DFS Saturday: Shark Stack
Stephen Dotzel
2023-01-21
Another Saturday and another large slate available to us for daily fantasy. This week the slate features 11 games, down slightly from the 13 we had last week, but a big one none the less. We have no shortage of firepower here either with teams like Toronto, Edmonton, and Colorado on the schedule. After reading this article, be sure to head over to DFS Central to give the tools a look and see what players our formulas are liking. For my teams, I'll be starting my lineups with some of the options I'll run through below. The player prices are from DraftKings, but the information and concepts can be applied to any site.
Top-Tier Stack to Pay Up For
I touched on the Canucks struggles in the article last week, and things haven't gone much better in Vancouver as of late. The team is now in the midst of a stretch where they've lost nine of their last 11 games and just had to chase around a pretty potent Avalanche team last night. Seeing Connor McDavid ($9,700) come to town when you're in the middle of a back-to-back is not ideal. The Oilers are red hot having won five straight while averaging 5.4 goals per game. McDavid is obviously a must when stacking Edmonton but you'll also want to include Leon Draisaitl ($8,100) along with one of Evander Kane ($7,200), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($6,200) or Zach Hyman ($7,800). Kane figures to join the dynamic duo at even strength while Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman should see ice time with them on the power play.
Mid-Tier Stack to Target
The Blue Jackets are another team that are really struggling at the moment, having lost 15 of their last 18 games. Over the last two weeks no team has allowed more shots than Columbus and only three teams have allowed more goals. This sets up well for a Sharks team who's not exactly having the best season themselves but has some scoring threats on offense than can put up tournament winning scores when things go right. Leading the way there is Timo Meier ($7,900) who has scored double-digit DraftKings points in 13 of the last 15 games, good for an average of 16.2 points on the season. Stack him with Tomas Hertl ($5,500) and Logan Couture ($5,100) as they are your best bets to aid in any scoring, beyond the pricey Erik Karlsson ($7,400), on this Sharks team.
Cheap Stack to Build Around
It's not easy finding value tonight amongst teams that are favored to win, but I think there is some to be had in St. Louis. The Blues are -250 money line favorites which as of this writing is the third-best mark on the board. In other words, Vegas likes them to win their game and somewhat comfortably at that. We can use that to our advantage and try to pick off a few guys for our lineups that are likely to contribute to that winning effort. Jordan Kyrou ($7,600) would be the default pick but considering this is the "cheap" section of the article, he is out of our price range. Instead, I'm looking at the second line of Brayden Schenn ($4,200), Pavel Buchnevich ($5,500) and Jake Neighbours ($2,500). Over the last five games, Buchnevich and Neighbours are tied for the team lead in goals at two apiece and Schenn has kicked in another goal of his own. Buchnevich and Schenn also see top power-play minutes given all the injuries to the Blues forwards at the moment, which gives that duo some upside if things break their way in the penalty department.
Goalies
I typically like to correlate my goalie in my lineups with one of my stacks, but if you're looking for a standalone option, consider Ilya Sorokin ($7,200). Sorokin has been one of the top goaltenders all season as evident by his .926 save percentage and has racked up at least double digit DraftKings points in nine of his last 11 starts. He is priced as the 19th best goaltender on a slate with 26 teams, a number that's insulting to the season Sorokin has put together. The matchup with the Canes tonight isn't overly intimidating and Sorokin will have the benefit of being on home ice in this one.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @SteveDotzel so you can follow my "DFS-NHL" list which is comprised of dozens of team accounts and beat writers providing important updates throughout the day. Best of luck with your lineups!