DFS Lineup Optimizer

5V5 Hockey's NHL DFS Lineup Optimizer is a free tool for building daily fantasy hockey lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel. It uses a mixed-integer linear programming solver to find the highest-projected lineup that fits a site's salary cap and position slots, rather than just ranking players by value.

How the Optimizer Builds a Lineup

Under the hood, the optimizer treats lineup building as a math problem: maximize total projected points while respecting the salary cap and every position slot. Each rule described below adds a constraint to that solve, from "3 players minimum from this team" to "no defensemen in UTIL." The solver then searches the full player pool and returns the single combination of players that scores highest under every rule you've turned on, and repeats the process up to 150 times per build.

Stacking Templates

A stack template tells the solver to concentrate multiple skaters on the same team or line instead of spreading salary evenly across the slate. The panel lists eight template names: 3-3, 3-3-1, 4-3, 4-3-1, 4-2-2, 5-3, 3-2-2-1 and 2-2-2-2.

Each template sets a floor on how many skaters come from a team, not a guarantee that each number in its name lands on a separate team. 3-3 and 2-2-2-2 are team-based: they can't be satisfied without that many distinct teams. 4-3, 4-2-2, 5-3 and 3-2-2-1 are floor-based instead: a team that already clears a template's larger floor also clears any smaller floor in the same template, so these can land on fewer teams than their name implies: a 4-3 or 5-3 can each be built on a single team, and a 4-2-2 or 3-2-2-1 can be built on two. 3-3-1 and 4-3-1 apply the identical floors as 3-3 and 4-3; the panel lists them as separate options, but they build the same lineup shape.

A "Lines, every combo" option cycles through every valid line pairing across a build instead of using a sized template. Pick Lines narrows which players count toward whichever template is active; picking lines with no template selected does not constrain the build.

Locks and Excludes

Click any player in the pool to lock them into every lineup in the build or exclude them from the pool entirely. Locking a player forces every lineup to include them; excluding one removes them from consideration no matter how the rest of your rules are set.

Exposure Control

When you generate more than one lineup, an exposure slider caps the share of your build that any single player can appear in, from 1% up to 100%. Set it below 100% and the solver drops a player from consideration once they've hit their cap, which keeps a large batch of lineups from converging on the same handful of plays.

Build Rules

A set of rule toggles sits below stacking and locks:

• No skaters vs. your own goalie, on by default, keeps the solver from pairing your rostered goalie with a skater from the team they're facing that night
• Exclude FL4 players removes fourth-line forwards from consideration
• Min salary used sets a salary floor, so the solver can't leave too much cap space unspent
• Max per team caps how many total roster spots can come from one team
• Min lineup proj sets a projection floor, so players below a points threshold never enter the pool
• Min unique players sets how many players must differ between any two lineups in the same build, which is what keeps a large build from repeating itself
• DraftKings builds add a No D in UTIL rule, on by default, that FanDuel builds don't show

Randomness

Randomness adds noise to every player's projection before each solve, from 0% to 50%. At 0%, every lineup in a build chases the same projections and differs only because of your exposure and uniqueness rules. Raise it, and each lineup in the batch works off a slightly different set of numbers, which is how a 150-lineup Mass Multi build ends up with real variety in who gets rostered instead of 150 near-copies of a single best-value lineup.

Start from a Cash, Single GPP or Mass Multi preset, which set reasonable defaults for all of the above, or build every rule from scratch. You can also upload your own projections by CSV if you'd rather rank the pool yourself.

Cash Games vs GPP: Which Rules to Use

Cash games (50/50s, double-ups, head-to-heads) pay out for beating a fixed target or a single opponent, so the job is building the one lineup with the best floor, not chasing a ceiling. Tournaments, also called GPPs or guaranteed prize pools, pay out a small fraction of a large field, so a tournament lineup needs to look different from the field, even at some cost to its floor.

The Cash preset reflects that: it builds a single lineup on a 3-3 stack, keeps the no-skaters-vs-goalie rule on, and resets randomness and exposure to their defaults. The Single GPP preset moves to a tighter 4-3-1 stack and adds 15% randomness across 20 lineups, trading some floor for lineup-to-lineup variety. The Mass Multi preset goes further still, building up to 150 lineups on a 3-3-1 stack with 25% randomness and exposure capped at 35%, so no single player dominates the whole build.

Treat any of the three presets as a starting point, not a fixed rule. Raise exposure caps and randomness as you move from a single cash lineup toward a large multi-entry build, and lower them again around a specific stack or player you want in every lineup you submit. For a deeper walkthrough of tournament lineup construction, read how to build winning NHL GPP lineups.

Line Stacking in NHL DFS

Stacking is the central idea in NHL DFS because scoring is correlated within a shift. When a line or a power-play unit scores, more than one skater on the ice is usually involved directly, drawing a goal, an assist or a secondary assist on the same play. Rostering several players from the same line or power-play unit means a single strong shift pays out across multiple roster spots at once, instead of landing on only one of your players.

Stacking is also a deliberate tradeoff between floor and ceiling. Concentrating skaters on one line or team raises your ceiling if that line has a big night, since several of your players score off the same shift, but it concentrates risk the same way: a quiet night for the stacked line affects every lineup spot built around it at once, instead of spreading that risk across the whole roster. For what each stack template actually guarantees, see Stacking Templates above.

Building the Best FanDuel or DraftKings Lineup Tonight

There's no single "best lineup" on a given night; the best lineup is the one that fits your contest type and your read on the slate. The method behind finding it stays the same regardless of what that lineup turns out to be:

• Confirm starting goalies first, since a skater's matchup and a goalie pick both hinge on who's actually in net; check the Starting Goalie Rankings tool before locking anyone in
• Check line combinations and power-play units on the NHL DFS Lines tool, since a player's line and unit drive their stacking value more than season totals do
• Cross-reference player floors and ceilings on the DFS Player Projections page before locking in a stack
• Pick a preset, or set your own stack template, exposure cap and build rules
• Generate your lineups, then review the exposure panel to confirm no single player is over-rostered for the contest type you're entering

Working through goalies and lines before rules keeps the optimizer's math running on the best information available instead of stale projections.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an NHL DFS lineup optimizer?

An NHL DFS lineup optimizer is a tool that uses math, specifically mixed-integer linear programming, to build the highest-projected daily fantasy hockey lineup that fits a salary cap. This optimizer applies your stacking, exposure and matchup rules on top of that math, so every lineup it builds is one you'd actually consider playing.

Is the NHL DFS optimizer free?

Yes. This optimizer is free to use for both DraftKings and FanDuel, with no paywall on building, exporting or saving lineups. Set your rules, generate up to 150 lineups per build, and export them as a CSV ready to upload to your DFS site.

Does the optimizer work for FanDuel and DraftKings?

Yes. This optimizer supports both DraftKings and FanDuel, and switching sites reloads that site's salary cap and player pool. DraftKings uses a $50,000 cap with a flex UTIL slot; FanDuel uses a $55,000 cap with no UTIL slot. DraftKings builds include an optional rule to keep defensemen out of UTIL, a rule that FanDuel builds don't show since FanDuel has no UTIL slot to restrict.

How do I stack lines in the optimizer?

Pick a stack template in the settings panel, such as 3-3 (three players from each of two teams) or 4-3 (a floor of four skaters from one team and at least three from one team, possibly the same one), or choose Lines, every combo to test every valid line pairing across a build. Pick Lines narrows which specific lines count toward whichever template you've chosen; picking lines without a template selected doesn't constrain the build.

How many lineups should I enter in an NHL DFS contest?

How many lineups to enter depends on the contest. Cash games and head-to-heads lean on a single carefully built lineup, since the goal is a reliable floor rather than upside. Tournaments reward more entries, since additional lineups let you cover multiple stacks and spread exposure across more players. This optimizer's Cash, Single GPP and Mass Multi presets default to 1, 20 and 150 lineups, matching those three contest types, up to a maximum of 150 lineups in any single build.

What is line stacking in NHL DFS?

Line stacking means rostering multiple forwards from the same line, or the same power-play unit, in one lineup. Goals are correlated within a shift, so when a line scores, more than one forward on it is often directly involved in the play. Stacking is a bet that a strong shift pays out across several roster spots at once instead of landing on just one of your players.

What happens if the optimizer can't build any lineups?

If your settings conflict, for example a stack size larger than your max-per-team limit, or a minimum salary too close to the cap, the optimizer shows a Build Infeasible message instead of a lineup. It lists which settings are in conflict so you can loosen the one that's blocking the build instead of guessing.

Where do the optimizer's projections come from?

This optimizer draws from the day's slate data: DraftKings salaries come from that day's posted salary file, FanDuel salaries come from your uploaded CSV, and point projections are built from the same underlying projection data as the DFS Player Projections tool, recalculated using each site's own scoring rules rather than pulled from a separate projection system. You can override any individual player's projection by hand, or upload your own full projections CSV if you'd rather rank the slate yourself.