Welcome back for another NHL Playbook! The New Year is right around the corner, but we still have a few more slate to go in 2024. Tonight we have seven games to choose from with some teams already playing back-to-back. There are some matchups we can exploit and others that we need to stay away from.

As always, we will need to make sure that we are targeting the right goalies. A bad goalie in a good matchup is still a bad goalie. Don’t be distracted by all the holiday magic, Santa Clause didn’t bring any of them better rebound control of team defence for Christmas

 

 


 

NHL Pick 'Em At Sleeper Today

 

Before we get into DFS, let’s make some pick’em picks for the night over on Sleeper There are lots of ways we try to fill your wallet over here at Fantasy Alarm and this is just another option. 
 

Sleeper NHL Picks, Saturday, December 28th:

The Toronto Maple Leafs are playing their second game in as many nights, but I’m not shying away from Mitch Marner. He picked up three goals last night and is shooting the puck a lot more since Auston Matthews has been out of the lineup. AM34 isn’t back for this game, so I like Marner to keep shooting the puck.

Sidney Crosby isn’t a kid anymore, but he is still racking up points. He has eight in the last three games and has a juicy matchup against the New York Islanders. He is the straw that stirs the offence and it almost feels like a given that he finds the scoresheet tonight.

Kyle Connor has a fantastic matchup against the Ottawa Senators. The Jets winger is coming off a four point performance against the Leafs and has ten assists in as many games. I know he’s a goal scorer who loves to shoot the puck, but he’s also a great passer and the Jets have a lethal power play. I like his odds to pick up an assist before it’s all said and done.

 

 


 

SALARY CAP DFS

Goalie Of The Day: Andrei Vasilevskiy - TBL

You could also go with Connor Hellebuyck in this spot, but I just love how good the matchup on paper is for Tampa Bay and for Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Rangers are a mess and that won’t change tonight. They can’t score goals and their defensive game has been miserable. The Lightning are scoring 3.92 goals per game, so Vasilevskiy should get more than enough goal support. You can use him in cash games or in a GPP.

Player Of The Day: David Pastrnak - BOS

The Boston Bruins are playing the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second time in as many days. Boston took a beating last night-- losing 6-2 and not putting together a very inspiring performance-- but David Pastrnak still found a way to hit value. Now he’s on home ice and should get even more space to shoot the puck. It won’t be easy, but I do think he can hit value and that we can get him at low ownership.

Value Play Of The Day: Neal Pionk - WPG

If you haven’t been paying attention, Neal Pionk has 26 points this season and is averaging over 24 minutes of ice time. He gets forgotten playing behind Josh Morrissey, which probably explains his price tag. He’s also really good at blocking shots. The Senators are a team that can shoot the puck, so this should help keep Pionk’s floor high. I like the value that he brings and the upside is there. 

Stack Of The Day - PIT L1+ (Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust - Rickard Rakell- Erik Karlsson)

I wish the Pittsburgh Penguins would go back to just having their five best players on the top power play unit, but they refuse to do so. This does open the door for us to get the best of both worlds by using a four-man stack. The top line is a good option but I also wanted to get even exposure to both power play units, hence adding Erik Karlsson. You don’t absolutely have to play him, but he’s reasonably priced and is still seeing a decent amount of ice time.
 

 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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