chart at the bottom like normal because it takes too much time to format and put on the web.

One other quick thought before we get at today’s slate. There are five games on tap tonight, and I’ve recently had a tough time with GPPs on shorter slates. On some level that makes sense. There are fewer options for everyone to choose from, so you have to get a little quirky to differentiate from the pack. On larger slates, the most highly owned players don’t have an ownership percentage as high as the most highly owned players on short slates. My reasoning is admittedly based on some anecdotal evidence, but there’s a line of logic to support it. Long story short, I’d focus more on cash games tonight. Without further ado…

The best matchups of the night belong to Detroit hosting Edmonton and Nashville in Arizona. For cash games, lineups filled primarily with players from these two teams is probably the way to go. I wish Detroit hadn’t played last night, but Edmonton did as well and gave up seven goals to Carolina. It’s actually Edmonton’s third game in four nights, so this is a great spot for Detroit even if they might be a bit fatigued.

I prefer Detroit’s first line pair of Pavel Datsyuk ($5,400, C) and Tomas Tatar ($4,600, W) in both cash games and GPP. But to get exposure to both power play units in cash games, I might pair them with Niklas Kronwall ($3,900, D) and/or Erik Cole ($3,800, W). You could also use Henrik Zetterberg ($6,700, C) instead of Cole if you can afford it.

Nashville’s current line combos are advantageous for cash games because the top two lines at even strength mix-and-match a bit on the power play. That allows you to stack a whole line together and get exposure to both power play units. I prefer the second line of Mike Fisher ($5,000, C), James Neal ($5,800, W) and Colin Wilson ($3,700, C). I like Fisher/Neal as mini-stack in GPP. If you went with that mini-stack in cash games, you could also use Mike Ribeiro ($3,900, C) and/or Shea Weber ($6,600, D) to get exposure to both power play units.

If there was any other team I’d use in a cash game it would be the Islanders against Toronto. The Leafs are weak down the right side on defense, which makes John Tavares ($9,000, C) and his left winger, Anders Lee ($4,800, C), a good option as they seem to be on most days. That’s also a great pair for GPPs. There’s no need to pair them with a D-man in cash, but in GPP you can throw in Nick Leddy ($4,100, D).

I also like Toronto’s top line on the other side of that game, but the Isles’ top D pair of Leddy and Johnny Boychuk is pretty stout. The game is in Toronto so the Leafs might be able to get the top line away from that pair some. For that reason, Tyler Bozak ($4,000, C) and Phil Kessel ($6,900, W) are an option for GPPs. Morgan Reilly ($3,400, D) can be played along with them.

Player Rankings

Center/Winger Mini-Stacks (Cash)

1. Pavel Datsyuk/Tomas Tatar – Detoirt Red Wings
2. Mike Fisher/James Neal – Nashville Predators
3. Mike Ribeiro/Filip Forsberg – Nashville Predators
4. John Tavares/Anders Lee – New York Islanders

**Craig Smith can also be used with Ribeiro/Forsberg and Colin Wilson with Fisher/Neal.

Center/Winger Mini-Stacks (GPP)

1. Pavel Datsyuk/Tomas Tatar – Detoirt Red Wings
2. John Tavares/Anders Lee – New York Islanders
3. Mike Fisher/James Neal – Nashville Predators
4. Evgeni Malkin/Chris Kunitz – Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Tyler Bozak/Phil Kessel – Toronto Maple Leafs

Defense

1. Niklas Kronwall – $3,900 – Detroit Red Wings
2. Morgan Rielly – $3,400 – Toronto Maple Leafs
3. Kris Letang – $6,000 – Pittsburgh Penguins
4. Paul Martin – $3,000 – Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Seth Jones – $2,900 – Nashville Predators
6. Shea Weber – $6,600 – Nashville Predators

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. Carter Hutton* – $7,900 – Nashville Predators
2. Pekka Rinne – $8,900 – Nashville Predators
3. Michal Neuvirth* – $8,000 – New York Islanders
4. Jimmy Howard – $8,000 – Detroit Red Wings
5. Jaroslav Halak – $8,800 – New York Islanders