3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for 4/14/21

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've got a smaller five game Wednesday slate, which looks similar to Monday's slate. Let's see which teams are in the best spots tonight.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights have lost a bit of their shine from earlier in the season. They are four points out of first place in the West, and have been trending down to the point where it looks like they won't be able to overcome that deficit. They weren't able to do much at the trade deadline because of their salary cap, so they have to go with what they have. What they have is still one of the best teams in the league, as they showed on Monday and should be able to show again tonight.

Vegas will take on the same Los Angeles Kings team that they played on Monday. They went down 2-0 in that game, but came storming back to win 4-2. Vegas definitely had the better chances in the game, creating 4.42 expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick. The first line for Vegas had been quieter than normal in recent games, but had a good showing on Monday. Max Pacioretty ($7,500) had a power play goal on four shots. Mark Stone ($6,800) had an assist on that goal, and added a shorthanded goal of his own. Chandler Stephenson ($3,700) had the assist on that shorthanded goal, and his four shots to go with it went a long way to paying off his low salary.

Stone and Pacioretty each have seven points in the seven meetings with the Kings this season, albeit Pacioretty missed one of those games. Stephenson has proven to be serviceable in his role as the center of these two players, so the salary savings you get from rostering him makes him a good part of the stack. They are fully correlated on the power play as well, so they can contribute in multiple facets of the game as we saw on Monday.

The matchup against the Kings is a good one for Vegas. The Kings' solid play from earlier in the season has deteriorated, especially defensively. They've now allowed the second most expected goals per 60 minutes in the league. That's good news for Vegas, who average the second most expected goals-for per game. The Golden Knights have an implied team total of 3.21. That's the second highest on tonight's slate, so they should definitely be in consideration as a stack.

San Jose Sharks

In this season more than any other in NHL history, we are seeing teams play against each other in back-to-backs, or even three or four game sets of games. It's important to look at what happens in those games, and also what we should carry over to the next game and what we should ignore. On Monday, the San Jose Sharks lost to the Anaheim Ducks 4-0. It might be tough to go back and roster Sharks' players after that game, especially considering the Ducks had their third string goalie in net. However, there are some reasons to expect some different outcomes for Wednesday's game.

The Sharks completely dominated the game from every aspect, except the score. They had 78 shot attempts to just 34 for the Ducks, and created 24 high-danger chances and 4.58 expected goals. Logan Couture ($6,000) had five high-danger chances on his own. His linemates, Evander Kane ($7,300) and Kevin Labanc ($4,400) combined for 14 more shot attempts, for a dominant possession performance from this line. These guys have actually been slumping in the scoring department lately, but if they continue to get chances like they did on Monday, they are primed for an explosion soon.

This line makes up three of five players on the first power play, with the defenseman on the unit being Brent Burns ($5,700). Burns isn't quite the fantasy asset that he was a few years ago, but he did have six shots on goal in that game. He's worth playing if you want to stack the Sharks. The oddsmakers are expecting the Sharks to have better results in this game, as their implied goal total is 3.09, the third highest on tonight's slate.

Winnipeg Jets

Like the Sharks, the Winnipeg Jets were mostly disappointing on Monday night. Some of their players were among the most popular on the slate, and they didn't really deliver like we would have wanted. They ended up losing the game 4-2, and you can't say they were the team dominating the game like the Sharks did. The good news is that the Jets have shown that they don't need to dominate possession in games to score goals, with the offensive talent they have in their lineup.

It wasn't all bad from Winnipeg on Monday. Kyle Connor ($6,600) had a goal and four shots, and he's now tied for ninth in the NHL in goals. Mark Scheifele ($7,200) assisted on that goal, and he sits eighth in the NHL in points. They are joined by Andrew Copp ($4,200) at even-strength, after Copp's hot stretch of eight goals in his last 10 games. Connor's goal came on the power-play, where he and Scheifele often link up. Josh Morrissey ($4,100) also had an assist on that goal, as the power-play quarterback on that unit.

The forwards on that line made up three of the top seven in popularity on Monday's slate. Even though they didn't produce anything spectacular, they will likely be popular again on a slate with fewer options. To get some less popular options on the Jets, you can look to the second line. Nikolaj Ehlers ($6,600) has a goal in three straight games and is second on the team in points. He has a pair of affordable linemates in Paul Stastny ($4,600) and Pierre-Luc Dubois ($4,800), with Dubois correlating with him on the power play. They certainly are an alternative option to the first line that is likely to be chalky.

The Jets get the same matchup that they had on Monday, facing off against the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa has allowed the most goals per game in the league. The Jets' best players, Scheifele, Connor, and Ehlers all have scored more than a point-per-game in the seven meetings with Ottawa this season and should be able to continue their success in this matchup. Winnipeg's implied team total of 3.67 is the highest on the slate by a wide margin, so this is a great spot to go back to them.

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.