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With just a little over a month left before the puck drops it’s time to drop the rankings on y’all and get this party started! Last season saw the predictable end of Crosby leading the way yet again and guess what? Nothing changes this season. Well, that’s not true, a lot changes this season. Tons of new faces in new places and now the Central Division might be the toughest division to play in, maybe in all of North American sports. This season we’ll finally get a look at all-world rookie Jonathan Drouin and from the video I’ve seen the kid should be a hot commodity right off the bat, or off the stick, or… I get my metaphors mixed up sometimes. Anyway, there’s no need for a lengthy introduction here so lets get right to the top 10:

1)  Sidney Crosby – remains king of the mountain going into 2014-15 and barring an injury he should be the only guy who breaks the century mark for a second straight season. That alone nets him the top slot again, but consider that last season he won the Art Ross by 17 points while putting up 1.3 points per game, the top mark in the league. The only guy who came close in points per was Evgeni Malkin at 1.2 points per game, and Geno isn’t trending up this season. Granted, had Steven Stamkos not broken his leg, he would likely have challenged Sid for the scoring title, which he’ll do this season, but inevitably Crosby remains the best player in the world. I would talk about who he’s going to skate with, but it almost doesn’t matter. I can’t imagine they’ll break up Crosby and Chris Kunitz, who he spent about 80% of his time with last year. Throw in a dash of Geno here and there and Sidney will be just fine. At 27 years old he could be poised to put up the best season of his career, the only question is whether or not the concussion bug will bite him again. He played 80 games last season, a career high, but the injury risk remains. Still, I doubt it stops him from making a run at another Hart Trophy. 2015 Projections: 35 G, 65 A, 100 PTS

2) Steven Stamkos – could very well find himself in the number one slot by season’s end, it really is that close. When he broke his tibia last season he was cranking away with 10 goals in his last 13 games and that’s exactly what you’d expect from him then and what you should expect going into this season. The kicker here is though Stamkos is a filthy finisher, his supporting cast isn’t going to be as good as Crosby’s. Stamkos will spend his time with Ryan Callahan and early predictions have all-world rookie Jonathan Drouin on his other wing. Cally is a great guy to play with but I don’t know that he does a ton to help Stamkos’ final numbers. Cally doesn’t pass the puck all that often and while he can finish, I think Stevey can and will handle putting the biscuit in the basket for the Bolts’ top line this season. Somehow I doubt Drouin lasts long on the top line, if he gets any time there at all, and if we’re lucky it will be Ondrej Palat that takes his place and that, my friends, would make for a very dangerous line. Still, none of these guys are Martin St. Louis, and despite being ancient in hockey years, if Marty was still on Stamkos’ wing I might be inclined to nudge him above Crosby by a few points and label him my number one, but honestly, you can’t go wrong using the number one pick in your league on either guy. 2015 Projections: 56 G, 41 A, 97 PTS

3) Tyler Seguin – isn’t getting much love from other ‘perts but I consider him a sure thing this season, and you can buy that for a dollar! Really you’ll have to pay a lot more than that to get Seguin in auction drafts, but considering that he’s often ranked at least five slots lower than this you might be able to get him early in the second round. For those of you stuck with the 12th pick in a 12-team snake draft fear not! Seguin may very well fall to you, and you’ll get the last laugh. I’ve seen him listed down in the teens and I can’t say I understand why. At 22 he’s entering the prime of his career with a cast of supporting players that is among the deepest and most talented in the league. He’ll spend most of his time on the top line paired with Jaime Benn now that new additions Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky will handle the second line. Can you say depth? That’s Kings level depth right there. Granted this could all fall apart pretty quickly given how injury prone Spezza and Hemsky are, but all things being equal Seguin should challenge for the Hart Trophy this season. The West is scary, y’all! 2015 Projections: 40 G, 54 A, 94 PTS

4) Claude Giroux – started last season so poorly I could have gone out there and done a better job. He didn’t score a goal until his 16th game of the season yet still managed to tie his career high 28 goals giving him 86 points in 82 games. This season he’ll likely be paired with Jakub Voracek again, who after a disappointing 2014 campaign should bounce back and show his true value only helping to further bolster Claude’s numbers. Philly’s defense remains a problem and things became much worse when we learned that Kimmo Timonen was diagnosed with a rare blood clotting disorder that is likely to end his long career. I know I bagged on Kimmo last season encouraging his retirement, but this is not what I hoped to see for a class act like him, even if he does play for Philly. At any rate, the porous Philly D will hurt Giroux’s plus/minus rating and that’s about the only negative I can think of here. With no freakish off season golfing injuries he should be ready to go from game one making up the gap between last year’s numbers and my lofty hopes for his 2015 campaign. That being said, if he keeps getting arrested for grabbing the ass of every cop he sees he might not reach these marks. Less drinky, more scorey! 2015 Projections: 32 G, 61 A, 93 PTS

5) John Tavares – was in the midst of a breakout season when he went down with a nasty knee injury tearing his left MCL and meniscus in the Olympics. His 66 points (25 G, 42 A) were third in the league when he went down and you have to believe he would have challenged for the no. 2 slot if he stayed healthy. All signs point to his knee being okay as he’s taking regular off-season workouts leading up to camp. A healthy Tavares deserves better and I doubt this is the season he’ll get it. Last year Tomas Vanek came to town and the Vanek-Tavares-Okposo line was easily the most deadly in hockey, while it lasted. Sadly, Garth couldn’t pull a Snow job on Vanek who turned down a big contract extension to stick with the Isles and was promptly dealt to the Habs. Had Vanek signed that deal I probably would have ranked Tavares in the top three with Crosby and Stamkos, but c’est la vie! It wasn’t meant to be. This season Tavares and Kyle Okposo remain the top line pairing; the big question is who plays with them? Brock Nelson and Anders Lee are the top candidates to earn the job; though word has it the Isles are wide open and giving a handful of guys a shot at the spot. Tavares is just too good to be ranked any lower, but if it weren’t for Okie, he’d basically be playing alone. Sad trombone. 2015 Projections: 36 G, 55 A, 91 PTS

6) Taylor Hall – stepped up his game last season and broke out with 27 G, 53 A for 80 points in 75 games. All that while playing for the Oil. Yeah, they have some offensive talent, but it doesn’t seem like they can get their act together for very long. Maybe the additions of Teddy Purcell and Benoit Pouliot can help solidify an offensive unit that was Hall’s biggest weakness. His 80 points could have easily been closer to 90 if their possession play wasn’t so bad, but it was, and it will take a big improvement to not hold him back again. That being said, consider Hall was being held back by his team and still put up 80 points. Delicious. Hall anchors the Edmonton power play with 3:10 TOI per game, second only to Justin Schultz, and that’s not going to change this season so expect him to get lots of opportunities on the power play as well.  He’ll remain on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle this season, both of whom should make their own steps forward only helping to bolster Hall’s chances of breaking the 90 point mark, which I think he just barely misses. In any case, expect the 22 year old to take another step forward and join the scoring elite this season.  2015 Projections: 34 G, 55 A, 89 PTS

7) Ryan Getzlaf – After a bleh 2011-12 campaign Getz has posted two consecutive seasons tallying more than a point per game and I doubt that ends this year. With good buddy and ‘bow throwin’ extraordinaire Corey Perry on his wing Getz is poised to put up another MVP caliber performance in 2015. Earlier I mentioned that Crosby won the scoring title by 17 points, well, it was Getzlaf’s 87 that came in second place. Pretty good value considering his ADP last year definitely wasn’t 2nd overall. His 204 shots last year were the most he’s put up since way back when in 2009 when he fired 227 on net. I don’t think he returns to the 30 goal club again this season, last year was the first time he ever broke that mark but the skilled playmaker is a pass first kind of guy and with a clinical finisher like Perry there to put the biscuit home, there’s not a lot of need for Getz to fire another 200 shots on goal. Does that mean he won’t? Not at all, but at 29 years old last year might have been his magnum opus, it’s just a shame it ended in a tough game 7 loss to the Kings. 2015 Projections: 26 G, 59 A, 85 PTS

8) Patrick Kane – was cruising along at a point per game pace until his injury last season, but I’m thinking he stays healthy this season and puts up a career year. Before he went down he posted 12 and 14 game scoring streaks posting 42 points over those 26 games. He’s steaky, yeah, but the streaks are long and heavy on the points, so don’t complain, eh? He just signed a monster long term deal, his team remains one of the most dominant offensive units in the league and at 25 he’s in the prime of his career. I love Kane in roto leagues more than H2H but you can’t really go wrong with him in the first round.
2015 Projections: 31 G, 52 A, 83 PTS9)

9) Tuukka Rask – is the only goalie to breach the top 10 and he barely made it, but he made it. Why? Because he’s absolutely out of his mind good and he’ll likely see more than 60 starts for the first time in his career. After finishing last season with a microscopic 2.04 GAA and a sexy .930 SV% the extra 5-10 starts he’ll see are just icing on the cake. There’s no regression in the works for the 27 year old tender who is in the prime of his career playing for a defensive stalwart in Boston. I wouldn’t draft Rask and I’m not going to because he just costs far too much. Consider that after Rask and Henrik Lundqvist there’s a drop off in talent, but it’s not steep. There will be plenty of quality netminders to choose from in rounds 3 and 4 to waste a pick on a goalie this early. Either way, the Rage Monster is going to produce like whoa for whoever drafts him. 2015 Projections: 62 GP, 40-16-5, 2.14 GAA, .927 SV%

10) Alex Ovechkin – might be the most gifted goal scorer of this generation and netting his fourth Maurice Richard Trophy so far, the most all time, lends credence to that title.Ovi started last season white-hot potting 10 goals in his first 12 games and 40 by the Olympic break. Predictably he slowed considerably after the games but still managed to break the 50-goal mark and finish with 51 overall.  He lead the league in power play TOI and it showed with 24 of those tasty goals came on the power play and I can’t imagine that’s going to be much different than last season. Some other folks think that Ovi is going to top the 50 goal marker again this season but I just don’t see it. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s still a top 3 finisher and he’s going to come close, but at some point he’s going to start to decline and I think the decline starts this season for the 28 year old superstar. There have been rumblings that his shifts are going to be shortened to try an eliminate the coasting he does when the other team has the puck, so he might not burst out of the gate as ferociously as he did last season and that drops his totals and his overall value.2015 Projections: 48 G, 32 A, 80 PTS