This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
Saturday is rivalry day for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. Sweden faces Finland at 1:00 p.m. ET and the United States and Canada square off at 8:00 p.m. ET. You have the option to play single-game contests for either. Getting your DFS rosters in before 1:00 p.m. ET may make that the better option for you, but I wanted to look at both contests. To that end, I have decided to offer up one recommendation in all the usual categories for both games. Good luck.
GOALIES
Filip Gustavsson, SWE vs. FIN ($8,000): One game is, you know, one game, but heading into this tournament, Finland looked like a squad that was a step or two down from the other three. The matchup between the U.S. and Finland did nothing to discourage me from that assessment. America smashed Finland 6-1 and the Finns only managed 21 shots on net. Sweden has decided to stick with Gustavsson after he allowed four goals in an overtime affair against Canada. This matchup will be easier on Gustavsson, who has a .915 save percentage for the Wild.
Connor Hellebuyck, USA vs. CAN ($7,600): If you're telling me I can roster Hellebuyck for a lower salary than Jordan Binnington – and indeed that is what DraftKings is telling me – I am doing that in a heartbeat. Sure, Canada is probably the most talented team from an attacking perspective in this tournament, but it is only a bit better than the United States. What is definitive is that Hellebuyck is the best goalie. In this tournament, in the NHL, in American history, you name it. I'll bet on his talent any day.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Mitch Marner, CAN vs. USA ($5,300): I said I would give one recommendation in each category for both games. Since I certainly don't intend to stack a Canadian line against Hellebuyck, I looked for a value play. Marner is getting to skate next to Connor McDavid on a line Canada seems primed to rely on. Sure, the game against Sweden went into overtime, but Marner saw 21:06 in ice time, and he potted a goal as well. If the Maple Leaf plays 20 minutes next to the best player in the NHL, that certainly is offering up quite a bit of potential value.
Artturi Lehkonen, FIN vs. SWE ($3,500): Were there positives to take away from Finland's rout at the hands of the Americans? While Aleksander Barkov unsurprisingly led the Finns with five shots on net, Lehkonen was second with four. The Colorado wing has nine goals over his last 15 NHL games and has tallied 23 goals this season. Lehkonen has potentially earned more minutes from the coaching staff on Saturday. He's worth a shot.
FORWARD LINE STACKS TO CONSIDER
Sweden vs. Finland
Joel Eriksson Ek (C - $4,700), Jesper Bratt (W - $4,600), Lucas Raymond (W - $4,200)
First, a caveat: Obviously, lines for these teams are far from being as inked in as lines in the NHL. These teams have been put together for a brief tournament and nothing is set in stone. This trio was placed together before the tourney, though, and even if they don't end up together through this game with Finland, there's nothing in the rulebook that says you can't roster them all.
The Finns are swapping out Juuse Saros for Kevin Lankinen in net. These two are former teammates. While Lankinen's 2.53 GAA is a career-best, you can thank Vancouver's defense for that. Lankinen has a .905 save percentage through 34 appearances. Fittingly, his career save percentage is also .905. The Finns allowed the U.S. to put 32 shots on Saros, and the country's defense talent is comfortably the worst in this tournament.
All three of these guys had at least one point against Canada. Eriksson Ek had a goal, Bratt had an assist and Raymond was the best of the bunch with two assists and three shots on net. Bratt has tallied at least 73 points in each of the previous three campaigns, Raymond has been on fire since Todd McLellan took over in Detroit and Eriksson Ek is coming off a season where he had 30 goals on 267 shots on net for the Wild.
United States vs. Canada
Auston Matthews (C - $7,500), Jack Hughes (W - $6,700), Jake Guentzel (W - $5,000)
These three all played on the top power-play unit alongside Matthew Tkachuk, potting two goals against the Finns with the man advantage. Also, two of them are first-overall picks who have become stars in the NHL, and Guentzel is no slouch. Binnington did well enough for Canada to win against Sweden, but he did allow three goals on 26 shots on net. He has a .897 save percentage for the Blues this season. In his 10 outings before the break, he had a .889 save percentage.
As with the Swedish line I recommended, every one of these players had at least one point, with Guentzel recording a goal and an assist. Guentzel also put four shots on net. Given Matthews has two 60-goal seasons to his name and Hughes is going to average over a point per game for the fourth season in a row, Guentzel is the only one of these three you might need to be "sold" on. Well, Guentzel has had three 30-goal seasons in a row and already has 27 goals through 54 games with the Lightning.
DEFENSEMEN
Victor Hedman, SWE vs. FIN ($4,600): Erik Karlsson saw slightly more power-play time than Hedman, but while both are veteran blueliners, the Swedish coaching staff relied much more on Hedman. He played a whopping 27:15 of ice time, the most on the team, and picked up an assist while blocking three shots. That certainly has me liking his upside against the Finnish squad.
Adam Fox, USA vs. CAN ($4,400): Zach Werenski was the star of the show from the American blue line against Finland, but to try and save you some salary, I'm going with Fox. Werenski had two power-play points against the Finns, and he played 2:19 with the extra man. However, Fox played 2:59 on the power play. He just didn't pick up a point. Fox has proven himself an elite power-play producer with the Rangers. He's had at least 29 points with the extra man in each of the prior three seasons. If he sees power-play time against Canada, there's a good chance he gets on the score sheet.
