This article is part of our Cap Compliance series.
There are no second legs of a back-to-back Wednesday, which will probably be rare this season. We have five games taking place, which gives you a solid number of options for your DFS lineup. Let's take a look...
GOALIE
Cam Talbot, MIN at ANA ($31): Talbot had a revitalizing season in Calgary last year, notching a 2.63 GAA and .919 save percentage. That got him a gig in Minnesota, and so far he's kept up his level of play with a 2.27 GAA and .926 save percentage in three starts. The Ducks only scored 2.56 goals per contest last season on a mere 29.7 shots on net per contest, so Talbot may not feel too much of a threat here. In fact, these two teams just played and Talbot made 26 saves on 27 shots.
GOALIE TO AVOID
Carey Price, MON at VAN ($32): Price is 33 now, and he's coasting a bit on name recognition at this point. Last year he posted a 2.79 GAA and .909 save percentage. The Canucks, meanwhile, ranked eighth in goals per game. Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes have another year of experience under their belts as they get closer to their prime. The offense in Vancouver could be even better this year.
CENTER
Nick Bonino, MIN at ANA ($13): Bonino is in his first year with the Wild, and due to changes in the Wild lineup, he's basically been the first-line center so far. He's averaged 17:49 in ice time, including 4:11 with the extra man. The Ducks had a 3.15 GAA last year, in addition to the 26th-ranked penalty kill. Bonino hasn't notched a point yet, but this could be the game.
CENTER TO AVOID
William Karlsson, VGK vs. ARI ($20): Karlsson's shooting percentage has gone down each of the last three seasons, which is why he's gone from scoring 43 goals to 24 to 15, though that last number was in 63 games. Darcy Kuemper has been stellar since becoming a Coyote, with a .928 save percentage last year. Karlsson likely won't look like he did in that breakout campaign in Vegas' inaugural season.
WING
Brendan Gallagher, MON at VAN ($21): I've long been a supporter of Gallagher for DFS purposes because he's a prolific shooter. Last year he had 226 shots on net in a mere 59 games, which means he scored 22 goals even though his shooting percentage dipped to 9.7. The Canucks allowed a ton of shots on goal last season (33.3 per game), and now they've swapped Jacob Markstrom for Braden Holtby, who had an .897 save percentage with Washington last year.
Kailer Yamamoto, EDM at TOR ($17): Yamamoto turned heads last season with 26 points in 27 games. Sure, he had a 25.0 shooting percentage that is not replicable, but any hint of depth for the Oilers is intriguing, especially for fantasy players who want to save some salary but still want a piece of that offense. Frederik Andersen had been quite steady for the Leafs, but last year he had a .909 save percentage. He's not turning it around just yet, as he has a 3.31 GAA and .881 save percentage to start this year.
WINGS TO AVOID
William Nylander, TOR vs. EDM ($24): Nylander had 59 points in 68 games last year, but 17 of them came with the extra man. This year, the 24-year-old has five points in four games, but three of them have come in the power play as well. The Oilers had the second-ranked penalty kill last season, so they may be able to shut down the Leafs' power play, Nylander included. Mikko Koskinen is admittedly off to a slow start, but it's only four games, and he had a .917 save percentage last season.
Phil Kessel, ARI at VGK ($17): Kessel disappointed in his first season with the Coyotes with 14 goals and a 9.2 shooting percentage. He has three goals in three games to start this year, but even if his shooting percentage regresses it's not going to stay at 37.5. Also, all three of his goals came in two games against the Sharks. The Golden Knights – and specifically Robin Lehner – is a different level of difficulty.
DEFENSE
Colton Parayko, STL vs. SAN ($17): The Sharks had the league's best penalty kill last season, but still posted a 3.21 GAA. You can do the math and figure out they were awful at 5-on-5, and Parayko is not a player that relies on the power play for his numbers. He's never averaged more than 1:56 per game with the extra man, but he's still gotten plenty of shots on net. He put 162 pucks on goal in 64 games last year, and he's got nine through three games this season.
Tyson Barrie, EDM at TOR ($14): The Oilers are leaning into Barrie as a power-play specialist. He's averaged a staggering 6:21 per game with the extra man so far. Granted, that number will surely drop simply because teams likely won't continue to take so many penalties against Edmonton. Nevertheless, Barrie seems primed to play almost every power-play minute for the Oilers, and the Leafs had the 21st-ranked penalty kill last year. With Frederik Andersen's struggles, I'm even more enticed.
DEFENSE TO AVOID
Torey Krug, STL vs. SAN ($19): Krug is sort of the inversion of his teammate Parayko in that he's highly reliant on the power play. A whopping 28 of his 49 points came with the extra man last season. If the Sharks can get anywhere near having the top penalty kill in the league again they are going to keep guys like Krug in check. Plus, Krug has played all of three games with his new teammates, and he has only one point so far.
Cam Fowler, ANA vs. MIN ($11): Fowler used to man the point on the top power-play unit for the Ducks. However, they added Kevin Shattenkirk this offseason, and so far this year Fowler has only averaged 1:26 per game with the extra man. Furthermore, Fowler has zero points and only four shots on goal through three games.
