Fantasy forward top 100 rankings for 2018-19
Bergeron helping Pastrnak lead NHL in goals; Hoffman, Dadonov among most consistent scorers
Trending up:
-- Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron came with injury concern entering the season but is far exceeding his average draft position (46.0; ranked fifth in Yahoo) in his usual spot on a line with elite forwards David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand. Bergeron ranks second in the NHL in scoring (25 points in 17 games) and is tied with Pastrnak for fourth in power-play points (10). Pastrnak has four more goals (16) than any other player in the NHL entering Monday, and Bergeron's health and productivity are huge reasons the young right wing has taken his game to an even higher level.
-- The Florida Panthers have reaped the benefits of moving Mike Hoffman to the top line with elite center Aleksander Barkov and wing Evgenii Dadonov, with Hoffman extending his point streak to 12 games. Dadonov has also been extremely consistent with at least a point in 12 of his 14 games. And the Panthers' second line of Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck and Frank Vatrano is also heating up during their four-game winning streak, combining for 12 points (four goals, eight assists).
-- Buffalo Sabres forward Sam Reinhart was elevated to the top line with Jack Eichel and Jeff Skinner in the third period against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday and sparked a comeback win with one goal and one assist. Reinhart has taken Jason Pominville's place among the top 100 forwards given Reinhart's past chemistry with Eichel from recent seasons.
Trending down:
-- With the Pittsburgh Penguins struggling and juggling their lines lately, elite forwards Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel have been split up. Malkin has no points in his past four games, and Kessel has no goals in his past six games despite 23 shots on goal in the span. Malkin and Kessel remain together on the power play but have been on a separate unit from Sidney Crosby lately.
-- Not only has the New Jersey Devils' top line cooled off considerably and been split up, but also center Nico Hischier left the game against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday with an upper-body injury. After a four-game winning streak to start the season, the Devils have lost nine of their past 11 games and are coming off a 1-6-0 road trip. Valuable wings Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri each dropped six spots in this week's rankings.
FANTASY TOP 100 FORWARD RANKINGS
Standard Yahoo categories include goals, assists, plus/minus, power-play points, shots on goal and hits for skaters. Forward positions indicate Yahoo eligibility for 2018-19 season (subject to additions, but never subtractions, at Yahoo's discretion). ... Value has been quantified based on factors including but not limited to past production, projected line combinations, power-play usage, injury history, sleeper upside, anticipated regression or bounce-back candidacy, age and contract status (potential 2019 UFA: \; RFA: \\). ... DTD indicates player with day-to-day injury.
1. Connor McDavid, C, EDM (SAME)
2. Alex Ovechkin, LW, WSH (SAME)
3. Nathan MacKinnon, C, COL (SAME)
4. David Pastrnak, RW, BOS (+1)
5. Sidney Crosby, C, PIT (DTD)
6. Brad Marchand, LW, BOS (+1)
7. Jamie Benn, C/LW, DAL (+1)
8. John Tavares, C, TOR (+2)
9. Nikita Kucherov, RW, TBL (SAME)
10. Tyler Seguin, C, DAL (+1)
11. Evgeni Malkin, C, PIT (-7)
12. Patrick Kane, RW, CHI (SAME)
13. Mitchell Marner, C/RW, TOR\* (+1)
14. Claude Giroux, C/LW, PHI (+2)
15. Blake Wheeler, C/RW, WPG (+2)
16. Patrice Bergeron, C, BOS (DTD)
17. Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, WSH (DTD)
18. Patrik Laine, RW, WPG\\ (-3)
19. Sebastian Aho, C/LW/RW, CAR\\ (+1)
20. Jack Eichel, C, BUF (+1)
21. Johnny Gaudreau, LW, CGY (-3)
22. Artemi Panarin, LW, CBJ* (SAME)
23. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, STL (+1)
24. Mikko Rantanen, RW, COL\\ (+2)
25. Taylor Hall, LW, NJD (-6)
26. Filip Forsberg, LW, NSH (-3)
27. Steven Stamkos, C/RW, TBL (SAME)
28. Nicklas Backstrom, C, WSH (+1)
29. Jonathan Marchessault, C/LW, VGK (+1)
30. Mark Scheifele, C, WPG (+2)
31. Aleksander Barkov, C, FLA (+2)
32. Jeff Skinner, C/LW, BUF* (+7)
33. Alexander Radulov, RW, DAL (NEW - INJ.)
34. Phil Kessel, RW, PIT (-6)
35. Gabriel Landeskog, LW, COL (-4)
36. Leon Draisaitl, C/RW, EDM (-1)
37. Matthew Tkachuk, LW, CGY\\ (-3)
38. Jakub Voracek, RW, PHI (-2)
39. Sean Monahan, C, CGY (-2)
40. Elias Pettersson, C, VAN (+4)
41. Brayden Point, C, TBL\\ (-3)
42. Logan Couture, C/LW, SJS (SAME)
43. Timo Meier, LW/RW, SJS\\ (+6)
44. Rickard Rakell, C/LW/RW, ANA (-4)
45. Evgenii Dadonov, LW/RW, FLA (+10)
46. Clayton Keller, C/LW/RW, ARI (-3)
47. Joe Pavelski, C/RW, SJS* (SAME)
48. Mikael Granlund, C/RW, MIN (+8)
49. Ryan O'Reilly, C, STL (+10)
50. Anze Kopitar, C, LAK (-9)
51. Evander Kane, LW, SJS (-6)
52. William Karlsson, C/LW, VGK\\ (-6)
53. Mathew Barzal, C, NYI (-5)
54. Mike Hoffman, LW/RW, FLA (+8)
55. Ilya Kovalchuk, LW/RW, LAK (-5)
56. Ryan Getzlaf, C, ANA (-5)
57. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, C/LW, EDM (SAME)
58. Elias Lindholm, C/RW, CGY (SAME)
59. Max Domi, C/LW, MTL (+13)
60. Vincent Trocheck, C, FLA (SAME)
61. Ryan Johansen, C, NSH (SAME)
62. Brady Tkachuk, LW, OTT (+2)
63. Alex Galchenyuk, C/LW, ARI (+2)
64. Yanni Gourde, C/LW/RW, TBL (+2)
65. Anders Lee, LW, NYI* (+2)
66. T.J. Oshie, RW, WSH (DTD)
67. Dylan Larkin, C, DET (+6)
68. James van Riemsdyk, LW, PHI (NEW - INJ.)
69. Alex DeBrincat, LW/RW, CHI (-16)
70. Wayne Simmonds, RW, PHI* (-1)
71. Kyle Connor, LW, WPG\\ (+4)
72. Tomas Hertl, C/LW/RW, SJS (DTD)
73. Jonathan Huberdeau, LW, FLA (+6)
74. Sean Couturier, C, PHI (+7)
75. Mark Stone, RW, OTT* (+7)
76. Micheal Ferland, LW/RW, CAR* (-6)
77. Teuvo Teravainen, LW/RW, CAR\\ (-1)
78. Pierre-Luc Dubois, C/LW, CBJ (-7)
79. Max Pacioretty, LW, VGK (-5)
80. Mika Zibanejad, C, NYR (+15)
81. Zach Parise, LW, MIN (+16)
82. Josh Bailey, RW, NYI (+3)
83. Nikolaj Ehlers, LW/RW, WPG (+7)
84. Eric Staal, C, MIN* (+0)
85. Kyle Palmieri, RW, NJD (-7)
86. Alex Tuch, RW, VGK\\ (+13)
87. Jake Guentzel, C/LW, PIT\\ (-1)
88. J.T. Miller, C/LW/RW, TBL (+3)
89. Jason Zucker, LW/RW, MIN (+3)
90. Bo Horvat, C, VAN (NEW)
91. Nazem Kadri, C, TOR (+2)
92. Cam Atkinson, RW, CBJ (-5)
93. Sam Reinhart, C/RW, BUF (NEW)
94. Andrei Svechnikov, RW, CAR (-11)
95. Patric Hornqvist, RW, PIT (-7)
96. Jonathan Drouin, C/LW, MTL (NEW)
97. Jonathan Toews, C, CHI (-20)
98. Matt Duchene, C, OTT* (NEW)
99. Brendan Gallagher, RW, MTL (-3)
100. Tyler Johnson, C/RW, TBL (NEW)
Dropped out: Brock Boeser, RW, VAN\* (INJ.); Brayden Schenn, C, STL (INJ.); Viktor Arvidsson, LW/RW, NSH (INJ.); Kasperi Kapanen, RW, TOR\\; Jason Pominville, RW, BUF\; Dustin Brown, RW, LAK; Jeff Carter, C, LAK
Just missed: Tom Wilson, RW, WSH; Gustav Nyquist, RW, DET\; Nico Hischier, C, NJD (DTD); Patrick Marleau, C/LW, TOR; Zach Hyman, LW, TOR; Travis Konecny, C/LW/RW, PHI\\; Chris Kreider, LW, NYR; Jaden Schwartz, LW, STL; Ondrej Kase, RW, ANA; Tomas Tatar, LW/RW, MTL; David Krejci, C, BOS; Jakub Vrana, LW/RW, WSH\\; Tyler Toffoli, RW, LAK; Jason Spezza, C/RW, DAL\; Kevin Fiala, LW/RW, NSH\\; Tanner Pearson, LW, PIT; Nolan Patrick, C, PHI; Nikolay Goldobin, LW/RW, VAN\\; Kyle Turris, C, NSH; Jake Virtanen, RW, VAN; Andreas Athanasiou, C/LW, DET; Alex Kerfoot, C/LW, COL\\; Cody Eakin, C, VGK
Other key injuries: Auston Matthews, C, TOR\\; Ondrej Palat, LW, TBL; Paul Stastny, C, VGK; Corey Perry, RW, ANA; Mats Zuccarello, RW, NYR\; Pavel Buchnevich, RW, NYR\\; Colin White, C, OTT\\; Derick Brassard, C, PIT\; Max Comtois, LW, ANA; Sven Baertschi, LW, VAN; Erik Haula, C/LW, VGK
Others left off list: William Nylander, C/RW, TOR (RFA)
READ: [Top 100 forward rankings Nov.7]
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