DFS NHL Breakdown: Thursday Line Stacks and Strategies

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Thursday provides us with another 13-game slate, but this one feels a lot more manageable as opposed to the insanity Tuesday. The marquee matchups seem to be out west, with Calgary visiting St. Louis, Winnipeg heading to Dallas, and San Jose traveling to Vegas for a Pacific Division clash. No teams are playing the second of a back-to-back, with only Pittsburgh playing a front-end game. Below are some of the highlighted tournaments on FanDuel and DraftKings:

The following chart will be included so I do not have to bog down the write-ups with too many offensive and defensive ratings. Also shown are my projected shots on goal, shooting percentages and save percentages. Starting goalies are listed with either a projected or confirmed tag at the time of publication – this will be updated later in the day. Sorry for omitting this chart on Tuesday, I was stuck at a meeting all day without my computer and just couldn't get it included after I noticed I missed it.

Line Stacks

The Line Stacks below are not necessarily my top projected scoring lines but the best value plays on the board. All players below have a number inside parenthesis next to their names, which denotes the power play unit they are on (1) or (2). If they are not on a power play they will be noted with a (0), and the rare occasion of a (3) means that they are on both power play units.

BOS1 vs BUF: David Pastrnak (1) ($9,100 FD, $8,500 DK), Brad Marchand (1) ($8,400 FD, $8,000 DK), Patrice Bergeron (1) ($7,800 FD, $7,400 DK) - Bergeron is scheduled to return from a lower-body injury that cost him the last two games; with his return, BOS1 is the top line of the night at home against Buffalo (102.8 DR), who allowed four goals at home Tuesday to a less-than-spectacular Minnesota team. Without Bergeron in the lineup Tuesday, Pastrnak netted a pair of goals on six shots while Marchand had three assists.

EDM1 at LA: Connor McDavid (1) ($9,300 FD, $8,700 DK), Leon Draisaitl (1) ($9,000 FD, $8,300 DK), Zack Kassian (2) ($4,400 FD, $4,800 DK) - Some decent advice would be to make sure you have some exposure to EDM1 for the time being; you don't have to go crazy, but if you play multiple teams then at least one should include an EDM1 stack. McDavid is on a mission to rewrite the post-Gretzky/Lemieux standards for scoring and is in the middle of a five-game stretch where he has seven goals and nine assists -- that is a decent season for some players. Draisaitl has two goals, 12 assists and 15 shots over his last five, and while you might consider cutting him from the stack, Kassian has scored four goals, with two assists and 11 shots over his last five. The Kings have played better defense lately, but overall they are still a sub-par defensive team (102.9 DR).

FLA1 vs. ANH: Aleksander Barkov (1) ($8,400 FD, $7,700 DK), Jonathan Huberdeau (1) ($7,500 FD, $7,300 DK), Evgenii Dadonov (1) ($6,400 FD, $6,600 DK) - I am not a huge fan of playing stacks against John Gibson, but this is an exception, as FLA1 has been playing great hockey with seven goals, 15 assists and 45 shots over the past five games. Barkov, Huberdeau and Dadonov should be able to get a couple against Gibson, who has the poor Ducks defense (105.6 DR) in front of him.

CAR2 vs. PHI: Sebastian Aho (1) ($7,300 FD, $6,900 DK), Andrei Svechnikov (1) ($6,600 FD, $7,100 DK), Teuvo Teravainen (1) ($6,300 FD, $6,500 DK) - Philadelphia has lost three in a row while the Hurricanes have won four in a row. CAR2 has led the way during that winning streak with Aho, Svechnikov and Teravainen combing for eight goals, nine assists and 30 shots.

DAL1 vs. WPG: Tyler Seguin (1) ($7,700 FD, $7,200 DK), Jamie Benn (2) ($6,500 FD, $5,300 DK), Justin Dowling (0) ($4,100 FD, $3,400 DK) - This trio is clicking lately with a combined eight goals, nine assists and 42 shots over their past four games. Even though Winnipeg held on to beat Tampa Bay on Saturday, Dallas is playing some great hockey and should take advantage of the Jets' defense (95.6 DR).

CBJ1 vs. DET: Pierre-Luc Dubois (1) ($5,800 FD, $5,800 DK), Emil Bemstrom (2) ($3,300 FD, $3,300 DK), Sonny Milano (0) ($3,200 FD, $3,000 DK) - I added this line late to my article Tuesday after they were reclassified as CBJ1; I hope you caught it as Dubois, Bemstrom and Milano combined for three goals, three assists and six shots. With a home date against Detroit (101.8 DR), who be starting Jimmy Howard (0-3-1, 5.33 GAA, .812 SV% over last four games), I think CBJ1 is the best value option on the board.

ARI1 vs. TOR: Nick Schmaltz (1) ($5,400 FD, $4,800 DK), Conor Garland (1) ($4,500 FD, $5,100 DK), Christian Dvorak (2) ($4,200 FD, $4,000 DK) - With a home date against a defensive struggling Toronto (105.1 DR) team, ARI1 is in a great spot. Garland has been the goal scoring for this unit with three goals in his past five games to go along with an assist and nine shots. Dvorak and Schmaltz have been the helpers, with six assists and eight shots between them over the last five.

Other Options: VGK1/2 vs SJ, DET1 at CBJ, COL1 at MIN, CHI2 vs TB, MIN1 vs COL, LA1/2 vs EDM, ANH1 at FLA

Solo Forward Options

Steven Stamkos (1) TB2 at CHI ($8,000 FD, $7,200 DK) - Stamkos was held off the scoresheet Tuesday at St. Louis, but the defending Stanley Cup champs are a tough matchup; in his previous four games, Stamkos had two goals, five assists and 12 shots.

Cam Atkinson (2) CBJ3 vs DET ($6,700 FD, $5,800 DK) - Up until this season, Atkinson has shot better than 9.7 percent in every year of his career, yet he is mired in a funk with only three goals on his first 71 shots of the season (4.7%). Even worse is he only has one goal in his last 57 shot attempts (1.8%) -- to call him overdue would be an understatement. He does have four assists in his last five games along with 12 shots and four blocks; if I could find a place to bet on an Atkinson goal I'd put my money where my mouth is Thursday.

Brock Nelson (1) NYI2 vs PIT ($5,500 FD, $4,700 DK) - Nelson has been on fire with a pair of goals, five assists, and 14 shots over his last four games, including a two-goal, one-assist, five-shot game at Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Andreas Athanasiou (2) DET2 at CBJ ($4,700 FD, $4,900 DK) - Athanasiou added another assist Tuesday to add to his four goals in the previous four games; all of the members of DET2 benefit from seeing second-tier defensive efforts while teams attempt to slow down Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi. Athanasiou should continue to be one of the best sub-$5,000 values on the board against Columbus (101.8 DR).

Danton Heinen (1) BOS3 vs BUF ($4,200 FD, $3,600 DK) / Jake DeBrusk (2) BOS2 vs BUF ($4,800 FD, $3,700 DK) - Heinen has a goal and two assists over the past five games and offers some value exposure to BOS1 on the top power play. DeBrusk (two goals, nine shots over last four games) draws a better even strength pairing alongside David Krejci, but he only gets second unit power play time.

Defensemen

Victor Hedman (1) TB at CHI ($6,400 FD, $6,700 DK) - Chicago had been playing better of late but were hit up for four goals Tuesday at home against Carolina. Tampa Bay should offer up another tough challenge and Hedman has been leading the way with two goals, six assists, 19 shots and nine blocks in his last five games.

Update: Miro Heiskanen (2) DAL vs. WPG ($5,300 FD, $5,500 DK) - Heiskanen has been on fire lately with two goals, five assists, 13 shots and six blocks over his past four games; he offers a perfect pairing with your Dallas stacks in their home game against Winnipeg. (Heiskanen was omitted from my initially posting for some reason -- user error).

Nate Schmidt (1) VGK vs. SJ ($4,400 FD, $5,600 DK) - Schmidt got on the scoresheet Tuesday with an assist, which makes five helpers in his last two games. A spot on the top power play unit, even strength correlation with the top Vegas lines and a great match up against San Jose (105.4 DR) makes Schmidt one of the best defensemen Thursday.

Jakob Chychrun (1) ARI vs. TOR ($4,000 FD, $5,300 DK) - I'm not sure I'd pay up for Chychrun on DraftKings, but he is a great value on FanDuel against a poor Toronto defense (105.1 DR). Chychrun has matched his goal total from last season in 31 fewer games and has been promoted to the top power play unit after scoring a goal on the man-advantage Monday.

Mathew Dumba (1) MIN vs. COL ($3,900 FD, $4,700 DK) - Colorado (106.3 DR) is a much better team at home at elevation, but Thursday night's game is at Minnesota. Dumba has started to heat up and has two goals, an assist, 13 shots and seven blocks over his past five games -- offering both a great floor from the peripherals and big upside from the goals and assists.

Matt Grzelcyk (1) BOS vs BUF ($4,000 FD, $4,600 DK) - I highlighted Grzelcyk in my Tuesday article and he responded with a pair of goals on three shots plus a block. As long as Torey Krug remains out of the lineup, Grzelcyk should be on all your Boston stacks and is a fine solo play as well.

Goalies

Tuukka Rask BOS vs BUF ($8,800 FD, $8,500 DK) - Rask is having a Vezina Trophy worthy season to this point (9-2-2, 2.06 GAA, .930 SV%). After a couple of small hiccups, he is back on track with 54 saves on 57 shots (.947 SV%) in a pair of wins over his last two starts. Buffalo has a single win (at home against Ottawa) in their last nine games and has struggled offensively during that stretch (2.0/gm).

Joonas Korpisalo CBJ vs DET ($7,600 FD, $7,800 DK) - DET1 is one of the better lines in hockey, but they have yet to win a game when Dylan Larkin does not record a point (0-11). I think Columbus will use CBJ1 to slow down the Larkin line, and if they can keep him off the board then should be in a good spot for the win if he continues his strong play (2.33 GAA, .922 SV% over last six games).

Sergei Bobrovsky FLA vs ANH ($7,800 FD, $8,000 DK) - Bobrovsky has showed some signs of life with two straight wins, a 2.50 GAA and 65 saves in 70 shots (.929 SV%). Anaheim is not an offensive juggernaut (96.7 OR), so he should be in a nice spot Thursday.

Update: Mike Smith is slated to start for Edmonton, so I have removed Mikko Koskinen from consideration. Smith is in option but not as strong of one as the three other plays above.

Tournament Punt:  Alex Stalock MIN vs COL ($7,200 FD, $7,200 DK)