Daily Faceoff NHL DFS Value Plays — October 31st
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.
FULL DFO DFS PROJECTIONS
Connor McMichael (W, WSH2, PP2) – (DK-$4,000 / FD $6,300)
DFO Projection: DK – 10.4 / FD – 13.7
Look no further than Connor McMichael if you’re wondering who are some of the top breakout players this year. Through the Washington Capitals’ first eight games of the year, he’s racked up four goals and nine points, putting up a quarter of his point totals from last year in a tenth of the games. His shot volume has risen drastically this year, adding to a solid floor for a player who is too cheap. He and the Capitals second line look like a great value option on tonight’s slate.
Taylor Hall (W, CHI2) – ($3,200 / $5,600)
DFO Projection: DK – 8.3 / FD – 10.2
The offence hasn’t quite come for Taylor Hall yet this year with just two goals and three points in 10 games, but thanks to strong shot volume — and a surprising number of blocks for a forward — he’s been providing a solid floor, averaging 7.4 DKPPG this season. He has a great matchup tonight against the San Jose Sharks, where he’ll look to take advantage of that.
Mattias Ekholm (D, EDM-1, PP1) ($5,200 / $6,500)
DFO Projection: DK – 11.8 / FD – 15.6
Ekholm is seeing way less ownership than he should tonight, with the public seeming to fade the Oilers given the injury to Connor McDavid. It’s understandable, but what’s being overlooked are two things: 1) Ekholm is still an excellent play on almost any slate with strong shot volume and point production, and 2) he’s been bumped up to the Oilers top power play unit. He appears to be a strong play in a price range being ignored on this slate.
Trevor Van Riemsdyk (D, WSH-2) ($3,400 / $4,500)
DFO Projection: DK – 9.8 / FD – 12.5
TVR will be on the Captials’ second pairing and with Jakob Chychrun out of the lineup, he looks to be someone who will pick up the slack. He’s already had good point production, scoring 1.5 points per hour, but also has strong shot volume, with 6.3 per hour, and great block volume, with 7.4 per hour, making him a smash play in a favourable spot for the Caps.
Honourable mention forwards
- Rickard Rakell (W, PIT2, PP2) ($4,100/$6,200): DK – 9.9 / FD – 12.5
- Mikael Granlund (C, SJS1, PP1) ($6,500/$8,000): DK – 14.3 / FD – 19.1
- Matthew Knies (W, TOR1, PP1) ($4,000/$5,300): DK – 9.1 / FD – 11.7
Top Punt Defensemen
- Alexandre Carrier (NSH-2) ($2,800/$4,200): DK – 7.6 / FD – 10.1
- Jackson LaCombe (ANA-3, PP1) ($3,000/$4,100): DK – 5.2 / FD – 6.7
- Wyatt Kaiser (CHI-1) ($2,800/$3,900): DK – 5.8 / FD – 7.2
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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.