3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for 3/26/21

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 close out the work week with a small four-game slate, but there are still some good stacks out there that we can use.

St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues were hard-luck losers on Thursday night. They dominated their game against the Minnesota Wild but lost 2-0. They had 68 shot attempts compared to just 30 for the Wild, according to Natural Stat Trick.

This was an encouraging sign for the team going forward, and they shouldn't have the same trouble scoring tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks have allowed 3.32 goals per game, which is the fifth most in the NHL. It doesn't help that starting goaltender John Gibson is hurt, and they've had to use backup Ryan Miller, who has been brutal this season and allowed -9.25 goals saved above average.

The Blues should do better in this game and have two lines that we can stack. The line that's listed as the first line has two players who are still trying to find their feet after returning from injury, and it hasn't been too productive yet.

It was good to see Vladimir Tarasenko ($6,900) have seven shots on goal in the game against Minnesota because when he was at his best he was a high-volume shooter. Brayden Schenn ($5,500) has hit a bit of a slump, but the good news is that he saw 22 minutes last night despite sitting in the penalty box for five minutes. Jaden Schwartz ($5,600) has two assists in the four games since returning from injury and multiple shots on goal in all four.

All of these guys play together on the first power play now with the new way St. Louis has decided to divide the units. They haven't had the production that we are looking for yet, but they are all talented and have proven in past seasons that they can be very effective as a line.

The line that has produced for most of the season has been the second line. David Perron ($7,100) is the team's leading scorer and had nine shots on goal last night. He's been centered all year by Ryan O'Reilly ($7,400), who is second on the team in points. The breakout star of the team this season has been Jordan Kyrou ($4,200), as he has 10 goals and 24 points this season. At just $4,200, he's one of the best values on the slate given his role. He'll play on the power play with both of his even strength linemates, so the correlation is strong with all three of these players.

So these are both viable stacks to use tonight. If you go with the first line, you save a bit of salary, and it could be less popular than the second line if fantasy players are waiting to see it before they buy into it. The second stack might be clicking on a better level than the first line, but it will cost a bit more. With full correlation for both lines and an implied team total of 3.15, both stacks are good options to use tonight.

San Jose Sharks

With the state of the team now, it's hard to imagine that the San Jose Sharks were in the Western Conference Finals less than two years ago. It's also hard to believe that they were one of the best defensive teams in the league that season, given the state of their overall team defense now.

The good thing for fantasy purposes is that they still have players who are capable of scoring goals. Evander Kane ($7,800) showed that on Wednesday with two goals. He's now up to 14 on the season, tied for the team lead. He's always been a player that isn't afraid to shoot, and that's been the case recently as he has 40 shots on goal in the last 10 games.

Logan Couture ($6,600) hasn't had the same recent success with just three points in his last ten games, but he is tied for the team lead with 14 goals. These guys play with one of the more underrated players in the league in Kevin Labanc ($4,600), who is third on the team in points only behind his two linemates, yet his salary is still just $4,600.

What made the Sharks so dynamic in the 2018-19 season was the defensemen they had. Unfortunately, their top two have aged a lot since then. Brent Burns ($6,200) still shows flashes of being the player he once was, but it isn't quite his Norris Trophy winning form of the 2016-17. Still, he's definitely worth playing in a Sharks stack, as he shoots at an above-average rate for a defenseman and will play on the power play with all three members of the first forward line. Erik Karlsson ($4,400) is also on the first power play but has fallen off a lot more than Burns and rarely contributes in fantasy anymore.

It's a good night to get exposure to the Sharks against the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes have not been as good defensively as they had been in the past two seasons, and they allow the third most expected goals per 60 minutes. The Coyotes will also be without their two best goalies Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta, as they are both on injured reserve. Adin Hill will likely be in net, and he's fairly inexperienced at the NHL level.

The Sharks definitely have upside in this matchup, and the fully-correlated top line can produce a few goals tonight.

Washington Capitals

We liked the Washington Capitals last night, so we have to go back to them in the same matchup on a much smaller slate. Some of their players delivered what we wanted on Thursday, but they weren't tournament winners because of some ridiculous performances elsewhere in the league.

Alex Ovechkin ($8,400) had a goal and an assist, now bringing him up to seven goals in his last seven games. Perhaps the more encouraging performance was from Evgeny Kuznetsov ($6,100), as he had two goals in the game. Kuznetsov wasn't shy about shooting the puck like he had been in the past, as he had five shot attempts. Ovechkin was his usual self, as he shot six times, including three that were considered high danger chances.

These two played on the same line as was expected, but they were joined for much of the game by Daniel Sprong ($3,400), which was a surprise. Sprong is an underrated player who has six goals on the season and had two assists last night but doesn't see any power play time.

If you want to get unique with the Capitals stack, you can just play Nicklas Backstrom ($6,700) and Jakub Vrana ($4,600) with Ovechkin for the power play correlation. If you're doing that, you'll also want John Carlson ($6,700), as he is the power play quarterback who had an assist on Ovechkin's goal last night.

The Capitals are definitely a team that you'll want a piece of tonight against the New Jersey Devils. The Devils have the second-worst penalty kill in the league and will face Washington's eighth-ranked power play. Washington has by far the highest team total on the night, as it currently sits at 3.82 goals.

Since they will likely be popular on this small slate, consider mixing in different pieces from the power play to get something that may be different from what the rest of the field will do in their lineups.

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.