Quick note before we start: This is a first-person style review, written as a creative take based on common tools and public features. It isn’t a record of real money play.
Here’s the thing. NHL slates can get wild. Lines flip at morning skate. Goalies get confirmed late. And I’ve got dinner to cook. So I leaned on an NHL lineup optimizer to help me build DFS lineups fast. If you're curious about the broader universe of lineup-building tools, Optimization World keeps a running index of the best optimizers across every sport. For NHL-focused DFS, advanced platforms like RotoGrinders Premium and FantasyLabs NHL Player Models provide customizable optimizers, expert projections, and stacking tools that can complement the strategies I outline below. One tester even documented what really happens after using an NHL DFS optimizer for a full month, and the findings echo much of what I found.
What I wanted from it
I wanted three things:
- Smart stacks without weird combos
- Late swap help when a player sits
- Clear controls for exposure and rules
I also needed it to work for DraftKings and FanDuel. Same core, different pricing. Simple ask, right?
The slate that made me set rules
Think of a standard six-game slate:
- Edmonton at Vancouver
- Colorado at Winnipeg
- Boston at Toronto
- New Jersey at Philadelphia
- Minnesota at Nashville
- Chicago at St. Louis
Big names. High totals. Chalk all over. I set my rules like this:
- Stacks: 3-2-1 (one line of three, one mini of two, plus one one-off)
- Force at least one power-play bring-back in game stacks
- Max two skaters vs my goalie
- Exposure caps: 45% Nathan MacKinnon, 40% Connor McDavid, 35% David Pastrnak
- Randomness: medium, so it doesn’t spit the same thing over and over
- Minimum salary left: $0 to $300 (keeps builds tight)
You know what? Those few rules made the builds feel human. Not perfect, but human.
Real example builds it gave me
I locked in one stack per build and let the tool fill the rest with value and correlation. A few lineups that stood out:
-
Build A, “Studs and a mini”
- Nathan MacKinnon + Mikko Rantanen + Artturi Lehkonen (top line)
- Evan Bouchard + Zach Hyman mini on the power play
- One-off value D: Jonas Brodin
- Goalie: Juuse Saros at home
-
Build B, “Boston stack with a sneaky runback”
- David Pastrnak + Brad Marchand + Pavel Zacha
- Morgan Rielly one-off as a runback from the same game
- Mini stack: Dawson Mercer + Timo Meier
- Goalie: Jordan Binnington (cheaper, high save path)
-
Build C, “Game stack light”
- Connor McDavid + Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
- Brock Boeser one-off from the same game
- Mini stack: Valeri Nichushkin + Devon Toews
- Goalie: Connor Hellebuyck (fade the chalk skaters in that game)
Not every build looked cute. Some were clunky. Like a third line winger with no power-play time getting jammed in because of salary. When that happened, I bumped his min projection down or set “Do not use.” Small nudge, big change.
What I liked
- Stacking that actually made sense: 3-2-1 fit NHL well. It paired centers with their wings, and it brought in the point man on the power play. Correlation felt right.
- Exposure caps that behaved: If I set 40% McDavid, I got close to 40%. Not 80%. Not 10%. Close is fine.
- Late swap flow: When a winger sat, it flagged it, sorted by salary, and showed swaps that kept the stack alive. That saved me from panic clicks.
- Goalies got safer: The “max two skaters vs goalie” rule avoided the worst no-no. You still get weird builds sometimes, but less pain.
- Speed: I could re-run after news in seconds. That matters when the Jets confirm late.
What bugged me
- Ownership lag: Chalk tags felt slow. McDavid at 20% when he was clearly going higher. I had to bump my fades by hand.
- Third lines got love they didn’t need: The tool leaned too hard on cheap grinders with no PP time. I had to cap “third liners without PP” at like 15%.
- Duplicates in big fields: Some builds were very chalky. Fine for cash, risky for GPP. I had to raise randomness and cap chalk stacks to break away.
- Basic UI quirks: Sorting by point-per-dollar sometimes jumped around. Small thing, still annoying.
A quick peek at exposures
After I tuned things, this is where I landed for a mid-field GPP set:
- Core stacks:
- COL1 (MacKinnon–Rantanen–Lehkonen): 38%
- BOS1 (Pastrnak–Zacha–Marchand): 26%
- EDM PP1 mini (McDavid–Hyman–Bouchard): 32%
- One-offs:
- Nikolaj Ehlers: 18%
- T.J. Oshie (cheap PP1): 12%
- Seth Jarvis style value wing: 9% (rotates by slate)
- Goalies:
- Hellebuyck: 24%
- Saros: 20%
- Cheap punt with save upside: 18%
- Spread the rest thin
Is that perfect? No. But it felt sharp for a six-gamer.
Little tricks that paid off
- Tie your D to your stack: If you run Pastrnak, include McAvoy or Lindholm more often. Point shots feed goals.
- Use “Groups”: If you play McDavid, force at least one of Hyman, RNH, or Bouchard. Solo McDavid is fine, but stacks hit harder.
- Cap chalk line + chalk D combos: I set “BOS1 + McAvoy” to max 15% to avoid looking like everyone else.
- Value with a job: 2nd line + PP2 is better than 3rd line + PK1. Simple rule. Big difference.
- Game totals matter, but pace matters too: Vancouver and Edmonton can play fast. So can Colorado and anyone. I bumped those games a hair.
DraftKings vs FanDuel notes
- DraftKings: The extra defense slot makes PP D more key. Blocks help too.
- FanDuel: Pricing can be softer. You can stack stars and still afford a real goalie. I set tighter exposure caps there. Hoops fans can see how a similar approach translates in this month-long NBA lineup builder experiment.
Who should use this
- New to NHL DFS? It helps you stack right and avoid major errors.
- Mid-level grinder? It saves time and lets you test rules fast.
- Big-field chaser? You’ll still need ownership tweaks and some risk. The tool won’t do all the thinking.
My verdict
I like it. It made my builds faster and cleaner. It also needed guard rails, or it made chalky, copy-paste stuff. With smart rules, it felt like a solid teammate. Without them, it felt lazy.
Would I lean on it for every slate? Almost. I still check lines, ice time, and power-play notes by hand. Because small edges add up. And in NHL, they really do. If baseball is more your jam, this MLB FanDuel lineup builder review breaks down the sport-specific quirks.
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