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.
We've got an interesting four-game slate on Monday, so let's see which stacks we should use.
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets have had a lot of ups and downs to start the season. The epitome of that would be their last two games. They got beat down by the Minnesota Wild on Friday 7-1, and come back on Saturday to beat one of the best teams in the league season in the Calgary Flames on the road. Luckily, they have a pristine matchup to be up rather than down tonight.
There have been many moving parts for the Jets this season due to injuries and COVID. Now, they've reunited a powerful line that is great for daily fantasy players. Mark Scheifele ($6,200) is back on the top line, and comes at an affordable salary. He continues to play with Blake Wheeler ($5,000), who picked up two assists in the first game with this line back together. The real star for Winnipeg this season has been Kyle Connor ($8,900), and his two goals on Saturday put him up to 14 on the season.
The Jets face the Arizona Coyotes at home tonight. Arizona has picked up a few wins of late but is still one of the worst teams in the league. They are in the bottom 10 in most defensive metrics, including allowing 3.57 goals per game. Arizona's penalty kill is second from the bottom in the league, so Winnipeg's fully-correlated top line could feast with the man advantage.
Winnipeg stands out above the rest of the teams tonight with their implied team total currently at 3.43 goals. The pieces we want have salaries that are more than fair aside from Connor's high number. Connor Hellebuyck ($8,000) also has a great salary at goalie considering the Jets are -330 favorites. He can be added to this stack, or you could use defenseman Neal Pionk ($4,600) for more power-play correlation.
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames have impressed all season long. They are second in the Pacific Division and have been playing a different brand of hockey than many expected. Many thought that they would play boring hockey, and while they've been good defensively, they've also been scoring goals. They look to continue that on Monday.
The Flames' top line has been one of the best in hockey and works well for our purposes in daily fantasy. Johnny Gaudreau ($7,600) has been back close to his best with 25 points in 21 games. He's been playing with Elias Lindholm ($7,700) and Matthew Tkachuk ($7,000) all season. These are the top three scorers on the Flames and are also the top three in shots on goal. They all play together on the power play, which is the seventh-best unit in the league.
Calgary is at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. The Flames beat the Penguins 4-0 in Pittsburgh earlier this season. The Penguins are coming off a 6-3 loss on Saturday and now have to hit the road. This could be a tricky spot for them, so stacking Calgary against the Pens makes sense.
The Flames' have the second-highest implied team total of the night. With the way their first line has been playing, they are in play as a stack on most slates.
Buffalo Sabres
The off-the-board stack of the night would be the Buffalo Sabres. They have a few things going in their favor that make them intriguing tonight. We saw last week that they do have enough upside to break a slate, and we can hope for that again if we roster them tonight.
The Sabres stand out above teams like the Montreal Canadiens, Seattle Kraken, and Vancouver Canucks because of their correlation. When the Sabres score goals, it's usually through their top line. Victor Olofsson ($5,900) is back and has 13 points in 14 games this season. Tage Thompson ($4,700) has taken a while to find his feet in the NHL after being a decent prospect, but he now has 10 goals in 21 games this season. Jeff Skinner ($4,500) is having a bounce-back season after last year couldn't have gone much worse, and now that he's on the top line, he looks to be a good option for this stack, too.
The Sabres play host to the Kraken in this game. Seattle has been playing better of late but has struggled mightily with their goaltending. They have allowed the fourth-most goals per game in the league this season.
The value offered by this line stack is solid, and they can fit nicely with Calgary or Winnipeg -- clearly the top two stacks of the night. Buffalo likely won't be rostered too frequently, so that's another benefit to playing their first line and being different in one spot while accepting chalk in another.
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.