This article is part of our DraftKings NHL series.
Thursday's NHL slate begins at 7:00 PM Eastern time and features 10 games. Below, you'll find an overview of the matchups and suggested options for crafting an effective lineup.
SLATE PREVIEW
There are plenty of places to find value in this large slate. Wild and Canucks players should be popular road options in Detroit and Ottawa, respectively. The top-five Maple Leafs and Panthers offenses will go head-to-head with third place in the Atlantic Division on the line, while the Lightning will be solid home favorites against Chicago and the Devils have a great opportunity to continue their surprisingly strong recent play in San Jose.
GOALIES
MacKenzie Blackwood ($7,300) is 6-0-0 with just seven goals allowed in his last six starts, while the injury-riddled Sharks have lost five in a row in regulation. Expect these trends to continue when Blackwood's Devils pay a visit to San Jose.
Jordan Binnington ($8,400) is back in a groove, having won each of his last four starts while holding three of those opponents to one goal or fewer. He'll look to stay dialed in at home and build on his 28-11-7 record, 2.61 GAA and .911 save percentage in a home tilt against a bottom-10 Islanders offense that's averaging 2.84 goals per game.
Assuming the Wild keep alternating goalies, it will be Devan Dubnyk's ($7,900) turn to man the crease in Detroit. While the hulking netminder is in the midst of an underwhelming season, Dubnyk would still be an enticing option if he gets the nod, simply by virtue of facing the league's least dangerous offense (1.98 goals per game).
VALUE PLAYS/ONE-OFFS
Nikita Kucherov ($8,300) finds himself back among the league leaders in scoring, even after a slow start by his lofty standards. All told, the Lightning winger ranks 11th in goals (30) and 10th in points (76) after totaling 128 points last season. He has a nice chance to climb those leaderboards at home against a Blackhawks team that's won only twice in its last 11 games.
Mike Hoffman ($5,400) heated up on the Panthers' west coast trip and will hope to stay hot with the team back in South Florida. He scored at least one point in every leg of the five-game trip en route to a 4-3-7 line, which raised his season line to 25-28-53 in 63 games. A Maple Leafs team that's allowing 3.27 goals per game will have a hard time slowing down the surging winger.
Red-hot Flames center Mikael Backlund ($5,000) is a terrific value option against a Predators team that's allowing 3.15 goals per game. He's failed to record a point only once in the last 10 games, posting an 8-7-15 line over that stretch.
Jesper Bratt ($3,900) has a three-game goal streak and four-game point streak working, as well as a 5-6-11 line in 13 games over the past month. The surging Devils winger should keep rolling against a Sharks team that's giving up 3.27 goals per game.
Zach Sanford ($4,000) has proven himself capable of the occasional massive outburst — he had a four-goal game Feb. 13 and delivered a two-goal, three-point, nine-shot masterpiece Tuesday. As far as cheap lineup fillers go, the Blues winger has more upside than most against an Islanders team that's allowed three-plus goals in nine of its last 13 games.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Canucks at Senators
Elias Pettersson (C - $7,000), J.T. Miller (W - $6,000), Tyler Toffoli (W - $6,300)
Pettersson and Miller are neck and neck for the team scoring lead, as Pettersson's 25 goals have him one ahead of second-place Miller while Miller's 63 points lead second-place Pettersson by four. Toffoli has fit in beautifully on their line, adding three goals and two assists in his first three games with Vancouver. The sky's the limit for this productive trio against an Ottawa team that's allowing 3.34 goals per game — second-most in the league.
Wild at Red Wings
Eric Staal (C - $5,400), Kevin Fiala (W - $6,100), Gerald Mayhew (W - $2,800)
This line offers a nice mix of production, momentum and affordability while benefiting from the most favorable matchup possible against a Red Wings team that's allowing a league-high 3.74 goals per game. Staal's 18-26-44 line in 62 games is good enough to lead the Wild in points. Fiala's just two points behind Staal in five fewer games and has been Minnesota's hottest player, with an 8-6-14 line in his last 11 games. Mayhew's more of a cheap filler, but a top-line role against the lowly Red Wings could certainly yield results.
Maple Leafs at Panthers
John Tavares (C - $6,300), William Nylander (W - $5,600), Denis Malgin (W - $2,600)
Tavares looked like he took Saturday's loss to the team's Zamboni driver personally, rebounding with two goals Tuesday in Tampa Bay to give himself an 8-7-15 line over the past 12 games. Nylander has kept pace with Tavares offensively this season, notching a 28-28-56 line to Tavares' 26-30-56. Malgin hasn't made much of an impact yet for Toronto, but he'll have the revenge factor working in his favor against his former team.
DEFENSEMEN
Quinn Hughes ($5,500) has hit the 50-point mark, and the Canucks rookie is showing no signs of slowing down given his 3-13-16 line over the past 12 games. He should keep rolling right along in Ottawa.
Shea Weber ($6,400) has stuffed the stat sheet since returning from a foot injury, and the Canadiens will need him to keep rolling if they want to knock off the surging Rangers at The Bell Centre. In his last three games, Weber has two goals, 12 shots and nine blocks.
Sticking in the Rangers-Canadiens game, Anthony DeAngelo ($5,100) is a bargain relative to his offensive output. This slate alone has at least 16 healthy defensemen priced above DeAngelo, even though he ranks sixth in points (46) and is tied for seventh in goals (13) among defensemen.
Kevin Shattenkirk ($4,100) is on a nice little hot streak for the Lightning, as a 1-4-5 line in his last five games has Shattenkirk up to 8-25-33 overall. He brings decent offensive upside for cheap at home against the fading Blackhawks.
