DFS Alerts

Talented Toronto forward finally getting opportunity again

Andreas Johnsson took a career-high 10 shots on goal last time out in route to a goal as he logged 18 minutes – his most ice time all season. Johnsson has been buried on the fourth line recently for whatever reason as Mike Babcock continues to put aging veteran Patrick Marleau into a top-six role. Even with Johnsson’s limited ice time this month (12:04!), he has found six goals. With superstar Auston Matthews on his line as well as top power play minutes, Andreas could be in for another nice game against a Montreal team that is not shy about up-tempo hockey. Johnsson is a great play in all formats.

Cheap goalie should minimize damage at home

Mikko Koskinen checks in at just $7,300 on FanDuel despite being the home goalie in the game with the lowest total of the evening. Connor McDavid is suspended for tonight’s contest, but Koskinen draws a great matchup against the National Hockey League’s worst offense. Additionally, the Ducks just played a grinder last night in Calgary. While the Oilers have their woes, Koskinen has been solid at Rogers Place, going 9-6-1 with a 2.50 GAA and .921 SV%. He also has three shutouts on home ice. Koskinen is priced more appropriately on DraftKings, but he still checks in as a top-five goalie option tonight given the Ducks’ offensive struggles. Ryan Getzlaf also did not play last night which hurts the Anaheim offense even more.

El Nino to continue his trek across the NHL

Don’t look now but the Carolina Hurricanes have scratched and clawed their way to within one point of the Eastern Conference playoff cut line. It seems that the acquisition of Nino Niederreiter was exactly what the doctor ordered for a team who had plenty of problems putting the puck into the net. In only 15 games Niederreiter’s nine goals ranks eighth on the team as he is paired up with Sebastian Aho and Justin Williams on the team’s top line. Their opponent in the Dallas Stars has been a bit leaky of late as they have given up 16 goals over the past four games. Look for Niederreiter and the Hurricanes to outlast the home team in this one.

Look for a big game from this defenseman

With a win on home ice this evening, the Nashville Predators will have successfully wrestled the top spot in the Central Division away from the Winnipeg Jets. This should be enough of a reason to come out and basically take the game away from the Colorado Avalanche who in their own right have been playing some good hockey of late. Josi leads the team with five goals and 13 assists over the last 10 games which has helped him to be the sixth best defensive scorer in the league with 51 points this season. He also skates on the team’s top power play unit that will go against a Colorado team that has given up 10 power plays goals over the last 11 games.

Tarasenko takes on the Bruins

When talking about core plays we have to give a least a look to Vladimir Tarasenko of the St Louis Blues. This is an obvious pick for sure as he has collected 10 goals and 10 assists over the last 10 games while leading the team with 27 goals so far this season. The thought process on paying up for him is easy in that hopefully other folks will look at the Boston Bruins recent seven-game winning streak and flat out pass on him. If this does indeed happen, you have a player who has collected multiple points in five of the last seven games. It also doesn’t hurt that the Blues will indeed have the last line change as they play in front of their home fans this afternoon.

Barkov to stay hot on home ice

The Florida Panthers may not be the first team you look at when choosing your line-ups for this afternoon. This is the exact reason that Aleksander Barkov makes for a decent play here this evening as he has found the score sheet 15 times over the last 10 games while skating on a line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Frank Vatrano. Barkov also gets to log a lot of ice time on the team’s top power play line that has seen him grab five of those 15 points when the team has had the extra attacker. Their opponent tonight is the Los Angeles Kings who have admittedly had enough problems of their own as evidence of giving up 33 goals over their last 10 games. This should be more than enough if you want to stray from the bigger names like Sidney Crosby, John Tavares and Patrice Bergeron this evening.

Ex-Bruin shined in debut with new team

Ryan Donato logged just under 17 minutes of ice time last night at Madison Square Garden. He took three shots on goal and dished out two helpers, including one with the man-advantage as he skated on the top power play. Donato has talent but really struggled to put it together this season with Boston. With his new team, Donato should get more opportunity to produce especially with Minnesota very much out of the playoff picture. Donato is just $2,600 on DraftKings which makes him a worthwhile punt in the large field tournaments. After all, last time out we saw the Red Wings really struggle with Chicago’s depth lines.

This young winger has started to heat up as of late

Let’s get this out of the way immediately, I view this is a two-man stack option with Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou. I don’t view Luke Glendening as an option as his offensive potential is minimal. Mantha and Athanasiou play on the top power play unit together, too, which is great for their upside. Now, Mantha has been on fire as of late with 7 points in his last 4 games with 23 shots in the process. They weren’t the strongest opponents as they faced Philadelphia twice, and Chicago and Ottawa once each. However, tonight they host the Minnesota Wild who on the tail-end of a back to back and will have back-up goalie Alex Stalock in net. He has struggled this season with a 3.08 GAA and an .890 SV% which the Red Wings should be able to take advantage of.

A recent change to the top line should not effect this superstar

Elias Lindholm was recently taken off the top line in favour of Matthew Tkachuk and this new line is expected to remain together tonight as the Calgary Flames host the lowly Anaheim Ducks. John Gibson — the one bright spot for the Ducks this season is on the IR so back-up goalie Ryan Miller is expected between the pipes. Now, Miller has been solid this season with a 2.39 GAA and .929 SV%, but the rest of the team is a dumpster fire. This line also plays on the top power play unit together and the Flames PP has been top 5 since January 1st, converting at a 25.4 percent rate.

This upcoming UFA looks to be staying put

The Columbus Blue Jackets just went out and acquired Matt Duchene from the Ottawa Senators, so I think it is safe to say they are all-in this season. Thus, Artemi Panarin is in all likelihood staying put. Duchene is expected to play tonight (Columbus is in Ottawa, who would’ve thunk it?) for the Blue Jackets but that should not change this top line. Panarin has been playing with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cam Atkinson on the Jackets top line and they’ve been great. They also all play on the top power play unit in their entirety which gives this line full-game correlation and elite upside against a Duchene-less Senators team — as well as Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel both expected to sit again as they await to be traded.

Columbus center eyes big night against AHL team

Ottawa was pasted 4-0 last night by the New Jersey Devils, and while they have not been the same sieve on home ice, they are in a tough spot against Columbus. Boone Jenner continues to log big minutes for John Tortorella’s Blue Jackets and figures to be a factor again tonight against this atrocious Ottawa team. Columbus’ top line is the one to target, but they do not come cheap. Jenner has been his most productive on the road (6G, 13A in 27 games), rather than at home (4G, 5A in 28 games) and makes for a fine option in all formats given his sub-$5,000 pricing on both DraftKings and FanDuel.

Edit @ 1 PM — With Matt Duchene having been acquired from Ottawa, the Blue Jackets’ lines could be in flux. Fortunately, it is the first game of the night so we should get a clearer picture during warmups

Punt price on top line winger

Sven Andrighetto picked up a pair of assists Wednesday night as the Avalanche walloped Winnipeg 7-1. Andrighetto logged nearly 17 mintues of ice time. In the game prior to that, a 3-0 domination of the Golden Knights, Andrighetto logged 18 minutes of ice time. Skating on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon certainly has its benefits and the Avalanche coach seems intent on balancing the lines rather than loading the top line as they had for much of the season. The results have been coming, so Andrighetto figures to see another 15-plus minutes in a great matchup against the generous Blackhawks’ defense.

This could be this upcoming UFA's last game for his current team

The Senators take on the New Jersey Devils who will have Cory Schneider in net. His lack of wins — zero to be exact — in the 2018 calendar year was eye-opening and while he’s finally broken that streak, his numbers this season are still terrible. A 3.69 goals against average and .883 save percentage is not at all threatening and Mark Stone could put up a big game as a result. He will be playing with Colin White and Brady Tkachuk as the Senators choose to rest Matt Duchene leading up to the trade deadline. While this could be Stone’s last game as a Senator (will he be rested over the weekend?), I expect a big performance. This line makes up 3/5 of the top power play unit in Ottawa as they are joined by Thomas Chabot and Bobby Ryan. Remaining together throughout the game gives them elite upside in this matchup.

This upcoming RFA has taken his game to another level this season

Sebastian Aho and the “jerks” in Carolina continue to be completely dominant from a possession standpoint. Over the last month, Aho ranks 6th overall in the NHL with a stunningly impressive 77.57 CF/60 at even strength. He’s an upcoming RFA that is going to get a big payday. He plays on the top line and top power play unit with Justin Williams and Nino Niederreiter which is a line that has clicked since Niederreiter was picked up from Minnesota. The Hurricanes visit the Florida Panthers who will be throwing James Reimer in net tonight. He has struggled mightily this season with a putrid 3.01 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. While the Hurricanes do struggle to score, they fire a ton of pucks towards the net and when taking on a poor goaltender like Reimer, they should have no problem coming out on top.

The winning streak for this team is in large part due to this wingers scoring

Remember all the talk about Vladimir Tarasenko playing poorly and even the idea that the St. Louis Blues would look in to trading him? Well how things have changed. Since January 1st, he is 5th in the NHL with 29 points and 3rd in the NHL with 15 goals. The Blues are in the midst of an 11 game win streak that has brought them up into third in their division. The Blues visit the Dallas Stars — a team in the middle of a three-game losing skid. They are expected to roll with Anton Khudobin between the pipes tonight and while he has played well this season, there is no reason to believe the Blues — who are putting on a clinic in most of their games — will be slowed down by him. This line remains together on the top power play unit which gives them full-game correlation and elite upside.