If you follow the NHL, you already know all of the top players. Obviously, when playing DFS, those players will come at a high cost. In this article, we are looking to find the cheaper value plays to help you afford the superstars

Nick Schmaltz, Center, Arizona Coyotes

FanDuel Price: $4,200

There is a heavy reliance on his playmaking ability, but when you're playing with a fantastic goal scorer like Taylor Hall, it is acceptable. Nick Schmaltz has just 8 goals in 65 games, but he has compiled a reasonable 34 assists to get to 42 points. Unfortunately, he also doesn't shoot much, so he is really reliant on his assist total.

The Florida Panthers have the 23rd ranked penalty kill with just a 77.9 success rate. The Arizona Coyotes don't necessarily have a terrifying power play, but their 19.6 percent conversion rate is good enough for 19th in the NHL and could be successful on home ice tonight.

Nikita Gusev, Winger, New Jersey Devils

FanDuel Price: $4,400

With five points in his last five games — all assists — Nikita Gusev is playing quite well as of late. He has seemingly gotten more comfortable on the North American ice as the season has gone on and tonight has about as good of a matchup as one can have.

The New Jersey Devils visit the Detroit Red Wings, the team giving up the most goals against per game. Their 3.73 goals against per game are 0.36 more per game than the second-worst Florida Panthers.

Andreas Athanasiou, Winger, Edmonton Oilers

FanDuel Price: $4,800

Welcome to the Edmonton Oilers, you're going to be playing with Connor McDavid. Andreas Athanasiou will be lining up with McDavid and fellow deadline acquisition Tyler Ennis. I am sure there will be an adjustment period here for everybody, but this is a great opportunity for Athanasiou.

The speed with McDavid and Athanasiou is intriguing, but Athanasiou is so bad defensively that if he is causing trouble in their own end, he may not last that long on the top line. I am not entirely sure who will get top power-play time between Ennis and Athanasiou, but that would be another boost.

Devon Toews, Defense, New York Islanders

FanDuel Price: $3,700

Devon Toews is the power-play quarterback for the New York Islanders, but their 17.5 success rate with the man advantage is far from encouraging. However, the opposing New York Rangers penalty kill is also bad with just a 79.4 percent kill-rate, so there is some intrigue here.

Toews has put up 24 points in 61 games this season which isn't great, but 107 shots and 67 blocked shots are decent to go along with it. In addition, Toews is the fourth-highest point-per-dollar defenseman, as per our projections.

Ivan Provorov, Defense, Philadelphia Flyers

FanDuel Price: $4,500

One of the better contributors in terms of points, shots, and blocks is Ivan Provorov. He has 11 goals, 31 points, 136 shots (2.19 per game) and 99 blocked shots (1.60 per game) which shows that not only does he have a solid floor, but when he gets on the scoresheet the ceiling can be really high.

The matchup is solid against the San Jose Sharks as they give up 3.26 goals against per game, the sixth-most per game. However, his role on the power play probably won't be a big advantage as the Sharks lead the NHL with an 86.1 percent penalty kill.

Ryan Sheppard is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ryan Sheppard also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username donkshow_. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.