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.<div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="161"></div>



Jeff Skinner (W, EDM3, PP2) – (DK-$2,900 / FD $4,800) Projected points: DK – 7.5 / FD – 9.6



If you’re looking for cheap plays, Jeff Skinner is a solid one tonight. He’s provided excellent floor this season with 10.9 shots on goal per hour of ice time, and over his last 10 games, has scored three goals and six points, averaging 8.2 DraftKings points per game. 



Valeri Nichushkin (W, COL2, PP2) — ($4,900 / $6,100) Projected points: 8.4 / 11.3



It’s hard to believe that Nichushkin’s still this cheap considering last year he was regularly in the $7,000 range, but here we are. He looks like a solid lower owned play tonight, too, scoring 1.5 goals per hour since he returned to the lineup. He’s also had success against the Canucks in the past, scoring eight goals and 12 points in 16 games.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="143"></div>



Sam Malinski (D, COL-2) — ($2,700 / $3,900) Projected points: 5.7 / 7.1



At $2,700 tonight, Sam Malinski is poised to provide great value. He’s got a solid floor thanks to his 5.2 shots on goal per hour and 5.8 blocks per hour, and has seen a bump in ice time in the last week. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-honourable-mention-forwards">Honourable mention forwards</h3>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Jamie Benn (W, DAL3, PP1) — ($3,500/$5,300) — Projected points: DK – 7.4 / FD – 9.9</li>



<li>Adam Henrique (C, EDM3, PP2) — ($3,000/$4,300) — 6.8 / 8.7</li>



<li>Conor Garland (W, VAN1, PP2) — ($4,900/$6,000) — 7.9 / 10.2 </li>
</ol>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-top-punt-defensemen">Top Punt Defensemen</h3>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Darnell Nurse (EDM-2, PP2) — ($4,500/$5,700) — Projected points: DK – 9.5 / FD – 11.8</li>



<li>Jakob Chychrun (WSH-1, PP1) — ($5,200/$6,200) — 8.3 / 10.5</li>



<li>Aaron Ekblad (FLA-1, PP1) — ($4,200/$5,500) — 7.0 / 9.0</li>
</ol>







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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 <a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing">@zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.



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