This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
We have one NHL game Saturday. At 8 p.m. ET, the Edmonton Oilers host the Vancouver Canucks. If the Oilers lose, the Canucks move on. If they win, we get a Game 7 from this all-Canadian matchup. For DFS purposes on DraftKings, you get $50,000 in salary for six players. One is your Captain, who earns you 1.5 times the points, but with an elevated salary. The Oilers have their elite power play, and the Canucks are starting an unproven goalie with only a smattering of starts to his name. On the other hand, when a team finds themselves starting Calvin Pickard at a time like this, things have gone awry in goal. Might this be a high-scoring affair? Here is a lineup I landed on.
CAPTAIN
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, EDM vs. VAN ($11,100): Obviously, there are bigger names on the Oilers. However, owing to the boosted salary for one's Captain, he slots into this spot, so I can divvy out more talent throughout my roster. Among the four forwards on Edmonton's top power-play unit, the one that has converted on 40 percent of opportunities, Nugent-Hopkins has the lowest salary. He had 26 power-play points this season and has added six more in the playoffs. Game 5 was the first time in this series he did not have a point. I'm betting against that happening again.
FLEX
Leon Draisaitl, EDM vs. VAN ($10,200): Little to no explanation is needed here. Draisaitl is the star of the show for the Oilers when the postseason rolls around. His 21 points are tops in the NHL, and his eight goals are third. The German has not been held off the score sheet once in the postseason, and he's put 41 shots on net over 10 games for good measure.
Brock Boeser, VAN at EDM ($8,200): The Oilers have held opponents to 26.2 shots on net per game in the playoffs, which has been vital given the goaltending situation. Pickard hasn't been bad since taking over for Stuart Skinner, but he's 32 and has a career .904 save percentage. He's on his sixth team for a reason, and don't forget Pickard wasn't even the backup when the season began. As for Boeser, he scored 40 goals this season and Game 5 was also his first game in this series without a point.
Elias Lindholm, VAN at EDM ($7,600): The Canucks added Lindholm from the Flames to bolster their status as a Cup contender. He moved into a lesser role with Vancouver than he had with the going-nowhere Flames, but he still chipped in six goals and six assists during the regular season. The Swede did essentially nothing against the Predators, but he's come up huge in this series. Lindholm has six points and grabbed a top power-play unit spot.
Mattias Ekholm, EDM vs. VAN ($7,000): I expect a lot of minutes from the duo of Ekholm and Evan Bouchard in this series. While Bouchard's minutes will be higher, given his role on the power play, these two are Edmonton's top pairing, and Ekholm has averaged 21:27 in ice time in this series. I'll take the over on that Saturday. Additionally, while Ekholm doesn't produce points like Bouchard, he had a point in the first four games of this series.
Warren Foegele, EDM vs. VAN ($5,800): With the salary I had left, Foegele was the best option. I haven't mentioned him by name yet, but Arturs Silovs has made eight starts in these playoffs. He has made nine total regular-season appearances in his career. This is the biggest road start of Silovs' career to date. Foegele has not contributed in the playoffs, but he scored 20 goals on 201 shots on net this season. That's worth a gamble to close out my roster.
