Good morning everyone and welcome to volume 58 of the Top Shelf Knucklepuck Stacks! We have a cash-playable 11-game main slate on this cool and sunny Thursday morning in San Diego.
If you are a new subscriber to our NHL Core Plays, please make sure that you are playing all of the lineups that I post on any given day. NHL is such a highly-variant sport and there is truly no telling which lineup will go off. I do have my favorites each day, but even the lineups that I may not think have massive upside sometimes, in fact, have the upside you need to take down a tournament.
Top Stacks
This is the second game with an over/under of 7 in the past few weeks so it is a strong indication that Vegas likes this game from an offensive perspective. Despite the fact that Chicago is at home, you are going to attack them full force with the Sabres top line (Jack Eichel – Jeff Skinner – Sam Reinhart). The main reason is that the Blackhawks have overtaken the Ottawa Senators as the team that has allowed the most goals against per game this season. Moreover, the home team is surrendering the second-most shots against per game. With 11 points in his last nine games, Eichel is the top overall play on the board. If you need more ammo, consider the fact that the Blackhawks have allowed the most high-danger scoring chances this season.
In the same contest, as poor as their defense and goaltending have been, you should use the top six forwards from Chicago to attack a Sabres team that has dropped eight of its last 10 games. Buffalo has allowed the ninth-most goals against and shots against per game this season. Like Chicago, the Sabres are in the bottom half of the NHL in puck control numbers as well as high-danger scoring chances allowed. As of this writing, I am not certain how Chicago’s lines will look at lineup lock, but my preference is the second line (Alex DeBrincat – Ryan Strome – Brendan Perlini), which has looked superb since Perlini came to the team and bumped Dom Kahun to the third line. The Patrick Kane line is always in play but check to see who his linemates are before you lock them in.
Sidney Crosby has been playing some of the best hockey in his career this season and he has now registered six goals and 15 assists in his last 10 games. So, yes, Sid is averaging two points per game. He has made his linemates, whomever they are, look like All-Stars. Jake Guentzel (5G, 2A last four games) and Jared McCann (1G, 2As in last three games since joining the team’s top line) are the two biggest beneficiaries of Crosby’s talents. I talk a lot about the moves the Columbus Blue Jackets have made at the trade deadline, but the team’s defense has suffered tremendously. This is a chance for you to have Pittsburgh’s top unit and top power play unit at relatively low ownership on a large slate.
Other Notable Stacks
The stacks I wrote about above are the ones that I project to be highly-owned. When I write “highly-owned”, on a 11-game slate that typically means ownership of about 25% in GPPs. The stacks above also tend to be expensive. So, you will need to use some of the below mentioned stacks as fillers or as one-off individual plays to complement your high-priced stacks.
Other stacks that you should have exposure to tonight are: Islanders 1 (Anders Lee – Brock Nelson – Josh Bailey – Nick Leddy/Ryan Pulock), Stars 1 (Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov), Bruins 2 (Jake DeBrusk – David Krejci – Peter Cehlarik), Wings 1 (Tyler Bertuzzi – Dylan Larkin – Anthony Mantha – Filip Hronek).
* * *
There were some questions in the Slack chat over the first month of the season about how to find the lines that I list as my top stacks on the Top Shelf Knucklepuck Cheat Sheet. Head over to either DailyFaceoff.com or LeftWingLock.com to see which skaters are on each of a team’s lines and then build your line stacks. For example, if you see that my top stack of the day is “PIT PP1 / 1”, look at one of the two sites listed above and you will see that the top power play unit of the Pittsburgh Penguins consists of Patric Hornqvist – Evgeni Malkin – Sidney Crosby – Kris Letang – Phil Kessel. The team’s top line features Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist. I decided to leave off the players’ names from the line stacks because of the fact that they may change before the game or after the team’s morning skate (if applicable). Both sites I mentioned are updated regularly and typically accurate. If you’re ever lost, just ask questions in our Slack chat.
* * *
Feel free to comment here or post a screenshot or photo on Instagram and remember to tag me @NotTonyM. I am always open to feedback and critique. Just remember, I respond to respect and love in whatever the message is that you want to share. Good luck!
