NHL

2 Daily Fantasy Hockey Stacks for 1/10/20

Thomas Vecchio  —  @Tom_Vecchio1 Jan 10th, 2020
The Avalanche are back at home and offer some of the best skaters on the slate. Can you afford to pay for them with only three games tonight?

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.

Colorado Avalanche

We have only three games on tonight's slate and a few expensive teams to pay up for, one of which is the Colorado Avalanche.

They come in with a 3.22 implied goal total tonight -- the second-highest on the slate -- and are at home to host the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Avs have only won three of their last 10 games but are still one of the best teams in the league and have the fourth-highest scoring offense this season. A slight dip in wins, but their top line is still producing plenty of fantasy points, and that is what we are always after, regardless of the game outcome. In their last five games, Nathan MacKinnon ($9,200), Gabriel Landeskog ($7,200), and Mikko Rantanen ($8,100) have posted 16 points and 58 shots.

They are one of the most expensive stacks on any given slate -- and even more so with only three games -- making roster construction tougher on tonight's slate but not impossible. All three of these skaters are on the first power-play unit together, bringing full ice-time correlation. Whether you are playing one lineup tonight or going with 150, getting exposure to the Avalanche's top line should be a priority.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes are the largest home favorites (-195) tonight, facing a team on a back-to-back. Going to a large home favorite is a trend in all DFS sports, so we want to lean on that even more with a short slate.

They are facing the Arizona Coyotes, who got shut out last night in Tampa Bay. Facing two strong offensive teams two nights in a row is never easy, and we should see plenty of scoring from the Canes. Right now, the Coyotes are sitting as the seventh-worst team in the league for Corsi Against (shot attempts allowed), and the Hurricanes are the fourth-best in Corsi For (shot attempts created). We have two teams that are on opposite ends, presenting a big opportunity for the Canes.

In an effort to ease roster construction tonight, we should look at the Hurricanes' third forward line. Not a spot I often go, but one of the skaters is on the first power-play unit, while the other two are on the second power-play unit. There is upside here, but it's clearly a tournament option only.

Those players are Ryan Dzingel ($4,600), Martin Necas ($3,600), and Erik Haula ($4,700), who aren't expensive at all tonight. On top of all that, they have been scoring recently, with 11 points in their last five games, compared to 12 points from the Canes' first line and 8 points from their second line.