Week 20: 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.

FANTASY COVERAGE:
Impact of Mrazek trade to Flyers
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Trade Deadline preview
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Projected lineups

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Simmonds to miss 2-3 weeks for Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers right wing Wayne Simmonds is
expected to miss 2-3 weeks
because of an upper-body injury sustained against the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Simmonds (81st in Yahoo) provides strong coverage of goals (20), points (37), power-play points (16), shots on goal (134), hits (97) and penalty minutes (55), making him one of the most difficult players to replace in fantasy. Rookie center Nolan Patrick (7 percent owned in Yahoo) is expected to join the first power-play unit in Simmonds' absence, and the Flyers have recalled left wing Oskar Lindblom (fewer than 1 percent) from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.
Outside replacement options for Simmonds: Tom Wilson, LW/RW, WSH (40 percent); Evgenii Dadonov, LW/RW, FLA (26 percent); Alex DeBrincat, LW/RW, CHI (28 percent); Zach Aston-Reese, C/RW, PIT (8 percent); Timo Meier, LW/RW, SJS (7 percent)

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. Alex Ovechkin, LW, WSH (SAME)
3. Sidney Crosby, C, PIT (SAME)
4. Connor McDavid, C, EDM (SAME)
5. Evgeni Malkin, C, PIT (SAME)
6. Steven Stamkos, C, TBL (SAME)
7. Blake Wheeler, C/RW, WPG (SAME)
8. Phil Kessel, RW, PIT (SAME)
9. Brad Marchand, LW, BOS (+2)
10. Patrice Bergeron, C, BOS (+2)
11. Tyler Seguin, C/RW, DAL (-2)
12. Jamie Benn, C/LW, DAL (-2)
13. Johnny Gaudreau, LW, CGY (SAME)
14. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, STL (SAME)
15. Auston Matthews, C, TOR (DTD)
16. Claude Giroux, C/LW, PHI (+3)
17. Taylor Hall, LW, NJD (+6)
18. John Tavares, C, NYI (-3)
19. Nathan MacKinnon, C, COL (NEW - INJ.)
20. Anze Kopitar, C, LAK (+2)
21. David Pastrnak, RW, BOS (-4)
22. Jakub Voracek, RW, PHI (-4)
23. Mark Scheifele, C, WPG (+4)
24. Patrik Laine, RW, WPG (SAME)
25. Patrick Kane, RW, CHI (-5)
26. Sean Monahan, C, CGY (+2)
27. Aleksander Barkov, C, FLA (+4)
28. Alexander Radulov, RW, DAL (-7)
29. Filip Forsberg, LW, NSH (-3)
30. Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, WSH (-1)
31. Mathew Barzal, C, NYI (-1)
32. Leon Draisaitl, C/RW, EDM (SAME)
33. Brayden Schenn, C/LW, STL (SAME)
34. Jonathan Marchessault, C/LW, VGK (SAME)
35. Sean Couturier, C, PHI (+1)
36. Ryan Getzlaf, C, ANA (-11)
37. Brock Boeser, RW, VAN (-2)
38. William Nylander, C/RW, TOR (-1)
39. Nikolaj Ehlers, LW/RW, WPG (+4)
40. William Karlsson, C/LW, VGK (+4)
41. Matthew Tkachuk, LW, CGY (+4)
42. Josh Bailey, LW/RW, NYI (-4)
43. Artemi Panarin, C/LW, CBJ (-4)
44. Nicklas Backstrom, C, WSH (-4)
45. Jonathan Huberdeau, LW, FLA (-4)
46. Vincent Trocheck, C, FLA (-4)
47. Rickard Rakell, C/LW/RW, ANA (-1)
48. Mikko Rantanen, LW/RW, COL (-1)
49. Brayden Point, C/RW, TBL (SAME)
50. Jaden Schwartz, LW, STL (SAME)
51. Mark Stone, RW, OTT (SAME)
52. Mitch Marner, C/RW, TOR (SAME)
53. Reilly Smith, LW/RW, VGK (+4)
54. Eric Staal, C, MIN (SAME)
55. Anders Lee, LW, NYI (+3)
56. Joe Pavelski, C/RW, SJS (+4)
57. Dustin Brown, LW/RW, LAK (+8)
58. Jonathan Toews, C, CHI (+8)
59. Mikael Granlund, C/RW, MIN (-6)
60. Logan Couture, C/LW, SJS (-5)
61. Sebastian Aho, LW/RW, CAR (-5)
62. David Perron, LW/RW, VGK (+5)
63. Viktor Arvidsson, LW/RW, NSH (-2)
64. Ryan Johansen, C, NSH (-2)
65. Mike Hoffman, LW/RW, OTT (-1)
66. Jason Zucker, LW/RW, MIN (+5)
67. Tyler Johnson, C/RW, TBL (-8)
68. Max Pacioretty, LW, MTL (-5)
69. Corey Perry, RW, ANA (-1)
70. Gabriel Landeskog, LW, COL (-1)
71. James van Riemsdyk, LW, TOR (+2)
72. Yanni Gourde, C/RW, TBL (+7)
73. Travis Konecny, C/LW/RW, PHI (+8)
74. Evgenii Dadonov, LW/RW, FLA (+8)
75. Evander Kane, LW, BUF (-3)
76. James Neal, LW/RW, VGK (DTD)
77. Erik Haula, C/LW, VGK (+6)
78. Nazem Kadri, C, TOR (+7)
79. Vladislav Namestnikov, C/LW, TBL (-4)
80. Tyler Toffoli, C/RW, LAK (-6)
81. Mathieu Perreault, C/LW, WPG (+5)
82. Bo Horvat, C, VAN (+5)
83. Anthony Mantha, LW/RW, DET (+5)
84. Kevin Fiala, LW/RW, NSH (-9)
85. Nick Schmaltz, C/LW, CHI (-9)
86. Nino Niederreiter, LW/RW, MIN (-9)
87. Jordan Eberle, C/RW, NYI (-8)
88. Danton Heinen, C/LW/RW, BOS (-5)
89. Teuvo Teravainen, C/LW/RW, CAR (+4)
90. Cam Atkinson, RW, CBJ (+4)
91. Dylan Larkin, C/RW, DET (-2)
92. Alexander Steen, C/LW/RW, STL (-2)
93. Mats Zuccarello, RW, NYR (+2)
94. Kyle Palmieri, RW, NJD (+3)
95. Brendan Gallagher, RW, MTL (+3)
96. Matt Duchene, C/RW, OTT (NEW)
97. Kyle Connor, LW, WPG (NEW)
98. Nico Hischier, C, NJD (NEW)
99. Jake Guentzel, C/LW, PIT (NEW)
100. Alex DeBrincat, LW/RW, CHI (NEW)
Dropped out: T.J. Oshie, RW, WSH; Kyle Turris, C, NSH; Micheal Ferland, LW/RW, CGY; Henrik Zetterberg, C/LW, DET; Ryan O'Reilly, C, BUF
Just missed: Jeff Skinner, LW, CAR; Clayton Keller, C/LW/RW, ARI; Tom Wilson, LW/RW, WSH; Alex Galchenyuk, C/LW, MTL; Patrick Marleau, C/LW, TOR; Bryan Rust, LW/RW, PIT; Pavel Buchnevich, LW/RW, NYR; Derick Brassard, C, OTT; Pierre-Luc Dubois, C/LW, CBJ; Zach Hyman, C/LW, TOR; Mikko Koivu, C, MIN; Alex Killorn, LW, TBL; Justin Williams, RW, CAR; Ondrej Kase, LW/RW, ANA; Bryan Little, C, WPG; Adam Henrique, C, ANA; Timo Meier, LW/RW, SJS; Zach Aston-Reese, C/RW, PIT; Nolan Patrick, C, PHI; Daniel Sedin, LW, VAN
Key injuries: Jack Eichel, C, BUF; Wayne Simmonds, RW, PHI (dropped out); Patric Hornqvist, RW, PIT; Tomas Hertl, C/LW/RW, SJS; Nick Foligno, C/LW/RW, CBJ; Joe Thornton, C, SJS; Jeff Carter, C, LAK; Ondrej Palat, LW, TBL; Chris Kreider, LW, NYR
READ: Last week's Top 100 forward rankings