The ice is down. The pucks are flying and preseason hockey is underway. Yay! And now the rankings. With a surprise at the top.
1. Steven Stamkos Tampa Bay
2. Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh
3. Alex Ovechkin Washington
4. Evgeni Malkin Pittsburgh
5. John Tavares NY Islanders
6. Johnathan Toews Chicago
7. Patrick Kane Chicago
8. Claude Giroux Philadelphia
9. Corey Perry Ottawa
10. PK Subban Montreal
11. Erik Karlsson Ottawa
12. Phil Kessel Toronto
13. Eric Staal Carolina
14. Pavel Datsyuk Detroit
15. Henrik Zetterberg Detroit
16. Rick Nash NY Rangers
17. Ryan Getzlaf Anaheim
18. Kris Letang Pittsburgh
19. Martin St. Louis Tampa Bay
20. Chris Kunitz Pittsburgh
21. Nicklas Backstrom Washington
22. Henrik Sedin Vancouver
23. James Neal Pittsburgh
24. Daniel Sedin Vancouver
25. Anze Kopitar Los Angeles
26. Jason Spezza
27. Zach Parise
28. Tyler Seguin
29. Bobby Ryan
30. Alexander Semin
31. Shea Weber
32. Matt Duchene
33. Logan Couture
34. Marian Hossa
35. Jamie Benn
36. Max Pacioretty
37. Patrick Sharp
38. Matt Moulson
39. Dustin Byufglien
40. Ryan Suter
41. Jakub Voracek
42. Derek Stepan
43. Evander Kane
44. Thomas Vanek
45. Joffrey Lupul
46. Marion Gaborik
47. Mike Ribiero
48. Joe Thornton
49. Keith Yandle
50. Andrew Ladd
51. Nazem Kadri
52. Patrick Marleau
53. David Backes
54. Jordan Eberle
55. Mikko Koivu
56. PA Parenteau
57. Loui Eriksson
58. Jarome Iginla
59. Mike Green
60. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
61. Alex Pieterangelo
62. Brad Marchand
63. Pascal Dupuis
64. Johan Franzen
65. Nail Yakupov
66. Zdeno Chara
67. Johnathan Huberdeau
68. James van Riemsdyk
69. Joe Pavelski
70. Gabriel Landeskog
71. Wayne Simmonds
72. Dion Phaneuf
73. Drew Doughty
74. Duncan Keith
75. Blake Wheeler
76. Jason Pominville
77. Dustin Brown
78. Scott Hartnell
79. Oliver Ekman-Larsson
80. Vincent Lecavalier
81. David Krejci
82. Ryan Kesler
83. Chris Stewart
84. Milan Lucic
85. Jeff Carter
86. Sam Gagner
87. Patrick Elias
88. Jiri Tlusty
89. Nicklas Kronwall
90. Mike Richards
91. Justin Williams
92. Kevin Shattenkirk
93. Brian Campbell
94. Justin Williams
95. Jeff Skinner
96. Justin Schultz
97. Teddy Purcell
98. Slava Voynov
99. David Perron
100. Kyle Turris
101. Tobias Enstrom
102. Brent Burns
103. Nathan MacKinnon
104. Dan Boyle
105. Brayden Schenn
106. Brad Richards
107. Vladimir Tarasenko
108. Radim Vrbata
109. Alex Edler
110. Andrei Markov
111. Tyler Ennis
112. Tomas Flesichmann
113. Alex Galchenyuk
114. Daniel Alfredsson
115. Jordan Staal
116. Troy Brouwer
117. John Carlson
118. Brendan Gallagher
119. Milan Michalek
120. Jakob Silfverberg
121. Bryan Little
122. Ryan O’Reilly
123. Mikkel Boedker
124. Cam Atkinson
125. Shane Doan
126. Michael Ryder
127. Michael Del Zotto
128. Jack Johnson
129. Tyler Bozak
130. Paul Stasny
131. Kimmo Timonen
132. Dany Heatley
133. Brandon Dubinsky
134. Colin Wilson
135. Christian Ehrhoff
136. Lubomir Visnovsky
137. Victor Hedman
138. Francois Beauchemin
139. James Wisnewski
140. Patrick Wiercioch
141. Matt Carle
142. Travis Zajac
143. Valterri Filppula
144. Devin Setoguchi
145. Brandon Pirri
146. Justin Abdelkader
147. Tyler Toffoli
148. Raphael Diaz
149. Alex Chiasson
150. Beau Bennett
So now that you digested the list, let’s look at a couple featured rankings.
Stamkos at #1 is a surprise, especially to those who expected Sidney Crosby in that spot. For me it comes down to one thing–injuries. How many games has Stamkos missed in his career and how many has Crosby missed? Stamkos has missed three; Crosby a whole lot more. All the talent in the world doesn’t mean anything if it’s sitting in the press box hoping for a dark, quiet place to hide. The effects of concussions grow exponentially the more of them someone suffers. All it takes is one more hit and a potential #1 player is sidelined for who knows how long?
Every player has the risk of an injury and they can hit anyone at anytime in any fashion. Think like Karlsson getting his Achilles’ tendon sliced by Matt Cooke last season and how it blew up the Senators’ blue line.
Overall, it’s pretty safe to say that if you pick up skaters from Pittsburgh, it’s going to end well. Chicago is another solid source of talent up front as well on a team level. Towards the bottom of the list, you’ll find more sleepers and possible breakouts.
Someone will inevitably ask why are the goaltenders not included on this list. It’s a good question and I have a good answer for it. When you look at most leagues, especially the head to head ones, goaltenders should be thought of as a class by themselves. There’s only going to be 60 or so total goaltenders to choose from while the pool of skaters will be around 540. The positional scarcity makes this an easy decision to put the goalies on a separate list. That’s a 1:9 ratio, folks. There will be call ups and guys sent down to the AHL during the season but you’re not as likely to see movement on the goaltender front.
Keep in mind that goaltenders will account for half of your team’s performance in most leagues. Some players might even consider going GK-GK to open a draft and make that a more solid and secure position. If a team in the NHL can ride hot and/or consistent goaltenders, your fantasy team can too.
