3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for Wednesday 1/25/23
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.
Five games on this Wednesday slate, with one stack standing out above the rest.
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers tend to have roller-coaster seasons of late. They either look unstoppable, with star players carrying their offense, or they look like two guys trying to carry a team of below-average players. Well, Edmonton has now won six games in a row and has a great matchup tonight.
The Oilers will be without Evander Kane and have now loaded up their first line with their three best producers this season. Connor McDavid ($10,700) continues his fantastic season, as he leads the league in both goals and points. Leon Draisaitl ($10,200) is second in points behind McDavid and has 11 points in his last six games. Zach Hyman ($9,200) has quietly been excellent, as well, with 24 goals on the season. It will be very tough to play all three of these guys in the same lineup, but you could add Tyson Barrie ($6,100) in a stack with two of them to get extra power-play correlation.
Edmonton gets the fantastic matchup of facing the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus allows the third-most goals per game due to some of the worst goaltending in the league. Given their defensive personnel, the Blue Jackets will likely struggle to shut down the top two scorers in the league.
The Oilers' implied team total is above four goals, and it wouldn't be too surprising to see them completely blow Columbus out of the water.
Seattle Kraken
It's hard to imagine many people having the Seattle Kraken as one of the top five teams in scoring heading into the season. They've surprised everyone, and they get contributions up and down the lineup. That should continue in tonight's game against a leaky defense.
The first line for the Kraken is fully correlated on the top power-play unit. Andre Burakovsky ($6,500) should be back in the lineup, and he leads the team with 38 points in his first year with the club. He's playing with the second and third leading scorers in Matty Beniers ($6,500) and Jordan Eberle ($6,300). The three pieces of this line use less total salary than any two members of the Edmonton top line, so they are decent value at their tags.
Seattle is playing at home against the Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver is in turmoil, having just made a coaching change that was unpopular with the fans. They were able to win last night, but it will take more than one win against the Chicago Blackhawks to convince people that things are now headed in the right direction.
The Canucks allow 3.91 goals per game, the second-most in the league. Seattle's implied team total trails only Edmonton's on the slate, and with the soft matchup against a team on a back-to-back, the Kraken should be able to score some goals today.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the best teams in the NHL, and unfortunately for them, that means next to nothing to their fans at the moment. The fans just want them to have a deep playoff run for the first time in the salary cap era. Tonight, they will be tested against a tough opponent, but we can still look at some of their star players.
The Leafs made a change to their top line, with Mitchell Marner ($8,500) moving back to his spot from last season. He's tied for the team lead in points this year and thrived in this role last campaign. Auston Matthews ($10,000) is still scoring at nearly a 45-goal pace, but it feels a bit disappointing compared to his 60-goal season last year. He's heating up of late, with six goals in his last six games. Michael Bunting ($5,800) is following up his nice rookie season with a nice second year, and he contributes nicely to this top line.
Toronto is at home against the New York Rangers. The Rangers are fairly stingy defensively, but slowing down Matthews and company is difficult for any team when his line is working its magic. This tough matchup should also keep the Leafs' popularity down.
Toronto has the third-highest implied team total and is a decent favorite, so the oddsmakers certainly believe in them. It seems difficult to click on Matthews with McDavid and Draisaitl in a much better spot, but lots of other fantasy players will think that way. Hockey has a lot of randomness to it, and it wouldn't be a total surprise if Toronto's first line was the best stack on this fairly small 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.
