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.
Just three games start off the week, but this is still a fun slate with good teams to stack.
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are delivering basically what we want from them in fantasy. Their main star players have been fantastic, and they will bring along some other players on any given night and produce tournament-winning performances. Our job as fantasy players is to try to identify how exactly to stack them.
Last week, it was exciting to see Connor McDavid ($10,700) with two even-strength linemates who also played on the power play with him. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($7,900) has stuck on this line, but now they are joined by Jesse Puljujarvi ($3,800), who offers some salary relief.
The night that we saw this, McDavid went off with Evander Kane ($8,700) scoring a hat trick and Leon Draisaitl ($10,300) having five points. With this in mind, any way you want to stack McDavid with a linemate from either the power play or even strength is viable.
McDavid and Draisaitl are the top two scorers in the NHL, so getting them into a lineup together is always a good strategy, even if you have to use some uncomfortable plays at a few positions. Tyson Barrie ($4,600) is a good option on the blue line for power play correlation.
The Oilers will face the Washington Capitals tonight on the road. Washington has been bitten hard by the injury bug, with several players on injured reserve. They still will be without John Carlson on defense, and now Dmitry Orlov is also listed as a game-time decision. This team just blew a 2-0 lead to the Arizona Coyotes and could struggle against an Oilers team that can rack up the goals on any given night.
Edmonton has the players with the highest upside tonight, and they are worth prioritizing when building lineups.
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins have been near perfect this season, at least on the ice. They lead the league with 4.17 goals per game and sport a 10-2-0 record. Tonight, they'll take on a team that has been reeling as of late.
The Bruins have two lines that are stacking options. With Brad Marchand ($8,300) back in the lineup full time now, he forms a fully-correlated first line with Patrice Bergeron ($7,100) and Jake DeBrusk ($7,200). Marchand hasn't missed a beat in returning to the lineup, with four goals in four games.
The second line has Boston's most productive player this season. David Pastrnak ($10,400) has been absolutely on fire to start his contract year, with 19 points in 12 games. He's playing up on the top power play with the first line, but at even strength, he'll play with Taylor Hall ($6,200) and David Krejci ($5,600). Hall and Krejci play together on the second power play unit, and the exposure to Pastrnak at even strength makes them worth considering.
Boston will face the St. Louis Blues in a rematch of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. The Blues have been struggling of late, especially defensively. They've lost six games in a row and have allowed 30 goals in that stretch. On the road in Boston doesn't seem like a time in which they will be able to turn things around.
The Bruins have the second-highest implied team total on this slate, trailing only Edmonton's. If the Blues play as poorly as they have of late, Boston should easily exceed their total tonight.
Washington Capitals
The Capitals are an interesting third team to stack after the clear chalk of the Bruins and the Oilers. Washington hasn't been great to start the season, with a 5-6-2 record and the fifth-fewest goals per game. They still have players we like, though, and have nice salaries to go with it.
We know that the main man on the Caps is still Alex Ovechkin ($8,000). He leads the team with 7 goals and 11 points. Evgeny Kuznetsov ($5,000) has had a rough start to the season, which has caused his salary to drop this low, but he still will play with Ovechkin at even strength and on the power play. Conor Sheary ($4,700) will play with the top line and on the second power play. He's a fine option for a bit of salary relief.
The Oilers haven't exactly been locking things down defensively to start the season. They've allowed 3.5 goals per game, the ninth-highest mark in the league. It wouldn't be the craziest thing in the world to see this game have a ton of goals on both sides.
Ovechkin and company might not be too popular on this slate, with Boston and Edmonton as the obvious best stacks of the night. If you are playing Washington, Erik Gustafsson ($3,700) is near the minimum salary for a defenseman and has stepped into the role of feeding Ovechkin the puck on the power play. He's one of the best value plays on the entire slate.
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.