Welcome to a new season with new fantasy content on Sportsnet.ca. This year, the fantasy experts at DobberHockey.com will be providing content for Sportsnet all season – and what better way to get started than a player ranking?
I’ll explain what is being ranked here because there are infinite amount of ways to run a fantasy hockey league and there is no single ranking that can appropriately encompass them all. There are four important points to understand about these rankings:
1. These are for keeper leagues as opposed to leagues where you draft new teams each season.
2. These rankings are for points-only. As common as head-to-head and rotisserie leagues are, points-only leagues are still king. And points (goals + assists) are categories used in all formats, so even head-to-head and rotisserie leaguers will find value in this list.
3. I’m going to assign players to the position I see them in. For example, Joe Pavelski will only appear in the centre rankings and not the left winger rankings.
4. I pulled these directly from my Top 300 rankings. I update this ranking regularly and you’ll see them on Sportsnet.ca on the first of every month.
| RK | Player | Team | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Ovechkin | WAS | 168.5 |
| 2 | Jamie Benn | DAL | 140.9 |
| 3 | Taylor Hall | EDM | 135.0 |
| 4 | Johnny Gaudreau | CGY | 109.0 |
| 5 | Ondrej Palat | TBL | 99.7 |
| 6 | Rick Nash | NYR | 94.6 |
| 7 | Max Pacioretty | MON | 93.8 |
| 8 | Alex Galchenyuk | MON | 91.0 |
| 9 | Gabriel Landeskog | COL | 90.8 |
| 10 | Zach Parise | MIN | 90.1 |
| 11 | Jaden Schwartz | STL | 88.7 |
| 12 | Daniel Sedin | VAN | 86.0 |
| 13 | Gustav Nyquist | DET | 85.2 |
| 14 | Jonathan Huberdeau | FLA | 82.6 |
| 15 | Alexander Steen | STL | 82.5 |
| 16 | Andrew Ladd | WPG | 78.2 |
| 17 | James van Riemsdyk | TOR | 77.3 |
| 18 | Patrick Marleau | SJS | 71.7 |
| 19 | Thomas Vanek | MIN | 69.9 |
| 20 | Nick Foligno | CBJ | 69.6 |
| 21 | Milan Lucic | LAK | 67.1 |
| 22 | David Perron | PIT | 66.4 |
| 23 | Mikkel Boedker | ARI | 64.8 |
| 24 | Chris Kreider | NYR | 62.7 |
| 25 | James Neal | NSH | 61.1 |
| 26 | Patrick Sharp | DAL | 59.9 |
| 27 | Anders Lee | NYI | 58.5 |
| 28 | Evander Kane | BUF | 58.0 |
| 29 | Brandon Saad | CBJ | 56.5 |
| 30 | Brad Marchand | BOS | 55.6 |
The rankings factor in a player’s long-term upside, his projection for the coming year, his team’s scoring tendencies (Tampa Bay ranks better than New Jersey), how prone he is to injury, and age. The rating number is there to give you an idea of the gap in value. I generally consider a +/- 5.0 difference in rating as similar value when it comes to trade discussion. To put the numbers into context, an “average” player has a rating around 50.
Notes
– Two players on this list who are top candidates to drop in ranking by November are Thomas Vanek and David Perron. I don’t trust Vanek at all, given his last two seasons of hot/cold play coupled with the young Minnesota players getting more ice time. And Perron’s value almost exclusively will rely on whether or not he finds chemistry with Sidney Crosby.
– Two players who are top candidates to rise in the ranking by November are Anders Lee and Patrick Sharp. Eventually, Sharp is almost certainly going to move to the right side and line up with Benn (No. 2 on this list) and Tyler Seguin. If he finds chemistry there, he would quickly rise in the rankings. In the case of Lee, I like him because he’s steadily improved at each level he’s played in. He’s earmarked to play with another up-and-comer in Ryan Strome and I get the sense those two are going to wreak havoc on the league very soon.
– Just missing the cut on this list: Marcus Johansson (WAS), Mathieu Perreault (WPG), Matt Moulson (BUF) and Sam Gagner (PHI).
Follow Dobber on Twitter (@DobberHockey), and as the perfect supplement to your Sportsnet Fantasy Guide check out Dobber’s 10th annual Fantasy Guide here.
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