3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for Thursday 11/4/21
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, as if one player on a line is scoring goals, it's likely that his linemates are getting assists as well. Ideally, we'll want players that 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.
Nine games await us on Thursday, so we have a lot of choices for stacks. Let's pick out the three of the best.
Boston Bruins
We haven't been able to play the Boston Bruins too much this season, as they haven't been decent favorites on many main slates. They also haven't played a ton of games, as no one has played fewer than their seven. If you've been waiting to deploy a Bruins stack, this is a great spot to do it.
The most productive player on the Bruins to start the season has been Brad Marchand ($8,800). He has four goals and four assists through the first seven games. David Pastrnak ($8,600) is averaging more than four shots per night but has yet to have a true breakout game. That outburst should be coming with his level of shot volume, and he's been one of the best goal-scorers in the NHL over the past three seasons. The center for this line is Patrice Bergeron ($6,700), who comes in at a slight discount after starting the season slowly with just three points.
The Bruins play at home against the Detroit Red Wings in a divisional matchup. The Red Wings have shown promise through their young talent but still have a long way to go, especially defensively. They rate poorly in nearly every defensive metric, including allowing the most high-danger chances per 60 minutes and the second-most expected goals per 60, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Boston has the highest implied team total on the slate, and this is a great chance for the "Perfection Line" to start clicking.
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers could currently be in the most optimistic time period in franchise history. They've had a talented core for a few years, and they've found discarded talent from other teams to fill in the gaps and make a really strong club from top to bottom. They lost for the first time on Saturday, but they are still one of the top stacks tonight.
The Panthers have kept the first line intact with new coach Andrew Brunette. Aleksander Barkov ($8,200) is still playing with Carter Verhaeghe ($4,900) and Anthony Duclair ($5,100). Duclair is a great value as he leads the team in goals with six.
The second line remains in play, even if Sam Bennett will not play in this game. He will be replaced by another Sam, Sam Reinhart ($6,800), on both the second line and first power play. He'll play with Jonathan Huberdeau ($8,300) and netted 25 goals in last year's shortened season, so he's worth considering even if the salary is a bit high. You can add on Aaron Ekblad ($7,000), who has been one of the best defensemen in fantasy hockey to start the season, as he's tied for the lead in goals for blueliners.
Florida gets a game against the Washington Capitals that well be tough, but they've played well in games against teams like the Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning and have been strong in every game so far. Their implied team total is the second-highest on the slate, so oddsmakers don't see them having a ton of trouble scoring goals in this one.
Ottawa Senators
If you want an off-the-wall contrarian play, you can look to the Ottawa Senators. If you dig into the numbers, it doesn't feel as bad as it might at first. We can use the stigma of Ottawa being a bad team for the past few years to our advantage and perhaps get a high-powered stack that not many people are on.
The Sens' first line has been impressive thus far. Josh Norris ($6,200) has six goals this season, the third-most in the NHL. Drake Batherson ($6,300) showed his upside last week with a hat-trick and leads the team with 10 points. Brady Tkachuk ($7,200) is still trying to find his feet after missing training camp and the first few games with his contract dispute, but he's one of the best in the league at producing expected goals.
Ottawa is taking on a Vegas Golden Knights team that is without three of their top-six forwards. They got even thinner at forward on Thursday when they traded Peyton Krebs in the deal that saw Jack Eichel move to Vegas, but of course, Eichel won't be available for months. Being short-handed has really hurt them defensively, as they allow the most expected goals per 60 minutes in the league.
Ottawa's first line offers full power-play correlation, which is good because their power play is clicking at a solid 23.3% clip so far. Thomas Chabot ($5,200) leads the league in ice time per game and loves to shoot, so $5,200 is a more-than-fair salary. I don't think Ottawa stacks will be popular, and this is a nice chance for them to have a big game.
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.
