This year, Christmas commercials hit the air before Halloween was even over, so you may have been pondering how to make some extra cash for gift-giving this year. Maybe a little DFS success can help you on that front. Monday's NHL schedule features six games on the slate. The first puck drops at 7 p.m. EST. Here are my NHL DFS lineup recommendations. After all, it'd be nice to upgrade your present purchases this year, right?
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SLATE PREVIEW
There is one team on the second leg of a back-to-back Monday. The Canucks are visiting the Panthers, and with Thatcher Demko week-to-week, the first start for Jiri Patera with the team looms. There's a reason, one assumes, that the former Golden Knight hasn't made an NHL start since the 2023-24 season. Also, shoutout to the Canadiens, who surely have DFS players in mind when they opt to name their starting goalie for any given game way ahead of time. For Monday, it's Jakub Dobes.
GOALIES
Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA vs. VAN ($8,400): Bobrovsky's got the rings and the big-game performances on his resume, but he remains a goalie who doesn't necessarily deliver night in and night out during the regular season. He has an .893 save percentage on the campaign, but thanks to the stout defense in front of him, he has a 2.63 GAA. In three starts since a disastrous day against the Ducks though, Bob has turned things around and allowed only two goals each time out. The Canucks are below average in goals and shots on net per game, and they are on the road for the second day of a back-to-back.
Logan Thompson, WAS vs. LOS ($8,000): The Capitals and Kings are separated by 0.01 goals per game (and they are both below average). They are also separated by 0.01 shots on net allowed per game (there, they are both above average). The deciding factors here are that the Kings are far from home visiting the Capitals, and also that Thompson has been stellar. He has an 1.85 GAA and .925 save percentage.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Tage Thompson, BUF vs. EDM ($8,000): The Oilers are in the bottom eight in GAA even though they are in the top eight in shots on net allowed per game. That speaks to how poor the goaltending has been for Edmonton. I wanted a Sabres forward who could power through that defense to get pucks on net, and Thompson has that skill set. He has 72 shots on net through 18 games this year and he's put at least 242 shots on target in each of the last four seasons. Thompson has also maintained 15.0 percent shooting over the last five campaigns, so he's not merely good at getting pucks on goal.
Jack Roslovic, EDM at BUF ($5,000): It was only one game, but if you were worried the return of Zach Hyman would push Roslovic to the wayside, he had a goal and a power-play assist against his former Hurricanes squad Saturday. The Oilers don't use the nuclear option (Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the same line) in the regular season unless the situation is dire, so there are enough future Hall of Fame centers to go around. The Sabres have a 3.56 GAA and have allowed 31.7 shots on net per game, making them a string contender for the title of worst defensive team in the NHL.
FORWARD LINE STACKS TO CONSIDER
Panthers vs. Canucks
Anton Lundell (C - $4,800), Brad Marchand (W - $5,900), Eetu Luostarinen (W - $3,500)
It's not just that the Canucks are on the road for the second leg of a back-to-back and primed to give a goalie who has posted an .894 save percentage in the AHL this season his first NHL start in years. Vancouver and Ottawa are also battling to avoid being last in penalty-kill percentage. A tired penalty kill that is bad at the best of times is worth targeting. Two of these guys are currently on the top power-play unit, but all three of these Panthers have seen a decent amount of time with the extra man.
Lundell was unexpectedly pushed into the top-line center role this season due to Aleksander Barkov's injury, and he's responded. The Finn has 15 points in 18 games, including six with the extra man. Lundell has also averaged 3:43 per game on the power play. Marchand has 21 points through 17 games and a power-play point in each of his last three outings, and maybe Ponce de Leon was onto something when he was looking for the Fountain of Youth in Florida. Luostarinen started the season ice cold, but all 10 of his points have come in his last 11 games. While only one of those points has come on the power play, in that time he's averaged 2:05 per contest with the extra man.
Blue Jackets vs. Canadiens
Adam Fantilli (C - $5,300), Kirill Marchenko (W - $6,700), Dmitri Voronkov (W - $4,600)
Were this game in Montreal, I might have considered stacking Montreal's top line. However, Columbus' first line has a lower salary outlay, the Jackets are at home, and the unit has been productive of late. Dobes was looking good earlier this season, but he's struggled over his last four starts with a 4.05 GAA and .839 save percentage.
Fantilli, coming off a 30-goal sophomore season, started this year slowly. He also wasn't the first-line center. Well, he is now, and over his last seven games he has seven points and 20 shots on net. It's hard to earn a lot of buzz in Columbus, especially when you were a second-round pick and then hung around in Russia for a bit before finally joining the NHL, but Marchenko is bucking that trend. He had 31 goals last season and has taken his game to a new level this year. He has eight goals on 60 shots on net and 12 assists through 18 games. In fact, Marchenko has only failed to get on the scoresheet twice. Voronkov's season has been the inverse of Fantilli's so far, as most of his 14 points came early and he's since cooled down. That being said, he had a three-point game October 8 against Vancouver, and in his last game he did light the lamp.
DEFENSEMEN
Noah Dobson, MON at CLM ($5,000): Here's a chance for me to flip this matchup around and get somebody facing the Blue Jackets. Columbus is average in terms of GAA, but in the bottom eight in shots on net allowed per game and penalty-kill percentage. Dobson has put 32 shots on net through 18 games and tallied 196 shots on net in 71 games with the Islanders last year. Also, while he didn't start the season on the top power-play unit, recently the Canadiens' coaching staff has tried to help out both Dobson and Lane Hutson by playing two defenseman on the top unit. Even without the help of much power-play time this year, Dobson does have 11 points.
Seth Jones, FLA vs. VAN ($4,100): Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling do the heavy lifting while Jones gets to do his thing. That is to say, he's averaged 4:09 per game with the extra man and tallied six of his nine points on the power play. Jones has also put 29 shots on net through 18 outings. He's in line to see a lot of power-play time Monday against a bad Canucks penalty kill featuring guys who played Sunday.
