Another year with Hockey Articles and this year I will likely be doing less of the smaller slates (sub 4 games) and less days where BOTH Geriak and I end up giving you two articles combined. Rather, I’ll pop into Discord and give out any bets or picks as I have them when playing those smaller slates. And yeah, I gotta update a few of these graphics below now too…. And by a few, clearly just the Blackhawks one.
For tonight we kick off after yesterday’s quiet opener with six games on the slate, a little lighter than I had expected here. We have the Blackhawks as the only team playing B2B to start the season.
CAROLINA HURRICANES
Aho – Jarvis – Bunting (Top Line & PP1 Correlation)
This game featuers one of two teams I really like this season, and no, I don’t mean Carolina here. I really like Ottawa on the other side, but tonight is a tricky spot for them to come into Carolina against a good veteran team.
EDMONTON OILERS
McDavid – Kane – Bouchard (PP1)
See below, McDavid is going to be the one I pick out of the top center stars tonight & I expect Kane to do fine with him.
CALGARY FLAMES
Lindholm – Huberdeau – Andersson (PP1)
This is that other team I really like in Calgary to have a bounce back season. Major disappointment a year ago, and tonight at home vs the Jets they’ll be faster and better in 5v5 play against the Jets.
KEY THREE
Connor McDavid – $9800 – Edmonton
I am sure there will be plenty of narrative digging stats out there regarding Matthews on opening night or MacKinnon vs the Kings, but McDavid against Vancouver has never been bad, nor has McDavid vs anyone in general. Given that his wingers possess some great value here tonight as well, I will go with the flying McDavid’s as the spot to build around first.
Cale Makar – $7500 – Colorado
The Avs are going to be back this season despite maybe looking less dominant up front with their forwards. They have two elite young defenseman and it’s been no secret that I am a huge Makar fan. The last couple of years he has started slow in the goal scoring department, but the assists should be there a plenty and on the road the best young D-man should help out some more in that department.
Michael Bunting – $4400 – Carolina (Value)
Bunting gives us top line @ home and top PP unit exposure here to Carolina for sub $4500 (DK). The Senators were bottom third a season ago defensively vs wings and he should project to get between 2-4 shots tonight with a point.
POSITIONAL RANKINGS
CENTERS
- Connor McDavid
- Sebastian Aho
- Auston Matthews
- Elias Lindholm
WINGS
- Jonathan Huberdeau
- Evander Kane
- Seth Jarvis
- Tyler Bertuzzi
- Brady Tkachuk
DEFENSE
- Cale Makar
- Brent Burns
- Charlie McAvoy
- Rasmus Andersson
- Evan Bouchard
VALUE SPOTS
- Michael Bunting
- Ryan Johansen
- Dominik Kubalik
- Miles Wood
Best Option: Linus Ullmark – Bruins
Boston drawing the Blackhawks on a B2B to open things up feels like a nice safe place to go for a reliable score. They’ll start things off with Ullmark in net and I wouldn’t expect him to have a disaster outing — although $8500 for someone who may not see 30+ shots is a little boring, but it’s the right play.
Contrarian Option: Pheonix Copley – Kings
I like the idea of going Copley for the Kings at home vs Colorado, $7600 he’ll see plenty of shots and give you some contrarian tournament upside here as well. Obviously with Makar being a core skater that makes things uneasy if you are loading him into lineups.
Value Option: Jake Allen – Canadiens
Of all the cheaper options tonight only Allen to me has potential to steal the show.
LINE LOCK(S) OF THE NIGHT:
Aho-Jarvis-Bunting (Carolina)
FAVORITE ONE OFF STUD FORWARDS:
Connor McDavid (Oilers)
FAVORITE ONE OFF VALUE:
Michael Bunting (Hurricanes)
FAVORITE ONE OFF DEFENSEMAN:
Cale Makar (Avalanche)