3 Daily Fantasy NHL Stacks for Friday 2/24/23
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 -- if one player on a line is scoring goals, it's likely that his linemates are getting assists, as well.
Ideally, we want players who 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 updated line information.
We close out this week with six games on a Friday, which gives us a nice slate with three great offenses to stack.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes are one of the teams rumored to be making a big splash at the trade deadline. For now, they have a lineup good enough to stack on most nights.
The Hurricanes made a change to their top line last game, and it worked very well. They put Andrei Svechnikov ($7,200) up on the first line, and he exploded with two goals and an assist. He's now playing with Sebastian Aho ($7,900) at both even strength and on the power play. Aho leads the team in goals and points per game this season. Seth Jarvis ($5,500) is the third member of this line and had the best game of his career last week when he scored a hat trick.
You can also stack Carolina's second line. It contains their leading scorer, Martin Necas ($7,400), and a correlated power-play piece in Jesperi Kotkaniemi ($4,000). You also will get to play Teuvo Teravainen ($5,800) with this stack, and he holds down a spot on the first power play.
The 'Canes will be at home tonight, as they face the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa is in the bottom half of the league in most defensive metrics. On top of that, they are a team with nothing to play for down the stretch, and they're going up against a motivated Carolina squad that can win the Metropolitan Division.
Carolina's implied team total is currently the second-highest on tonight's slate, putting either of their top two lines in play.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have looked pretty good since making their big move last week. They now have two very interesting lines to stack, with dangerous players on both.
The first line has the star everyone wants to roster, Auston Matthews ($9,900). Matthews and William Nylander ($8,800) will play together on the first line and top power play. They are the team's top two goal-scorers this season. They also continue to get good contributions from Michael Bunting ($6,000) while playing at even strength.
The second line was the slate-breaker on Tuesday. Ryan O'Reilly ($4,700) scored his first three goals as a Maple Leaf. Mitchell Marner ($7,900) had five assists, and John Tavares ($8,000) recorded a goal and three assists. This gives us proof that O'Reilly doesn't need to be on the power play to go off in the same game as his linemates.
Toronto will face the Minnesota Wild. It isn't an easy matchup, but the Wild just played last night and have to cross the border to go to Toronto. Minnesota has struggled against the elite Eastern Conference teams this season, a category Toronto certainly fits under.
The Leafs are big favorites in this game and have the fourth-highest implied total of the night.
Buffalo Sabres
It can be dangerous to fall for a team and line that just went off last night -- they are on a back-to-back and could be popular. That feels unlikely for the Buffalo Sabres, and they are in a sneaky-good spot.
It was once again the TNT show last night, as Tage Thompson ($10,000) scored his fourth hat trick of the season. He's now third in the NHL with 39 goals and passed last season's career-high of 38. Jeff Skinner ($7,400) had two assists last night and has six points across his last four games. Alex Tuch ($7,800) had a stretch of three-straight games with a goal and an assist end last night, and he's second on the team with 27 goals.
Buffalo won't have a rough travel day for their back-to-back, as they will go from Tampa to playing against the Florida Panthers. Florida will be without their top two centers in Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett. This will hurt them defensively, especially since Barkov's line presumably would have matched up with Tage's line.
Florida already allows the ninth-most goals per game, while Buffalo scores the third-most. The Sabres are big underdogs in this spot, which is why many will overlook them. We can get a high-powered, fully-correlated line at low popularity in a matchup that's better than people think, making this Sabres' stack very intriguing.
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.
