NHL DFS DraftKings Picks for October 6, 2026

Top stacks

Vegas 1: Ivan Barbashev $5,200 / Jack Eichel $8,500 / Mark Stone $7,200

$20,900 total. Our favorite ceiling stack. Eichel is the slate’s premier spend-up, while Barbashev keeps the three-man correlation affordable and Stone adds finishing upside.

Toronto 1: Kirill Marchenko $6,300 / Auston Matthews $8,200 / Jack Roslovic $4,400

$18,900 total. Matthews gives the stack elite goal and shot upside, while Roslovic is cheap enough to make the full line workable.

Buffalo 1: Josh Norris $4,200 / Tage Thompson $8,300 / Josh Doan $5,200

$17,700 total. Thompson is the reason to stack it. Norris and Doan give us direct even-strength correlation without forcing another premium salary.

GPP stacks

New Jersey 2: Jesper Bratt $6,000 / Jack Hughes $8,100 / Anthony Mantha $4,300

$18,400 total. Hughes and Bratt bring slate-winning skill, while Mantha makes the stack cheaper than the other elite combinations.

Montreal 1: Cole Caufield $7,300 / Nick Suzuki $7,200 / Chris Kreider $5,000

$19,500 total. Demidov is out. Caufield and Suzuki remain the core, and Kreider now joins them on the projected top line.

Carolina 1: William Carrier $2,700 / Sebastian Aho $6,700 / Andrei Svechnikov $5,800

$15,200 total. Aho and Svechnikov carry the ceiling. Carrier is the salary saver that lets us preserve full-line correlation.

Value stacks

NY Rangers 1: Gabe Perreault $3,500 / Mika Zibanejad $5,900 / Alexis Lafreniere $4,400

$13,800 total. This is our favorite cheap three-man stack. The salary is low enough to pair it with an elite secondary mini-stack.

Carolina mini: Sebastian Aho $6,700 / Andrei Svechnikov $5,800 / Shayne Gostisbehere $4,600

$17,100 total. Better power-play correlation than forcing three forwards. Gostisbehere works with the Aho-Svechnikov ceiling while filling a defense slot.

Best one-off plays

Jack Eichel $8,500: Best overall spend-up. Shot volume, scoring ceiling and elite line correlation.

Tage Thompson $8,300: Favorite pure shooting-ceiling one-off. He can break the slate without a full Buffalo stack.

Kirill Kaprizov $8,000: Premium wing ceiling and a strong way to spend salary away from the Eichel/Matthews center tier.

Sebastian Aho $6,700: Strong price for a top-line center who also works on Carolina’s first power-play unit.

Andrei Svechnikov $5,800: One of our favorite midrange wings. Top-line role plus PP1 access at a salary below the elite wing tier.

One-off values

Shayne Gostisbehere $4,600: PP1 defenseman who gives us power-play access without paying the premium blue-line salaries.

Luke Hughes $4,500: Offensive defenseman with enough puck-moving upside to beat this salary in tournaments.

Josh Norris $4,200: Cheap exposure next to Tage Thompson on Buffalo’s projected top line.

Gabe Perreault $3,500: Projected top-line winger with Zibanejad and Lafreniere at a value salary.

William Carrier $2,700: Pure correlation value. He is projected beside Aho and Svechnikov and lets us spend aggressively elsewhere.

Goalies

Best: Jake Allen $8,200

Confirmed starter at home against Utah. We prefer the combination of win path and a salary below the very top goalie tier.

GPP: Juuse Saros $7,100

Confirmed starter in a difficult Toronto matchup. The risk is obvious, but the low salary and potential save volume create tournament upside if Nashville keeps the game close.

Value: Brandon Bussi $7,900

Carolina lists Bussi as the starter. He gives us a cheaper route to a favored team without paying into the $8,000-plus goalie tier.

Deep GPP: Semyon Varlamov $7,300

Confirmed against the Rangers. Volatile in his first NHL start since 2024, but that uncertainty is exactly why he belongs in the tournament-only bucket.

CTS lineup

C Sebastian Aho $6,700
C Tage Thompson $8,300
W Andrei Svechnikov $5,800
W Ivan Barbashev $5,200
W Josh Norris $4,200
D Shayne Gostisbehere $4,600
D Luke Hughes $4,500
G Brandon Bussi $7,900
UTIL William Carrier $2,700

Total salary: $49,900. The build uses a Carolina core around Aho-Svechnikov-Gostisbehere-Carrier, a Buffalo Thompson-Norris mini-stack, and Barbashev as a path to Vegas exposure without paying for Eichel.