Below is my list of the Top 200 players for this season. I’ll have a post on Friday with bold predictions from JKJ and myself. There’s a couple things I’d like to mention before I start the list. Please, blog, may I have some more?
We wrap up the forward rankings today with the Top 100. If you've missed the early parts, you can start with the Top 60 here and go backwards from there. In a few days, I'll have my Top 200 list out and before you know it, the season will be starting. Let's get to it!
61) Bryan Rust - The point per game season will probably be an outlier, but Rust has a high floor no matter who his center is. Like Guentzel, I wouldn't be surprised if the shot volume goes up a tad while Crosby and Malkin are out because the Penguins will need the puck on their sticks more.
We're keeping things moving right now with the Top 60 forwards. For those who missed the beginning of the forward rankings, you can see the Top 40 here. JKJ is cranking out his team previews right now so be sure to check those out! There's a lot of great stuff in each section. And with that, let's get going!
And now we move to where around half of your starters come from. The guys who really put up the points, the forwards. Because I cover so many forwards in the Top 20 overall (18 to be exact), this post will cover the top 40 forwards instead of only the top twenty. From there on out, each post will be 20 players. Let's get right to it!
We're keeping it moving here at Razzball with the Top 40 defensemen. If you didn't see the top 20, you can read that here. I have some good news as well! JKJ, who writes on the baseball side of things, is going to be helping me out with hockey this year. He's going to have a weekly post during the season to focus on streaming. As of now, the plan is for that to come out on Thursdays to cover the weekend since streaming is prevalent on Friday and Saturday. Additionally, he's going to do quick team previews for the entire league. Look out for those starting next week! Now let's get to the top 40:
We're moving out from the crease to the blue liners in my rankings. Today, I'll be going through the top 20 defensemen with the Top 40 coming out later in the week. Let's get right to it!
1) Cale Makar - Covered in the Top 20 overall here.
2) Dougie Hamilton - The top defenseman last season by a fairly wide margin, Hamilton moved from Carolina to New Jersey. It's a little worrisome, but I still expect big things from Dougie. I wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton ends up getting more minutes than he did while he was in Carolina.
Things have changed quite a bit with goaltending in the NHL since I started writing at Razzball. When I started, there were tons of workhorses with very few teams using a platoon. Now, more than half of the teams have a duo where the backup is getting at least 1/3 of the starts, if not a complete split. Among the few workhorses that we have left, there are only six that I completely trust to be a #1 goalie this year. I am breaking down all of the goalies in the NHL into tiers (and ranking them within in each tier), but be sure to understand how your league format can change the value of certain players. For example, if you're in a head to head league, Marc-Andre Fleury is going to be more valuable than in a roto league because the volume should be there. In a roto league where you have a set number of starts, someone like Ilya Sorokin, who, barring injury, should start 35-40 games, gets a boost because the quality of starts matters a lot more than volume. If you have specific questions, ask them in the comments section, but I'll have a quick note on everyone when necessary. Let's get to it!
Today, I'm going to finish out my Top 20. I am going to have a massive goaltending post come out on Friday that will cover everybody in the NHL that is fantasy relevant. Things are going to start picking up now in this space now that football drafts are done, and the baseball season is winding down. Don't forget to check out Son's basketball content as well! For those who missed it, you can see the Top 10 here. Let's get to 11-20!
11) Patrick Kane - This could be the last time Kane goes in the top 10 as he is about to turn 33 years old. That said, Kane hasn't shown many signs of aging to this point. We should see a bounce back with goals because Kane shot the lowest percentage of his career last season. Part of that is not getting to the best spots on the ice as easily as he did when he was younger, but a bigger part of that was simply bad luck. Having a full season of a healthy Dach as his center should also help. He's not the most exciting pick, but Kane should get the job done.
And we're back! The NHL season starts in just over a month so it's time to start my rankings. I will end up ranking the top 20 players overall, goalies, 100 forwards, 40 D, and then making a top 200 list before the season starts. For now, I'll be doing the top 10 overall in this post. As an aside, if you have any interest in writing fantasy hockey posts for Razzball, please let me know in the comments section below. Let's get to it!
1) Connor McDavid - Don't overthink it. McDavid played at a 154 point pace last season and is so far above the rest of the field. If you're lucky enough to pick first, congrats on the big head start.
