Studs and Stacks – October 8
As the 2025–26 NHL season kicks off, daily fantasy hockey enthusiasts are gearing up for the action on DraftKings and FanDuel. In this article, we spotlight today’s top NHL DFS studs and stack recommendations, focusing on high-upside players and synergistic line combinations that can elevate your lineups. Whether you’re targeting cash games or GPPs, these picks are designed to maximize value and exposure. Let’s dive into the matchups and identify the key players to target.
FORWARDS
The Chalk: Auston Matthews
The floor for Matthews is always incredibly high, and he’s coming off a season in which he scored 33 goals in just 67 games. He always gets up for the Leafs’ rivals, scoring 28 times in 37 career games against Montreal (while adding 18 assists).
The Pivot: Mitch Marner
It’s going to take some getting used to seeing Marner in a Vegas uniform, but at the same time it looks right. Vegas has a really nice opening night opponent, getting the Kings on a back-to-back right off the bat, and at home in the desert, he has all the makings of getting off to a great start (especially on the wing of Jack Eichel).
Nov 21, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) gets set for a face-off during the third period against the Utah Hockey Club at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
The Low-Owned: David Pastrnak
Poor Pasta. There’s no one left in Beantown to help him out offensively, but he’s still going to be a high-volume shooter (they’ve got no one else and he always shoots a ton anyway, so I don’t know that that changes). Washington’s defense is solid, but he’s going to go overlooked a lot this season, and with his 50-goal / 100-point upside, he’s always worth consideration.
The Value: David Tomasek
Who? Exactly, but someone who is going to be seeing PP1 time on the Oilers with their studs for extremely cheap has to be a solid punt.
STACKS
The Full: VGK (Eichel-Marner-Stone-Karlsson)
An elite offense gets even better with the addition of Marner, and they get a tired Kings team on the second half of a back-to-back. Vegas will want to make a statement in this one, and if Los Angeles shows the fatigue that they could, that can lead to lots of opportunities with the man advantage. I like adding in Karlsson as even though he’s not on PP1, he’s with Stone on L2 at even strength, and he also kills penalties. (You can swap in Barbashev instead if you like for L1 correlation with Eichel/Marner.)
The Mini: MTL (Demidov-Hutson)
Last season’s Calder winner and the favorite to win this season make for a nice little mini stack. They’re paired together on both L2 and PP1, and the Canadiens always seem to get up for games against the Leafs. This will go underowned, but I like the upside that they can present.
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