NHL

3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for 3/31/21

The Winnipeg Jets could go overlooked as a team to stack tonight. Which other teams should we target on Wednesday?

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.

This six-game slate features some great offenses to stack, so let's break down how we can go about stacking them.

Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets are having a successful season, as they are just one point out of first place in the North Division. They seem to be a bit underrated because their underlying numbers aren't great, but they shouldn't be ignored. They are fifth in the league in goals per game, ahead of the likes of the Edmonton Oilers, Carolina Hurricanes, and Pittsburgh Penguins. They haven't always made for the best team to stack with how they've run their lines, but a change to that on Monday led to something we can work with.

The Jets won 5-1 on Monday night over the Calgary Flames. They changed their forward lines to the way that was best for fantasy purposes, and it worked wonders.

Mark Scheifele ($7,200) had two goals and an assist in the game. He's up to fifth in the NHL with 43 points this season. His wingers were the two other best offensive players on the team. Kyle Connor ($6,600) had two assists in the game and is ninth in the league with 17 goals. Nikolaj Ehlers ($6,800) isn't far behind with 15 goals, and he had three assists on Monday. Connor and Scheifele will play on the top power play unit together, and the Jets have the fourth-highest success rate on the man advantage this season. Josh Morrissey ($4,500) is very affordable as the defenseman who plays on the power play with them, so he is worth playing in a stack.

The Jets could overtake the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place if they are able to beat them tonight. As is usually the case, the Leafs are the main talking point heading into this game, which could mean the Jets fly under the radar. There are certainly other teams that will garner more attention on FanDuel, including Toronto. With an implied team total over three goals and the possibility for a lower popularity than some other teams, Winnipeg is certainly an intriguing stack tonight.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights are in first place in the West division, and also have the best points percentage in the entire league. This was expected to happen as they were one of three teams that clearly stood above the rest in the division, and the thinking was they would dominate some of the weaker competition they would face eight times this season. That has definitely been the case when they've faced off against Wednesday's opponents, the Los Angeles Kings. They've won four of the five meetings and scored 18 goals in those games. There's no reason why they shouldn't continue their good play against the Kings tonight.

Vegas has kept their top two lines intact pretty much for the entire season when they have everyone healthy. Max Pacioretty ($8,200) and Mark Stone ($7,500) have played together and have been their two best offensive players this season. Pacioretty is tied for sixth in goals in the league with 18, and Stone is tied for seventh in points. They've played this season with Chandler Stephenson ($4,100), who has been respectable with 20 points in 31 games. The power play lines got shuffled around, and now they have Stephenson and Pacioretty together on the second unit with Stone on the top unit, but this line has been doing most of its damage at even strength anyway.

The second line is a fairly affordable alternative way to stack Vegas. Jonathan Marchessault ($6,300), William Karlsson ($5,400), and Reilly Smith ($4,500) combined for four points in Monday's game and will be fully correlated on the power play. Shea Theodore ($6,300) will be on that unit as well as the quarterback, and he's third on the team with 26 points.

The Golden Knights have an implied team total of 3.21 tonight, so if you want to stack either of their top two lines tonight, it's a pretty good strategy.

Colorado Avalanche

Battling it out with Vegas for first place in the West is the Colorado Avalanche. They've been on a roll of late, going 8-0-2 in their last 10 games. Like Vegas, they can feast on most of the teams in their division that just can't compete with their talent. That will be true again in this game on Wednesday, as they face the Arizona Coyotes. Colorado has won four of the six games against the Coyotes, scoring 22 times. Some of those games were without some of their best players, but now this fully operational battle station looks set to destroy any opponents in its way.

After missing a few games in the beginning of March, Nathan MacKinnon ($9,000) has been on a tear. He had two more assists on Monday night, bringing him to 16 points in his last 10 games. He's fourth in the league in points per game and fifth in shots on goal despite missing time. Mikko Rantanen ($8,500) scored again on Monday, and he's now third in the league with 20 goals. Gabriel Landeskog ($6,800) also scored on Monday and is tied for second on the team with 12 goals. Who he's tied with may surprise you, as it's Joonas Donskoi ($3,400).

Donskoi's stellar play of late has earned him a top power play spot, and the spot is right in front of the net where he should get lots of chances to score a goal. He's a good piece to add to this stack to make it unique, as most players might stick to the three forwards that play together at even strength.

The last piece that you could add to a stack would be Cale Makar ($5,800). He seems to be over the injury that kept him out for a few weeks, as he had three assists and four shots on goal in Monday's win. Colorado is the biggest favorite on the night and has an implied team total of 3.35 goals. We've seen how explosive their offense can be, as they've put up eight goals multiple times this season. This makes them a good stack candidate every time they are on the slate.


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.