Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!

When Viz and Grey asked if I’d come back for another year of NHL writing, I couldn’t tell a lie. I was, and am, pretty stoked to get rolling on the preseason content!

So, if any of you were hoping you’d seen the last of your dear old MarmosDad, I’ve got bad news for y’all.

I’m back!

I spoke a bit with Viz about the schedule, and, as he said in his first post of the year, I’ll be covering all of our NHL games from Tuesday nights throughout the season.

If you’re looking for a hockey round-up on Wednesday morning where I may, or may not, butcher a bunch of European spellings, you’ve come to the right place! 

(And, yes, that’s my pre-emptive apology to Viz for him having to sift through the extra vowels in all of our Finnish goaltenders’ names.)

“Cool story, MarmosDad, but games don’t start for another month. Are you going to give us old stories about your Sega Genesis NHL ‘95 league, or are you going to give us something useful?”

Oh! It’s good to see that the random italicized voice has made its way over to the hockey side of things. I thought it only haunted me on the baseball side. Awesome.

Well, including today’s post, we’ve got FOUR Wednesdays of preseason hockey to cover before our September 29th Opening Night!

And, if you’ve already been circling things on the calendar, I don’t need to tell you that Opening Night is a TUESDAY! (*raccous cheers reverberate through the sold-out Razzball arena*).

Yep. That means I’m in for the recap of Opening Night!

But until then, let’s get a quick rundown of how things will go the next month in MarmoVille.

This week, I’m putting together a chart for y’all with some aggregate rankings that I cobbled together from many corners of the real (and digital) world. 

Since Viz has the rankings covered (and quite frankly his lists are way more accurate than mine would be anyway), I’m using preseason rankings a bit differently.

Here’s the (tentative) plan…

• Week 1 – FORWARDS – A bit of analysis of my aggregate list of players and a spotlight on names I think are being drafted (or ranked) lower than they should be ranked. 
• Week 2 – DEFENSEMEN – Same thing as I did with the forwards, above.
• Week 3 – GOALTENDERS – I bet you can guess what happens here!
• Week 4 – DEEPER LEAGUE NAMES/YOUNGSTERS – This will be a bit of housekeeping or shining a light on guys who are either (a) headed for a bigger role than the pundits have predicted, (b) set to break camp with the big club and/or were forgotten in those old school magazine rankings, and (c) well, there is no C.

Before we hit the ground running, or, I guess, the ice…uh…skating, there are a couple of caveats to heed.

*** This aggregate combines rankings from different sources. I don’t want to give away all my secrets. Still, some of the data I considered was from a certain Internet writer whose name rhymes with Spat Barkin, a website that rhymes with BranSnacks, and another well-known site whose name is a suitable replacement for the exclamation, “Yippee!”. With that, I sprinkled in some of Viz’s input, and, of course, added some Marmo-sparkle to finish it off.

*** The ACTUAL rank in the first column is my own. The aggregate in the fourth column is the combination of the other rankings.

*** I added the NHL dot com rankings here as a base, too. If anything, it’ll give us an idea of how close our aggregate is to the league website’s fantasy writer rankings and also give us one of the lists that many of our league-mates will be using as a draft guide.

***  Points-league values drive these rankings. If you’re looking for some information for your bigger or multi-category leagues, don’t worry. I got you, fam. I added in a column where some of these dudes would receive a multi-category boost based on specific talents or stats that won’t factor into those “points only” leagues. With that said, there are some guys whose number in the “projected points” column might look out of place. These guys are forwards I’m either higher (or lower) than with my own projection, or guys with enough of a category boost elsewhere (eg., hits, blocks, PIMS) that they get a bit of a boost.

***I’m only going to go 50 forwards deep today. Any other names I deem ‘worthy’ will show up in that 4th week of deeper players to add to your later-round draft sheets.

Got all that? Ok, then! Let’s get to it!

NHL 2026-2027 AGGREGATE FORWARD RANKINGS

RANK	NAME	PROJECTED POINTS	AGGREGATE	NHL  (DOT COM) RANKING	MULTI- CATEGORY FORMAT BOOST
1	Connor McDavid	137	1	1
2	Nathan MacKinnon	128	3	2
3	Macklin Celebrini	120	4	4
4	Nikita Kucherov	129	2	3
5	Leon Draisaitl	117	5	5
6	David Pastrnak	112	6	6
7	Kirill Kaprizov	87	21	7
8	Jason Robertson	98	9	9
9	Mikko Rantanen	97	10	23
10	Jack Eichel	94	12	22
11	Jack Hughes	98	8	18
12	Martin Necas	97	11	14
13	Nick Suzuki	103	7	15	*
14	Wyatt Johnston	89	18	16
15	Matt Boldy	87	20	10
16	Auston Matthews	80	31	17
17	Mark Scheifele	91	15	32
18	Kyle Connor	90	16	30
19	Clayton Keller	93	13	43
20	William Nylander	91	14	44
21	Matthew Tkachuk	79	33	24	*
22	Mitch Marner	88	19	49
23	Tim Stützle	90	17	50
24	Aleksander Barkov	84	26	38
25	Cole Caufield	81	29	19
26	Jake Guentzel	85	22	35
27	Brandon Hagel	85	24	36
28	Artemi Panarin	84	25	46
29	Brady Tkachuk	77	38	20	*
30	Tage Thompson	78	36	31	*
31	Cutter Gauthier	69	57	29	*
32	Alex DeBrincat	81	28	48
33	Sidney Crosby	73	44	45
34	Leo Carlsson	79	34	34
35	Kirill Marchenko	71	52	52
36	Sam Reinhart	78	35	37
37	Connor Bedard	74	41	65
38	Filip Forsberg	72	46	67
39	Robert Thomas	81	30	56
40	Juraj Slafkovsky	76	39	51
41	Dylan Guenther	73	45	33
42	Sebastian Aho	84	27	96
43	Lucas Raymond	85	23	71
44	Ivan Demidov	75	40	73
45	Adam Fantilli	74	42	59
46	Beckett Sennecke	77	37	74
47	Adrian Kempe	72	49	47	*
48	Brayden Point	74	43	61
49	Jesper Bratt	79	32	70
50	Dylan Larkin	72	48	68
51	Gavin McKenna	63	62	65

 

MARMOS FORWARD PICKS TO CLICK (or at least outperform their ranking here)

Macklin Celebrini – Sure, it’s easy to argue that anyone in the Top 5 will be a superstar stud for your fantasy rosters (health permitting). It’s no secret that Celebrini is a top-tier forward in any format, but if you’re drafting in a dynasty or keeper league startup this year, I’d be pushing this kid ahead of some of the other names that have lived in the top tiers over the past few years.

Teams figured out pretty quickly that they had to put their best defensive line out against the nuke from North Vancouver. They also learned that it’s useless to plan who jumped over the boards when he was on the ice. This kid is going to get points no matter who draws the short straw and has to defend against him.

It felt a bit odd to rank him ahead of Draisaitl and Kucherov here, but I guess that means I’m drinking that teal Kool-Aid and buying into a Shark frenzy this year. Celebrini was gifted with a nice 5-year, $94 million extension at the end of July, too, and I’m guessing he’s eager to prove he’s worth every penny.

Auston Matthews – I’m with Viz here, and I can say without a doubt that I have just as sour a taste in his mouth as Viz did when he ranked the Leaf captain this highly. Viz has him at #12, and I’ve got him at #16.

The biggest issue here is health. Matthews has topped 80 games just twice in 10 seasons, and is coming off back-to-back years where he averaged 65 games played. 

The Leafs look like they made all the right moves this summer, though, and the fact that they were the beneficiaries of Gary Bettman’s fix…er, lottery pull, gives them a bona fide superstar kid winger to fly on Matthews’ wing.

The aggregate ranking of 31 is ridiculous, as is the 80-point prediction. Even if Matthews misses a handful of games again, he should easily eclipse these projections. Buy.

Matthew Tkachuk – Here’s our first big boost of the list, and the one that bucks the aggregate the most.

Viz has him as the #13 forward for this year, and I couldn’t push him much lower than the #21 spot in here today. A lot of the helium here has to do with the ‘extras’ he brings in those multi-category leagues, so I figured I’d better give him some credit there and push him ahead of other point-heavy guys who give us fewer numbers in other places. I’d say that his brother needs a mention here, too, but I refuse to write both of these dudes up today. 

If your league is a points-only one, he’s a solid early pick for your winger group. If you have PIMs as a category, this guy (along with his brother) is gold.

Sidney Crosby – I’ll borrow from Viz’s Top 40 for this one, but also add that this guy could be one of the best picks in your draft if he falls far enough and you can snag him at a reasonable pick. There are a few players that you never want to count out, and Sid is one of them. Buy!

“Speaking of knowing what he is at this point, can we get a 22nd year over a point per game?  I’m certainly not betting against Crosby.  The shot rate has dropped quite a bit, but that could go in either direction.  A repeat of last season, when he played at a 35+55 pace, is within reason.  And to think at this time last year, people thought Crosby could end up getting traded somewhere else.”  Yep! That’s me quoting Viz! (And I cannot believe Sid has been playing for 21 years now).

Sam Reinhart – Viz mentioned this in his Top 40, but a healthy Aleksander Barkov means Sam Reinhart is riding the top line with a bona fide star (apologies to Sam Bennett). When we add Brady Tkachuk to the left side of that first line, Reinhart should have even more space to create and dazzle on the ice. 

If your leaguemates only look at last season’s stats, they might not notice Reinhart missed close to 20 games and value him as a 60-point forward instead of the 80+ guy that he is.

Monitor how he’s used in the preseason, and keep track of the line combinations. If he’s on that first line with Barkov and B. Tkachuk, he’s going to make a mess. In a good way. Buy.

Ivan Demidov – A Boston Bruin fan writing up a Leaf AND a Hab for his forward picks? Wow! 

Yes, it pains me to admit, but part of this gig is remaining as neutral and impartial as possible when assessing upside and picking value. As much as I’d love to add in some Bruins here, there are much more deserving names that need a shine. (And don’t worry, we’ll see a few in the upcoming weeks.)

Enter our newest Russian Rocket, Ivan Demidov.

This kid not only posted 60+ points in his rookie campaign, but, like Macklin Celebrini, he also cashed in with a new extension this July. The Habs locked the 20-year-old RW in with an 8-year, $78 million extension.

Handing a kid close to $10 million a year for the next 8 years is a gamble, but this contract could look like a bargain within two years. Even if he’s not going to ride the wing on line one, he’s going to get serious first-group power-play time with Cole Caufield, Nic Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky. Add in Lane Hutson on the blue line, and Demidov is going to rack up points with the man advantage. Move him up your draft boards.

Adrian Kempe – There isn’t much to say here other than Kempe is a good example of a player who will have more value in multi-category leagues than in the strictly point-based ones.

He’ll give us more hits and PIMS than other guys in his projected point group will, and if Quinton Byfield falters as the de facto first-line center, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kempe gets some run down the middle.

Either way, he should be playing a majority of his games with Artemi Panarin, and that alone will fuel a solid point total. Buy in points-only leagues, but move him up in multi-category ones.

Gavin McKenna– It goes without saying that this kid should be the first pick in any league with a first-year player draft.

In points leagues, if he can stay healthy and on Auston Matthews’ wing for an entire season, he should blow past the conservative projection of 63 points from our aggregate.

He won’t be hitting anyone or racking up any penalty minutes anytime soon, but he’s a sneaky pick in redraft leagues just like Connor Bedard was last year. Just know, if you’re in a league with multiple Leaf fans, you’re going to have to pull the trigger early. Buy.

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to leave some questions or comments in the chat here, and I’ll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. 

And, if you’re looking for some pitcher notes from the baseball side, you can always click over there and have a look at my weekly Top 100 Starting Pitchers column.

Have a great week, and I’ll see you next Wednesday!

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