This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
The Eastern Conference Finals kicked off Tuesday. Now, it's the Western Conference's turn. The Dallas Stars are hosting the Edmonton Oilers, with the puck scheduled to drop at 8 p.m. ET. For your Game 1 contests, you have to select a lineup for six players with a salary cap of $50,000. Your Captain nets you 1.5 times the points, but has an elevated salary as well. Just to note it now, but Calvin Pickard is still out, so you can all but lock in Stuart Skinner to start Wednesday. Onto the lineup I liked the best.
CAPTAIN
Thomas Harley, DAL vs. EDM ($12,000): I didn't expect my Captain to be a defenseman, but here we are. I wanted a Star. Dallas is at home, and while Jake Oettinger has been stellar, Skinner was benched for Pickard earlier in the postseason. Also, the Oilers have really struggled on the penalty kill this postseason. I wanted to avoid Mikko Rantanen to save some salary, and at that point, Harley honestly looked like the best option. He's been on the top power-play unit, and he's been as productive as anybody aside from Rantane recently. He has six points and 14 shots on net against the Jets.
FLEX
Leon Draisaitl, EDM at DAL ($10,600): I always want some balance in a single-game contest in the NHL postseason, so my next question I asked myself was: Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. Again, to save a bit of salary, I went Draisaitl. When it comes to this all-time duo I don't feel the need to try and cajole you too much. Draisaitl had over 100 points yet again this season. He has 16 points in 11 postseason games. Draisaitl is one of the NHL's all-time second bananas, and I'll happily roster him and figure out the rest…even if I did choose him to save some salary over going with McDavid. Hey, Scottie Pippen was a Hall of Famer too.
Mikko Rantanen, DAL vs. EDM ($10,000): You may have heard that Rantanen has been having a solid run this postseason. You now, what with his nine goals on 39 shots on net and 10 assists through 13 games. The Finn didn't have a point in the final two games against the Jets, but he still put seven shots on target. Plus, there's all the ice time he gets. Like, a slightly-concerning amount of ice time in terms of his health and energy levels. Hey, he's had a few days off. He should be down for another 24 minutes or so on the ice.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, EDM at DAL ($7,800): After the one-two punch of Draisaitl and Rantanen, I needed to dip down in salary. Fortunately, I could do that and still roster Nugent-Hopkins. He plays on the top power-play unit, and after the Oilers tweaked the lines he ended up on McDavid's wing. RNH had a seven-game point streak spanning the Kings and Golden Knights series, and he's put multiple shots on net in each of his last four games.
Mikael Granlund, DAL vs. EDM ($6,200): I will grant you Granlund, a trade acquisition from the Sharks to bolster the Stars for the playoff push, started the postseason slow. However, he flipped the script during the series with the Jets. Over the last four games he tallied five points and nine shots on net. That, plus Granlund's spot on the top line, works for me.
Vasily Podkolzin, EDM at DAL ($3,400): I think the Stars will win this game, and I didn't inherently set out for my lineup to be this balanced. That being said, when I saw I could roster Podkolzin at this salary, and thus build the rest of my lineup as it sits, I went for it. He has six points over his last 10 games, but the one-time top-10 pick also benefited from the Oilers' line tweak. Podkolzin ended up on the second line, which meant having Draisaitl as his center. That definitely changes things for the Russian.
