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Welcome back RotoBallers! The NHL season hits Thanksgiving Week (in the U.S.) for Week 7 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 7 (Nov 20-Nov 27). 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 received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including Best NFL Series, MLB Series, NBA Writer, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!Again please note the extra Saturday because of Thanksgiving. This is important. Some players will play as many as five times this week.
$5K Contest Once More for Week 7!
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 20 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 ($12,500) - vs CHI, DAL, ARZ, VGK
Few teams have been more fun to watch than the Edmonton Oilers. Connor McDavid is the penultimate reason why. The fact that he has three plus matchups this week and arguably four speaks volumes. Yes, he takes up 25% of cap space on OwnersBox. However, there are always ways to get around that.
The road trip goes to Dallas and Arizona on back to back nights and then Vegas next Saturday. There is that much-anticipated home game against Chicago on Saturday. That could be an up and down goal-fest. For that alone, the risk is worth rostering McDavid.
Now, do not expect McDavid to produce less than 15 points a night here under the OwnersBox format. The question becomes 20? More maybe? There are several chances for the center to pile on the points here. That alone is worth spending up for.
Kyle Connor WPG ($9,200) - vs PIT, CLB, MIN, CGY
It's been some crazy kind of ride for Kyle Connor this season and the debate has begun. He is like an Alex Ovechkin. Why pay $11,500 when one can pay just $9,200? Exactly!
The best part is that Connor enjoys good matchups the whole week, aside from maybe Columbus. Even then, when a winger has a little speed, a propensity to shoot the puck, and gets in great position often, that is a recipe for success. Again, Connor can easily top five shots a game this week. He can pot several goals again as well. It is that kind of upside that makes us happy he is still priced under $10,000.
Winnipeg and Connor has not run out of steam and they may continue to produce above their usual norms. Meanwhile, this is just one of those Week 7 plays that can be stackable with defensemen from the Jets as well.
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
Zach Werenski, CLB ($5,800) - vs VGK, BUF, WPG, VAN, STL
Another week and let's look at a more pricy defenseman first. That is right. While Roman Josi is an option, he is at $7,300 and also plays five times this week. Werenski represents a savings of $1,500 and could get nearly the same production value.
The Columbus blueliner keeps seeing more and more opportunities in all phases -- especially the man advantage. He has several assists there and now is up into the double-digits in real-world points after just 14 games.
Again, it is the role that keeps boosting a player like Werenski. No one cares about any defensive shortcoming perhaps. This is all about points and point potential. There are excellent matchups like Buffalo and Vancouver alone. Both of these teams bleed goals lately. Vancouver's penalty kill is on a level of disaster that Werenski has to be utilized. Even the Blues game could be higher-scoring than expected.
Please again note that several nice defensive options are out there this week. With Bowen Byram injured, Devon Toews has returned and slots in nicely with Cale Makar once again in Colorado. Consider Jakob Chychrun as a buy-low candidate. He is just $4,400 and plays four times this week. Finally, Dougie Hamilton only plays twice in this format but if one has space, spend up with matchups against Minnesota and Nashville.
OwnersBox Goaltender Picks
Robin Lehner, VGK ($11,400) - vs CLS, STL, EDM
Robin Lehner has been seeing increasing volume and now is getting hot at the right time.
The goaltender is 7-6-0 in 13 starts with a solid 2.93 goals-against-average and a nice .917 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 .920. He has allowed just 37 goals on the year and faced a league-high 444 shots already.
Honestly, Columbus, St. Louis, and Edmonton can all pile on shots. Lehner has faced 35+ shots in four of his last five starts. The beat goes on for him this next week while stopping to eat some turkey.
John Gibson, ANA ($10,500) - vs NSH, COL, OTT
The Anaheim Ducks keep playing well and it is still wise to try and roster a goaltender like Gibson because his shot volume against should increase. Gibson can steal games by himself as he nearly did against Carolina on Thursday night.
Gibson is cheaper by goalie standards at $10,500. For goaltenders, that is not as much of a risk as one would think. Is the goaltender going to stay around 25 OwnersBox points a game? No. Would 20-22 be reasonable? Probably. The nice part is that Gibson historically does have a little success versus Nashville and Colorado. The Anaheim goaltender might even see 35+ shots against Colorado.
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 $9,200 and could make a ton of saves. He only plays twice more than likely but this could be worth it. Maybe look at Stuart Skinner who may see a start and is just $9,000.
Sample Lineup
Here's a lineup I built using some of the players from this article and yes, this uses the entire $200,000 cap:
