NHL DFS | October 1, 2026: DraftKings Stacks, Goalies & Bargain Plays

Thursday gives us an eight-game DraftKings NHL main slate on October 1, 2026, starting at 7 PM ET. Our preferred approach is to buy real line correlation before paying for every expensive name. New Jersey is our favorite balanced stack, Tampa Bay offers an especially useful discounted linemate, and Utah gives us a strong late-game alternative. Edmonton remains a ceiling play, but we are not assuming its stars all skate together at even strength.

The bargain bin is more useful tonight than simply finding the cheapest skater. Ilya Mikheyev has a projected line connection to Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. Conor Geekie and Gage Goncalves offer lower-cost Tampa Bay alternatives. Stefan Noesen is another minimum-salary candidate with a specific route into the lineup. These are different types of value, and we want to treat them differently.

Tonight’s eight-game slate

Matchup	Start, ET
BUF @ CBJ	7:00 PM
PHI @ NJD	7:00 PM
TBL @ NYR	7:00 PM
MIN @ NSH	8:00 PM
SEA @ CGY	9:00 PM
CHI @ UTA	9:30 PM
EDM @ VAN	10:00 PM
FLA @ SJS	10:00 PM

Several teams are making their season debuts. Others have played one game. That is not enough evidence for meaningful current-season hot streaks or defensive rankings. We are leaning on deployment, established individual scoring profiles, salary and the specific matchup rather than declaring a team transformed by its opener.

1. New Jersey: our favorite balanced stack

Nico Hischier $6,300 + Timo Meier $6,000 + Luke Evangelista $4,700
Three-player cost: $17,000.

Evangelista projects with Hischier and Meier, plus PP1. Devils game preview. That gives us a clear reason to use the three together rather than grouping three unrelated Devils because Philadelphia is the opponent.

The salary balance is the attraction. We can use this line and still afford a genuine high-ceiling one-off or another correlated pair. Meier is the goal-and-shot route, Hischier connects the combination through the middle, and Evangelista keeps the total below the most expensive stacks.

Philadelphia is playing the second half of a back-to-back after a 7-0 loss to Pittsburgh. That is useful schedule context, not proof that every Devils shot will go in. Devils-Flyers game reporting. New Jersey can also distribute its scoring across several lines, which is the downside of concentrating here.

Alternative: Jack Hughes $8,000 with Jesper Bratt $5,800. Anthony Mantha $4,500 is the projected even-strength third member of that group. We prefer Hughes-Bratt as a premium pair when the rest of the lineup already has enough salary relief. Do not combine parts of both New Jersey lines and call it a full even-strength stack.

2. Tampa Bay: premium ceiling without three premium salaries

Brayden Point $5,700 + Nikita Kucherov $8,700 + Ilya Mikheyev $3,500
Three-player cost: $17,900.

Tampa Bay’s Wednesday practice had these three together. Lightning practice combinations. That makes Mikheyev one of the most important salary pieces on the slate. We do not need him to match Kucherov’s individual projection. We need him involved in some of the same scoring while allowing the rest of the roster to remain strong.

Kucherov is our first premium winger to consider. Point’s price is manageable next to him, and the full three-player combination costs less than several two-star builds once a third expensive winger is added.

The matchup is not soft simply because the Rangers lost their opener. Igor Shesterkin is the expected opposing goalie, and his ability to stop a high volume of shots is a real obstacle. Rangers-Lightning game reporting. This is a bet on Tampa Bay’s concentrated skill, not a claim that New York is an automatic target.

Defense attachment: John Carlson $5,600 is the stronger power-play correlation choice. Victor Hedman $3,600 is the cheaper individual option, but we should not assign him the top power-play role merely because he held that status in previous seasons. Rangers-Lightning game reporting.

3. Utah: the late stack we want in the mix

Logan Cooley $5,000 + Dylan Guenther $6,600 + Anders Lee $4,200
Three-player cost: $15,800.

The projected combination puts Cooley between Lee and Guenther. Clayton Keller $6,300 and Nick Schmaltz $5,600 form a separate even-strength route. We prefer picking a specific line rather than automatically combining Keller, Guenther and whichever Utah forward is cheapest.

Cooley-Guenther is the pair we like most for a balanced build. Lee adds a different scoring route at a price that does not consume the entire second stack budget. Mikhail Sergachev $5,400 is the defenseman to consider when building around Utah’s power play.

The main risk is concentration. Utah can win without this particular line producing enough, and a modest offensive night can leave three correlated skaters short together. Our interest is in the combined salary and scoring path, not an assumption that using the later game automatically means low ownership.

4. Edmonton: choose the correlation you are actually buying

Leon Draisaitl $8,500 + Vasily Podkolzin $4,700 + Kasperi Kapanen $3,400
Three-player cost: $16,600.

The projected lines group Draisaitl with Podkolzin and Kapanen. Connor McDavid $9,000 and Zach Hyman $6,400 are a different even-strength pairing. That distinction matters more than the line number used by a lineup site.

Edmonton and Vancouver combined for 11 goals in their first meeting, with Evan Bouchard producing five points. We are not projecting that result to repeat. It does establish why chasing the last game’s top scorer can make the obvious Edmonton combinations expensive and crowded.

Our preference is Draisaitl with at least one actual linemate, or McDavid-Hyman as the premium two-man route. Bouchard $7,500 adds substantial power-play ceiling, but his price has to earn its place. McDavid, Draisaitl and Bouchard together cost too much to treat the remaining roster as an afterthought.

Best one-off skaters

Kucherov $8,700: our preferred premium winger, especially when Point or Mikheyev is already part of the build. Used alone, he still gives us access to multiple scoring paths without committing to every Lightning goal.

McDavid $9,000: the premium center alternative when we do not want to commit to a full Edmonton stack. His price makes it important to use actual value elsewhere, not players selected only to make the total legal.

Kirill Kaprizov $7,600: an attractive one-off away from our main stacks. His previous season produced 45 goals, so the individual finishing ceiling does not need a speculative new role to support it. Wild-Predators game reporting.

Jack Hughes $8,000: our preferred expensive Devils one-off when using a secondary stack from another game. Do not treat last night’s Philadelphia result as his personal projection, but the opponent’s turnaround and his offensive involvement make the matchup worth buying.

Quinn Hughes $6,400: a defenseman who can fit without a full Minnesota stack. Brock Faber is unavailable, but that does not mean we should manufacture an extra power-play promotion for Hughes. Wild-Predators game reporting. The decision is whether his individual offensive ceiling is worth the upgrade from the cheaper defense tier.

Value and bargain-bin plays

This is the section that should help make a lineup work. The order below favors a clear path to useful ice time and scoring involvement over the lowest possible price.

Ilya Mikheyev, $3,500: our favorite stack-enabling value

He is the first bargain we would use with Point and Kucherov. The projected even-strength connection is the reason; we are not assuming identical power-play deployment. Lightning practice combinations. His downside is also clear: Tampa Bay can score through the power play or another line while Mikheyev contributes very little. Use him as a correlated salary saver, not a high-floor standalone lock.

Jansen Harkins, $2,500: minimum-price center access

Tampa Bay’s practice report put Harkins between Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel. Lightning practice combinations. That is a real lineup-construction opening at the minimum salary. It is also a role-sensitive play: being between talented wingers does not automatically create heavy minutes or first-unit power-play work. He is most appealing when his salary turns an otherwise weak roster into a strong correlated build.

Conor Geekie, $2,500: a tournament punt with a development case

Geekie earned an opening-night roster spot after a 59-point AHL season. Lightning roster reporting. He appears with Goncalves and Anthony Cirelli in the practice combinations. Lightning practice combinations. We like him as a different way to access Tampa Bay, especially when avoiding the most common top-line construction. The risk is limited opportunity relative to the established stars. The AHL production supports upside, not an NHL points guarantee.

Gage Goncalves, $2,500: the alternative cheap Lightning winger

Goncalves belongs in the same discussion as Geekie, not automatically beside him in every lineup. Their practice-line connection gives a low-cost pair a coherent story. Lightning practice combinations. In a single balanced entry, however, we would usually prefer one of them plus a higher-volume skater rather than relying on two punts from the same secondary unit.

Stefan Noesen, $2,500: injury-created access, not a new star role

Noesen replaces unavailable Connor Brown. Devils game preview. That makes him a possible minimum-price finishing piece. It does not tell us he inherits premium minutes or every vacated target equivalent. He is a way to pay for strong players elsewhere, with the downside that a quiet depth role can still produce very little.

Kasperi Kapanen, $3,400: cheaper Edmonton correlation

Kapanen is our preferred low-cost addition to a Draisaitl construction because the projected line connects them directly. That is more useful than choosing any cheap Oiler and hoping Edmonton’s total goals solve the lineup. The risk is the same as Mikheyev’s: power-play scoring can bypass the inexpensive even-strength linemate.

Barrett Hayton, $3,300: lower-cost Utah exposure

Hayton projects with Vincent Trocheck and Lawson Crouse, not in the Cooley-Guenther group. He is a secondary-unit tournament option, particularly when a Utah-heavy build needs salary relief. We are not calling him a replacement for Guenther’s shot ceiling. He needs his own line to account for a meaningful share of the scoring.

Victor Hedman, $3,600: the affordable defense decision

Hedman is useful when paying for Carlson or Bouchard would remove a much stronger forward. His price buys an established defenseman, but we are not giving him credit for Carlson’s projected power-play assignment. He is a salary-based alternative, not an interchangeable cheaper version of the same role.

Our bargain rule: one or two low-cost players can improve a roster. Four or five can simply make it fragile. The best punt is the one that creates a stronger total lineup, not the one with the most exciting hypothetical two-goal story.

Goalie breakdown: best fit, best value and tournament route

The names below are expected options from current game reporting, not a claim that every starter is formally confirmed. A goalie listed in the salary pool is not sufficient evidence of a start. The backup is never an automatic same-price replacement in a saved lineup.

Jake Allen, $8,300: our first balanced-build option

New Jersey enters with Allen as its returning No. 1 goalie, facing Philadelphia on a back-to-back. Devils-Flyers game reporting. This is the matchup we prefer when the roster can support a premium goalie. The drawback is salary and potential save volume. A comfortable win with relatively few shots can be useful without producing the highest score at the position.

Karel Vejmelka, $8,400: the late spend-up alternative

Vejmelka is the expected Utah starter. Utah-Chicago game reporting. He fits a Utah-control lineup and keeps the goalie exposure in the late window. At this price, we need more than simply identifying the team we prefer to win. If the salary difference prevents a much stronger skater combination, we would consider the cheaper tier.

Igor Shesterkin, $7,200: best salary relief and high-variance leverage

Shesterkin is expected opposite Tampa Bay. Rangers-Lightning game reporting. His price is the reason to consider the uncomfortable matchup: a busy, efficient win could outscore a more expensive goalie while funding the skaters. He is not the goalie for a lineup built around three Lightning forwards. Use him in a New Jersey/Utah construction that intentionally bets against Tampa Bay’s finishing.

Jesper Wallstedt, $8,100: the middle-ground alternative

Wallstedt is expected to start for Minnesota while Filip Gustavsson recovers from injury. Wild-Predators game reporting. He sits between the cheaper leverage goalies and the highest-priced choices. We like him more when the skater roster is already balanced than when we have to sacrifice a strong correlated pair to afford him.

Lineup construction and a real salary example

Start 3-2 or 3-3 with your skaters. A full line plus a correlated pair is usually a better foundation than five independent stars. A power-play defenseman can replace a third forward when that produces stronger scoring correlation at the same salary.

Do not confuse a team stack with a line stack. New Jersey’s two scoring lines, Utah’s Keller and Guenther routes, and Edmonton’s two star centers are not all sharing every even-strength shift. Be specific about whether you are buying a line, a power play or a broader team scoring outcome.

Avoid your own goalie conflict. One opposing one-off can occasionally coexist with a goalie, but a full opposing line stack is usually betting against the goalie ceiling you paid for. This matters particularly with Shesterkin opposite our preferred Lightning stack.

Keep late skaters in flexible slots where eligibility allows. The 10 PM games give us room to respond to late deployment news. Do not assume that a center can replace a winger solely because the salaries match.

This example demonstrates the budget, not a required nine-player core. It uses the projected roles described above and assumes Allen starts:

Slot	Player	Salary
C	Brayden Point	$5,700
C	Nico Hischier	$6,300
W	Nikita Kucherov	$8,700
W	Ilya Mikheyev	$3,500
W	Timo Meier	$6,000
D	Victor Hedman	$3,600
D	Mikhail Sergachev	$5,400
G	Jake Allen	$8,300
UTIL	Stefan Noesen	$2,500

Total: $50,000. Salary remaining: $0.

It combines the Point line with Hischier-Meier, uses Noesen for salary relief and keeps Sergachev as the independent offensive defenseman. The weakness is the minimum-price final forward. The benefit is that the other eight slots are not compromised merely to force another superstar into the lineup.

CTS final priorities

Balanced stack: Hischier-Meier-Evangelista. Premium correlated stack: Point-Kucherov-Mikheyev. Late alternative: Cooley-Guenther-Lee. Edmonton route: Draisaitl with his actual linemates, or McDavid-Hyman as a pair.

First bargain: Mikheyev. Minimum-price tournament options: Harkins, Geekie, Goncalves and Noesen. Goalie starting point: Allen if starting, with Shesterkin the cheaper leverage choice in lineups that do not stack Tampa Bay.