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.
We've got more games than usual on a Friday, so we've got a slate with plenty of viable stacks.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes sit in first place in the Metropolitan Division, looking to win it for the second consecutive year. They suffered an injury blow recently when Max Pacioretty tore his Achilles tendon, but they have enough depth among their forwards to stack in a matchup like this one.
The Finnish duo of Sebastian Aho ($8,300) and Teuvo Teravainen ($5,300) are back together at both even strength and on the power play. Aho seems to be flying a bit under the radar with so many players around the league having good offensive seasons, but he has still been solid with over a point per game. Teravainen has had a down campaign, but he's due for some shooting regression, and this is a great chance to buy low on him. Seth Jarvis ($5,200) is fifth on the team in points and is the third member of this line.
You can also stack the second line for Carolina, with Martin Necas ($7,500) being the team's leading scorer. Andrei Svechnikov ($7,200) is tied with Necas for the team lead in goals with 19. Jesperi Kotkaniemi ($4,000) is a great value playing between these two wingers and also plays with Necas on the second power play.
Carolina is at home tonight against the San Jose Sharks. San Jose has been a fun team to play guys from this season, but they likely are overmatched against the Canes. They allow the fourth-most goals per game, mostly due to shaky goaltending.
The Hurricanes have only the fourth-highest implied team total tonight but possess the talent and matchup to be one of the best teams to stack on this slate.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs unfortunately suffered a blow to their lineup earlier today. It was announced that Auston Matthews would be out three weeks after suffering an injury last game. But in this matchup, their remaining players are still worth taking a shot on in fantasy lineups.
We will see John Tavares ($8,600) move up to play in Matthews' spot, with Mitchell Marner ($8,500) and Michael Bunting ($5,800) as the wingers. Marner is tied for the team lead in points with 57, while Tavares and Bunting are fourth and fifth, respectively. Matthews' absence from the first power play allows Bunting to slide up into that spot, giving this line full correlation across the board.
The Leafs will face the Ottawa Senators in Toronto tonight. Ottawa is below average in nearly every defensive category and will likely struggle against this Toronto team, even without Matthews.
Toronto's team total is the highest on this slate. If you want even more exposure to them, Morgan Rielly ($6,000) is back on the first power play and getting a lot of minutes, making him a solid play on defense in Leafs stacks.
Vancouver Canucks
A mess is probably the best way to describe the Vancouver Canucks this season. Some people had optimism for them headed into this season after they closed out last year on a strong run with a new coach. Well, that coach quickly became a lame duck and now is gone.
With all that being said, the reasons for optimism were the deep forward group. We've seen a breakout from rookie Andrei Kuzmenko ($6,500), who remains a good value at this salary. He plays alongside Elias Pettersson ($9,400) at both even strength and on the power play. Pettersson has been great, leading the team with 56 points in 46 games. Playing them with Quinn Hughes ($7,100) on defense makes a lot of sense, as you get three correlated power play pieces, which is hard to do with the way the lines are set up.
The reason we can use Vancouver guys tonight and feel comfortable about it is because they are facing the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus is one of a few teams that's worse than the Canucks defensively, allowing more expected goals and shot attempts per 60 minutes than Vancouver.
Despite not being a good team, Vancouver has players who are fun to roster. You could add on J.T. Miller ($7,300) or Bo Horvat ($8,500) into stacks for an extra power play piece, as Miller has been solid and Horvat is tied for seventh in goals this season.
The Canucks are big favorites and have a 3.68 implied goal total, giving us good reasons to want to stack them tonight.
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.