In daily fantasy hockey, stacking is a key strategy in tournaments. We want to correlate our lineups with up to four players to maximize our upside -- if one player on a line is scoring goals, it's likely that his linemates are getting assists, as well.
Ideally, we want players who will get a lot of ice time together on an even-strength line and a power-play line. Two good resources for line combinations are LeftWingLock.com and DailyFaceoff.com, so be sure to check those sites for updated line information.
This slate looks like an interesting one with seven games on it, so let's dig in and find the best stacks.
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers let us down on Monday, only scoring two goals. They were massively outplayed in that game, but that seems very unlikely to happen tonight.
The Oilers look to be sticking to the top line of Leon Draisaitl ($10,200) and Connor McDavid ($10,700) together. This is definitely a two-man stack to target, as it's hard to fit in any other Oiler who correlates with them.
Zach Hyman ($8,200) will be back on the top line with them, and playing him instead of one of the big two makes sense as a way to save some salary. You could also add Tyson Barrie ($5,900) to the stack as a part of the league's third-best power play.
Edmonton gets a much easier matchup tonight than what they had on Thursday. They'll face the Arizona Coyotes at home in one of the best possible matchups. Arizona allows the third-most expected goals and third-most high-danger chances per 60 minutes.
The Oilers have an implied team total of 3.95 goals tonight, and this could be one of those games where McDavid, Draisaitl, or both go nuclear.
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a team that is way more interesting for fantasy purposes than what the standings suggest they should be. They are near the bottom of the Atlantic Division but average the second-most goals per game and have a top line that is fun to stack.
The player that everyone is talking about on the Sabres is Tage Thompson ($10,100). He has 16 goals for the sixth-most in the league and 34 points for the eighth-most. Jeff Skinner ($6,900) has been impressive, as well, with over a point per game this season. Alex Tuch ($7,400) isn't too far behind Skinner in points with 24 and is also a key contributor to this line. This trio makes up the first power play unit, which has been great, as Buffalo sports the NHL's fifth-best power play.
The Sabres will face the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight. Columbus is on the second night of a back-to-back and already really struggles defensively. They've allowed the second-most shots on goal and second-most goals per game this season.
Buffalo's top line is exciting to roster because they've already had eruption games this season, and they could do the same tonight.
Washington Capitals
It has not been the typical season for the Washington Capitals. They've experienced a ton of injuries to key players, and it's made it hard to want to roster them in fantasy. Tonight, the spot is good enough to put them in consideration as one of the better options on the slate.
The Capitals still have a healthyAlex Ovechkin ($8,100), and that makes them enticing. He has a nice piece to correlate with in Dylan Strome ($5,700), who will play with him on the top power play and first line. Conor Sheary ($4,500) is also a value on the first line, but the best piece to play with Ovechkin is John Carlson ($7,500), as he's the defenseman whose job it is to pass the puck to Ovechkin on the power play.
Washington will face the Philadelphia Flyers tonight on the road. The Flyers rank in the bottom five in expected goals against, scoring chances against, and and high-danger chances against. This matchup is perfect for a Washington team to score some goals tonight.
The Ovechkin-Strome combination is not too restrictive in terms of salary used and has the upside we need to justify stacking them tonight.
Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.