Fantasy buzz: Dansk continues strong start for Vegas

All season long, NHL.com's fantasy hockey staff will have you covered with daily lineup news, production trends and injury notes from around the League. We will identify how these developments affect fantasy owners in year-long (Yahoo) and daily (DraftKings) formats.

4:30 p.m.

Islanders make changes to top six forwards

The New York Islanders made some changes to their forward lines on Friday in practice before their game on Saturday against the Nashville Predators, swapping Josh Bailey and Jordan Eberle in the top-six.
Bailey ($3,900 on DraftKings) will bump up to a familiar spot on the right wing of the first line next to John Tavares and Anders Lee. Bailey enters Saturday averaging a point-per-game this season and is on a five-game point streak. He has 10 points in 10 games and has eight points and eight shots on goal on his current scoring streak. He will also see time on the Islanders first power-play unit with Tavares, Lee, rookie Matthew Barzal and defenseman Nick Leddy.
Eberle ($5,000 on DraftKings) will drop to second line with Barzal and Brock Nelson, who is second on the Islanders with five goals this season. Eberle has six assists but no goals on 24 shots. He will drop down to the second power-play unit as well.

Capitals bump Smith-Pelly to top line

The Washington Capitals will apparently make a change to their top-six forward rotation as well. Devante Smith-Pelley was skating with Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, replacing Alex Chiasson who was dropped down into the bottom-six.
Smith-Pelley (owned in less than 1 percent of Yahoo leagues) is an interesting value play against the Edmonton Oilers. Smith-Pelley ($3,100 salary in DraftKings) has three assists in 10 games. As long as he has exposure to Ovechkin and Kuznetsov he will have major fantasy value and upside in the short term. Fantasy owners should monitor this situation in season-long leagues and keep him on their fantasy radars, but the time may be right to choose him now in DFS formats.

Vatanen making season debut for Ducks

Defenseman Sami Vatanen will make his much-anticipated, and much-needed, season debut for the Anaheim Ducks. Vatanen is returning from labrum surgery in the offseason and is expected to see significant playing time, especially on the power play. Vatanen has 50 power-play points over the past three full seasons, which ranks inside the top-20 among all NHL defensemen.
Fantasy owners, especially those in deeper leagues, should target Vatanen in leagues where defense depth is scarce right now. He is only owned in 17 percent of leagues, and you should monitor how much use he gets early at even strength and on the power play. He has a great value price in DraftKings, going for $4,100 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Couture continues hot streak for Sharks, Eichel line looks good for Sabres

Logan Couture
scored the game-winning goal
against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. It was his eighth of the season, and sixth in his past six games. In those six games he has six goals, three assists and 13 shots on goal. Couture is firmly back on fantasy radars after only one point in his first four games of the season, and is a player that fantasy owners should be giving heavy looks at in all formats, especially DFS.
The line of Jack Eichel, Evander Kane and Jason Pominville continued to look good. Pominville (44 percent owned) scored his sixth of the season, with assists from Kane and Eichel. The three combined for three points and 10 shots on goal, and are all tied for the team lead in points (10).

1 p.m.

Rask returns for Boston

The Boston Bruins will get a huge boost against the Los Angeles Kings with the return of goaltender Tuukka Rask. Rask has a 3.30 goals-against average and an .882 save percentage in four starts although he made 23 saves on 25 shots against the Vegas Golden Knights in a 3-1 loss October 15.
Rask was cleared to return on Thursday and should draw back into the lineup for owners in all formats. His $7,300 price on DraftKings is an intriguing DFS value option for players not looking to spend big on goaltending.

Value Picks for DraftKings on Saturday

Center: Boo Nieves, NYR ($3,300) -- Nieves made a splash in his first game of the season for the New York Rangers on Thursday with his first NHL point and his first multi-point game. Nieves had three assists in a 5-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes. He likely will be skating on the very underrated line with Pavel Buchnevich and Michael Grabner, and could be a sneaky DFS value pick against the struggling Montreal Canadiens.
Backup: Adrian Kempe, LAK ($4,400) at Boston Bruins
Wing: Danton Heinen, BOS ($3,600) -- The Boston Bruins rookie made the most of his call-up from the American Hockey League on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks, scoring the first two goals of his NHL career. It was his second multi-point game of the season. In four games with the Bruins, Heinen has five points and is averaging 4.9 DraftKings points per contest. He's a good fantasy value option despite a difficult matchup against the Kings.
Backup: Patrick Maroon, EDM ($4,700) vs. Washington Capitals
Defense: Ryan Pulock, NYI ($3,400) -- Pulock will start for the New York Islanders when they visit the Nashville Predators. He'll skate on the third pair with Adam Pelech and is slated to run the point on the second power-play unit. In two games this season, Pulock has one point, a power-play assist, and three shots on goal.
Backup: Jake Muzzin, LAK ($4,700) at Boston Bruins
Goaltender: Matt Murray, PIT ($7,600) -- At a price like this, put Murray in your lineup every chance you get. He has won seven straight starts for the Pittsburgh Penguins and is coming off back-to-back games allowing only one goal in each game against the Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets. Since allowing 11 goals in his first two games of the season against the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks, Murray has allowed 14 during his seven-game winning streak. He's 3-0-0 this season in four road games, three starts, and will face the Minnesota Wild.
Backup: James Reimer, FLA ($7,500) vs Detroit Red Wings

10 a.m.

Dansk dominant again, Marchessault looking good for Vegas

The Vegas Golden Knights came away with another impressive win on Friday against the Colorado Avalanche, winning 7-0. It could have been their most impressive win of the season when you consider the state of their roster, especially in goal. Oscar Dansk put forth another fantastic outing stopping all 32 shots that he faced to earn his first career NHL shutout and the first in Golden Knights history.
Dansk (22 percent owned in Yahoo leagues) has won all three of his appearances (two starts), and has allowed only three goals against in that span. He has 1.35 goals against average and .959 save percentage. Until the Golden Knights cool off, their goaltenders should be targets in all fantasy formats and Dansk should be on every fantasy owner's radar until the return of Malcolm Subban or Marc-Andre Fleury, especially in DFS contests.

Jonathan Marchessault, who returned to the lineup against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, scored a goal and had a power-play assist on Friday. He now has three points and seven shots on goal in two games since returning from injury. Marchessault, only 25 percent owned in Yahoo leagues, is skating in the top-six forward rotation and is seeing significant power-play time.

Bratt solid skating in top-six role for Devils

With Kyle Palmieri still sidelined after sustaining an injury in practice last weekend, Jesper Bratt jumped up and saw time in the Devils top-six on in their 5-4 shootout win against the Ottawa Senators on Friday. Bratt, dual-eligible LW/RW in Yahoo, skated with Adam Henrique and Marcus Johansson at even strength and skated on the team's first power play unit.
Bratt (19 percent owned) had gone five games without a point before getting a power-play assist on Friday. In DFS formats, he got an extra point scoring the game-winning goal in the shootout. At $4,200 on Saturday, Bratt is a great value play in DraftKings against the Arizona Coyotes.

Anderson rolling for Columbus

Josh Anderson has looked very good for the Columbus Blue Jackets in eight games. He was scoreless in his first two games of the season, but has quickly turned things around. Anderson (2 percent owned) is skating on the top line with Artemi Panarin and Nick Foligno.
Anderson scored the game-winning goal in overtime against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, pushing his point streak to three games, and has points in five of his past six games. He three goals, two assists and 15 shots on goal in that span. Anderson has also scored a goal in back-to-back games and is $3,800 in DraftKings against the St. Louis Blues, making him a great target as a value play in DFS lineups.