Chris Durell's NHL DFS advice for 1/26/17 - daily fantasy hockey FanDuel and DraftKings cheat sheets. His lineup picks, sleepers and stacks for cash games and GPPs.

RotoBallers, welcome back to our daily fantasy hockey (NHL DFS) lineup picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and FantasyAces. Below you will find our NHL cheat sheet - DFS lineup picks, sleepers and stacks for Thursday, January 26 of the 2016/2017 NHL season.

Huge night in the NHL with 13 games on the last slate before the All Star break this weekend.  Four teams(TOR, PHI, VAN, EDM) are playing on a back-to-back with six teams(TOR, WSH, LAK, CGY, WPG, SJ) playing a third game in four nights.

Editor's Note: New users that sign up on Fantasy Aces, make a $20 deposit, and enter any game will receive our full season NHL Premium Pass (DFS Cheat Sheets) for free, a $99.99 value. Just email [email protected] with your new FantasyAces username - and boom, that's it! We will email you with your Premium pass.

NHL Daily League Lineup Picks for Thursday, January 26 

For those that are new to this, each day we'll be providing you with a few of our top DFS lineup picks for daily league cash games on FanDuel, DraftKings, and FantasyAces. We will also provide you with one of our favorite teams to stack for GPPs. You can grab the rest of our Premium DFS lineup picks and stacks through the NHL Cheat Sheet and DFS Premium Pass below.

Logan Couture (C, SJ)

DraftKings - $6,200, FanDuel - $6,800, FantasyAces - $5,350

The Sharks close out the first half at home tonight in a nice spot vs. the Oilers playing on back to back nights in Cali. Couture makes a terrific pivot off the popular first line and he has been hot lately with points in four straight and nine points in his last 10 games with 23 shots on goal.

Conor Sheary (W, PIT)

DraftKings - $6,000, FanDuel - $6,100, FantasyAces - $5,000

He comes with a very affordable price considering his place on the top line with the games top player, Sidney Crosby. He has also been red hot lately, recording 13 points in his last 10 games and could see added powerplay time with Evgeni Malkin out Thursday.

Nikita Zaitsev (D, TOR)

DraftKings - $4,300, FanDuel - $4,400, FantasyAces - $4,200

A low-end option that is safe in all formats tonight vs. a weak defensive team in the Flyers. He plays 2+ minutes on the powerplay and should get extra opportunities tonight as the Flyers take close to the most penalty minutes per game.

Stacking Option

Pittsburgh Penguins PP - Sidney Crosby, Conor Sheary, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang(If back in lineup)

With Malkin ruled out and Hornqvist unlikely to play on Thursday the Pens #1 overall offense will have to rely even more on their superstar. Great news for fantasy as his linemate Conor Sheary has been one of the hottest players in the league since the Christmas break. If Kris Letang is back from IR on Thursday add him to the powerplay stack for a four man, high upside combination vs. the Bruins who have allowed three or more goals in nine of 12 games in January.

NHL & DFS Premium Subscription

Get an edge on your NHL DFS competition, every single night of the week:

• DFS Cheat Sheets and Lineup Picks: Access to 10 deeply researched lineup picks, and sample lineups. Includes advanced stats to unlock NHL player values, and boost DFS success.
• DFS Optimizer Tool: Generate optimal DFS lineups in seconds. Use advanced features and stats for including/excluding players, cash games vs. GPPs, stacks and more.
• DFS Value Picks: Our Optimizer helps you find, sort and filter the best lineup values and DFS sleeper picks. Premium stats like "DvP" and "Points/$1K" give you a leg up on the DFS competition.
• Daily NHL Projections: Our secret sauce - the Optimizer Tool provides DFS points projections for FanDuel, DraftKings and Yahoo scoring.

Lineup Optimizer/Generator & Sleepers Tool

Click here to see a full size version of the tool

Click here to see a full size version of the tool

Click here to see a full size version of the tool

Premium NHL DFS Lineup Picks & Cheat Sheet

Want to know what the Premium NHL DFS Cheat Sheets looks like? Below is a sample. We go above and beyond standard daily fantasy hockey analysis.

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Bonus: General NHL DFS Strategy Notes

For cash games, look at players who can contribute to your score even when they are not providing offense. Some examples are guys who take a ton of shots and defensemen who block a lot of shots. Also, look for guys who get power play time. You can find value in players who join a new line due to an injury, or just get a promotion and more ice time. It is also recommended to spread out your exposure to three or four different lines, and not put all your eggs in one basket.

For large field tournaments (GPPs), find payers who have multi-point upside and can grab double-digit fantasy points. If you want to stack the most upside in your forwards, a common strategy is to punt the defense position. This doesn't mean just grab anyone - try and look for a defenseman who will get power play time, or a playing time boost due to an injury. For a contrarian approach, paying up at the defense position can be a great strategy - but it also comes with more risk. GPPs bring a great opportunity for goaltenders in the value price range - you can look for backups on good teams.