Week 10: Fantasy top 100 forward rankings for 2017-18

Each week during the regular season, NHL.com has you covered with an overview of the fantasy forward landscape. With production trends, injury news and top 100 rankings based on performance and upside in standard Yahoo leagues, fantasy owners should use this information as a basis for roster decision-making.

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TRENDING UP

Boston Bruins top line: The Bruins are healthy again and have returned to form offensively. Forwards Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak are each averaging a point per game or better since Marchand returned from injury Nov. 29. Marchand has eight points (three goals, five assists), Pastrnak has seven points (two goals, five assists) and Bergeron has five points (all assists) in the five-game span. Boston still has room for improvement on the power play (19.8 percent; T-11th in NHL), and fantasy owners should keep an eye on rookie Danton Heinen (C/LW/RW, 2 percent owned), who has been moved up to the first man-advantage unit with Marchand, Bergeron, Pastrnak and defenseman Torey Krug.
Tyler Johnson, C, TBL: The Tampa Bay Lightning forward led
NHL.com's top 10 waiver wire pickups this week
, and now you can see how quickly he has risen in the fantasy rankings. Johnson (C, 34 percent owned) re-enters the top 100 forwards after a four-game point streak with three multipoint games since moving from center to wing on a line with Steven Stamkos and Vladislav Namestnikov. He's starting to resemble the 72-point player of 2014-15 and is quickly putting his least-productive days as Tampa Bay's third-line center behind him. It helps Johnson's sustainability that Yanni Gourde (C/RW, 21 percent) has adjusted well to his third-line role with a four-game point streak totaling five points (three goals, two assists) and two power-play points.
Alexander Steen, C/LW/RW, STL: The St. Louis Blues forward has benefited from Brayden Schenn being moved to his line in recent games; Steen (48 percent owned) has four assists over his past three games with a plus-4 and one PPP. Vladimir Sobotka (LW, 17 percent) and Paul Stastny are playing alongside Vladimir Tarasenko again with Jaden Schwartz (ankle) sidelined, and Schenn is on the second line with Steen and Dmitrij Jaskin (LW/RW, 2 percent). Steen is overdue for a shooting percentage correction (three goals on 63 SOG; 4.8 percent), and exposure to Schenn, the top-ranked player based on standard-category performance, could be just what the doctor ordered.

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TRENDING DOWN

William Nylander, C/RW, TOR:Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitch Marner has been a huge disappointment and big topic of fantasy conversation all season long, but Nylander has also fallen short of second-year expectations. He has followed up a four-game point streak Nov. 24-30 with no goals and one assist over his next four games. His Yahoo rank (89th) remains respectable, but it was appalling to see him play an NHL career-low 8:39 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Like Marner, Nylander has seen his production decline compared to his rookie season, especially on the power play. It hasn't helped that Nylander was playing away from Auston Matthews even before the top-line center's latest injury.
Cam Atkinson, RW, CBJ: The top-line chemistry between Artemi Panarin, Pierre-Luc Dubois (C/LW, 18 percent owned) and Josh Anderson (RW, 29 percent) is great news for the Columbus Blue Jackets but doesn't help the bounce-back appeal of Atkinson. To make matters worse, the Blue Jackets right wing was a healthy scratch against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, with Oliver Bjorkstrand taking his spot on the second line with Alexander Wennberg and Nick Foligno. Atkinson has felt Columbus' power-play struggles more than anyone on the team; he has no PPP in 25 games after 21 PPP in 82 games last season. He's still averaging more than three SOG per game (76 in 25 games) and is shooting a low percentage (7.9) compared to his NHL career average (11.3), but there are likely better options out there in standard leagues.

TOP 100 FORWARD RANKINGS

Standard Yahoo categories include goals, assists, plus/minus, PIMs, PPP and SOG for skaters. ... Value has been quantified based on factors including but not limited to past production, line combinations, power-play usage, injury history, age, sleeper, bounce-back or breakout potential, anticipated regression, contract status, Yahoo ADP and overall upside for the rest of the season. ... Any players with day-to-day injury concerns (DTD) are noted. NEW - INJ. indicates a player who has returned from injury and rejoined the rankings.
1. Nikita Kucherov, RW, TBL (SAME)
2. Steven Stamkos, C, TBL (SAME)
3. Connor McDavid, C, EDM (SAME)
4. Sidney Crosby, C, PIT (SAME)
5. Alex Ovechkin, LW, WSH (SAME)
6. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, STL (SAME)
7. Phil Kessel, RW, PIT (+2)
8. Tyler Seguin, C/RW, DAL (SAME)
9. Blake Wheeler, RW, WPG (+2)
10. Evgeni Malkin, C, PIT (+6)
11. Mark Scheifele, C, WPG (-1)
12. Auston Matthews, C, TOR (DTD)
13. Filip Forsberg, LW, NSH (+1)
14. Johnny Gaudreau, LW, CGY (-2)
15. Jamie Benn, C/LW, DAL (SAME)
16. John Tavares, C, NYI (+1)
17. Brad Marchand, LW, BOS (+2)
18. Patrik Laine, RW, WPG (SAME)
19. Brayden Schenn, C/LW, STL (+1)
20. Patrick Kane, RW, CHI (-7)
21. Anze Kopitar, C, LAK (SAME)
22. David Pastrnak, RW, BOS (+1)
23. Claude Giroux, C/LW, PHI (+1)
24. Jakub Voracek, RW, PHI (+3)
25. Sean Monahan, C, CGY (+1)
26. Nathan MacKinnon, C, COL (+4)
27. Patrice Bergeron, C, BOS (+5)
28. Nicklas Backstrom, C, WSH (+6)
29. Anders Lee, LW, NYI (+6)
30. Brock Boeser, RW, VAN (+6)
31. Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, WSH (SAME)
32. William Nylander, C/RW, TOR (-10)
33. Taylor Hall, LW, NJD (-5)
34. Alexander Radulov, RW, DAL (-5)
35. Vladislav Namestnikov, C/LW, TBL (+2)
36. Evander Kane, LW, BUF (+3)
37. Sean Couturier, C, PHI (+1)
38. Aleksander Barkov, C, FLA (+2)
39. Jonathan Huberdeau, LW, FLA (+2)
40. Mathew Barzal, C, NYI (+7)
41. Artemi Panarin, C/LW, CBJ (+4)
42. Vincent Trocheck, C, FLA (+6)
43. Leon Draisaitl, C/RW, EDM (-10)
44. Ryan Getzlaf, C, ANA (NEW - INJ.)
45. Jake Guentzel, C/LW, PIT (+1)
46. Jack Eichel, C, BUF (-4)
47. Josh Bailey, LW/RW, NYI (+3)
48. Kyle Turris, C, NSH (+5)
49. Anthony Mantha, LW/RW, DET (-6)
50. Nikolaj Ehlers, LW, WPG (+4)
51. Tyler Toffoli, C/RW, LAK (SAME)
52. Jonathan Marchessault, C/LW, VGK (+5)
53. Viktor Arvidsson, LW/RW, NSH (+5)
54. Brayden Point, C/RW, TBL (+8)
55. Rickard Rakell, C/LW, ANA (-6)
56. Dustin Brown, LW/RW, LAK (+3)
57. Nazem Kadri, C, TOR (-5)
58. Patric Hornqvist, RW, PIT (+2)
59. Max Pacioretty, LW, MTL (+4)
60. James Neal, LW/RW, VGK (+4)
61. William Karlsson, C/LW, VGK (SAME)
62. Mark Stone, RW, OTT (-18)
63. Joe Pavelski, C/RW, SJS (+3)
64. Wayne Simmonds, RW, PHI (+3)
65. Logan Couture, C/LW, SJS (+5)
66. Mike Hoffman, LW/RW, OTT (-11)
67. James van Riemsdyk, LW, TOR (-2)
68. Mikko Rantanen, LW/RW, COL (SAME)
69. Eric Staal, C, MIN (+4)
70. Jonathan Toews, C, CHI (+2)
71. T.J. Oshie, RW, WSH (DTD)
72. Mikael Granlund, C/RW, MIN (+6)
73. Nino Niederreiter, LW/RW, MIN (+7)
74. Brendan Gallagher, RW, MTL (SAME)
75. Jeff Skinner, LW, CAR (+6)
76. Kyle Connor, LW, WPG (+12)
77. Kevin Fiala, LW/RW, NSH (+13)
78. Clayton Keller, C/LW/RW, ARI (-9)
79. Teuvo Teravainen, C/LW/RW, CAR (-4)
80. Dylan Larkin, C/RW, DET (-4)
81. Sebastian Aho, LW/RW, CAR (-4)
82. Milan Lucic, LW, EDM (+3)
83. Jason Zucker, LW/RW, MIN (+3)
84. Matthew Tkachuk, LW, CGY (+3)
85. Tyler Johnson, C, TBL (NEW)
86. Reilly Smith, LW/RW, VGK (-3)
87. Mitchell Marner, C/RW, TOR (-5)
88. Ondrej Palat, LW, TBL (+4)
89. Josh Anderson, RW, CBJ (+5)
90. Joe Thornton, C, SJS (NEW)
91. Gabriel Landeskog, LW, COL (+7)
92. Alexander Steen, C/LW/RW, STL (NEW)
93. Jonathan Drouin, C/LW/RW, MTL (-4)
94. Pierre-Luc Dubois, C/LW, CBJ (+5)
95. Tom Wilson, LW/RW, WSH (NEW)
96. Jordan Eberle, C/RW, NYI (NEW)
97. Mats Zuccarello, RW, NYR (NEW)
98. Patrick Marleau, C/LW, TOR (-3)
99. Alex DeBrincat, LW/RW, CHI (+1)
100. Evgenii Dadonov, RW, FLA (NEW - INJ.)
Dropped out:Cam Atkinson, RW, CBJ; Brandon Saad, LW, CHI; Chris Kreider, LW, NYR; Matt Duchene, C/RW, OTT
Just missed:Adam Henrique, C, ANA; Yanni Gourde, C/RW, TBL; ; Tomas Hertl, C/LW, SJS; Pavel Buchnevich, LW/RW, NYR; Nick Schmaltz, C/LW, CHI; David Perron, LW/RW, VGK; Jakob Silfverberg, LW/RW, ANA; Bryan Little, C, WPG; Mathieu Perreault, C/LW, WPG; Alex Galchenyuk, C/LW, MTL; Vladimir Sobotka, LW, STL; Craig Smith, RW, NSH; Charlie Coyle, C/RW, MIN; David Krejci, C, BOS; Andre Burakovsky, LW/RW, WSH
Key injuries:Jaden Schwartz, LW, STL (dropped out); Mika Zibanejad, C, NYR; Ryan Johansen, C, NSH (dropped out); Jeff Carter, C, LAK; Corey Perry, RW, ANA (dropped out); Bo Horvat, C, VAN (dropped out); Ryan Kesler, C, ANA; Kyle Palmieri, RW, NJD; Zach Parise, LW, MIN
READ: Last week's Top 100 forward rankings