NHL DFS DraftKings picks for November 3: Anaheim stacks and Colorado value

Cutter Gauthier, Mikael Granlund and Beckett Sennecke are our first stack for Tuesday’s 11-game DraftKings NHL slate. Tampa Bay offers a similarly priced alternative, while Colorado’s cheaper forwards leave room to spend on defense. The slate starts at 7 p.m. ET, with Anaheim–Vancouver the final game at 9 p.m.

Anaheim, Tampa Bay and Colorado line reports and the goalie board rechecked November 3 at 11:10 a.m. ET. Other deployment reports retain the source dates noted below. Line combinations below are the latest available reports, not final lineup cards. Goalie confirmation is identified separately.

Game	Start (ET)
Utah at Toronto	7 p.m.
Winnipeg at Montreal	7 p.m.
Detroit at Tampa Bay	7 p.m.
St. Louis at New York Rangers	7 p.m.
Minnesota at Philadelphia	7 p.m.
Vegas at Pittsburgh	7 p.m.
Dallas at Washington	7 p.m.
Colorado at Columbus	7 p.m.
Edmonton at New Jersey	7:30 p.m.
Carolina at Nashville	8 p.m.
Anaheim at Vancouver	9 p.m.

NHL DFS picks at a glance

• First stack: Cutter Gauthier $7,600 + Mikael Granlund $5,000 + Beckett Sennecke $6,400. Total: $19,000.
• Alternative stack: Jake Guentzel $6,200 + Brayden Point $5,200 + Nikita Kucherov $8,200. Total: $19,600.
• Cheaper stack to watch: Jaden Schwartz $3,400 + Brock Nelson $4,800 + T.J. Hughes $3,500. Total: $11,700, subject to Colorado retaining that combination.
• Premium one-off: Matt Boldy $8,000. Connor McDavid $9,800 is the expensive-center alternative.
• Defense: Quinn Hughes $6,700; Shayne Gostisbehere $4,300; Filip Hronek $4,900.
• Goalie: Scott Wedgewood $8,000, reported confirmed by Daily Faceoff. Jesper Wallstedt $8,300 is an alternative only if named the starter.

First stack: Anaheim’s Gauthier–Granlund–Sennecke line

$19,000 combined. Anaheim’s latest line board places these three together at even strength and on the first power play. That is the combination we want: a goal can pay the stack in more than one game situation. The board reflects the last game, so retain the trio only if the next lineup report agrees.

Vancouver has allowed 4.5 goals and 32.0 shots per game, with a 66.7% penalty kill in DraftKings’ morning matchup data. Anaheim’s power play is at 34.0%. Those early-season figures make this an appealing matchup, although they are not a forecast that the Ducks will score four or five goals tonight.

Gauthier’s shot log lists 4.1 shots per game over 13 appearances through November 1, including five shots Sunday and 10 in the previous game. We are paying for that shooting as well as the matchup. His $7,600 salary is substantial, but Granlund keeps the full stack affordable at $5,000.

Leo Carlsson at $6,600 is another way into the power play. Replacing Granlund with Carlsson adds $1,600 and gives up the reported even-strength connection. Jackson LaCombe at $5,400 is the defense extension. We would generally use one of those changes rather than cram every Anaheim scoring option into the same entry.

Alternative stack: Tampa Bay’s top line

Guentzel / Point / Kucherov: $19,600. Daily Faceoff’s November 2 update has the trio together at even strength and on PP1. Point’s $5,200 tag is what makes the construction work. The full group costs only $600 more than Anaheim’s.

Detroit’s penalty kill is at 70.2%, but Tampa Bay’s power play has converted just 15.2% of its chances in the same DraftKings feed. That cuts both ways: there is a favorable opposing weakness, but we should not price this like an already dominant special-teams unit. We prefer keeping the three forwards together rather than making the entire case depend on power-play scoring.

Charle-Edouard D’Astous at $4,100 is the cheaper PP1 add-on on that board. John Carlson costs $5,200 and is listed on PP2. Victor Hedman’s $3,200 salary is not enough reason to assume he has the old first-unit role. Verify the deployment before choosing a Tampa defenseman.

Colorado value: follow the latest center assignment

Schwartz / Nelson / T.J. Hughes: $11,700. The newer Colorado board, updated Tuesday at 10:07 a.m. ET, puts Nelson between Schwartz and Hughes. An earlier projection had Kadri in that spot. This is a lineup detail that matters, not an interchangeable center choice.

Our cheaper stack follows the newer combination. Hughes is also listed on PP1, while Schwartz and Nelson are on PP2. Do not count all three as a first-unit power-play stack. The benefit is access to Colorado at a manageable price, with an additional special-teams route for Hughes.

The Avalanche are averaging 4.3 goals per game in the morning matchup feed. Their first line of Nathan MacKinnon $9,300, Artturi Lehkonen $5,800 and Martin Necas $6,800 costs $21,900. The cheaper trio saves $10,200, enough to transform the rest of a roster. It also sacrifices the security of the leading offensive group.

Colorado’s Monday recap records two goals apiece for Kadri and Schwartz, plus two assists for Hughes. We are not expecting a repeat. If the next report moves Kadri back between Schwartz and Hughes, his $5,400 salary raises the trio to $12,300 and requires a fresh salary check.

One-offs: Boldy’s shots, McDavid’s ceiling

Matt Boldy, $8,000: Minnesota’s November 1 pregame notes had him at 65 shots through 15 games, or 4.33 per game, before Sunday’s game. That is a useful shooting base when we want a premium wing without paying for three Wild forwards. The shooting rate matters more to this recommendation than chasing his latest point total.

Minnesota full stack: Kaprizov $8,500, Eriksson Ek $6,500 and Boldy $8,000 total $23,000. The Wild’s November 1 projection grouped them together. Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek each had 51 shots through those first 15 games. The trio is viable, but it costs $4,000 more than Anaheim and needs more salary relief elsewhere.

Connor McDavid, $9,800: The NHL’s weekly preview notes his 15-game season-opening point streak and 35-point October. He is the slate’s highest-priced center. We prefer using him with a cheaper stack rather than pairing him with another $9,000 center and forcing several minimum-salary skaters. Leon Draisaitl is wing-eligible at $8,800 in this file, which is important when building an Edmonton combination.

Defense and practical salary relief

Quinn Hughes, $6,700: The same Wild notes document 20 points and 27:36 average ice time through 15 games. That workload is the attraction. He saves $800 versus Cale Makar and $1,100 versus Evan Bouchard, allowing a meaningful upgrade at another position.

Shayne Gostisbehere, $4,300: Carolina’s November 1 deployment places him on PP1. Nashville’s 88.9% penalty kill is a reason to temper the scoring expectation. We still prefer paying for a defined offensive role over selecting a cheap defenseman solely because he appears in the salary file.

Filip Hronek, $4,900: Vancouver’s November 3 game notes list 36 blocked shots. He offers a different route to points from a defenseman whose appeal is mostly power-play scoring. He can be used opposite an Anaheim stack, but that makes the build more dependent on the late game.

Judd Caulfield, $3,200: Anaheim’s latest board has him alongside Carlsson and Killorn, with PP2 work. He is a salary-saving option, not a direct substitute for Sennecke’s first-unit role. Mark Jankowski, $3,200, centered Jarvis and Martinook in Carolina’s last game. Keep him conditional on that assignment holding.

Goalies: Wedgewood is the reported confirmed option

Daily Faceoff’s November 3 goalie board lists Scott Wedgewood, $8,000, as confirmed, citing reporter Colleen Flynn. His listed .889 save percentage and 3.47 GAA are reasons not to confuse starting certainty with performance certainty. Columbus is averaging 2.4 goals and 25.2 shots per game in the matchup feed, which supports the matchup but can also limit save volume.

Jesper Wallstedt, $8,300, if starting: Philadelphia’s 2.2 goals and 23.1 shots per game make him an alternative we like at only $300 more. He remains unconfirmed on the board checked for this article. The low shot volume can restrict his upside even in a good result.

Pyotr Kochetkov, $8,400, if starting: Carolina’s Tuesday preview leaves both Kochetkov and Brandon Bussi possible. Nashville’s 31.9% power play makes this less comfortable than selecting the goalie on the strongest-looking team and moving on. We would not pay before resolving the starter.

Sergei Bobrovsky at $7,500 is also reported confirmed by Daily Faceoff. The $500 saving is useful, but Utah’s 3.6 goals per game and his listed .885 save percentage make him a more volatile choice. We prefer finding that saving among the skaters.

Example DraftKings lineup: $49,700

This construction combines Anaheim’s reported second line with Colorado’s cheaper trio, spends on Quinn Hughes and uses Gostisbehere’s power-play role at the other defense slot. It is a salary-checked example, not an optimized projection or a contest entry.

Slot	Player	Team	Salary
C	Mikael Granlund	ANA	$5,000
C	Brock Nelson	COL	$4,800
W	Cutter Gauthier	ANA	$7,600
W	Beckett Sennecke	ANA	$6,400
W	Jaden Schwartz	COL	$3,400
D	Quinn Hughes	MIN	$6,700
D	Shayne Gostisbehere	CAR	$4,300
G	Scott Wedgewood	COL	$8,000
UTIL	T.J. Hughes	COL	$3,500
Total			$49,700
Remaining			$300

All nine players are in the supplied slate, their assigned slots match the file, and the lineup spans four teams and four games. There is no Columbus skater opposing Wedgewood. The weak point is dependence on Colorado’s cheaper forwards keeping their roles.

If Kadri replaces Nelson on that line, the straight swap makes this $50,300. One workable adjustment is Kadri for Nelson and Sean Walker $3,700 for Gostisbehere, returning the total to $49,700. That changes the defense role, so it is a conscious trade-off. If Wallstedt is confirmed and preferred, his $300 increase fits the original lineup exactly at $50,000.

Salary-file traps before lock

• Anaheim assigned Nick Jensen to San Diego. His $2,500 listing and historical average do not make him usable NHL value.
• A.J. Greer was placed on injured reserve. Do not carry him forward from an older Ducks line chart.
• Nick Suzuki is marked OUT in this upload, while the November 2 NHL status report calls him questionable. Leave him out until current news resolves the discrepancy.
• Recheck the Colorado center assignment, Anaheim’s line and PP1 continuity, and the goalie report before submitting. A blank status field is not an active-lineup confirmation.

Salaries and eligibility come from the supplied November 3 DraftKings file, DKSalaries (99).csv. Team matchup averages are from DraftKings’ morning data checked at 6:58 a.m. ET and are rounded descriptive season figures. Individual statistics retain the source cutoff stated above. No ownership percentages, win probabilities or fantasy-point projections are being claimed.