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Welcome back RotoBallers! The NHL season heads into December with Week 8 and we have an excellent salary cap contest for you over at OwnersBox!
For those who do not know, OwnersBox is a fantastic weekly fantasy sports platform that offers plenty of game setups to fulfill your desire to draft throughout the season. And the big one that we're focusing on right now: NHL weekly salary cap contests!
In this article, I will be providing you with my weekly fantasy hockey lineup picks on OwnersBox for the Saturday-Friday Contest of the Week for Week 8! (Nov 27-Dec 3). This contest is not anything like a standard DFS contest or your season-long leagues. Read my picks below, and then join us in this tournament as we battle it out for the cash prizes!
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$5K Contest Once More for Week 8!
OwnersBox is hooking up RotoBaller readers to celebrate the launch of their new salary cap style contests, so be sure to take advantage of these promo offers!
- Join this week's freeroll on OwnersBox - the contest is completely free to enter for new users with code NHL10, and there's a $5,000 cash guaranteed prize pool. You can also enter up to 18 lineups at $10 per lineup if you want more chances to win.
You can enter up until Saturday, November 27 at 5:55 pm ET.
OwnersBox Forward Picks
On OwnersBox, you have the option of picking five forwards in all. The forwards can play up to 16 games total. That is the max. Once one exceeds that total, the lineup reverts to the best ball format. Also, one can swap players with a 20% fee.
Timo Meier, EDM ($7,200) - vs CHI, NJ, NYI, NYR
If one is looking to try and experiment with their lineups a bit, taking a chance on Timo Meier is an intriguing one this week. He plays four times (expected to) and though all of these games are on the road, every one of them has higher-point potential. San Jose makes their annual tri-state area trip at this time.
The good thing is looking at some numbers. Chicago gives up a ton of shots and chances. So do all of these teams. Yes, that goes even for the New York Islanders, who at press time, are allowing over three goals a contest. They will also still be just getting players back from COVID. Then, there are the New York Rangers, who keep riding Igor Shesterkin until the wheels fall off.
Now, could Meier approach his season level of 15 points per game? Absolutely. There is even a chance he could exceed it. His salary here is still pretty cheap considering his overall pace is quite high and floor is arguably even higher.
Elias Lindholm, CGY ($8,200) - vs WPG, PIT, LA, ANA
It's been some fun ride as Calgary's top line is riding high and teams have not figured a way to slow them down often. Who knew replacing Sean Monahan with Matthew Tkachuk was such a great idea?
Anyway, the Calgary Flames are riding this line well and their 13 points per game average is reasonable enough in the OwnersBox format. Honestly, that is rather good considering their salary. All three players are right in the $7,800-$8,200 range. That is not too bad. That sets one back a bit if they try and stack them but it is possible. There is risk with any team that plays Pittsburgh though as the Penguins do play a system that tends to thwart heavy first lines like the Lindholm one.
There are some other ways to use Lindholm and maybe stack one winger and a cheaper defenseman from the Flames. Think like an Oliver Kylington or Rasmus Andersson. Both of them are around $5,000 and will not break the bank. That is the kind of rationale that gets one into the pay zone.
Editor's note: Consider Vladimir Tarasenko who plays five times this week. His price may only be $8,000 but there are enough good matchups to take a shot at this dangled carrot.
OwnersBox Defensemen Picks
Cale Makar, COL ($7,200) - vs NSH, TOR, MTL
Another week rolls on by and Cale Makar keeps on keeping on. He had that stretch where he score multiple goals in back-t0-back games. This Week 8 features at least two prime matchups and some will argue a third with Toronto because it is Colorado. The Avalanche almost have to let their defense do the talking...literally.
Overall, Makar's hot streak has him up to 16 points in 14 games as of press time. That is the fun part. He is averaging over three shots a game and nearly four scoring chances per contest. Even though his dollar total keeps rising in OwnersBox, his point-per-dollar is still rising as well.
Again, it is the role that keeps boosting a player like Makar. One knows what they are getting with the defenseman. For better or for worse, Colorado has to play wide open with Nathan MacKinnon out and even then. When MacKinnon does come back, then there is all the extra point-potential from the reunited top line and the second line. Consider how hot Valeri Nichushkin and especially Nazem Kadri have been. There is potentially another stacking in the making in some form.
Please again note that several nice defensive options are out there this week. Dougie Hamilton plays four times this week and Aaron Ekblad has some nice matchups in his three games. Also, keep an eye on Drew Doughty as he could return as soon as the weekend. Also, Zach Weresnki only inched up to $5,900 and he also plays three times.
From the cheaper bin err pricing section, Jacob Trouba and Dmitry Orlov are again around $4,500 and could provide nearly double-digit point potential this week with favorable matchups.
OwnersBox Goaltender Picks
Tristan Jarry, PIT ($10,700) - vs WPG, CGY, EDM
Tristan Jarry played very well in his last swing through Canada stopping 88 of 89 shots along the way while posting two shutouts.
The goaltender is 9-4-3 in 16 starts with a sterling 2.03 goals-against-average and a nice .933 save percentage. That is far from average for a goalie who feels under siege on an almost nightly basis. The goaltender's career save percentage is .915. He has allowed just 33 goals on the year and faced 492 shots already.
Honestly, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton can all pile on shots. At least Jarry has been a bit rested. He has faced 30 or more shots just twice in his last six starts. That is not so bad.
Jake Oettinger, DAL ($10,000) - vs ARZ, CAR, CLS
The Dallas Stars are starting to wake up and it is a wise idea to try and ride Jake Oettinger as long as one can. Rick Bowness has a goalie who can go on a good run and lately, he has responded.
Gibson is cheaper by goalie standards at $10,000. For goaltenders, that is not as much of a risk as one would think. Is the goaltender going to stay around 23-24 OwnersBox points a game? No. Would 20-22 be reasonable? Probably. The nice part is that Oettinger plays Arizona to start this week and at least the Coyotes do shoot more at home. After that, Carolina is top-five on the road in shots per game.
Another option to watch maybe to just scour for backups who just play once. It is a cheap way to stream then play the swap fee to accumulate more points. For example, Scott Wedgewood is just $9,500 and could make a ton of saves. He projects to play just twice (maybe three times) more than likely but this could be worth it. Among the goalies that play once. Dan Vladar may be worth it. He is $10,500 and will likely draw a very good matchup.
Sample Lineup
Here's a lineup I built using some of the players from this article and yes, this uses almost all but $200 of the $200,000 cap:
OwnersBox Week 8 Lineup
