The NHL’s Monday schedule is already off to a strange start with a postponement in Los Angeles due to weather keeping the Kings away from their scheduled meeting with the St. Louis Blues. There’s also an afternoon game between the Lightning and Predators, which leaves eight other games for the main contests. A few underpriced teams have especially strong matchups today, and we’ll focus on those stacks below to get you ready for Monday’s slate, which locks at 7:00 p.m. ET on DraftKings.
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Top Stacks
Florida Panthers
Aleksander Barkov ($6,900), Carter Verhaeghe ($4,600), Anthony Duclair ($3,400)
Washington Capitals
Nicklas Backstrom ($5,800), Alex Ovechkin ($8,300), T.J. Oshie ($5,300)
Vegas Golden Knights
Chandler Stephenson ($4,400), Mark Stone ($6,000), Max Pacioretty ($7,700)
The Panthers started slow the other night vs. the Blackhawks but turned things around in the second period after moving Anthony Duclair — who had missed the previous few games — back up to the top line with Barkov and Verhaeghe. That line dominated the rest of the way, and they’re in the same good matchup Monday vs. Chicago. This should be a popular line tonight. But, with two cheap wingers, it’s one of the top stacks and one of the best values of the slate. The Capitals’ situation sets up similarly since the prices have come down a bit, despite the upcoming matchup vs. the Sabres. Facing an Eichel-less Buffalo team has generally meant good things for Sabres opponents, and the Ovechkin line will be a justifiably popular target Monday as a result. The Knights have a good matchup, as well, getting a home game against a Sharks team that has played some very high-paced hockey this season. This is yet another top stack that also could conceivably qualify as a value stack, too.
Value Stacks
Washington Capitals
Evgeny Kuznetsov ($4,100), Jakub Vrana ($5,500), Daniel Sprong ($3,200)
Vancouver Canucks
J.T. Miller ($5,600), Nils Hoglander ($4,200), Brock Boeser ($5,800)
Calgary Flames
Sean Monahan ($4,500), Johnny Gaudreau ($5,000), Brett Ritchie ($2,500)
As mentioned above, the Capitals are in a great spot vs. the Sabres, and it could be an especially easy matchup for the Kuznetsov line which figures to see more of Buffalo’s depth. This line has produced some solid results of late and is still relatively cheap, with an aggregate cost of just $13.8K. The Canucks’ top line is a little more expensive, but they’re going into Ottawa, and that has generally meant a huge bump in goal-scoring expectation this year. The Senators are arguably the worst team in hockey, and they’ve been especially bad at keeping the puck out of their own net. The best true value of the slate is probably the Flames second line. Monahan and Gaudreau are both $5K or less, and they’re paired with a min-price winger, making them as affordable as any line playing tonight. These are (at least two) top-line players, and in a decent matchup vs. the Oilers, they should cost a lot more than they do.
Contrarian Stacks
Philadelphia Flyers
Sean Couturier ($6,200), James van Riemsdyk ($6,700), Joel Farabee ($5,800)
Boston Bruins
Patrice Bergeron ($7,900), David Pastrnak ($9,100), Brad Marchand ($7,400)
Edmonton Oilers
Connor McDavid ($9,200), Leon Draisaitl ($8,600), Kailer Yamamoto ($4,900)
Most of the stacks mentioned in the two sections above should be popular targets tonight, which means we could have some overpriced lines that wind up going under-owned. The Flyers are in a decent matchup in New York vs. the Rangers, and their first line continues to be expensive enough that almost no one is going to prioritize them. The Rangers aren’t a good defensive team, though, and there’s still upside for this line even with an $18.7K total cost. The Bruins’ and Oilers’ top lines need far less explanation, and both lines should draw some ownership, just not nearly as much as they usually get. The matchup is average-to-bad for both teams, facing playoff-caliber opponents on the road, but the talent on both teams is high enough that they could be two of the best stacks tonight in larger-field GPPs.
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