This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
It's quite a busy Sunday for the NHL. You can thank the holiday break for that. Though the main slate of NHL DFS contests starts at 5 p.m. ET, there are seven games included in said slate. Hopefully, you are enjoying some holiday rest and will have no problem getting your lineups in by that start time. Here are my recommendations.
SLATE PREVIEW
Friday and Saturday were busy days. Saturday featured a few teams on the second leg of a back-to-back and a few on the first leg of one. Tampa and Montreal and Philly and Los Angeles play one another. The Penguins and Islanders are doing a home-and-home this weekend as well. However, the Flames are visiting the Golden Knights, the Senators are visiting the Wild and the Capitals are visiting the Red Wings. Sure, the Wings are terrible, but that's still something. Yes, I am a Wings fan. No, I haven't loved how this season has played out.
GOALIES
Jake Oettinger, DAL at CHI ($8,400): Though Oettinger has a .908 save percentage, he also has a 2.44 GAA and 16 wins in 26 appearances. I was watching some of the Blackhawks-Sabres game on ESPN2 the other day. I noticed ESPN has a lot of Blackhawks games coming up on the schedule. That's unfortunate because wow did they look bad. They've averaged 2.56 goals and 25.4 shots on net per game, so the numbers agree with the eye test on that front.
Charlie Lindgren, WAS at DET ($7,900): Accuse me of being cynical about the team I root for if you'd like, but at this salary, Lindgren looks good to me in this matchup. Detroit has been worse than Chicago offensively, having managed 2.54 goals and 25.1 shots on net per game. It has also been worse defensively, though the two teams are equal on the in-season coach firings. Lindgren has a 2.61 GAA and Washington is in the top five in goals per contest. I think the Caps can get Lindgren a win even though they are the ones on the back-to-back.
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Juraj Slafkovsky, MON at TBL ($4,000): Slafkovsky is off to a strong enough start to his career that there are no murmurs of "bust," though more production will be expected eventually. While he has 20 points in 32 games this year, he has five points in his last five contests. Plus, there's a good chance his 9.8 percent shooting rate will improve. Since Andrei Vasilevskiy started Saturday, the Canadiens will catch Jonas Johansson on Sunday. The 29-year-old has a career .889 save percentage.
Quinton Byfield, LAK vs. PHI ($3,400): It seems like Byfield was drifting for a while there, but whatever was going on, it's in the rearview mirror. This feeling goes beyond his five goals and two assists over his last six games. For weeks Byfield registered a single shot on net, if that, when he took the ice. He's had multiple shots on target in six of his last eight outings. Now he'll likely see Aleksei Kolosov, who has a 3.33 GAA and .878 save percentage in his rookie campaign.
FORWARD LINE STACKS TO CONSIDER
Golden Knights vs. Flames
William Karlsson (C - $5,300), Tomas Hertl (W - $5,100), Keegan Kolesar (W - $2,600)
My intrigue here starts with the fact the Flames are on the road finishing off a back-to-back. Beyond that, Dan Vladar is in line to start for Calgary. This is his fifth season in the NHL, so I think it's fair to say he's simply not a good goalie. He has a .886 save percentage this year, in line with his career .892 number. Put a tired defense in front of Vladar, and I like this matchup for Vegas' second line.
"Wild Bill" has looked more like "Kirill the Thrill" recently. Karlsson is on a five-game point streak and has tallied 28 shots on net over his last nine contests. Hertl has been held off the scoresheet often recently, but he does have two multi-point games in his last nine games. On the year, he has 24 points in 34 games, so, all in all, he's been just fine. Kolesar has spent most of his career as a fourth-line player, but he's here on the second line now. He also has two games with a goal and an assist in his last three games.
Stars at Blackhawks
Matt Duchene (C - $5,100), Wyatt Johnston (W - $5,700), Jamie Benn (W - $3,800)
Tyler Seguin has been out for a while and Mason Marchment is expected to miss at least a bit of time after being hospitalized after a puck hit him in the face. That leaves Duchene without his wings from Dallas' stellar second line from last season. On the other hand, this makeshift second line is really good. Chicago's defense has been more mediocre than bad, which is an improvement, but Petr Mrazek remains the same netminder. That is to say, he has a 3.09 GAA and a .897 save percentage.
Duchene has been cold recently, but he has 30 points in 34 games, and he had 65 points last year. Having these two on his wing and this matchup could see Duchene break through this cold snap. Johnston's season has been the inverse of Duchene's. He started slow after having a splashy sophomore campaign, but he has 15 points in his last 17 games. Oh, and Johnston still only has a 7.4 percent shooting rate, so his puck luck should improve quite a bit, and his production should get even better. While Johnston is just emerging for the Stars, the 35-year-old Benn is on the other side of his career. He keeps producing, though. Benn has a point in nine of his last 11 games, giving him 22 points on the season.
DEFENSEMEN
Brock Faber, MIN vs. OTT ($4,200): Faber has potted a goal in each of his last two games. While he's not Cale Makar by any means, he has 14 assists on the season. The Senators are on the second day of a back-to-back with goalie problems. Linus Ullmark and Anton Forsberg are both injured, so fourth-string goalie Leevi Merilainen is going to be in net for Ottawa.
Matt Grzelcyk, PIT vs. NYI ($3,200): The Penguins have recently opted to play Kris Letang and Grzelcyk together on defense on the top power-play unit. In his first season after leaving Boston, Grzelcyk has seven points with the extra man. The Islanders are the road team on the second day of this home-and-home. However, they also have the league's worst penalty kill and Marcus Hogberg will likely be making his first start for the Islanders. That would also make for his first NHL start since the 2020-21 season.
