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 trade deadline looms over a lot of these teams on tonight's slate. Until then, we'll have to work with the rosters as they are currently constructed for our stacks tonight.
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres have the longest playoff drought in the NHL. They haven't made the postseason since 2011 but now are closer than they've ever been to ending the drought. They'll get a fantastic matchup tonight to continue their playoff push.
The Sabres are led by Tage Thompson ($10,300), who scored his fourth hat trick of the season last week. He's up to 40 goals on the season now, tied for third in the league. Jeff Skinner ($7,700) has five goals and seven points in his last five games and will play with Tage on the first line and power play unit. Jack Quinn ($4,400) is taking over for the injured Alex Tuch and will slot in on the first line as an affordable third piece.
Buffalo is playing against the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight. The only time Buffalo played Columbus this season, they won 9-4, and Thompson scored five goals and added an assist. Obviously, that's not likely to happen again, but Columbus is still one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL and is prone to giving up huge games like this.
Buffalo has the second-highest implied team total on the night and has the kind of explosive upside we want when looking to stack a team.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning had two strange performances over the weekend. They were able to beat the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday but got massively outshot. Then, on Sunday, they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-3. They'll look to bounce back tonight against their in-state rivals.
The Lightning decided to make changes to their lines after not playing great over the weekend. Brayden Point ($8,700) certainly wasn't the problem this weekend; he has four goals and five assists in his past four games. Nikita Kucherov ($9,600) had multiple points in both of the last two games and remains third in the NHL in points. The change they made was to add Alex Killorn ($4,900) to play with this dynamic duo. Killorn is also on the first power play, giving this line full correlation.
Tampa is playing against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. They'll want revenge from the last time they played Florida, which they lost 7-1. The Panthers are still without their top two centers, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett, and allow the 10th-most goals per game this season.
Fireworks are expected in this game with a total at seven. Since Tampa is favored, it gives them the highest implied team total on tonight's slate.
Arizona Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes don't get mentioned in this space too often. Being second from the bottom in expected goals per 60 minutes does not make them an appealing stack on most slates. On this one, they have a great matchup and also have some players in great form.
We saw Clayton Keller ($7,000) and Nick Schmaltz ($6,200) hit a good stretch last season despite the team being completely out of the playoff race for months, and that's happening again this year. Keller has 15 points in his last 10 games and leads the team with 24 goals. Schmaltz has also been a point-per-game player in his last 10, racking up 11 points. These two will play with Barrett Hayton ($4,600) at both even strength and on the power play.
The Coyotes will face the Chicago Blackhawks, who are in full-on sell mode. They shipped out two more players yesterday, and have been trading anything that isn't nailed down. They are on a back-to-back after they lost last night to the lowly Anaheim Ducks and are the fifth-worst team in shots allowed per game and seventh in goals allowed per game.
Shockingly enough, the Coyotes have the third-highest implied team total tonight. Their first line is affordable and fully correlated, making it hard to poke holes in this stack.
Others to Consider
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.