DFS: Power-ing Up The Sabres

Happy Saturday, Razzball Nation! MarmosDad is back with some names and numbers to help you fill out your DFS lineups. We’ve got a fair share of chalk plays and a couple of lesser priced gems to polish up in our lists for the DraftKings’ main slate here. 

One gem that certainly has sparkled a bit more over the last couple of weeks is Owen Power, (DK: $3,400). Power’s Sabres are on a 5 game winning streak and Power has been a bit part of their success. After going 42 games without a goal scored, Power has three in his last three games, including an OT game winner on Monday night against the Dallas Stars. Look for the offensive juggernaut Sabres to “Power Up” against the Wild in Minnesota tonight!

Today’s schedule has one early afternoon game at 3:00 PM ET (St. Louis at Colorado), but runs 10 games deep if we include the 6:00 PM ET Bruins at Panthers. We’ll build our $50,000 DraftKings lineup from those games today. 

Let’s get to it!

C – Kirby Dach, DK: $4,300 – One of the big off-season acquisitions for the Habs, Dach is coming off a good showing against the Bruins on Tuesday night where he was responsible for both goals scored in a 4-2 Montreal loss. Putting aside the puzzling move by a rebuilding Chicago team who dealt away a young center with a lot of promise, Dach should get some more chances in Ottawa tonight. It’s worth noting that he’s getting increased PP1 time now too, especially with Cole Caufield out for the year.

C – David Krejci, DK: $4,700 – This one is a bit of a cheat as the Bruins/Panthers game starts at 6:00 PM ET and they didn’t include it on the main slate. Regardless, Krejci’s return to Beantown this year has been a big part of the Bruins success. I wrote this up in an earlier article, but the B’s struggle to find a 2C to replace the Czech pivot last year was well documented. 40 points in 43 games along with an impressive run of nine points in his last six matches should qualify him as a more than decent 2C choice for us today, too.

W – Zach Hyman, DK: $8,100 – Yet another former Leaf that has moved on and is flourishing. Hyman is the hottest player in the NHL over the past two weeks with 5G, 8A in his last six games. If the points aren’t enough to get your oil pumping, Hyman has been averaging a hit a game and is playing alongside (arguably) the two best skaters in the league. Check this one off as chalk today.

W – Victor Olofsson, DK: $4,400 – The snipe artist formerly (or currently) known as “Goal-ofsson” has been living up to the moniker. Olofsson has scored seven goals in his last eight games and has provided that offensively strong Sabres team with some depth scoring throughout the lineup. He might be looked at as a poor man’s Michael Grabner with his 23G and only 6A, but he’s a good value play while the Sabres are rolling.

W – Nikita Kucherov, DK: $7,800 – I was going to write up Frank Vatrano ($4,800) as our last winger here, but with the savings we have with a few others we can afford to go big again. I left this as our last spot to fill, and we had $9,300 left over after I slotted in our other picks. Let’s throw a healthy chunk at Nikita Kucherov and those nine points in his last five games. We can’t really go wrong with Tampa at home to the LA Kings. Add in a final winger with 71 PTS in 47 GP and I guess we’ve got two chalk wingers to ride out today.

D – Vince Dunn, DK: $5,200 – Part of me just wants to keep running this guy out each week until he hits that top tier pricing of $7,000 or higher. Dunn is 11th in defencemen scoring with 36 PTS in 47 GP. For those of you in leagues that count +/-, this guy is a beast, too, at +28. He doesn’t take as many shots on goal as some of the guys ahead of him in scoring, but he seems to factor in on at least a goal or two in every Kraken game.

UTIL – Ryan Donato, DK: $3,000 – We need a decently priced value play today, so in looking through the last 2 weeks’ production one name caught my eye. Donato definitely plays for a very good team (Seattle) and has recent production with 4G 3A in his last six games. He was streaky with the Bruins, Wild, and Sharks before signing with the Kraken in July of 2021. He’s skating on the first line now and is worth a pick until he ends up back in the bottom six.

G – Logan Thompson, DK: $7,600 – Well, we’re kind of picking on a team that’s down on their luck again today. Last week it was Ullmark against Arizona, and today it’s Logan Thompson against the New York Islanders who are winless in their last 5 games. Thompson is at least in the Vezina conversation with a 19-13-2 record and a .912 SV%. The 2.71 GAA is pretty impressive too.

So after all of the edits and shuffling, we’re still $1,500 under the cap. Feel free to juice up our goalie pick (I assumed Thompson would be a lot more expensive). Either that, or you can go with a heavier UT at $4,500 instead of Donato. Some names to check at $4,500 : Jordan Eberle, James McCann, Mason McTavish.

Here’s the three moneyline picks for the week too…

The Sea Bass : (Favorite)

I was going to run with Vegas (-105) at NYI (-115) as a favorite to run alongside our Logan Thompson pick but both are listed at a – moneyline. When in doubt, we can go with Tampa (-215) who host the LA Kings or even the Bruins (-155) on the road in Florida.

The Happy Gilmore : (Underdog)

Buffalo (+155) at Minnesota (-180) is my pick for an underdog for today. We’ve been good with our Buffalo calls this year. Sure, the Sabres are on the road, but that offense…

The Claude Lemieux : (Turtle/Flop)

Ottawa (-190) at home to Montreal (+160) seems like a really big difference for a game that should at least be a lot closer than what the moneyline is predicting.

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them below or give me a shout @MarmosDad.