3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for 1/21/21
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, as if one player on a line is scoring goals, it's likely that his linemates are getting assists as well. Ideally, we'll want players that 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 up to date line information.
We will see a few rematches from games we saw earlier this week on this six game slate. So what can we take away from those games and use when stacking on Thursday? Let’s break it down.
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators were not a team I would have anticipated wanting to stack this season. They are expected to be the worst team in the North division and are lacking a lot of star power. But they are appealing to stack tonight for a few reasons.
The first line of Brady Tkachuk ($6,500), Josh Norris ($3,900) and Drake Batherson ($3,400) is very affordable, especially when you consider that these players all play on the first power-play together. They each have three points in three games this season and could definitely continue that in this one.
Ottawa will face the Winnipeg Jets in the second edition of a game we saw on Tuesday. The Sens lost 4-3 in overtime, and this line was buzzing all night. They combined for only two points, but they each had more than six shots on goal and totaled nine high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. Looking at our daily fantasy matchup heat map, we see that the Senators have the fourth highest implied goal total on the slate, despite being underdogs.
This line is rare in that it's a first line with full power-play correlation, and it will cost only $13,800 in salary. This should allow another expensive stack, and running it back with a game stack of some Winnipeg players is also an interesting strategy.
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are off to a bit of a slow start in the North division, sitting in sixth place so far. They were able to pick up a win on Wednesday night, so hopefully that turns things in the right direction. They've had last season's team leader in points, J.T. Miller ($6,900), back for two games, and he has four assists in those two outings. He set up two goals for Brock Boeser ($6,700) last night, and Bosner now has four goals on the season. The center of this line is Elias Pettersson ($6,900), and he's gotten off to a sluggish start with just one point in five games. It isn't something to be too concerned about, though, as Pettersson has shown to be too talented of a player to think that this will continue.
Tonight the Canucks will face the same Montreal Canadiens team that they beat 6-5 in a shootout on Wednesday night, so both teams are playing a back-to-back that went to overtime. That should encourage offense, as tired hockey often leads to bad defense. The game did see 10 regulation goals last night, and the total is up to 6.5. Everything suggests we should get another high-scoring game, and with Montreal favored, they could be the more popular side.
Vancouver's top line should have higher upside than any Montreal line. The Canucks' top line plays together on the top power play and typically sees more minutes than the Canadiens' forwards as Montreal tends to spread the ice time among their group.
The Canucks scored three power-play goals last night, so this unit was really cooking. Power-play quarterback Quinn Hughes ($5,500) is also usable with this stack as he was tied for third in power-play points for defensemen last season as a rookie.
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche are once again the premium stack on this slate. The first line of Nathan MacKinnon ($8,900), Mikko Rantanen ($7,800) and Gabriel Landeskog ($6,800) have been dominant when playing together over the past few seasons. Since the 2018-19 season, they produce a whopping 5.36 goals per 60 minutes when playing together. Of course, that includes power-play time, but it's still relevant because these players will all be on Colorado's top power-play unit. They have been playing at a point-per-game pace or better to start this season, and there's no reason to think they will slow down in their game tonight.
The Avalanche will face the Los Angeles Kings again in a rematch of Tuesday's game. While none of these players quite exploded like we had hoped in that one, MacKinnon did have two assists, and the line combined for four points. They also had 14 shot attempts and six high-danger scoring chances, so the opportunity was there for them to score more. If the power play gets going for Colorado, you'll also want to roster Cale Makar ($5,800), who has three assists on the man advantage already this season. With Colorado's implied team total set at 3.31 today, this first line looks likely to get on the score sheet at least once.
Looking at our projections, MacKinnon is tied for the most projected points of any skater, and Rantanen is fourth among wingers. The salaries are high if you want to get all of these guys in your lineup, but if you use them with some of the Ottawa pieces we discussed, you can make a correlated lineup with a lot of upside.
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.
