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Get today's top DraftKings daily fantasy hockey lineup picks for October 9, 2025. Doug's expert NHL DFS goalies picks, value plays, stacks, and power play picks.
After easing us into the 2025-26 NHL season with a three- and four-game slate, the league hits us hard tonight with a massive slate of 14 games. The early window of games features the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, the Tampa Lightning, and a surprising Pittsburgh Penguins team that shut out the Rangers on Tuesday night.
Later in the night, the Colorado Avalanche look to improve their record to 2-0 as they take on the newly christened Utah Mammoth. The Vegas Golden Knights will play their second game in as many nights, traveling to San Jose to take on a young and scrappy Sharks team. The highlight of the slate should be the matchup between Western Conference powerhouses, when the Dallas Stars invade Winnipeg to take on Kyle Connor and the Jets.
I aim to help you narrow your plays to get the most bang for your DFS buck. NHL Premium members can find members of the RotoBaller NHL family on Discord, where our chat is always active. I'll bring my NHL lineup picks, analysis, and advice for NHL DFS contests on DraftKings for Thursday, October 9, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. ET. Be sure also to check out RotoBaller's awesome NHL tools, including our Lineup Optimizer, Research Station, and Heat Map.
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NHL DFS Analysis And Picks For 10/9/25
Colorado Avalanche (COL1 - Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen, Martin Necas; $20,600 DK)
Defensive Addition: Cale Makar ($7,600 DK)
Colorado looked great on Tuesday night, netting four goals against Darcy Kuemper, who was nearly untouchable at home last season. This is not a team to be trifled with, and we should have seen that in the preseason, as it averaged just shy of three goals per 60 minutes. Martin Necas (two goals), Nathan MacKinnon (two assists), and Artturi Lehkonen (one goal, one assist) looked unstoppable as they hit on three of the seven shots they put on net.
Last season, MacKinnon and Lehkonen terrorized Utah for a combined four goals and four assists. Defender Cale Makar scored only one goal against Utah, but he took 11 shots across three games. He’s one of the highest-scoring defenders in fantasy and should always be in consideration when stacking the Avs’ top line.
Tonight’s matchup looks to be far easier, taking on a Utah Mammoth defense that isn’t nearly as intimidating as the Los Angeles Kings. Goalie Karel Vejmelka is particularly vulnerable against high-danger shots. He stopped just 79% on the road last season, while their defensive pairing of John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev allowed 3.08 expected goals and 13.11 high-danger chances per 60 minutes.
Martin Necas says 👋🏻 #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/neOjHmj6h7
— Adrian Hernandez (@AdoHernandez27) October 8, 2025
Winnipeg Jets (WPG1 - Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Gabriel Vilardi; $20,700 DK)
Defensive Addition: Josh Morrissey ($6,700 DK)
The Winnipeg Jets, not the Colorado Avalanche, are the most expensive team to stack on tonight’s slate. This makes sense as the Jets were one of the best home teams in the NHL last season, and their top line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Gabriel Vilardi averaged 3.5 more DraftKings points per game at home than they did on the road.
Last season, they combined for four goals and eight assists against the Stars in four games. Scheifele showed some aggression with eight shots, while Connor was hyper-aggressive with 17 shots.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger struggled on the road, allowing 2.84 goals per game and stopping 74% of the high-danger chances he faced. Last year, he won just one of his four starts, allowing 3.73 goals per game and saving only 87% of the shots he faced against the Jets. He allowed four goals in three of those four starts, including both starts in Winnipeg.
Pittsburgh Penguins (PIT1 - Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, Ville Koivunen; $17,700 DK)
Defensive Addition: Erik Karlsson ($5,700 DK)
The Penguins looked good on Tuesday night, blanking the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden. The top line of Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, and Ville Koivunen combined for seven shots on goal in a difficult matchup. Tonight’s game should be easier, as it’s not just at home, but they’ll get to face a defensive pairing that struggled last season.
Tony DeAngelo and Alexander Romanov allowed 3.26 expected goals, 13.71 high-danger chances, and a whopping 35.78 scoring chances per 60 minutes on the road. We targeted them a lot last season with great success, and once again, we will look to take our shots while the Penguins are playing with fresh legs early in the season.
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Back-to-back @DraftKings Fantasy Hockey World Championship trips! Let’s get the main prize this year! Thank you to @banksterdfs for the amazing daily fantasy content! @NHL pic.twitter.com/dONSvJMtIR
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NHL DFS Value Stack of the Night
Anaheim Ducks (ANH2 - Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish, Beckett Sennecke; $13,000 DK)
The Anaheim Ducks are a young and hungry team that appears to be coming together, if this year’s preseason is any indication. Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke each netted two goals, while Mason McTavish tallied an assist in the only preseason game he played. The duo of Sennecke and Gauthier combined for 21 shots on goal, averaging 5.25 shots per game.
That’s a lot of volume for a stack that will come in at just $13,000. You can complete your stack with defender Jackson LaCombe, who exploded for six assists this preseason and is poised for a breakout season.
They will face a defensive pairing in Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn, who struggled at home last year. The duo combined to allow 3.12 expected goals and 13.60 high-danger chances per 60 minutes; a considerable number considering how aggressive Anaheim expects to be this year.
NHL DFS Goalie to Target
Arturs Silovs (PIT - $7,500 DK)
Am I reading too much into one game? Maybe so, but Arturs Silovs had a strong outing in the season opener against the Rangers, stopping all 25 shots he faced. While many may think he came out of nowhere, Silovs had moments of promise last season as a member of the Canucks. He allowed two or fewer goals in four of his final seven starts, scoring at least 10.9 DraftKings points in three of those games.
He’s got a revamped Penguins defense in front of him and will face an Islanders squad that isn’t known for being a dynamic offense. This preseason, they only managed 2.17 goals and 8.29 high-danger chances per 60 minutes, numbers that won’t put any fear in opposing goalies.
Silovs is priced at just $7,500, meaning he can be a salary-saver in tournaments to allow you to spend up on an extra defender or a slightly better stack than if you used a more expensive goalie. I prefer Andrei Vasilevskiy in cash games because he’s got a far better track record, but Silovs has all the upside in the world for a tournament and should come in at a low ownership on this monster slate.
Arturs Silovs posts a 25 save shutout in his Penguins debut Rookie goalie stays locked in at MSG welcome to the league, kid. pic.twitter.com/u46OaizRTQ
— chasingrookies (@chasingrookies) October 8, 2025
Others in consideration: Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA), Scott Wedgewood (COL), Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB)
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