Daily Faceoff NHL DFS Value Plays — December 4th
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.
Taylor Hall (W, CHI2, PP2) – (DK-$3,500 / FD $5,100)
Projected points: DK – 7.9 / FD – 9.4
It’s about time that the Chicago Blackhawks gave Connor Bedard some better linemates after toying around with depth pieces Jason Dickinson and others there in recent games. Hall may not be the player he once was, but his game could be on the precipise of breaking out offensively. He’s up to five goals and 10 points in 24 games in thanks to a hat trick against Dallas last week, and Hall projects well tonight against the Boston Bruins.
Phillip Danault (W, LAK2, PP2) — ($3,200 / $5,400)
Projected points: 7.6 / 9.4
Danault’s offence has come around in the last week, scoring a goal and three points in three games, taking three, two and two shots on goal in them, respectively. He’s paid off his modest salary in all three of them and appears poised to be in another spot to do so tonight against the Dallas Stars.
Brayden McNabb (D, VGK-1) — ($3,100 / $4,500)
Projected points: 7.8 / 8.0
Brayden McNabb, who is playing up on the Golden Knights’ top pairing, has hit the shot block bonus in eight of his last 10 games, averaging 2.7 per game. In two games against Anaheim this season, he has eight blocks, including a five-block, 9.5 DKFP game, and a three block, 9.9 DKFP game. That’s it — that’s the analysis.
Jackson LaCombe (D, ANA-2, PP2) — ($3,200 / $4,400)
Projected points: 7.2 / 8.1
Keeping with another defenceman playing in that game, Jackson LaCombe looks to be a great low owned play on the blue line. On the season, he’s averaging 4.9 shots on goal per hour and 6.7 blocked shots per hour of ice-time and when those rates are combined and compared to other defencemen on the slate, that rate trails just Brandt Clarke and Roman Josi.
Honourable mention forwards
- Trevor Zegras (W, ANA1, PP1) — ($3,800/$5,300) — Projected points: DK – 8.9 / FD – 11.0
- Brad Marchand (W, BOS2, PP1) — ($5,500/$6,000) — 8.9 / 12.9
- Pavel Dorofeyev (W, VGK1, PP1) — ($5,100/$6,200) — 12.0 / 13.8
Top Punt Defensemen
- Vladislav Gavrikov (LAK-1) — ($3,100/$4,900) — Projected points: DK – 8.4 / FD – 9.0
- Esa Lindell (DAL-2) — ($3,400/$5,100) — 7.9 / 8.1
- Alex Vlasic (CHI-1) — ($4,400/$5,600) — 8.6 / 9.5
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.