Saturday's showdown is a single game, TBL @ UTA, with a $50,000 cap and a captain slot that scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary. The slate locks at 9:00 p.m. ET (6:00 p.m. PT).
Brandon Hagel tops the board for our model. At $9,800 he carries a ceiling of 30.5, the highest on the sheet, and a DraftKings average of 18.8. Dennis Hildeby is priced at $9,600 with a ceiling of 24.8 and a 15.1 average, while Nikita Kucherov costs $10,800 and sits at a 25.7 ceiling. Jake Guentzel ($8,400) also posts a 24.8 ceiling, and Mikhail Sergachev ($8,000) checks in at 23.7 for UTA.
The value plays sit lower on the salary scale. Charle-Edouard D'Astous is $3,800 with a ceiling of 16.4 and an 8.7 average, a strong return for the price. Barrett Hayton of UTA costs $4,400 and has a 19.1 ceiling, close to what Nick Schmaltz offers at $8,600 (19.2). Hayton's DraftKings average is 7.7, so the upside is the draw there.
Ownership figures are not available for this slate, so we can't say where the crowd will land. On status, DraftKings lists Victor Hedman (TBL) as DTD, John Marino (UTA) as OUT, and Michael Carcone, Maveric Lamoureux (both UTA) and Yanni Gourde (TBL) as IR. Check those tags before building.
Our model's top lineup spends $49,900 of the $50,000 cap. Hagel takes the captain slot at $14,700. The flex spots go to J.J. Moser ($4,800), Sergachev ($8,000), John Carlson ($8,200), Kucherov ($10,800) and Gage Goncalves ($3,400). The build pairs the top captain option with the high-priced Kucherov and fills out the rest with cheaper defense and depth.
Get your lineups in before the 9:00 p.m. ET lock.
Follow @numeric_dfs on X.