NHL

4 Daily Fantasy Hockey Stacks for 2/25/20

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.

Washington Capitals

A tale as old as time, the Washington Capitals with a high implied team total and a strong choice for a stack tonight.

Sitting at 3.70, the Capitals hold the third-highest implied team total on the board along with being a -195 home favorite against the Winnipeg Jets. The Nashville Predators actually hold the highest implied team total -- 4.05 -- tonight, but it sucks to talk about them, so I'm not going to do so. The Capitals are a substantially better offensive team and they simply have better players to trust. Over the weekend, we saw Alex Ovechkin ($9,000) score his 700th career NHL goal, and he is a great option as always.

But Ovechkin is not where this stack is going to start, it begins with the second forward line. Nicklas Backstrom ($6,400), T.J. Oshie ($6,800), and Jakub Vrana ($5,300) are the three skaters on the second forward, who are all on the first power-play unit -- alongside Ovechkin. Going with a four-man stack from the Caps is a great idea tonight, and starting it with the second forward line -- compared to the first line, who doesn't have full correlation -- brings you plenty of upside in tournaments. If you add Ovi to the stack as the fourth player, you get exposure to the first forward line.

Philadelphia Flyers

The trade deadline was yesterday and the Philadelphia Flyers made a few smaller moves, but their top units remain the same.

This is always a tricky time of the year for NHL DFS, since forward lines and power-play units can be changing on a daily basis with new players. For the Flyers, the players they added shouldn't impact the power-play units, so it's business as usual for them. They come in as -210 home favorites -- the second-largest home favorites tonight -- and are taking on the lowly San Jose Sharks. We should be seeing Aaron Dell in net for the Sharks tonight -- making this an ideal matchup. The Sharks were sellers at the deadline, trading away some of their better players. They weren't good to begin with, and the players who were valuable are now gone. Dell also comes into this game having allowed three goals or more in four of his last five games.

The Sharks' defense is looking more like a bunch of fish this season, so let's stack the Flyers' first power-play unit. Travis Konecny ($6,400), Claude Giroux ($7,700), Sean Couturier ($7,400), Jakub Voracek ($6,000), and Ivan Provorov ($4,500) are the five players on the first power-play unit -- who come in with 24 points and 56 shots in their last five games. Mix and match whatever players fit into your lineup, they are all great options.

St. Louis Blues

I like the St. Louis Blues tonight, but why?

Among the top teams on tonight's slate -- the Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Boston Bruins -- the Blues are a clear step behind in the caliber of offensive players. Most people would agree the other teams simply have higher skilled players, and you can say the same about the Edmonton Oilers -- who are right behind the Blues tonight -- and this makes St. Louis very interesting tonight. If there is a chance the Blues are going to be lower-owned, you should be willing to take a shot with them in tournaments. It also helps that their salaries are a bit cheaper compared to the other top teams, making roster construction that much easier.

Is the matchup even that good? Yes. It's good, great, grand! They are at home to host the Chicago Blackhawks, who sit among the bottom five teams in the league in Corsi Against (Shot Attempts Created), Expected Goals Against, and the number of High-Danger-Scoring-Chances-Allowed per 60 minutes this season. Brayden Schenn ($5,700), Jaden Schwartz ($5,500), and Ryan O'Reilly ($6,600) comprise the first forward line, along with being on the first power-play together.

Maple Leafs at Lightning Game Stack

This game is the elephant in the room tonight and we have to address it.

The over/under is sitting at 7.0 -- the highest on the slate -- and features the two highest-scoring teams in the league, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Lightning. We are in a spot where you should be looking to get plenty of exposure to this game, and a game stack is extremely viable tonight and has paid off in the past. Over their last eight games against each other, these two teams have scored six goals or more six times, according to KillerSports. This is the clear best game on the slate and we have options on both sides to pick from.

The top players for both sides are very clear, Nikita Kucherov ($8,300), Steven Stamkos ($8,600), Brayden Point ($7,500), and Victor Hedman ($6,100) for the Lightning. While we have John Tavares ($7,200), Auston Matthews ($8,700), Mitchell Marner ($7,200), and William Nylander ($6,400) for the Maple Leafs. Even though the Leafs' offense looked like a pile of shit over the weekend and lost to a Zamboni driver, they have the players to get it done.

Clearly, you cannot fit all of those players in the same lineup and you will need some savings from either side. Denis Malgin ($3,200), Zach Hyman ($5,100), and Alexander Kerfoot ($3,800) are cheaper options from the Maple Leafs. Then look to Anthony Cirelli ($5,000), Blake Coleman ($4,300), and Ondrej Palat ($4,9000) for the Lightning.