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 sample has too much randomness to pin down exact predictions. Instead, the projections represent a player’s average performance on average 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.

Matvei Michkov (W, PHI1, PP1) – @ VAN – (DK-$3,000 / FD $6,400)
DFO Projection: DK – 9.6 / FD – 12.3

Welcome to the NHL, Matvei. Thursday night, we saw another top prospect Macklin Celebrini make his debut at the same price tag on DraftKings, popping off with 16.5 DK points, scoring a goal and an assist and a pair of shots on goal.

DraftKings tends to price NHL rookies down early in their careers, and Michkov is getting the same treatment. He’ll likely see heavy ownership on a small, four-game slate tonight, but he’s a worthwhile play, given his price point — doubly so considering had a tremendous pre-season with the Flyers, scoring three goals and seven points in four games.

Viktor Olofsson (W, VGK3, PP1) – vs. STL – ($3,500 / $4,500)
DFO Projection: DK – 7.8 / FD – 10.1

Olofsson appeared to be on the Golden Knights’ top line ahead of last night’s game, but dropped down the lineup, still paying off with a two-goal, three-shot performance. He’s got another strong projection tonight as Vegas takes on St. Louis, and given that he’s on the top power play unit, he could be in another solid spot tonight, getting off some of the chalk of players at similar price tags.

Shayne Gostisbehere (D, CAR-3, PP1) – vs. TBL – ($2,700 / $5,400)
DFO Projection: DK – 7.8 / FD – 10.3

A $2,700 defenceman quarterbacking a top power play unit with the likes of Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas? Sign me up.

Gostisbehere had a great year in Detroit last season, scoring 10 goals and 56 points in 81 games, with two goals and 27 assists coming with the man advantage. He has a chance to rack up the points there again with the Hurricanes.

Honourable mention forwards

1. Daniel Sprong (W, VAN2, PP2) ($3,200/$5,000): DK – 7.2 / FD – 9.4
2. Nicolas Roy (C, VGK3, PP2) ($2,800/$4,000): DK – 6.6 / FD – 8.7
3. Martin Necas (W, CAR2, PP1) ($4,300/$6,600): DK – 9.0 / FD – 11.7

Top Punt Defensemen

1. Filip Hronek (VAN-1, PP2) ($3,700/$5,500): DK – 7.5 / FD – 10.0
2. Erik Johnson (PHI-2) ($2,500/$3,500): DK – 5.4 / FD – 6.6
3. Ryan McDonagh (TBL-2) ($3,100/$3,900): DK – 5.6 / FD – 7.3

Tune into the DFO DFS REPORT Live at 4:00 PM EST!

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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.