NHL DFS DraftKings Picks for October 29, 2026: Stacks, Values and Goalies

Build around Minnesota’s scoring core, but let Washington’s $15,100 line do the salary work. Thursday’s 11-game DraftKings NHL slate starts at 7 p.m. ET. Kirill Kaprizov ($8,800) and Quinn Hughes ($6,800) are my preferred premium pairing; Dylan Strome ($4,800) and Jordan Kyrou ($3,800) make it possible to reach them without filling the bottom of the lineup with unused skaters. San Jose offers the tournament alternative through its power play, with Ivar Stenberg ($3,900) the key salary piece. Alex Newhook ($3,000) is the center value to follow through warmups. Jesper Wallstedt ($8,200) is my preferred goalie if he starts. The example below spends exactly $50,000, with goalie and deployment conditions attached.

Slate windows, all Eastern: 7 p.m.: Winnipeg at Tampa Bay, Columbus at Carolina, Utah at Pittsburgh. 7:30 p.m.: Chicago at Detroit. 8 p.m.: Boston at St. Louis, Montreal at Dallas, Washington at Nashville, New York Islanders at Minnesota. 10 p.m.: Buffalo at Anaheim, Ottawa at Los Angeles, Vancouver at San Jose.

Top Stack: Minnesota’s Power-Play Core

Kirill Kaprizov, W, $8,800 + Joel Eriksson Ek, C, $6,700 + Quinn Hughes, D, $6,800. Total: $22,300.

Start with Kaprizov and decide which position needs his partner. Eriksson Ek provides the even-strength connection; Hughes lets us stack Minnesota while filling a defense slot. Their shared power-play opportunity is the attraction to the three-man version. Treat tonight’s configuration as projected until Minnesota’s lineup is announced.

The opportunity supports paying up. Through Minnesota’s first 14 games, Kaprizov had 103 shot attempts and 21 high-danger shots on goal. His five-on-five shot-attempt share was 59.8%, with Eriksson Ek at 61.1%. These are measures of sustained offensive involvement. Misses and blocked attempts do not earn DraftKings shot points. NHL EDGE’s October 28 analysis supplies the underlying numbers.

The latest game also shows why the power-play defenseman matters: Minnesota scored twice with the advantage against Utah, with Hughes assisting on both goals. The October 27 game summary documents that overlap. One useful scoring sequence can involve multiple roster spots.

The countercase is the opponent. The Islanders allow 2.58 goals per game. Thursday’s team preview makes clear this is no soft landing. My preference is the $15,600 Kaprizov-Hughes pair when the third Wild skater would force an unreliable punt. Add Eriksson Ek when the remaining value is genuinely playable, rather than assuming a larger stack is always better.

GPP Stack: San Jose’s Power Play

Macklin Celebrini, C, $9,300 + Will Smith, W, $5,900 + Ivar Stenberg, W, $3,900. Total: $19,100.

This is a power-play stack. Do not build it on the assumption that all three will take every even-strength shift together. San Jose’s recent forward-line changes make that distinction important, and tonight’s lines remain a pregame decision.

Stenberg is the reason the combination works financially. NHL EDGE reported October 27 that he was averaging 3:10 on the power play through 12 games, mostly with Celebrini and Smith. That is a meaningful route to the same scoring at a fraction of Celebrini’s salary.

Tuesday, Stenberg played 20:22, including 3:28 on the power play, without a shot. Official event summary. His 18 shots through the preceding 12 games were already a warning against buying him for an independent shot floor. The minutes can be there while the fantasy points disappear.

Use the full trio when chasing multiple power-play scoring events. The $13,200 Celebrini-Stenberg pair is the leaner version if Smith’s salary would cost a preferred defenseman. Keep Stenberg only if his premium special-teams role survives. A demotion changes the entire value argument.

Value Stack: Washington’s First Line

Alex Tuch, W, $6,500 + Dylan Strome, C, $4,800 + Jordan Kyrou, W, $3,800. Total: $15,100.

Washington is my preferred full-line salary solution. Wednesday’s official lineup grouped Tuch, Strome and Kyrou together. Carry that combination forward as a projection for Nashville, with Washington playing the second night of a back-to-back.

Strome assisted on Kyrou’s power-play goal Wednesday. Philadelphia’s game report confirms the special-teams link between the two cheaper pieces. Tuch adds the even-strength stack; this recommendation does not require all three to share PP1.

The $8,600 Strome-Kyrou mini-stack is the best way to keep more than one expensive scorer elsewhere. Kyrou is the attachment I prefer with Strome rather than as a volume-based standalone play. The price buys access to a productive role, but a quiet night can leave little peripheral scoring to rescue him.

Do not pay for Wednesday’s result twice. The value is the salary and shared ice, while travel, back-to-back workload and a possible line change are the reasons to avoid treating the trio as an automatic repeat performance.

Best One-Offs

Matt Boldy, W, Minnesota, $8,300

Boldy is my first alternative to Kaprizov when the $500 savings improve another slot. His league-leading 115 shot attempts through Minnesota’s first 14 games show that his involvement is not dependent on a recent goal streak. NHL EDGE provides that comparison. I would rather switch premium Wild wings than add both and weaken two other positions. Attempts establish opportunity, not a promised five-shot bonus.

Tage Thompson, C, Buffalo, $7,900

Thompson recorded six shots Tuesday. Official event summary. That is the kind of independent scoring route I want when paying for a one-off. He fits builds that spend less at center on the primary stack and want late-game Buffalo exposure. One six-shot game is evidence of a ceiling, not tonight’s shot projection.

Jackson LaCombe, D, Anaheim, $6,000

LaCombe offers a different way to spend at defense when Hughes would overconcentrate a lineup in Minnesota. He averages 26:24 of ice time and has 12 points through 12 games, according to NHL.com’s October 29 profile. That workload is the case. Anaheim’s recent struggles make a full Ducks stack less appealing to me than buying its heavily used defenseman alone. Do not turn those minutes into an assumed power-play assignment without checking the lineup.

Best Value Forwards

Alex Newhook, C, Montreal, $3,000

Newhook practiced with Caufield and Slafkovsky Wednesday. Montreal’s practice report. That makes him a meaningful center-value candidate, rather than a cheap name chosen to finish a roster. Nick Suzuki’s announced two-to-four-week absence provides the opening.

Use Newhook to preserve a premium skater elsewhere if this deployment holds. Practice placement alone does not establish PP1 work, a full game’s minutes or a successful matchup in Dallas. Montreal is not holding a morning skate Thursday, so verify his final deployment closer to puck drop. If he moves down the lineup, reassess the entire build instead of defending the original salary fit.

Ivar Stenberg, W, San Jose, $3,900

He is the preferred value winger for a San Jose stack. As a one-off, accept that the bargain is special-teams scoring access with a fragile shot floor. I am more comfortable taking that risk beside Celebrini than treating Stenberg as the lineup’s dependable low-cost scorer.

Jordan Kyrou, W, Washington, $3,800

My first value-wing choice for the balanced Washington build. The $100 discount from Stenberg is minor; the stronger reason is the inexpensive partnership with Strome. Choose the pair that belongs to the scoring story your lineup is trying to capture.

Best Value Defensemen

Shayne Gostisbehere, Carolina, $4,200

Gostisbehere was Carolina’s listed PP1 defenseman October 27. The team’s lineup report is the role evidence. He then logged 4:20 on the power play within 15:24 overall, with one shot and one block. Official event summary.

That split matters. We are buying power-play access, not a big-minute shot-and-block floor. Carolina’s Thursday preview highlights Columbus’ penalty-killing struggles. Gostisbehere is the preferred midrange value if he retains the assignment. A move off the top unit would remove the main reason to prioritize him.

Tyler Kleven, Ottawa, $3,000

Kleven recorded four shots and five blocks Saturday. Official event summary. He is the cheaper alternative when the lineup needs peripheral scoring rather than another power-play bet. The five-block result is a ceiling example, not a nightly expectation.

There is a specific role gate: Ottawa linked Kleven’s larger workload to Thomas Chabot’s absence. Reassess the minutes if Chabot returns. Kleven saves $1,200 from Gostisbehere, but those savings come with much less offensive correlation.

Top Goalie: Jesper Wallstedt, Minnesota, $8,200

Projected; use only if confirmed to start. Wallstedt: .922 save percentage, 12 appearances. Minnesota: 2.21 goals allowed per game. Thursday’s Islanders preview. That combination of individual results and team support is why I prefer him at this salary.

He also fits a Wild scoring stack without creating an opposing-skater conflict. The limitation is save volume: a controlled Minnesota win can be a good real-life game with a merely ordinary DFS result. Twelve appearances are still an early-season sample. I will not transfer the recommendation automatically to another Minnesota goalie if the starter changes.

GPP Goalie: Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders, $7,200

Projected; use only if confirmed to start. Sorokin is the deliberate alternative to the Minnesota scoring thesis. The Wild’s shot-generation case creates a plausible save-volume ceiling, and he costs $1,000 less than Wallstedt. The same pressure also creates a clear risk of multiple goals allowed.

Sorokin made 32 saves while allowing six goals in Dallas on October 25. The NHL recap is a useful reminder of the downside: a busy night can still be a poor fantasy night. One start should not define his ability, but save volume alone cannot make this a safe choice.

Use him in a separate build that fades the Wild core. A strong Sorokin game would directly work against the Kaprizov-Hughes lineup below. This is correlation-based tournament leverage, with no claim that his ownership will be low. Prefer this route only when the salary release meaningfully improves the skaters.

Value Goalie: Jakub Dobes, Montreal, $7,400

Confirmed by coach Martin St-Louis for Thursday. Montreal announced the decision after Wednesday’s practice. Dobes is a salary-relief option, not the safest goalie on the board.

Dobes allowed four goals on 30 shots against San Jose on October 20. Official game summary. That recent outing reinforces my preference to pay more at goalie when the lineup allows it.

Montreal required 46 saves from Jacob Fowler to win Tuesday. The NHL’s report shows the defensive burden behind that result. It gives us a reason to consider save opportunity and an equally strong reason to respect the downside. Fowler’s performance belongs to Fowler; it does not establish Dobes’ form.

I prefer spending the extra $800 on Wallstedt when he starts and the skater structure survives. Dobes becomes more interesting when that $800 fixes a weak roster spot. Keep Dallas scorers out of that version and accept the risk that goals allowed erase the savings.

Lineup Construction and Salary-Checked Example

My preferred balanced path is Washington’s three-man line plus Kaprizov-Hughes. It puts five skaters into two defined scoring groups, keeps a premium defenseman and leaves room for a role-based cheap center. The more aggressive alternative is the San Jose power-play trio, with the rest of the lineup rebuilt around its $19,100 cost.

DraftKings awards a three-point bonus for five shots and for three blocked shots. Five shots alone therefore produce 10.5 points; three blocks produce 6.9. Those routes matter when deciding whether to buy a peripheral-scoring defenseman or a low-volume power-play attachment. They do not justify projecting a bonus from one recent big game.

Illustrative lineup, $50,000. Conditional on Wallstedt starting and the featured skater roles holding.

The roster has two centers, three wings, two defensemen, one goalie and one skater in UTIL. It includes skaters from five teams across five games, with no Islanders opposing Wallstedt. Stenberg is the most scoring-dependent standalone piece. If that concern outweighs his power-play access, change the construction rather than pretend every cheap player provides the same floor.

The $49,600 tournament alternative: replace Newhook, Kaprizov and Hughes with Celebrini, Smith and Kleven, respectively. Keep the other six players. That creates the three-man San Jose power-play stack alongside Washington’s full line, with $400 left. You sacrifice the premium Minnesota skaters and add Kleven’s role risk to concentrate more of the lineup around two scoring groups. Wallstedt remains conditional on starting.

Handle the lock windows deliberately. Gostisbehere’s 7 p.m. game is the example’s first decision. The Montreal, Washington and Minnesota pieces follow at 8 p.m.; Stenberg remains available until 10 p.m. in contests that permit late swaps. If late uncertainty is a concern, moving from Gostisbehere to Kleven creates a second late slot and $1,200 of room. Reinvest those savings in an eligible late forward. Confirm the exact contest’s swap rules and keep alternatives within the remaining games and eligible positions.

Before entry: confirm Wallstedt, check Newhook’s deployment, verify the Washington trio and San Jose power play, and remove any late scratch. The lineup illustrates a construction; it is not an optimized or guaranteed result.