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.
All six games have some interesting angles on Friday night. Let's try to see what's the best way to attack the slate from a stacking perspective.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes sit in first place in the Metropolitan division. They've won three games in a row and are sixth in goals per game in the league. Things can't be going much better, and they look like that should continue on Friday.
The Canes finally reunited the top line with their three best fantasy players. Sebastian Aho ($9,200) is tied for the team lead in goals, leads in points, and has a four-game point streak. Andrei Svechnikov ($8,100) is the player tied with him in goals with 22 and is eighth overall in shot attempt rate in the league. Teuvo Teravainen ($7,000) has points in six consecutive games since returning from injury. These three make up a majority of the top power-play unit, and Carolina sports the sixth-best power-play success rate in the NHL.
Carolina will be at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight. The Jackets are on a bit of a heater, but there are still reasons to attack them. They've allowed the third-most goals per 60 minutes and are playing on the second night of a back-to-back. They'll be without their top defenseman Zach Werenski once again.
Carolina's implied team total is a healthy 4.12 goals tonight. This means you can add a fourth piece to this stack. The best candidate for that would be Jaccob Slavin ($5,900), who will fill in for an injured Tony DeAngelo as the power-play quarterback. If you need value, the third line of Jordan Staal ($4,100), Nino Niederreiter ($4,900), and Jesper Fast ($3,600) is an affordable line that will see a lot of ice time for not a lot of salary.
Vegas Golden Knights
The new-look Vegas Golden Knights got their first win in three tries with their new lineup. Things started to click into place in Sunday's 4-1 win. On Friday, they'll get an even easier matchup to try to keep it up.
The big story from Sunday's win was Jack Eichel ($5,800) scoring his first goal for the Golden Knights. He also chipped in with an assist and five shots on goal. His salary has not risen to where it belongs, making him a great value. Max Pacioretty ($9,400) had his second-straight two-point game and looks to be out of whatever funk he was in previously. Chandler Stephenson ($5,100) set up Eichel's goal and is an asset to this line with his speed.
Vegas will face the Arizona Coyotes tonight. We know the drill when a team faces the Coyotes by this point in the season. Loading up against them is never too bad, as they've allowed the second-most goals per 60 minutes in the league.
Vegas is a huge favorite in this road game. Shea Theodore ($5,800) is a good player to use on defense with this stack. He had two assists on Sunday and is one of the better offensive defensemen in the league.
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche continue to be a juggernaut in the Western Conference. They are 12 points ahead of any other team in the conference and have scored the second-most goals per game in the NHL. They'll welcome back their superstar center to the lineup tonight.
The Avalanche were able to win on Wednesday without Nathan MacKinnon ($9,800). It looks like he will be good to go in tonight's game. He'll be joined on the top line by his usual Scandinavian wingers, Mikko Rantanen ($9,200) and Gabriel Landeskog ($8,900). The wingers have combined for 51 goals this season and are at their best when playing with MacKinnon. This line has been one of the best in the league for the past handful of seasons and is capable of breaking any slate.
Colorado broke the slate the last time they played the Winnipeg Jets at home, as they will tonight. MacKinnon had five points, Rantanen had three and Landeskog scored a hat trick. Winnipeg isn't terrible defensively, but if the Avs get rolling it really doesn't matter who they are playing.
It will be tough to fit in all three of the top-line players into a lineup, but you can do it with some of the value stacks out there. It's definitely worth playing a value stack if it allows you to fit this high-powered Avalanche first line.
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.