NHL DraftKings DFS Picks: Best Stacks and Values for October 28, 2026

Washington’s Dylan Strome line is our top stack, Calgary’s first power play is the tournament alternative, and Seattle offers the affordable even-strength trio. Wednesday’s four-game DraftKings slate starts at 7:30 p.m. ET. The best construction does not have to begin with both Edmonton superstars: there are cheaper paths to correlated scoring, with enough room left for a premium shooter.

Line combinations below are projections, not confirmed game lineups. Jake Allen and Sergei Bobrovsky have reported confirmed starts; our Seattle goalie choice remains conditional. Check the actual starting goalie and final units before submitting.

Top Stack

Washington: Dylan Strome, Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou

Strome $5,200 C/UTIL + Tuch $6,400 W/UTIL + Kyrou $3,700 W/UTIL = $15,300.

Washington has generated 3.02 expected goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five through 10 games. Philadelphia has allowed 2.91 through 14. That is a better reason to target this game than simply noticing a recognizable name on the Capitals’ power play. The Flyers also allow 30.29 shots per game, compared with only 23.29 of their own. These are calculations from MoneyPuck’s current-season team data, not forecasts.

The Washington projection groups all three at even strength. Strome and Kyrou share PP1, but Tuch is on PP2. We want the full line for five-on-five scoring; Strome-Kyrou at $8,900 is the compact version with both even-strength and first-unit power-play overlap.

Tuch has 27 shots and 4.74 individual expected goals in 10 games. Strome adds 24 shots and 4.02 individual expected goals over the same sample. Kyrou is the weaker independent play: 15 shots in 10 games and only 13.97 minutes per game. His role alongside the other two is the justification for including him, not a claim that he has already become a reliable volume scorer.

The Capitals’ official preview also establishes a meaningful rest advantage. Washington has played once in the previous week, while Philadelphia is coming off Tuesday’s game. That supports the matchup, but fresh legs do not guarantee goals.

The countercase: Philadelphia’s four-on-five defense has allowed 6.58 xGA per 60 over roughly 82 minutes. The stronger edge is at even strength, not an assumption that the penalty kill will collapse. Do not automatically replace Tuch with Alex Ovechkin for name value: Ovechkin’s 14 shots in 10 games and separate projected line make that a different, more power-play-dependent build.

GPP Stack

Calgary power play: Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee and Matt Coronato

Frost $4,100 C/UTIL + Farabee $4,600 W/UTIL + Coronato $4,800 W/UTIL = $13,500.

This is a salary-efficient bet on Calgary’s scoring chances, not an invented low-ownership call. The Flames average 29.18 shots per game through 11 games, while Edmonton averages 25.67 through 12. Edmonton has the far more expensive stars, but that has not translated into a team shot-volume advantage in this early sample.

On the Flames’ projected units, Farabee and Coronato skate together with Mikael Backlund at even strength. Frost centers a separate line. All three selections share PP1. The $9,400 Farabee-Coronato pair is the even-strength version; adding Frost makes this a power-play-focused stack.

Farabee has 26 shots and 3.61 individual expected goals in 11 games, with 19.02 minutes per game. Coronato also has 26 shots; Frost has 23. The three have each averaged roughly two and a half minutes of five-on-four time per game. Their prices allow a premium one-off without requiring several minimum-salary passengers.

The opening, and the risk: Tristan Jarry is reported confirmed to start; his five appearances have produced an .862 save percentage and 6.15 goals allowed above MoneyPuck’s expectation. That is goalie-specific evidence, not a reason to label every Edmonton goalie weak. If the announced starter changes, reassess the goalie component. Edmonton has allowed only 2.25 five-on-five xGA per 60, so Calgary still faces a credible defensive structure. The Oilers’ 8.40 four-on-five xGA per 60 comes from just 41 minutes and should carry less weight than the larger even-strength sample.

We prefer this stack in tournaments because Frost can miss out when Farabee-Coronato score at even strength, and a disciplined Edmonton game would reduce the trio’s strongest shared opportunity. Backlund costs $3,800 and restores full-line correlation, but he is not listed on either power-play unit. That is a deliberate trade, not a like-for-like swap.

Value Stack

Seattle: Matty Beniers, Bobby McMann and Jordan Eberle

Beniers $3,500 C/UTIL + McMann $4,900 W/UTIL + Eberle $4,000 W/UTIL = $12,400.

Toronto has allowed 30.29 shots per game and 2.73 five-on-five xGA per 60 through 14 games. Seattle’s projected top forward line gives us three correlated pieces for $2,900 less than the Washington trio. McMann and Eberle have 30 shots each through 12 games. Eberle’s 4.38 individual expected goals in that span make him more interesting than a player we are adding only to complete a stack.

Beniers is the weak volume link with 13 shots in 12 games. His appeal is the center position, price and shared shifts. If we only need two wings, McMann-Eberle costs $8,900 and removes the lowest-shot member.

Power-play caution: Daily Faceoff’s projection places this trio on PP1, while RotoWire’s October 28 matchup chart places them on PP2. Price this as an even-strength stack until the unit order is resolved. A shared unit is useful, but second-unit minutes are not equivalent to first-unit minutes.

Seattle itself generates only 2.28 five-on-five xGF per 60. The matchup and savings are attractive; the offense is not a juggernaut. Do not force this trio into a lineup with a Toronto goalie. Their best result directly hurts that goalie.

Best One-Offs

• Leon Draisaitl, EDM, $9,300 W/UTIL: His 46 shots and 6.58 individual expected goals through 12 games are stronger individual shooting indicators than Connor McDavid’s 30 shots over the same stretch. Both appear on the same projected line and PP1. We prefer Draisaitl when we can afford only one Edmonton star, especially with center slots already filled by cheaper stacks. Calgary has allowed 2.70 five-on-five xGA per 60. The warning is price: adding McDavid and Vasily Podkolzin turns the trio into $24,800, nearly half the cap. Edmonton’s projected units remain subject to change.
• Nathan MacKinnon, COL, $9,000 C/UTIL: Fifty shots in 12 games give him the best shot average among these premium options at 4.17 per game. He can be used without buying the entire Colorado line. New Jersey has allowed only 1.96 five-on-five xGA per 60 and 23.33 shots per game, however. MacKinnon is a volume-led talent play, not a soft-matchup label. Allen’s confirmed start is not evidence that Colorado automatically overwhelms him.
• Timo Meier, NJD, $5,800 W/UTIL: He has 46 shots in 12 games despite averaging only 16.31 minutes. That is a useful independent shooting profile at a much lower price. The Devils’ projection puts him on PP2, separate from Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. Use him for his own shots or with his even-strength line, not as a presumed PP1 attachment.
• Jakob Chychrun, WSH, $6,600 D/UTIL: He has averaged 3.10 shots, 1.50 blocks and 24.67 minutes through 10 games, with the projected PP1 role adding correlation to Strome and Kyrou. He is our premium Washington extension, but the four-player group would cost $21,900. Do not destroy the rest of the lineup merely to include every attractive Capital.

All individual shooting, usage and expected-goal figures are calculated from MoneyPuck’s skater data.

Best Value FWDs

• T.J. Hughes, COL, $3,200 W/UTIL: Our favorite inexpensive power-play attachment. The Colorado chart places him on PP1 with MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Nazem Kadri and Cale Makar. Hughes has 26 shots in 12 games and has averaged 3.77 minutes of five-on-four time per game. He is on a different even-strength line from MacKinnon and Necas, and his overall ice time is only 14.91 minutes. The role is valuable, but the shared scoring path is concentrated on the power play.
• Jordan Kyrou, WSH, $3,700 W/UTIL: The best way to make our main stack affordable. His projected role is more interesting than his 1.50-shot average. Keep him attached to Strome or the full line; reconsider him if that role disappears.
• Gavin McKenna, TOR, $3,300 W/UTIL: The Toronto projection now places him with Auston Matthews and Jack Roslovic at even strength, as well as on PP1. He has 23 shots in 14 games and averages 13.65 minutes. McKenna offers both even-strength and power-play correlation with Matthews, but the projected role does not guarantee a larger workload. Easton Cowan at $3,800 is projected with Nick Paul and William Nylander at even strength and on PP2. Choose the role you intend to stack.

Denver Barkey is a $2,500 C/UTIL option on Philadelphia’s projected PP1, but seven shots in 11 games is a serious floor warning. We would rather use him to enable a specific high-upside combination than call him an automatic value because of the unit label.

Best Value Defense

Player	Salary	GP	Shots/game	Blocks/game	Minutes/game
Connor Murphy, EDM	$3,400	12	0.92	2.75	21.27
Jamie Drysdale, PHI	$3,500	14	1.43	1.71	22.79
Adam Larsson, SEA	$3,100	12	1.00	2.25	21.76
Luke Hughes, NJD	$5,100	12	2.83	0.58	24.00

Murphy is the block-based savings play. His 33 blocks in 12 games create a plausible route toward DraftKings’ three-block bonus, but an average does not tell us his bonus-hit rate. There is almost no power-play contribution to buy here.

Drysdale has the more rounded cheap role. He is on Philadelphia’s projected PP1, with 20 shots and 24 blocks in 14 games. Washington’s four-on-five xGA rate is 9.32 per 60 over approximately 55 minutes. That is a small-sample opportunity, not a guarantee that the Flyers’ low-volume offense improves tonight.

Larsson is another peripheral play, not a power-play stack piece. His 27 blocks in 12 games and projected top-pair/penalty-kill usage fit the price. Luke Hughes is the higher-budget value: 34 shots in 12 games, projected PP1 and 24 minutes per game for $200 less than Dougie Hamilton, who is projected on PP2. Hamilton’s stronger block average is the counterargument; Hughes gets the role preference.

DraftKings’ scoring guide explains the shot and block bonuses. None of these averages are a prediction that a bonus will be reached.

Top Goalie

Sergei Bobrovsky, TOR, $7,800

Reported confirmed to start. The October 28 Daily Faceoff goalie board cites Luke Fox, with the confirmation posted at 19:32 UTC. Toronto’s matchup with Seattle is the most appealing balance of price and opposing offense among our three goalie selections. Seattle averages 26.17 shots per game and 2.28 five-on-five xGF per 60. Bobrovsky has stopped 243 of 271 shots across nine appearances, a .897 save percentage, with 2.61 goals saved above MoneyPuck’s expectation.

The countercase is Toronto’s own 2.73 five-on-five xGA per 60, Bobrovsky’s sub-.900 save percentage and the small nine-appearance sample. Seattle’s low shot volume also limits the save-ceiling argument. Bobrovsky is our matchup-and-price preference, not a safe anchor or a shutout prediction.

GPP Goalie

Philipp Grubauer, SEA, $7,600

Likely to start, but not confirmed. The October 28 Daily Faceoff goalie board cites Mike Benton’s morning-skate report that Grubauer occupied the starter’s crease. Keep this selection conditional until his start is confirmed. Grubauer has a .907 save percentage and +3.37 goals saved above expected over seven appearances. Toronto averages 28.64 shots per game, giving him a reasonable save-opportunity argument without assuming a 35-save bonus.

We prefer this as the alternative outcome to Toronto stacks, especially when using Seattle forwards. Seattle’s 2.98 five-on-five xGA per 60 is the danger: the shots may be difficult, not merely plentiful. If Joey Daccord starts, the same $7,600 salary does not make him the same play. His six appearances have produced an .882 save percentage and -2.02 goals saved above expected. Reassess rather than swapping blindly.

Value Goalie

Jake Allen, NJD, $7,300

Reported confirmed to start. Daily Faceoff’s October 28 board attributes the announcement to Peter Baugh. Allen saves $500 against the Toronto crease and $800 against Colorado’s listed goalies. New Jersey’s 1.96 five-on-five xGA per 60 and 23.33 shots allowed per game are the strongest defensive support figures among the teams on this slate.

Allen’s own performance is the reason this remains a tournament value, not a safe cheap anchor: .886 on 176 shots and -3.50 goals saved above expected in seven appearances. Colorado generates 2.74 five-on-five xGF per 60, and MacKinnon supplies an obvious high-end threat. New Jersey is also playing the second night of a back-to-back. The case is team defense plus salary relief, with real risk attached. Do not use Allen alongside MacKinnon or other Colorado skaters.

Goalie performance figures come from MoneyPuck’s goalie data. Goals saved above expected equals expected goals against minus actual goals allowed; appearances are not necessarily starts. Starting status is sourced separately.

Lineup construction

Start with the Washington trio, then decide which second scoring path you want. Calgary’s power-play pair supports a game-stack approach with an Edmonton one-off. Seattle’s full line is a different build and requires moving away from a Toronto goalie. Buying both Edmonton stars is possible, but the combined $19,100 cost should be a deliberate choice rather than the default.

Illustrative DraftKings lineup: $49,600

Slot	Player	Team	Salary
C	Dylan Strome	WSH	$5,200
C	Morgan Frost	CGY	$4,100
W	Alex Tuch	WSH	$6,400
W	Jordan Kyrou	WSH	$3,700
W	Joel Farabee	CGY	$4,600
D	Luke Hughes	NJD	$5,100
D	Connor Murphy	EDM	$3,400
G	Sergei Bobrovsky	TOR	$7,800
UTIL	Leon Draisaitl	EDM	$9,300

$400 remains. This is a legal salary-and-position example, not an optimized projection or a ready-to-submit lineup without the final lineup checks. Bobrovsky replaces the earlier conditional Stolarz selection at the same $7,800 salary following his reported start confirmation. All eight skater slots are unchanged. There are no Seattle skaters opposing our goalie.

The construction combines Washington’s even-strength line, a Farabee-Frost PP1 pair that does not share an even-strength line, and Draisaitl as the opposing offensive piece in that Calgary game. Luke Hughes supplies a separate PP1 defense role; Murphy supplies inexpensive blocks. Leaving $400 is preferable to replacing a useful role solely to spend the cap.

Philadelphia-Washington locks at 7:30 p.m. ET, Calgary-Edmonton at 8:30, New Jersey-Colorado at 9, and Toronto-Seattle at 10. If the contest permits late swap, leave late-game flexibility in eligible slots and have an actual goalie alternative available. Do not treat a blank injury field or a listed salary as proof that someone will dress.

Research notes: Salaries and DraftKings eligibility are from the October 28 slate. The statistics above use 2026-27 regular-season MoneyPuck rows retrieved October 28. Player per-game figures use all-strength totals divided by that player’s games played; the stated five-on-five and four-on-five rates use minutes in that exact situation. Team samples range from 10 to 14 games, with smaller individual and special-teams samples noted. These are descriptive inputs, not ownership percentages or point projections. Use the CTS NHL Research page alongside the linked lineup and goalie sources for the final decisions.