This article is part of our FanDuel NHL series.
After three games were played Tuesday, the opening days of the NHL season continue tonight with five contests. The evening will begin with Toronto visiting Montreal for a 7:00 p.m. ET start time followed by Pittsburgh hosting the Rangers, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. We also got three late 10:00 p.m. starts, featuring Edmonton, Vancouver and Las Vegas playing at home against Winnipeg, Calgary and Colorado, respectively.
SLATE PREVIEW
The Oilers versus Jets will be a particularly interesting one to watch. Although Edmonton made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2024, the Oilers opened the 2023-24 campaign with an 8-1 loss to Vancouver en route to a 2-9-1 start that put the franchise in turmoil and led to the firing of head coach Jay Woodcroft in favor of current bench boss Kris Knoblauch. The Oilers will naturally be looking to avoid a similarly rough start to this campaign. Winnipeg will be a good early test after the Jets posted a 52-24-6 record last campaign.
GOALIES
Igor Shesterkin, NYR at PIT ($8,600): Kevin Weekes of ESPN reported Tuesday that Shesterkin has already rejected an eight-year, $88 million contract from the Rangers that would have made him the highest-paid netminder in NHL history. Presumably, Shesterkin, who is entering the final campaign of his four-year contract, is seeking an even bigger payday, so he has plenty of motivation to prove he's worth it this season. He's coming off a solid campaign in which he posted a 36-17-2 record, 2.58 GAA and .912 save percentage across 55 regular-season starts. He's also traditionally fared well against Pittsburgh in the regular season, posting a 2.09 GAA and a .924 save percentage in 13 career contests.
Joseph Woll, TOR at MON ($8,200): Woll was a mixed bag in 2023-24 with a 12-11-1 record, 2.94 GAA and .907 save percentage in 25 regular-season appearances, but the 26-year-old has promise. More importantly, he's going into what should be a favorable matchup. The Canadiens ranked 26th offensively in 2023-24 with 2.83 goals per game, and they'll be missing a big offseason acquisition in Patrik Laine (knee) on Wednesday.
UPDATE: Woll will miss the contest due to lower-body tightness, but Anthony Stolarz ($8,200), who is now expected to start for Toronto, is a good substitute. The 30-year-old netminder is a capable understudy who posted a 2.03 GAA and a .925 save percentage across 27 regular-season appearances with Florida in 2023-24.
VALUE PLAYS
Reilly Smith, NYR at PIT ($4,100): Smith provided 13 goals and 40 points in 76 regular-season games with Pittsburgh in 2023-24, but he was dealt to the Rangers over the summer, so this will be a chance for him to show up the franchise that just moved him. Smith is projected to play alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad at even strength, so he should be in a great position to generate some offense against the Penguins.
Matthew Knies, TOR at MON ($4,000): Knies had a solid rookie campaign with Toronto in 2023-24, supplying 15 goals and 35 points in 80 regular-season games while averaging a modest 13:41 of ice time. He's got a chance to improve upon that, especially because he's projected to open the campaign on the top line alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
Connor Zary, CGY at VAN ($3,700): Another sophomore with offensive upside, Zary recorded 14 goals and 34 points in 63 outings with the Flames in 2023-24. The 23-year-old is projected to begin 2024-25 on Calgary's top power-play unit while playing alongside Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman at even strength. Vancouver's goaltending situation is also far from ideal with Thatcher Demko (knee) unavailable, so Calgary has an opportunity here.
FORWARD LINE STACKS
Avalanche at Golden Knights
Nathan MacKinnon (C - $8,900), Mikko Rantanen (W - $8,7000), Jonathan Drouin (W - $5,800)
MacKinnon and Rantanen were arguably the best duo of the 2023-24 regular season with MacKinnon scoring an incredible 51 goals and 140 points in 82 outings while Rantanen accumulated 42 markers and 104 points across 80 contests. MacKinnon was also one of the safer bets in the league last campaign, being held off the scoresheet just 12 times across the entire regular season. Those two elite forwards should continue to find success in 2024-25.
Drouin isn't nearly as impressive, but he's more than serviceable, especially when playing alongside those two. The 29-year-old Drouin had 19 goals and 56 points across 79 regular-season appearances in 2023-24.
Canucks vs. Flames
J.T. Miller (C - $8,400), Brock Boeser (W - $7,600), Danton Heinen (W - $4,800)
The Flames were tied for 22nd defensively in 2023-24 with 3.26 goals allowed per game. That was before trading starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey over the summer. To be fair, Dustin Wolf does have potential. It will be interesting to see how he performs this season, but with just 18 career NHL games under his belt, he'll have a tough time against Vancouver's high-powered offense.
Miller has been a reliable scorer for Vancouver, providing over 30 goals and 80 points in each of the past three regular seasons. He was especially good in 2023-24 with 37 goals and 103 points across 81 outings. Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Boeser is coming off career highs in which he accumulated 40 goals and 73 points across 81 regular-season contests.
Heinen's a nice value play so long as he's playing on the first line. He had 17 goals and 36 points in 74 regular-season contests with Boston in 2023-24, but he was averaging a moderate 14:28 over that span. It's looking like Vancouver might give him a bigger role, including a spot on the second power-play unit after Heinen logged just 0:13 per game in that capacity last season.
DEFENSEMEN
Quinn Hughes, VAN vs. CGY ($6,800): Hughes has recorded at least 65 points in each of his past three regular seasons and reached new heights in 2023-24 with 17 goals and 92 points in 82 contests. He'll be celebrating his 25th birthday Monday, so Hughes is likely to be a dominant force in the league for years to come.
Shea Theodore, VGK vs. COL ($5,900): Theodore's injury history makes it tough to rely on him for a full season, but he's quite good for DFS. Across the past four regular seasons, he's averaged 12 goals and 62 points per 82 games. Looking at the 2023-24 regular season specifically, Theodore provided five goals and 42 points across 47 contests, including two assists in two outings versus Colorado.
