Daily Faceoff NHL DFS Value Plays — December 19th
Welcome to Daily Faceoff’s NHL DFS Value Plays, where five days a week from Monday to Friday, I break down hockey’s main slate, looking for the top value plays.
This value sheet includes salaries, projections for DraftKings and FanDuel for the top forward and defensemen values, as well as honourable mention forwards and three punt options for blue liners. While the main value plays look at spots to get different and their upside, the others revolve around their ability to produce peripheral points by taking shots and blocking them. These players are always live for the bonus on DraftKings, where all the value plays are directed for.
These projections don’t tell you exactly what’s going to happen. One game samples have too much randomness to pin down exact predictions. Instead, the projections represent a player’s average performance if that matchup was played repeatedly. There is a wide range of possible outcomes, and the projections represent each player’s average of those possibilities.
Valeri Nichushkin (W, COL2, PP1) – (DK-$5,000 / FD $6,100)
Projected points: DK – 10.6 / FD – 13.1
The Colorado Avalanche’s top line is one of the highest-owned lines on the slate tonight, and rightly so. But COL2 should get their flowers, and they’re coming in at almost a third of the ownership. While Nichushkin’s shot volume may not be where it was in recent years, he’s racked up eight goals and 12 points in 16 games.
Blake Coleman (W, CGY2, PP2) — ($3,200 / $5,200)
Projected points: 8.4 / 9.6
I love some CGY2, and with Blake Coleman back with Mikael Backlund and Matt Coronato, I’ve got lots of interest in them. The Ottawa Senators, led by Linus Ullmark, have seemingly turned a corner thanks to an 8-2-1 run, but CGY2 always find a way to be productive and Coleman is popping as a top value play tonight.
Brett Pesce (D, NJD-2) — ($2,800 / $4,500)
Projected points: 5.7 / 7.1
DraftKings can’t seem to figure out how to price Pesce, dropping his price a few hundred dollars to $2,800 after 15.0, 14.1 and 6.5 point performances. Uhhhh…. okay. He’s got a tremendous floor with 4.5 shots per hour and 5.5 blocks, and I’ll gladly fire him up for some salary relief tonight.
Adam Wilsby (D, NSH-1, PP2) — ($2,500 / $3,900)
Projected points: 5.7 / 6.4
Adam Wilsby is riding a three-game point streak coming into tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, with a goal and two assists in them. He doesn’t have much in terms of a floor right now, but I don’t mind riding a hot hand who is minimum priced.
Honourable mention forwards
- Alex Turcotte (W, LAK1, PP2) — ($2,800/$3,900) — Projected points: DK – 6.2 / FD – 8.2
- Oliver Bjorkstrand (W, SEA3, PP1) — ($3,400/$5,600) — 8.2 / 10.2
- Tommy Novak (C, NSH3, PP2) — ($2,600/$4,000) — 6.1 / 8.1
Top Punt Defensemen
- Ivan Provorov (CBJ-2, PP2) — ($3,000/$4,400) — Projected points: DK – 8.3 / FD – 8.8
- Devon Toews (COL-2, PP2) — ($3,600/$5,200) — 9.4 / 10.7
- Marc Del Gaizo (NSH-2, PP2) — ($2,600/$3,700) — 5.8 / 6.1
Tune into the DFO DFS Report live at 5:00 PM EST!
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist and makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.