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Welcome back RotoBallers! The NHL season heads into November for Week 4 and we have an excellent salary cap contest for you over at OwnersBox!
In case you're not yet familiar, OwnersBox is a fantastic new 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 4 (Oct 30-Nov 5). 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!
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers won two writing awards and received 12 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. A big congrats to our very own Byron Lindeque (Golf) and Jordan McAbee (NASCAR) for both winning Writer Of The Year awards! Be sure to follow RotoBaller's analysis and advice all year long, and win more. Win More With RotoBaller!
$5K Contest Again for Week 4!
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, October 30 at 6:55 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.
Connor McDavid, EDM ($12,000) - vs VAN, SEA, NSH, NYR
No NHL team has been more interesting from an offensive perspective than the Edmonton Oilers. Arguably, they have to score goals because they will allow some. One loves to see a team just play with their foot on the gas pedal constantly. Connor McDavid illustrates that to no end. After all, he can skate at an astonishing velocity of over 26 miles per hour!
The only road game is against Vancouver here and Vancouver can be an abyss defensively. From playing the North Division (that's what it was called last year), McDavid exploited the Canucks' team defense early and often. From there, McDavid and Edmonton enjoy other homestand and get to entertain the new expansion team along with the Predators and Rangers.
Is Edmonton the version of "Team Fun" out West? It's possible. That power play is dynamite at just over 42%. A huge reason why is McDavid. He sets up so much of the offense and honestly, it is because teams are in fear of what he and Leon Draisaitl can do. Keep in mind, McDavid is 24% of the salary cap here and Draisaitl is 22.2%.
Cam Atkinson, PHI ($6,500) - vs CGY, ARZ, PIT
It's been a pretty fun start for Cam Atkinson who is showing a nice ability to finish off plays so far in Philadelphia.
However, this is a player who has scored six goals in six games on 21 shots. Could regression be in order? Absolutely. However, this is a moderate salary and the feeling may be that the assists are coming. His chemistry with Joel Farabee has to be noted and Farabee carries a cheaper salary too.
Arizona has a historically awful penalty kill to start the season. They will be picked apart in weekly matchups throughout the season. What is interesting is that end-of-week matchup with Pittsburgh. If Sidney Crosby is back by then, the fireworks could come offensively.
Editor's note: Consider Kyle Connor if one wants to spend up in salary this week with matchups versus San Jose, Dallas, and Chicago. He is also only $8,100 and Winnipeg may get Scheifele and Wheeler back as well.
OwnersBox Defensemen Picks
Evan Bouchard, ANA ($3,900) - vs VAN, SEA, NSH, NYR
Another week and let's look at a value defenseman first. That is right. Evan Bouchard has a nice floor for the Edmonton Oilers and that is significant with him playing four times this week.
Will three points in six games continue for Shattenkirk? Probably. Furthermore, this price is again a pure-value play. He is averaging three shots and nearly two blocks a game to add to his point totals on OwnersBox.
Again, it is the increasing role that makes Bouchard more and more valuable. The Edmonton defender is playing several minutes more a night than most expected. What is even better is that Bouchard is thriving more and more with time, chances, and pressure. That booming shot will eventually see a few more goals come.
Please again note that several nice defensive options are out there this week. Neal Pionk and Artem Zub head our list. Zub is also just $3,500 and plays three times this week.
OwnersBox Goaltender Picks
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG ($11,000) - vs SJ, DAL, CHI
Connor Hellebuyck has been okay this season so far with some flashes of his Vezina caliber play evident at times. Now, the question is can he do this against a team other than the Anaheim Ducks?
The goaltender is 3-2-1 in six starts with an awful 3.67 goals-against-average and .891 save percentage. That is far from typical Hellebuyck numbers. The goaltender's career save percentage is .916. He has allowed a league-leading 22 goals on the year and faced 201 shots already.
Dallas and Chicago on the road have produced lightly this year which should allow Hellebuyck to put up some points if his form starts to return. Winnipeg could get a boost with the returns of Wheeler and Scheifele.
Ilya Sorokin, NYI ($10,100) - vs MTL
His early start on the season was noticed largely because of the fact that Semyon Varlamov was expected to be ready and.wasn't. This carries risk because New York gets a long rest this week as their 13-game road trip continues.
Sorokin is not all that expensive at $10,100. For goaltenders, that is not as much of a risk as one would think. Is the goaltender going to stay around 27.5 OwnersBox points a game? No. Would 20-22 be reasonable? Probably. The nice part is that if the Islanders allow any shot volume to Montreal, Sorokin should benefit as Montreal averages just over two goals a game.
Another option to watch may be who comes back first for New Jersey. Jonathan Bernier and Mackenzie Blackwood are pretty cheap. Furthermore, Craig Anderson may even be intriguing from Buffalo at $9,900.
Sample Lineup
Here's a lineup I built using some of the players from this article:
