4 Daily Fantasy Hockey Stacks for 10/17/19

When playing NHL DFS -- much like MLB DFS -- stacking is key. Having multiple players from the same team, who correlate together, can give 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.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights come in with an implied goal total sitting at 3.99, which is the highest on the slate, and among the highest we've seen this season.

What is essentially an implied total of 4.00, the Golden Knights should be one of the most popular teams on the slate, so know you won't be sneaky rostering them or getting them at low ownership. They are at home and facing off against the Ottawa Senators, who are one of the worst teams in the league and we will continue to target them all season long. Ottawa comes in with a 65.4 Corsi Against this season, which is the second-worst in the league. That means they are allowing a massive amount of shot attempts per 60 minutes, something we look for in NHL DFS. Shot attempts aren't 'shots on goal' but they are a good indicator of what teams allow offensive pressure. That is what we are looking for, the opportunity to create offense.

If I'm going anywhere on this Vegas team for stacking, the top option is the second forward line, who are all on the first power-play together. An expensive three-man stack, who have ice-time correlation as a home favorite, with a high implied team total. What more can you ask for? Those three players are Mark Stone ($7,700), Max Pacioretty ($6,900, and Paul Stastny ($5,400). Stone is by far the best player on this stack and currently has a three-game goal-scoring streak going, and has this fantastic matchup to continue it. Oh, he is also facing his former team, so a bit of narrative street as well.

New York Rangers

If you enjoy games with a bit of a storyline, then this is the matchup for you.

The New York Rangers are on the road to take on the New Jersey Devils, where the over/under is set at 6.5 and both teams have implied goal totals over 3.00. Both teams are not good on defense and we should see plenty of offense, simply for the fact it could be a sloppy game. The storyline mentioned above is the fact that the number one and number two pick from the past draft -- Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko -- are facing off for the first time. The Devils' and Rangers' picks, respectively, were the elite class of the draft and now have a cross-town rivalry for many years to come.

While the headlines might be about them, we want to be looking towards the Rangers top forward line as a stacking option tonight. That top line of Mika Zibanejad ($7,600), Artemi Panarin ($7,800), and Pavel Buchnevich ($5,300) are truly in a good spot due to a depleted Devils' top line. New Jersey's top center Nico Hischier is out for this game, which means 18-year-old, 170 lb, Hughes, will be at the center of the top line, tasked with stopping Zibanejad and Panarin, two dynamic offensive players.

The Devils are allowing over 4.5 goals per game to start the season and with the lack of quality defensive options on both sides -- for the most part -- a full game stack is fully viable as well.

Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets are moneyline home favorites -- -122 -- have an implied team total over 3.10, and possess the correlation we are looking for.

They check all the boxes tonight, yet, I'm not entirely sure they are going to be super popular on this nine-game slate. The Golden Knights and Calgary Flames check those same boxes and frankly, are simply better teams. If there is going to be lower ownership on the Jets tonight, they make a very viable stacking option for tournaments. They are up against the New York Islanders, who, surprisingly, are fourth-worst in the league when it comes to Corsi Against sitting at 61.31. I say "surprisingly", since they were among the best teams defensively last season and this is not what we expect from them. But if we take a look at their forward pairings, we see they are all rated 14th or worse, with three of the four lines rated 24th or worse.

If this is a sign the tides are turning against the Islanders, we want to attack them with a very dangerous top forward and top power-play unit from the Jets. That line is Mark Scheifele ($8,200), Blake Wheeler ($7,300), and Patrik Laine ($8,000). As you can see, this is a very expensive stack, and up there as one of the most expensive three-man stacks on the entire slate. So, we have a team that has a good but not great team total, are very expensive, have a solid matchup, why are we not considering them as a top option tonight? This isn't to take anything away from Vegas -- who are in a great spot -- but don't be surprised if this line posts multiple points tonight.

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are at home to host the always dangerous Tampa Bay Lightning, in what could be the game of the night.

With an implied goal total of only 3.07, the Bruins don't really move the needle tonight, but I have some interest in them. The matchup -- on paper -- is tougher one, but the season has started a bit slow for the Lightning, who are allowing three goals per game on average. Not horrible, not amazing, but if we look a bit deeper, we see the Lightning are the third-worst in the league in Corsi Against, and eighth-worst in the number of High Danger Scoring Chances allowed per 60 minutes. Hmm. If we see a team who is that bad on defense, but aren't giving up a ton of goals, it seems they are due for a bit of negative regression. The number of goals they have given up should be higher compared to the number of shot attempts they are allowing per game.

There are nine teams tonight who have higher implied goal totals ahead of the Bruins. If there is even a chance the Bruins top line is going to come in lower owned, it's actually too good to pass up. There might not be another line in the entire league that I would want at potentially lower ownership. Patrice Bergeron ($7,300), Brad Marchand ($8,200), and coming off a four-goal game David Pastrnak ($8,500). At home means second line change for the Bruins, which should put this fully correlated stack in the ideal matchups on the ice.