Carolina swept Philadelphia, and there were two games Sunday, so you can do the math and figure out there is only one NHL game Monday. The Wild host the Avalanche after scoring a win in Game 3. If Minnesota can hold serve at home, the series will be all tied up. First, though, there's the matter of single-game NHL DFS contests Mondays.
You get $50,000 in salary for six players. One is your Captain, who nets you 1.5 times the points, but at 1.5 times the salary. You can roster a goalie if you want, but both teams have already used two goalies owing to the offensive production, so I'm not going to recommend going that route. Puck drops at 8 p.m. EDT. Here is the lineup I landed on.
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CAPTAIN
Cale Makar, COL at MIN ($13,500): In theory, you don't need a defenseman for your lineup. In practice, I made Makar my Captain. His salary was such that it made things workable, but with the benefit of a player who scores at a rate most forwards only dream of. Other than his rookie campaign, Makar has been a point-per-game player, and as a rookie he managed 50 points in 57 games. He has five points in the playoffs, but he's also put 20 shots on net and blocked 16 shots. Plus, there's the potential for a ton of power-play minutes.
FLEX
Kirill Kaprizov, MIN vs. COL ($9,800): The argument here is simple. With nine goals and 14 points, Kaprizov has been as productive as any player in this postseason. Now, I will grant you Colorado swept in the first round, and Carolina has swept two series, but that's still impressive production on par with anybody. The Russian has at least one point in every game of this series, and he already has four 40-goal seasons to his name. He's the Minnesota forward I wanted the most.
Ryan Hartman, MIN vs. COL ($8,000): After those couple of big names, the decisions become more logistical. Colorado was the better defensive team this season, but I didn't shy away from Minnesota players. One, the Wild are at home. Two, they may only have one win in this series, but they have scored 13 goals in three games. Hartman is no slouch, as he had 23 goals and 20 assists during the regular season. In this series, though, he has a point in each game, but also has managed 15 shots on net.
Gabriel Landeskog, COL at MIN ($7,400): Even with so much time missed the last few years, Colorado's captain still has skill on the ice. He's also on a six-game point streak, and he went all-out for a goal in Game 3. He didn't get one, though he had an assist, but the Swede put seven shots on net.
Nazem Kadri, COL at MIN ($7,200): Speaking of shots on net, the Wild have allowed 32.0 of them per game in the playoffs. That is a sample size of nine games, I grant you, but in the regular season they finished in the bottom 10 on that front. Kadri, who is on a four-game point streak, has managed to put 15 shots on target in this series, and he's put over 200 shots on net in each of the last five seasons.
Danila Yurov, MIN vs. COL ($4,000): Kadri was the last of the guys I selected based on more than simply salary allotment as upside. Given Minnesota being a bit worse defensively than Colorado, I wanted that player to be from Colorado. With my limited remaining salary, though, I didn't mind grabbing Yurov. It may be incumbent on Joel Eriksson Ek being out again, but Yurov saw time centering the second line in Game 3, and he's even seen some power-play time the last two games. He has two assists in this series, and in his rookie campaign he managed 27 points in 73 games. How many guys playing potential top-six minutes can you get at this salary level usually?
