We continue through my forward rankings today with players ranked 61-80. If you missed the Top 60, you can check that out here. MarmosDad had his first post in the middle of the week, which you can check out here. If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, let me know in the comments section below. I have a jam packed weekend with a wedding sandwiched around a few fantasy football drafts, so I will be back on Tuesday wrapping up the Top 100 forwards. Let’s get to it!
Edit: Sorry for the delay getting this out. Buffalo got hit with a ton of rain Thursday and I had to deal with water getting into my basement. Here is a video of about a mile from my house:
https://x.com/BuffOriginStory/status/2095675694453821485?s=20
Back to a normal schedule going forward.
61) Trevor Zegras – Zegras’ first season in Philly was a rousing success, putting up 67 points in 81 games. This ranking projects a small step back from last season, but not much. I don’t know what to expect with Philly’s lines, and the minutes aren’t going to be huge for anyone on Philly. Regardless, Philly has good enough depth that Zegras should have quality linemates, and the PP will likely run through him again. He also provides a sneaky amount of PIM for those who have that category.
62) Quinton Byfield – Alright, I’m ready to get burned again. We haven’t seen enough from Byfield throughout his career to warrant this ranking, but he has a lot of things going for it. The Kings have nobody else to play as their first line center with Kopitar retired, meaning the minutes should be big. Laviolette is known to ride his top players for massive minutes as well. Being the 1C should put Panarin on Byfield’s wing, which is a dream come true. Add in Kempe likely being on the other side, plus the addition of Zuccarello for PP1, and Clarke finally being unleashed, and it’s now or never for Byfield.
63) Bo Horvat – Horvat missed about a month last season, so it went a bit under the radar how good his season was. Horvat scored 31 goals and 26 assists in 68 games, putting up over three shots per game and playing over 20 minutes per game. That’s one of the biggest roles in the league, and I’m not expecting much change in that role. Add in Schaefer presumably taking another step, and Horvat should provide solid value just inside the top 100 overall.
64) Bryan Rust – Another great season for Rust, putting up 65 points in 72 games. I don’t expect Rust to fall off a cliff by any means, but there are some concerns. He’s missed 10-20 games in three straight seasons, and he is entering his age 35 season. If the team regresses (remember that everyone expected them to be terrible last season), is he going to get 20 minutes per game? Lastly, is there a chance they force Kuzmenko on PP1, and if he is, does he replace Rust or Rakell? We should get some answers on that in the coming weeks. Rust did end up in this range last season despite missing 10 games, so if he can stay healthier, a little regression could be cancelled out by pure volume.
65) Zach Hyman – Part of me wants to move Hyman much higher on my board. 31 goals in 58 games can’t be ignored. He’s always had an above-average shot rate, and he’s pretty much stapled onto McDavid’s wing, so there isn’t much downside. It is a very low number of assists for three straight seasons, so I ended up putting him down here because if he ends up with 30 goals, he could easily finish in the 50-55 point range. At that point, it’s hard to move him any higher. There are a lot of young guys with upside in this post, but Hyman probably has the highest upside of everyone from 61-80.
66) Roope Hintz – It was a weird season for Hintz, who missed a lot of time with injuries, and his shooting percentage cratered. The shot rate was the highest it’s been in three years, and the assists were up, so it was an atypical year for Hintz. At the end of the day, he has a track record of a player that swings from around 50th overall to the back half of the top 100. I don’t love that he doesn’t get true top six minutes, and there’s a chance he’s not PP1 (it’s him or Duchene), so there’s enough questions I have him on the lower end of his range. You can easily move Hintz up, and I’m not going to argue.
67) Adam Fantilli – We’re still waiting on a Fantilli contract, so I could see sliding him down if it drags into camp. In general, I’m pretty bullish on the former third overall pick. While the goals went down, the shot rate took another jump up, and his assists were easily a career high. Nichushkin’s play driving ability would help Fantilli quite a bit if Big Val goes onto his line. He’s their clear top center, and the team will be more dependent on Fantilli than ever before. It’s easy to project the 21 year old having the full breakout this season.
68) Brayden Point – On one hand, putting Point down here feels dumb. On the other hand, you can’t shoot 20% forever, and if last season is a sign of how Point is going to shoot going forward, it’s pretty disappointing. After three seasons of 42+ goals, Point scored only 18 in 63 games. He was also just over two shots per game. The role is so good that I can’t go any lower than this, and Point could easily burn me. I just don’t like the way last season looked at all.
69) Porter Martone – Similar to Fantilli, I might be overly bullish, but what wasn’t to like from what Martone did at the end of last season and the playoffs? Great shot rate, points coming in, hits and PIM solid. More importantly, Tocchet took a huge liking to Martone right away, so unlike a player I love that’s coming up shortly, there’s no question about Martone’s workload. For someone who has played only 9 regular season and ten playoff games, Martone feels incredibly safe with huge upside.
70) Jordan Kyrou – After four straight seasons of 30+ goals or being over a point per game, Kyrou’s offense fell off a cliff last season. He was moved to Washington in the offseason, giving him a great opportunity to reset his career. I’m betting on the long term track record of Kyrou over a one season blip. We’ll have to see how the lines and power play units shape up in preseason, but in pretty much any role, I expect Kyrou to get back to be a top 100 player, and could easily push towards the top 50 again.
71) Mika Zibanejad – I don’t know what to make of Zibanejad. Despite the team disappointing in a massive way, Zibanejad had 34+44 last season. He’s been a fantasy stud for almost a decade at this point. However, 16 of those goals came on the power play, and now Panarin is gone. You could argue he ends up a secondary option on the PP to Dorofeyev as well. Add in that Zibanejad is 33 years old, and I see a lot more downside than usual. Maybe his shot rate jumps back up and Fox continues to feed Zibanejad on the power play, but there are a lot more maybes now that weren’t a concern before.
72) Sam Bennett – Bennett set a career high in assists and points last season despite Florida’s season from hell. Now, he’s going to have better linemates than ever before, and his minutes peaked last season despite the team having nothing to play for. You know you’re getting incredible hits and penalty minutes from Bennett, so he’s an easy fit for all team builds. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I’m targeting Bennett, but I can see him ending up on a lot of my teams.
73) Pavel Dorofeyev – Dorofeyev goes from being a complimentary player in Vegas to being one of the focal points for the Rangers. He scored 37 goals last season on almost three shots per game, which is fantastic. He also set a career high with 27 assists, so we can’t really count on much there. Additionally, he had 20+10 on the power play last season. Is he really going to repeat that in New York without Panarin being there to feed him? There’s a lot of playmaking dependence on Fox now, as Zibenejad and Miller aren’t fantastic passers. There’s huge goal upside, but can also see people asking if it’s okay to drop Dorofeyev at points this season.
74) Dylan Cozens – Cozens’ first full season in Ottawa was closer to his Buffalo peak, putting up 28+31 with a gaudy amount of hits. The shot rate was solid, and he should have a bigger role on the PP with Tkachuk out of the way. I really don’t know what to expect from Ottawa, but if they’re going to remain a playoff team, Cozens will have to be a big factor. He was actually a top 50 forward last season because of the all-around contributions, but you shouldn’t have to pay that price to get Cozens.
75) Matvei Michkov – On one hand, this feels rich for Michkov considering how frustrating last season was. However, he actually finished a few spots higher than this last season. Are we actually going to get Michkov fully unleashed? Highly unlikely as long as Tocchet is there, but there is some talk that they’re going to try Michkov with Zegras during camp, which would be fantastic. The good news is that it doesn’t need to happen for him to pay off this ranking, and the upside does still exist. He’s said all the right things, but perhaps Michkov asks for a trade eventually, which would do wonders for his value too. I’m stubborn and not giving up.
76) Kevin Fiala – Fiala has been trending in the wrong direction, and a leg break in the Olympics prematurely ended his season. However, I like Zuccarello presumably playing on his opposite wing, which should help Fiala’s shot rate get back to what we’re used to. If Fiala goes on PP1, I’m going to move him up a ton, but my assumption is that PP2 goes through him instead. It’s weird to be in on a bunch of Kings forwards after I’ve been fading them, but here we are.
77) Steven Stamkos – You can’t call Stamkos, one of the greatest goal scorers in history, an unlikely 40 goal scorer, but I certainly wasn’t expecting it after his first season in Nashville. Nashville is one of the weirdest teams in the league with its older core of former superstars, and a bunch of younger players forming a newer core. I suspect the first power play unit remains the entire older core, and Stamkos has stayed very healthy the last five seasons. Even with a slight regression down to about 35 goals, that should play in this range.
78) John Tavares – From one former overall pick to another, Tavares put up another 30 goal season with 40 assists. The shot rate did plummet, and he’s about to turn 36 years old, so you’d think a drop off would happen eventually. Perhaps the arrival of McKenna can allow Tavares to maintain 70 points, in which case this ranking is a bit too low even if the shot rate stays slightly below average. If you wanted to be bullish, I’d say that Tavares has never been dependent on skating, so his brains should allow him to succeed.
79) Nazem Kadri – With Colorado moving out Nichushkin and Colton for salary cap reasons, I fully expect Kadri to move onto Nelson’s wing on the second line. He also should be locked into the first power play unit, which is the main reason he’s ranked here (if it’s Lehkonen or someone else, I will drop him down in a couple weeks). While the penalty minutes and shot rate aren’t quite as good as they used to be, I think Kadri’s role is so good that he justifies this ranking.
80) Zach Benson – Speaking of role changes, Benson moved onto the top line at the end of the season and during the playoffs, which couldn’t have gone any better. With Tuch’s departure, Benson should go onto the first line and top power play unit. He’s already one of the best play drivers in the league, and coming off 43 points in 65 games, what’s going to happen when he goes from under 16 minutes to per game to 18-20? Yes, there is some homerism in this pick, but I’d bet on Benson scoring the second most points amongst Sabres forwards this season.
