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.
The dust has settled from the trade deadline, and now, we'll look at teams that are prepared for the stretch run of the regular season.
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators have made their way back into the conversation for a wild card spot in the East. They've won five games in a row and are 7-2-1 in their last 10. They have some players who have been playing great lately and look like stacking options on most slates moving forward.
We thought Ottawa would have one of the deeper forward groups heading into the season, and that's been true. The first line of Tim Stutzle ($8,400), Brady Tkachuk ($8,400), and Claude Giroux ($7,700) has been on fire. Stutzle has eight goals in his last 10 games, while Tkachuk and Giroux have each been over a point per game over that span. These are Ottawa's three leading scorers, and Tkachuk and Stutzle will play together on the first power play.
The second line has two young, dynamic goal scorers who play on the first power play together. Alex DeBrincat ($7,200) and Drake Batherson ($6,400) are certainly worth considering as less popular options at lower salaries. They play on the flanks of Shane Pinto ($4,600), who is a solid rookie center.
Ottawa will be on the road tonight to face the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are trying hard to get the first overall pick this season and traded away tons of pieces to help achieve that goal. They were already a bottom-six team in both goals allowed and shots on goal allowed per game.
The Senators have the highest implied team total on the slate and are the biggest favorites despite being a playoff bubble team on the road. That should speak volumes about how poorly the market rates this version of the Blackhawks.
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers were already the highest-scoring team in the NHL, and then they proceeded to score 11 goals in two games this weekend. We can expect them to continue this torrid stretch tonight.
The Oilers made moves at the trade deadline but nothing that really affects their top forwards. We still are obviously looking to target Connor McDavid ($10,800), who continues to dominate the league. He only has one fewer point than he did last season when he led the league in scoring, and he still has 18 more games left to play.
His best stacking partner is Zach Hyman ($8,300), who will play with him at both even strength and on the power play. The second-best stacking option could arguably be Evan Bouchard ($4,200), as he is a value defenseman who has a new role on the top power play.
There are others to roster with McDavid. It will be difficult to fit in Leon Draisaitl ($10,000) and like the rest of your lineup, but the ceiling on these two players is worth trying to make it work. Ryan McLeod ($3,800) is going to see time on the first line, so he's fine as a punt play. If you want to get unique and have upside, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($8,000) has quietly already recorded a career-high in goals and points and would be fine for the power play correlation.
Edmonton will face the Buffalo Sabres on the road tonight. The Sabres are certainly capable of allowing lots of goals to elite teams, as they allowed seven to the Boston Bruins last Thursday. They always have questions about their goaltending, no matter who is in net.
The Oilers are always a fun team to stack, and tonight's game with a total of seven is no different.
Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres and Oilers are two of the top teams this season and stacking both sides of the game will make sense. Buffalo is third behind Edmonton and Boston in goals per game. We just saw the Oilers play a 7-5 game on Saturday, and such fireworks tonight wouldn't be too surprising.
It's rare in an Oilers game that they don't have the top two goal scorers in the game. That's the case tonight with Tage Thompson ($10,200) playing against Edmonton, as he scored his 42nd goal in his last game. He's playing with Jeff Skinner ($7,600) at both even strength and on the power play. Jack Quinn ($4,600) has stepped up to play on this line with Alex Tuch injured, and the rookie has been solid and offers salary relief.
Edmonton is not a scary matchup to play opposing players against. They have shaky goaltending and penalty killing, being the eighth-worst team when short-handed this season. Overall, their games tend to be high scoring, which is great news for wanting to stack the Sabres tonight.
Buffalo's implied team total is a healthy 3.17 goals tonight despite them being underdogs, and they certainly have slate-breaking upside in this game.
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.