This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Hockey series.
GOALIE
Pekka Rinne, NSH at BUF ($41) – Rinne hasn't lost a game since Feb. 15's tilt against the Flames, and the bottom-dwelling Sabres shouldn't pose much of a challenge. Buffalo has not been good at home with just 11 wins and Nashville leads the Western Conference with 22 road victories. Jack Eichel is back in the lineup for the Sabres, but it'll be very hard for them to generate offense against one of the league's best defenses. The only real chance the Sabres have is if the Predators lay off the gas pedal a little bit after clinching a playoff spot over the weekend.
GOALIE TO AVOID
Antti Raanta, ARI vs. CGY ($37) – Raanta started Saturday against Minnesota and allowed two goals on 30 shots, but being the third-most expensive goalie for Monday is a head scratcher. Arizona has performed better of late but has also allowed three goals or more four times in their past five games, the only exception coming against Vancouver. Calgary has not fared much better, but Johnny Gaudreau is an elite playmaker with 81 points, and in six career games against them Raanta has a .879 save percentage. Roberto Luongo ($36) seems like a much better option in this salary range.
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CENTER
Jack Eichel, BUF vs. NSH ($24) – He returned to the lineup after missing more than a month and registered an assist against the Blackhawks on Saturday. Despite spraining his ankle for the second time in two seasons, Eichel has averaged almost a point per game and remains the team's leading scorer with 22 goals and 54 points. The Predators won't be easy to beat, but that hasn't fazed Eichel much in his career, having scored three goals in four career games against them.
Jeff Carter, LA at MIN ($17) – He has scored just twice in his past four games, but traditionally he's been very good against the Wild with eight goals and 18 points in 25 games. The Wild's top blue line pair of Ryan Suter and Mathew Dumba will likely be tasked with shutting down Anze Kopitar, and none of their remaining four defensemen can handle Carter one-on-one. It'll be more difficult for the Kings to get the matchups they want on the road, but they are managing just fine with 20 away wins, tied for third best in the conference.
CENTERS TO AVOID
Sean Monahan, CGY at ARI ($21) – He's scored 30 goals this season, the second time he's done so in his career, but his production has dipped in March with just one goal in seven games. Gaudreau is the engine that drives the Flames offense, and there have been times where Monahan disappears; he was a minus-3 in a 4-0 loss to Vegas and registered just one shot on goal Sunday. There's also speculation that Monahan has been playing through an injury for some time.
Mikko Koivu, MIN vs. LA ($17) – The 35-year-old is a two-way forward at this point in his career so scoring 40 points is already an accomplishment. It'll be even tougher to score against the Kings and Jonathan Quick, who have been excellent on the road all season, and teammate Charlie Coyle is available at the same price but comes with a six-game point streak. Koivu's No. 1 task will likely be to shut down Kopitar and the Kings' top line, so providing offense will not be a priority.
WING
Evgenii Dadonov, FLA at MON ($23) – He started the season with 14 points in 11 games and then went cold for a spell, but over the past three months he's been one of the Panthers' best forwards with 15 goals and 33 points in 31 games. He's spent a lot of the season on Aleksander Barkov's wing and they've managed to establish some pretty chemistry, and even with Antti Niemi's gaudy numbers for the Habs, the Panthers should have no problem scoring against one of the league's worst teams. Dadonov has two goals and three assists in his past five games.
Clayton Keller, ARI vs. CGY ($18) – He enters the game on a four-game point streak against a Flames squad that allowed four goals against the Knights last night. Keller's been scoring at a much higher rate since the All-Star Game with 16 points in 21 games, and even though he hasn't scored a point in two games against the Flames this season, he's still expected to generate most of the Coyotes' offensive chances. Neither Mike Smith nor David Rittich should pose much of a challenge.
Boone Jenner, CLS at BOS ($17) – The Jackets' third line of Jenner, Thomas Vanek and Alexander Wennberg has been pretty good, especially Jenner with four goals in his past five games. He's scored a total of 14 points in his past 22 games, a far cry from January's performance during which he was held without a point for 10 games. Beating Tuukka Rask won't be easy, but Jenner certainly has the hot hand.
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WINGS TO AVOID
Mikael Granlund, MIN vs. LA ($23) – Granlund has picked up where he left off last season with 58 points in 67 games, but he's going through a cold spell with just two assists in his past five games and has not scored a goal since Feb. 27. Scoring will be tough against the Kings. Even though the Wild should have the advantage at home, the Kings have been excellent on the road and in their previous meeting in December, Granlund's line was largely tasked with shutting down Kopitar and Dustin Brown.
Rick Nash, BOS vs. CLS ($19) – He hasn't quite gelled with David Krejci, scoring only three goals in 11 games, and the Bruins continues to rely heavily on David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand for offense. With David Backes (laceration) potentially not playing, Krejci may get moved to the top line, which means Nash will have to settle for playing with a less talented center. Sergei Bobrovsky, who has won five straight starts, will not be easy to beat.
Evan Rodrigues, BUF vs. NSH ($17) – The Predators defense is too deep for the Sabres to get favorable matchups for Rodrigues, who gets bumped down the depth chart with Eichel returning to the lineup. Rodrigues performed admirably as the team's No. 2 center for a brief period, but he's miscast in that role and he'll skate with the underperforming Kyle Okposo, who's just returning from a concussion, and Seth Griffith, an undersized tweener with just three points in 21 games this season.
DEFENSE
Seth Jones, CLS at BOS ($24) – He was held out of Saturday's game due to an upper-body injury, but the issue isn't considered to be serious and he should be a game-time decision. If he does play, Jones will be looking to extend his point streak to five games, and he can do it without having to face Patrice Bergeron (foot) and maybe even Backes, who is questionable after suffering his injury Saturday. Jones has shown he's capable of shutting down the opposition's top line without sacrificing any offense.
Aaron Ekblad, FLA at MON ($17) – Ekblad has quietly scored 50 goals in his first four seasons in the NHL, and is just one shy of tying his career high of 15. In 14 career games against the Habs he's scored two goals and eight points with a plus-9 rating. The Leafs put 49 shots on net Saturday against the Habs, hemming them in their own zone for long stretches, and the same could happen Monday as the Panthers average a league-high 34.4 shots on goal, and their overall depth will be a big problem for Montreal, a team missing their top goalie (Carey Price), defenseman (Shea Weber) and captain (Max Pacioretty).
DEFENSEMEN TO AVOID
Rasmus Ristolainen, BUF vs. NSH ($19) – He has an assist in two consecutive games, but he'll be so busy trying to stop Nashville's multi-faceted attack he won't have many chances to score. Buffalo's workhorse defenseman is expected to do everything, but he's simply overmatched against one of the league's best teams, especially one that has allowed the fewest goals and has the sixth-ranked penalty kill. Even with Eichel back in the lineup and a red-hot Sam Reinhart, the Sabres may have a lot of trouble scoring goals.
Jeff Petry, MON vs. FLA ($16) – His three-game assist streak was snapped in a shutout loss against the Leafs on Saturday, and the Habs will have another tough test against the Panthers, who have won seven of their past 10 games. Petry is a capable two-way defenseman who's unfortunately forced to play a No. 1 role due to injuries, and his minus-29 rating is the worst on the team. In three games against the Panthers this season, Petry has zero points and a minus-5 rating.
