NHL
3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for 4/13/21

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.

The trade deadline is behind us, so what we see now is pretty much what these teams will look like for the rest of the season. Let's check out some teams that should be in a good position on Tuesday.

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins needed to do something at the deadline. They are holding onto the fourth playoff spot in the East despite their mediocre 5-4-1 record in their last 10 games. They also got destroyed 8-1 on Sunday, with many injuries to their lineup. They got perhaps the biggest prize available for a team that needs offense, and they'll have the perfect opportunity to unleash him on Tuesday night.

The Bruins traded for Taylor Hall ($5,400) on Sunday night, providing a second-line left wing that they have needed for years. Hall has struggled to score this season, but his underlying numbers say he still has been driving play positively for his team, so this should help the Bruins create more offense.

This allows them to reform the perfection line, as it had been split up for the last couple of weeks. Patrice Bergeron ($7,600) had a seven-game point streak before Sunday's debacle of a game. Brad Marchand ($7,900) has also played well lately, with seven goals in his last eight games. The player whose performance slightly dropped off was David Pastrnak ($7,500) after he was switched to the second line. Now that he's back on the top line and on the power play with his linemates, he should get back on track.

Boston now has a very interesting second line that's also useful as a stack. Hall will be playing with David Krejci ($4,800) and Craig Smith ($4,800) on that line. They also will link up and play on the power play together. So this is a very affordable stack that can pay off big time and can be fit into lineups with some other stacks that we like tonight.

The Bruins are taking on Hall's former team in his first game, the Buffalo Sabres. We know the deal with Buffalo -- they are the worst team in the league and have allowed the third most goals per game in the NHL. That was before they traded pieces of their roster, so they could be even worse than what we've seen. Boston's 3.46 implied team total is the second highest on the slate, so stacking either the first or second line is definitely viable tonight.

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers were one of the quiet teams at the trade deadline, making no moves at all. They weren't in a position to try to push for a playoff spot, but they also have a young team with not many pieces to try to sell off. They've played well of late but still find themselves unlikely to make the playoffs, sitting four points behind the Bruins with two fewer games played. The good news for us is that they have many players who are usable in daily fantasy, especially when playing in a good matchup like they are tonight.

The Rangers have some players that have had eruption games. The tricky part is figuring out which ones will do that and using them in a stack. Mika Zibanejad ($7,700) certainly has been one of the main ones, as he has two different six-point outings this season and has seven goals in his last 10 games. He plays with Chris Kreider ($6,200) at even strength and on the power play. Like Zibanejad, Kreider has two hat tricks this season. Pavel Buchnevich ($5,800) hasn't had those monster games and isn't on the same power play unit as his linemates, but he is still a solid contributor who can be played with this line.

The second line contains Artemi Panarin ($8,200), who is definitely capable of putting up big games. He has multiple points in five of his last seven outings and is third in points per game -- behind only Edmonton Oilers superstars Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. Panarin plays with Ryan Strome ($6,600) a lot, and Strome has been consistent of late with 11 points in his last 10 games. This line has also gotten contribution from Colin Blackwell ($3,800), who has six goals in his past 10 games. It would be nice to be able to fit in Adam Fox ($6,100) in any Rangers stack, as the defensemen has been on fire and now is tied for the lead in points among blueliners with 37.

The Rangers will face the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. The Devils are above only the Sabres in the East and have allowed the seventh most goals per game this season. They also sold off players at the deadline, resulting in a weaker team in the short term. This could mean another explosion game for the Rangers, who have scored eight-plus goals three times this season. More realistically, their implied team total is 3.13 goals, and their main players could provide plenty of fantasy points today.

Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals pulled off one of the more surprising trades at the deadline when they acquired Anthony Mantha ($4,700) for Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik, and two draft picks. It was a lot to give up, but Mantha is a good player who could reach another level now playing with better players. Vrana was a key part of the Capitals' forward group as he was fourth on the team with 11 goals, but he seemed to fall out of favor with Peter Laviolette lately with some healthy scratches. The big question is -- how will this affect the Washington lineup?

The first line remains pretty much intact. Alex Ovechkin ($8,500) will skate with Evgeny Kuznetsov ($6,400) and Tom Wilson ($5,200). Kuznetsov was losing time to Vrana on the top power play but now seems to have that job locked down. Wilson had a goal and an assist on Sunday and gets second power-play time, which should still correlate with Ovechkin as the Russian goal scoring machine is on the ice for the majority of the time when Washington owns the man advantage. Ovechkin somehow didn't score in Washington's 8-1 win on Sunday, but he had an assist and 10 shots on goal, which is a height few players in the league can reach.

Mantha will slide in with Nicklas Backstrom ($6,600) and T.J. Oshie ($6,400) on the second line. It feels uncomfortable to stack Washington without Ovechkin, but as we saw on Sunday, they are capable of scoring a lot of goals even if he doesn't get one. So that puts this line in play, as Mantha is a big, talented player who has never played with a playmaker as good as Backstrom. If you wanted to get a really unconventional stack, you could play these three players and add Ovechkin for some power-play correlation.

Washington will go up against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight. The Flyers didn't try to add anything at the trade deadline, content to not make any drastic moves in a season that has gone awry. They've allowed the second most goals per game, bettering only the lowly Ottawa Senators. The Caps are now up to second in goals per game after scoring eight on Sunday and sport the highest implied team total tonight.



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.

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