After a small two-game slate yesterday, we’re back in action with a nice 10-game slate to pick through for our daily fantasy hockey needs. There are a few team I want to go heavy with (in GPPs) and a few games where I think both teams are certainly stackable.
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Colorado Avalance
Carolina Hurricanes* @ Buffalo Sabres
Pittsburgh Penguins @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Winnipeg Jets @ Vancouver Canucks*
The top team I am targeting tonight is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto has scored 2.81 goals per game this season and get a Colorado team that has allowed an NHL-worst 3.16 goals against per game this season. Even at home, the Avalanche have allowed over three goals per game and have allowed a league seventh-worst 10 power play goals at home. They are clearly a team we can attack from many angles.
When looking at Toronto I will go under the assumption that Tyler Bozak will miss the game tonight. The Toronto Sun reported that Bozak could miss the rest of the week. But this could potentially give us some value in a game where Toronto should get plenty of chances to score.
Tonight I want to target Toronto’s top power play unit:
Leo Komarov $4.2K (3G, 7A, 1 PPP, 39 SOG)
Nazem Kadri $6.5K (11G, 8A, 5 PPP, 94 SOG)
William Nylander $5.4K (6G, 14A, 11 PPP, 80 SOG)
Auston Matthews $6.8K (15G, 9A, 8 PPP, 115 SOG)
(D) Jake Gardiner $4.4K (6G, 8A, 5 PPP, 56 SOG)
The line stack I want in the game is Zach Hyman/Auston Matthews/Connor Brown line. It’s a small sample (just over 90 minutes of ice time), but this line has xGF/60 of 3.69 from that sample.
From a GPP perspective I like the idea of flipping this game around and using Colorado skaters against a Toronto team that has allowed 3.07 goals against per game on the road this season. Toronto has an xGA/60 of 2.68 this season — only the Islanders and Coyotes are higher.
While we’ll never feel great about stacking a team that has only averaged 2.10 goals per game (last in the NHL) — and has only scored two goals over their past three games — we can certainly look to Nathan Mackinnon to get exposure to the Colorado side. If you’re feeling particularly daring, you could stack Colorado’s first line of Gabriel Landeskog/Nathan Mackinnon/Mikko Rantanen as they skate together on Colorado’s top line and top power play unit.
The second team I want GPP exposure to tonight is