Wednesday, as per usual, is a step down in activity for the NHL between busier days Tuesday and Thursday. However, there are five games this Wednesday, which isn't too shabby. The first puck drops at 7 p.m. ET. Here are my NHL DFS lineup recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
Three teams are on the second leg of a back-to-back. The Stars saved Jake Oettinger for Wednesday, but they are on the road against the Devils. Washington is visiting San Jose, and the Canadiens are at home against the Jets.
GOALIES
Dan Vladar, PHI vs. BUF ($8,100): Before Vladar's last start I said, that although I wasn't fully buying in, he had been good enough for long enough this season I was starting to see his play as potentially viable long term. Then the Penguins rang him up for five goals. Hey, he still has a 2.59 GAA and .906 save percentage. Buffalo has averaged a middling 3.04 goals per contest, so hopefully Vladar bounces back.
Yaroslav Askarov, SAN vs. WAS ($7,100): The Capitals have a strong offense, but they are on the road for the second day of a back-to-back, as previously noted. Askarov has had only one bad start since the beginning of November, and it was on the road against the Avalanche, aka the most-forgivable scenario for a bad outing. Even with that, Askarov has an 1.99 GAA and .941 save percentage over his last 11 contests.
VALUE PLAY/ONE-OFF
Will Smith, SAN vs. WAS ($5,300): While skating next to Macklin Celebrini is already in "Nice work if you can get it" territory, Smith is no passenger. He was the fourth-overall pick in 2023 and scored 18 goals as a 19-year-old rookie. This year he has 27 points in 27 games, including multiple points in each of his last two games. He is getting the benefit of seeing Charlie Lindgren thanks to Logan Thompson starting on Tuesday. Lindgren has an .893 save percentage over the last two seasons.
FORWARD LINE STACK TO CONSIDER
Flyers vs. Sabres
Noah Cates (C - $3,900), Travis Konecny (W - $5,200), Matvei Michkov (W - $3,300)
The Sabres are comfortably in the bottom 10 in both GAA and shots on net allowed per game. Philly's most-reliable forward and its forward with the most upside are both on this line, and so I figured I'd give this trio a shot since they will be at home, and the opponent is certainly a favorable one.
Cates is neither the reliable forward nor the high-upside forward. He did have 16 goals last season, though, and he does have 13 points in 25 games this year. Also, he hasn't spent all season with these two on his wings, which could benefit him. Konecny is under the radar when it comes to reliable production. He had two seasons in a row with more than 30 goals, and when he dropped down to 24 last year he paired that with a career-best 52 assists. Konecny has been more of a playmaker this season, but he has 15 assists to go with five goals, and he has three helpers in his last two games. There are obviously flaws in Michkov's game. If there weren't, he'd average more than 14:49 per game in ice time, as he has done this season, without being able to blame it on John Tortorella. And yet, with all the frustration Michkov conjures up, he had 26 goals as a rookie and he has eight points in his last 12 games.
DEFENSEMEN
Josh Morrissey, WPG at MON ($6,400): My initial instinct was to stack a Jets line against the Canadiens, as they have the highest GAA of any of these 10 teams and are on the second day of a back-to-back. Nothing stuck out to me due to a recently shuffling, however, and if the lines went back to normal, the only line worth a stack would be the high-salary top line. Morrissey requires a robust salary outlay for a defenseman, but he's also one of the most-proven defenseman in the NHL over the last few seasons. You can count on him for double-digit goals and more than 60 points, and indeed he has five goals and 19 assists through 25 games this year.
Nate Schmidt, UTA at ANA ($2,800): The Mammoth brought in Schmidt to be a veteran second fiddle to Mikhail Sergachev, but if you fork out for Morrissey's salary, rostering somebody like Schmidt might be more palatable. He's averaged more than 20 minutes a night in ice time, and he gets to play on the second power-play unit. Schmidt also has eight points in his last 11 contests. The Ducks have a bottom-10 penalty kill and a 3.23 GAA, but both of those flatter the current situation, as Lukas Dostal is out injured.
