Once upon a time, Italian immigrants were heavily discriminated against, so it was decided a holiday would be dedicated to honoring the contributions Italian immigrants and Italian-Americans had made to the United States. Hindsight being 20/20 they kind of flubbed on the name and long story short you can call Monday what you want but there's a lot of daytime hockey because of the holiday. Plus, this year Monday is also Canadian Thanksgiving. There are five afternoon games, but also five games in the evening, and that's where the DFS discussion here is focused. The first puck drops at 7 p.m. EDT. Here are my NHL DFS lineup recommendations.
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SLATE PREVIEW
There was only one game Sunday, and neither of those teams is playing Monday. Also, there is an argument to be made that every game features the better team being the road team. That'll put a little pressure on the idea of home-ice advantage. Also, of course, this season is still quite fresh, so prior seasons still carry a lot of weight in terms of expectations.
GOALIES
Karel Vejmelka, UTA at CHI ($8,400): Vejmelka has made two starts, and he's allowed two goals both times. He has done that while posting a .918 save percentage. Chicago may take a step forward offensively this year, though so far there has been little sign of that. Even if the 'Hawks improve, the baseline from last year is 2.73 goals and 24.5 shots on net per game.
Thatcher Demko, VAN vs. STL ($7,800): I wanted one goalie who is at home, which wasn't easy to do given the matchups. If you consider last season a wash for both Demko specifically and the Canucks in general, two seasons ago a healthier Demko had a 2.45 GAA and .918 save percentage. Through two starts this season, he has an 1.54 GAA and .944 save percentage. The Blues were average to below average last season offensively, and this season they have already been shut out once (though they did score four against the Flames, to be fair).
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Dylan Guenther, UTA at CHI ($6,800): I was hearing some hype for Guenther this offseason, which tracks after he scored 27 goals in his age-21 season. He also put 204 shots on net, and his 13.2 percent shooting was entirely reasonable. Guenther is living up to that hype early, having tallied two goals and an assist through two games. Even if Spencer Knight is the best goalie Chicago has had in several seasons, his .908 save percentage through two games is paired with a 3.03 GAA, because the defense that finished 30th in shots on net allowed per contest last year didn't get much better, if at all.
Anton Lundell, FLA at PHI ($3,900): In the past, Lundell could be a third-line center with double-digit goals and 35-45 points, and everybody would be happy. Without Aleksander Barkov though, the Panthers need Lundell to step up. He's averaged 17:52 per game in ice time through three outings, and he has three points as well. I don't know what the Flyers plan to do in terms of rotating Dan Vladar and Samuel Ersson. All I know is both came into this season with sub-.900 save percentages for their careers.
FORWARD LINE STACK TO CONSIDER
Devils at Blue Jackets
Nico Hischier (C - $6,400), Timo Meier (W - $7,100), Dawson Mercer (W - $4,000)
Last year was a step up for the Blue Jackets defensively, inasmuch as they were a bottom-eight defense in terms of allowing goals and shots on net as opposed to being in the bottom two or three. Expectations are high for Jet Greaves, but Elvis Merzlikins is still around. There are also still questions about the Jackets' defense, given that they allowed 52 shots to the Wild and 31 to the Predators. Don't forget, the Preds were terrible offensively last year. At some point, one or two key Devils will be injured and mess the lines up, but for now the top two lines are all set up nicely, making stacking easier.
Hischier, with his strong defensive play, is more of a 70-point guy. However, while he had 69 points last year, they included 35 goals. He had a goal and an assist in New Jersey's last game. Meier also had a goal and an assist in Jersey's last outing. While he didn't have a point in the first game, he put five shots on target. Meier has had over 25 goals in each of his two full seasons with the Devils. Last year Mercer had 19 goals, and the year prior he had 20 goals. We can probably assume that's about where he will end up this year, and it's easier for him to score while the lineup is healthy.
DEFENSEMEN
Mikhail Sergachev, UTA at CHI ($5,500): Stepping into a No. 1 role, Sergachev had 15 goals and 38 assists. He doesn't have a point yet this season, but he has five shots on net and 10 blocked shots. The points will come, and this matchup should help. Last year Chicago was in the bottom three in GAA and shots on net allowed per contest.
Filip Hronek, VAN vs. STL ($4,200): Hronek features on the second power-play unit, because Quinn Hughes exists. However, he skates with Hughes on the top pairing at even strength, and he has averaged 24:36 per night through two games. Hronek had 33 points last year, but in only 61 games. The Blues had a bottom-five penalty kill last year, and Jordan Binnington's big-game reputation overshadows his generally mediocre play. He had a .900 save percentage last year, and he allowed five goals in his first start this season.
