Fantasy faceoff: William Nylander vs. Alexander Radulov

All offseason long, NHL.com will cover all the angles leading up to your fantasy hockey draft. For some of the most compelling debates, our fantasy writers will compare two players at a given position in the same projected draft range, according to NHL.com's top 250 rankings.
Value is quantified based on factors including (but not limited to) line combinations, power-play usage, team goalie situations, injury history, bounce-back, breakout or sleeper potential, possible regression and age. Once each writer has made his argument, fans can cast their votes in our @NHLFantasy Twitter poll.
Today, we compare right wings William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Alexander Radulov of the Dallas Stars:

NOTE: Standard Yahoo categories include goals, assists, plus/minus, penalty minutes, power-play points and shots on goal for skaters, and wins, goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts for goalies.
DAVID SATRIANO: Radulov, who hadn't played in the NHL for five seasons prior to 2016-17, made up for lost time with 54 points (18 goals, 36 assists) and was plus-10 with an NHL career-high 62 penalty minutes, 16 power-play points (six goals) and 147 SOG. He finished second on the Montreal Canadiens in points and was first in assists, and led them with seven points in six Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Drafted 119th on average, the 31-year-old finished No. 74 among all players and signed a five-year, $31.25 million contract with the Stars as a free agent this offseason. Although the Canadiens (2.72) and Stars (2.71) finished with nearly identical goals-per game averages, the Stars offense ranked first in 2015-16 (3.23) and second in 2014-15 (3.13). Radulov will receive an instant boost with Dallas and is likely to start the season on the top line with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, who have each scored 20-plus goals and 68-plus points in each of the past four seasons. Radulov will have a chance to be a playmaker as well the beneficiary of one of the top point-pair-forwards in the game. He'll get first-unit power-play time, and the only number that may decline is his plus-minus, depending on how improved the Stars defense is from last season, when it finished tied for 26th in goals-against per game (3.13).

Nylander may be the more popular pick; he's 10 years younger (21) and coming off of an impressive rookie season. He did have more power-play points and SOG than Radulov, but had half as many PIM and was minus-3. With Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk and Connor Brown each scoring at least 20 goals last season, plus adding veteran wing Patrick Marleau to the mix, it'll be tough for Nylander to avoid a sophomore slump and improve on -- or even get back to -- the totals from his rookie season.

BEN ZWEIMAN: If it weren't for an extremely strong rookie class last season, Nylander likely would have won the Calder Trophy. Instead, linemate Matthews won rookie of the year. But that shouldn't discourage Nylander, especially if he continues to play with Matthews long-term. Nylander finished with 61 points (22 goals, 39 assists) with 32 penalty minutes and 205 SOG in 81 games. He was tied for ninth in power-play points, the same amount as Alex Ovechkin pf the Washington Capitals, but did it being tied for 121st in PP ice time per game (2:21). Among the top 50 PPP producers at forward last season, Nylander was 49th in average ice time per game (16:00). Chances are his average ice time and PP ice time will increase, particularly if the Maple Leafs trade van Riemsdyk and/or center Tyler Bozak.
Toronto will use pretty much the same lineup it did last season. The only differences will be Marleau (potentially in the top six) and defenseman Ron Hainsey. If anything, Marleau will improve a power play that was second in the League last season (23.8 percent). Nylander was already one of the top PPP assets and could eclipse 30 points on the man-advantage. Hainsey's presence should clean up some mistakes that led to goals, which could help Nylander's plus/minus. Ultimately, it would be shocking if Nylander didn't improve on his rookie point total, and his secondary category coverage was already strong, which can't be said for Radulov.
Many believe Radulov's move to Dallas will spark an offensive surge, but that may not be the case. First, take a look at who is behind the bench: Ken Hitchcock, a defense-first coach who likes to shuffle his lines. Everyone thinks Radulov will line up at right wing next to Benn and Seguin, but even if that's the case early on, it may not persist. Radulov doesn't exactly play a strong two-way game, so if he becomes a defensive liability, Hitchcock might not hesitate to demote him to a third-line, PP-specialist role. Radulov will likely see less ice time, and unless he finishes with about 14 more PPP, there's no way he outperforms Nylander with all categories considered.