Hey guys, its CrossCzech here with your daily dose of the DFS GamePlan on a mini 3-game slate over on Draftkings. Draftkings has some nice satellites running for the Fantasy Hockey World Championships, a $33 entry qualifier runs tomorrow night so get into those satellites tonight!!! Also the Spin-O-Rama GPP will be running on February 21st so get into as many satellites as you can, cause at $360 a clip, winning a few sounds better than forking over the dough! If you are playing only a few bucks and want to take out the mass-entry/bankroll factor, look to the 3-entry max games that Draftkings offers, that way every player has the same amount of entries and it doesn’t matter if you have $100 or $10,000 as your bankroll, you get 3-entries regardless. Single-entry games are also another way to go if you are looking to avoid mass-entry players and like to play a single lineup or are a cash game player. Head-to head games are terrific as well but don’t be afraid to block certain players who a sharks in the shallows. Know your opponent, is Sun Tzu’s first rule of war in his book. Look over who wins every night and look over their rosters to see what they did that you maybe didn’t do or look to see how they constructed their roster. If you are not spending time reverse-engineering the best players then you might as well open your window and throw out your money. I don’t mean that in a negative connotation, but i am trying to instill the fact that learning on a daily basis is a huge part of DFS and finding the people who are successful and figuring out why they did what they did, makes you a better player. If you are doing this to have fun or win money is the ultimate question, and one that it is the basis for everything you do in DFS. A word to the wise, play it safe and close to your chest on these 3-game slate nights. It is very easy to be on the wrong side of the slate and miss entirely, so money management is vital to your long term success.
Rasmus Ristolainen $5,700
Kyle Palmieri $4,700
Mitchell Marner $6,000
Alex Pietrangelo $5,200
Paul Stastny $4,900
Alexander Steen $4,800
That said, tonight i think we can find strong value in every game, therefore creating a one-off team or you can create a mini-stack of the three games, its up to your personal roster construction taste and what you think will be successful. Vegas doesn’t give out a strong money line to any one particular team and projects both the Islander/Toronto and Blues/Philly games to be over 5.5 goals combined while the Buffalo/Devils look to stay under. Does it? Yeah, probably, right at 5, but there’s a chance it goes over. That said, I still think there will be goals in the Devils games falling shy of 6 goals with about 5. Rasmus Ristolainen and Kyle Palmieri are both players who are still under-priced and the algorithm has yet to catch up with them. Palmieri is a cheap $4,200 for a player who has found his scoring touch again and logs ice time on the first line. Palmieri has 14 goals and 18 assists with a 17 minute ice time average. Palmieri was a must-play every night almost last year, while this year we finally see him finding the back of the net, scoring in back-to-back games and regaining some of last years lost confidence.On the other side Ristolainen is a no-brainer tonight at the Devils, one of the worst defensive teams at times. Rasmussen has an astounding 115 blocked shots and 106 shots on goal while tallying 3 goals and 26 assists o the Buffalo back-end. At a price tags of only $5,700 Ristolainen is a solid play for his ice-time and offense he can generate on the road against a team that struggles defensively.
Over in Brooklyn, Mitchell Marner and the Leafs will be aiming at Tavares and his struggling Islanders. The Isles are scoring goals, ranked 8th in the league at 5v5 but are looking for answers defensively ranked in both the bottom 10 on the penalty kill and even-strength. Toronto is actually one of the best scoring teams on paper ranking 6th at 5v5 and 2nd on the power play. Tonight I like this game to possibly see the most goals of the three and Marner looks to be a key cog in the Leafs scoring. On the second line(with my Alumnus JVR) Mitchell Marner has a $6,000 price tag but the stats to back it up. I like his line-mate JVR as a correlation play but his price tag of $6,300 makes JVR a tough fit. Marner’s rookie season of thirteen goals and 31 assists are enough to have Leaf fans wondering if he is better than Patrick Laine! And would you trade him straight up? (Read it on Twitter) I think this kid is dynamite and it is a relief to see the Leafs fans cheering on so many young kids. Coach Mike Babcock has this kid firing on all cylinders and in Brooklyn tonight, despite their TERRIBLE ice, I like Andersen and the Leafs to score goals and get it done against an Islanders team than can also score but lacks the defense to compete with Toronto. Yes the Isles have been playing much better, but Greiss is struggling and this Islander team is no where near the team they were at this time last year. Tavares can’t do it all himself and with the loss of Kyle Okposo, things got a lot harder on Tavs.
Down the street from me in the St. Louis Blues game, Alex Pietrangelo is a nice option on the backend against a Flyers team that is in flux and looking for answers. Pietrangelo averages over 25 minutes of ice-time and has 103 blocked shots this year along with 107 shots on goal. With 27 points anchoring the defensive corps, his price tag makes him another strong value play tonight in a game that will see offense. Albeit the Blues aren’t in the best shape with Mike Yeo now at the helm after Hitchcock was let go last week, but I think the Blues resurgence continues in the Wells Fargo Arena. The Flyers are in a downward death spiral and need to find away to reawaken the offensive beast they possess. Defensively is another question with no answer in sight. Do you trade one of the kids for a goalie? Yes. Do you go get Iginla? (I Hope not, sorry Jerome) Against the Flyers here in South Philly, leading that the offensive assault will be Paul Stastny at the low-low price tag of only $4,900 and his partner in crime, Alexander Steen at $4,800 and makes a great correlation line-pair tonight that allows you to take advantage of a higher-priced defenseman or another more expensive forward, if you see fit in your personal roster construction scenario. Playing Steen/Stastny together coupled with Pietrangelo on defense is strong way to anchor your team on tonight’s 3-game slate without paying a whole lot. Whether you look to the Leafs,the Ises or Devils players to fill-in the gaps, tonight is a small slate so play it smart. If you are playing only one lineup, give it some thought and play it out in your head. If you are a tournament player and like to use a variety of lines, look for that core line or group that you may want to construct a team around or just go for the value and spread out your team with a collection of one-off plays. No matter what have fun and play smart. And remember, tonight’s the night!!!
Macaulay Scott Renner began playing ice hockey at age 6 in the Brick Hockey Club, N.J. in 1978 and then moved on to Christian Brothers Academy High School (alumnus include Trevor/James VanRiemsdyk). After lettering in varsity all 4 year, he moved on to play college hockey in the ACHA for both Johns Hopkins University for two years and finishing his eligibility at Monmouth University. In 2002, he worked for NBC in Broadcast Operations for NBC Sports covering all men’s Olympic ice hockey games in SLC, Utah. In 2003 took over the Commercial Coordinator job (that his father helmed for 19 years) with the NHL at the NJ Devils in 2002-2003. A diehard DFS NHL/PGA/NFL grinder playing since its inception in 2000, he is a world traveler, surfer, and golfer of 35 years. He currently resides in South Philadelphia with his girlfriend Micha and cat Rosie. He can be found on DraftKings playing under CrossCzech and MissCalculated(the tuna fishing boat) and is always willing to help answer any type of hockey/strategy/DFS questions.