4 Daily Fantasy Hockey Stacks for 10/3/19

When playing NHL DFS -- much like MLB DFS -- stacking is key. Having multiple players from the same team, who correlate together, can bring your lineup upside and help you maximize potential points.

You can roster up to four players from the same team in NHL and you should look to have players from the same forward line or power-play unit together. Shared ice time is the key, as it will maximize their ability to contribute to real-life goals with each other, ultimately leading to more fantasy points for us.

Generally, we don't see late scratches in the NHL, and the team's lines are confirmed at practice or before the game. Two of the best resources for that are LeftWingLock.com or DailyFaceOff.com. That is where you can find updated forward and power-play lines for each team.

Carolina Hurricanes

If you followed the NHL last season, you should remember how exciting the Carolina Hurricanes were, and that won't be stopping this season.

When it comes to NHL DFS, I look for teams who can produce consistently, along with hitting their upside a good amount. On a nightly basis, the slates can be challenging, but the Hurricanes can sometimes be the outlier.

Last season, the Hurricanes were second in the league when it comes to Corsi For. Corsi is a metric that measures shot attempts, not shots on goal per se but total shot attempts. This is one of the key stats to look at, since it essentially boils down to how many opportunities a team can generate in a game. Carolina were the Corsi Gods last season as they were constantly firing the puck on goal, which is ideal for fantasy. They finished second in Corsi For to the Montreal Canadiens, the team they are playing tonight.

We are going to be seeing all the shots tonight, and this could be a good game stack. We'll side with the home team in this one ,and specifically, the second forward line, which is also the second power-play unit. Jordan Staal ($5.1K) centers the second line, flanked by Teuvo Teravainen ($6.6K), and Andrei Svechnikov ($5.1K). Overall, it's not a super expensive stack, which is great when there are plenty of expensive options on this eight-game slate. They have the ice-time correlation we look for since, as mentioned, they are on the power-play together, which is where you can add Dougie Hamilton ($5.3K), a defender who will be a recurring guest on this series.

Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche could be one of the more popular teams to roster tonight, but you shouldn't be shying away from them.

If you are new to NHL DFS, the Avalanche and their top forward line is comparable to the top hitters from the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and so on. You know what they bring to the table -- massive upside and plenty of fantasy points -- but they are very expensive.

That is what we have today with Nathan MacKinnon ($8.7K), Mikko Rantanen ($7.7K), and Gabriel Landeskog ($7.3), the first forward line and on the first power-play together. They will always be one of the most expensive three-man stacks on the slate, regardless of their matchup. But with that price tag comes immense upside, as they all can legitimate account for two or more points -- every single night.

Part of what should make the Avalanche a solid stack tonight and throughout the season is their average defense and goaltending. This team will find themselves playing plenty of higher-scoring games since they don't have a shutdown goalie, thus forcing them to keep their foot on the gas the entire game. A comparison would be a top-line stack from the Boston Bruins, who are also expensive and also very good but have a solid goalie behind them, so they won't need to push for a ton of scoring every night.

This game has an over/under set at 6.5, which is tied for the highest on the slate, so we are in for plenty of offense here.

Buffalo Sabres

On larger slates, I always look for a stack that should come in at lower ownership, and the Buffalo Sabres could be that team tonight.

Usually, we see teams who are road underdogs have lower ownership, which is somewhat natural. The home team has a higher implied team total, ownership will flow towards them and away from the weaker team.

Buffalo is on the road to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins, who finished in the bottom-10 in the league last season when it comes to Corsi Against and should be around the same spot this campaign. The Penguins are going to struggle on defense this season and should find themselves in faster-paced, high-scoring games, which is great for fantasy.

That means we want to target the Sabers, who are very affordable tonight outside of Jack Eichel, who is $7.5K. He is on the first forward line and the first power-play unit, along with wingers Sam Reinhart ($5.3K), Victor Olofsson ($4.1K), and defender Rasmus Dahlin ($5.0K). Given their cheaper price tags and a somewhat sneaky-good matchup as road underdogs, the Sabres appear to be one of the better GPP stacks of the night.

Winnipeg Jets

While the Winnipeg Jets won't be as good this year as they were in years prior, this is still a great spot for them when it comes to DFS.

The Jets are in the Central Division, which is going to be an absolute bloodbath this year. You could put three or four of the teams from that division in the top-10 of the entire league, and the Jets don't make that list. They started to decline in the second half of last year, and that should be a trend which continues this year. They aren't going to be bad, but they likely won't have 99-plus points, which they've had in each of the last two seasons.

Regardless of that, they are in a great spot tonight against the New York Rangers, so let's take a look.

The Rangers made several changes in the offseason and have a very bright future, but it's not here yet. Last season, the Rangers finished as the third-worst team in the league when it comes to Corsi Against, and they should be around the same in 2019-20. They allow far too many shots on a nightly basis, along with being third-worst in the number of High Danger Scoring Chances allowed per 60 minutes. That is a combination you should be looking for, which is why the Jets look so promising tonight.

The four players you should be looking at are split up over the first and second forward lines, but they're all on the first power-play unit together. The first line has Mark Scheifele ($7.6K) and Blake Wheeler ($7.6K), while the second line has Kyle Connor ($6.5K) and Patrik Laine ($7.8K).