New York Rangers: Fantasy Hockey Rankings for Forwards

It’s that time of year, folks! Fantasy Hockey draft season is in full bloom and I hope you guys are all as excited about it as I am!

My league has our draft tonight. It is the 5th installment of our leagues draft, but this year, our league has a new twist; auction draft.

After having done auction for the past 3 years in our fantasy baseball league, I have really fallen in love with the format, which allows you to have a chance at every player on the board so you can build your team the way you want to build it.

As some of you may know, I used to write about fantasy hockey for another site, which I stopped doing once I came over to Blue Line Station–a decision I am so happy that I made. Every year, I make my own fantasy hockey rankings, but this year since I am no longer permitted to write about fantasy hockey, and since I am doing auction I only made positional rankings for my league.

Still, though, I think it is very interesting to look at these rankings and see where our New York Rangers players landed.

My league is a head to head categories league with the categories being goals, assists, points, +/-, Hits, Blocks, and Penalty Minutes for skaters, and Wins, Loses, Goals Against Average and Save Percentage for goalies.

So without further ado, here are my top 100 forward rankings for 2016-2017.

Alex Ovechkin, WSH

Patrick Kane, CHI

Sidney Crosby, PIT

Joe Pavelski, SJS

Jamie Benn, DAL

Vladimir Tarasenko, STL

Connor McDavid, EDM

John Tavares, NYI

Johnny Gaudreau, CGY

Tyler Seguin, DAL

Evgeny Kuznetsov, WSH

Evgeni Malkin, PIT

Nathan MacKinnon, COL

Blake Wheeler, WPG

Corey Perry, ANA

Artemi Panarin, CHI

Joe Thornton, SJS

Anze Kopitar, LAK

Max Pacioretty, MTL

Taylor Hall, NJD

Patrice Bergeron, BOS

Steven Stamkos, TBL

Logan Couture, SJS

Nicklas Backstrom, WSH

Aleksander Barkov, FLA

Wayne Simmonds, PHI

James Neal, NSH

Filip Forsberg, NSH

Phil Kessel, PIT

Mark Scheifele, WPG

Matt Duchene, COL

Live Feed

Flame for Thought

Tyler Toffoli, LAK

Brad Marchand, BOS

Gabriel Landeskog, COL

Jack Eichel, BUF

Ryan Getzlaf, ANA

Sean Monahan, CGY

Jason Spezza, DAL

Zach Parise, MIN

Jonathan Toews, CHI

Alex Steen, STL

Brayden Schenn, PHI

Brandon Saad, CBJ

Milan Lucic, EDM

Jonathan Drouin, TB

Tyler Johnson, TB

Daniel Sedin, VAN

Ryan Johansen, NSH

Jakub Voracek, PHI

More from Blue Line Station

• Blake Wheeler’s Broadway Calling: Why He Chose the Rangers
• Rangers’ Playoff Redemption Recipe: Grit and Fresh Hopes
• Rangers’ Roster Chatter: Who’s Making the Cut and Who’s in the Penalty Box?
• Jacque Plante Trade Tree Between the Rangers and Canadiens
• These Rangers must learn Peter Laviolette’s ropes before they can fly

Andrew Ladd, NYI

Dylan Larkin, DET

Max Domi, ARI

Patrick Sharp, DAL

Jordan Eberle, EDM

Kyle Okposo, BUF

Jeff Carter, LAK

Kyle Palmieri, NJD

Vincent Trocheck, FLA

Alex Galchenyuk, MTL

Patric Hornqvist, PIT

T.J. Oshie, WAS

Live Feed

Eyes On Isles

Mika Zibanejad, NYR

Mike Hoffman, OTT

Alexander Radulov, MTL

Boone Jenner, CBJ

Jaromir Jagr, FLA

James van Riemsdyk, TOR

David Krejci, BOS

Jonathan Huberdeau FLA

Adam Henrique, NJ

Auston Matthews, TOR

Brendan Gallagher, MTL

Derick Brassard, OTT

Mats Zuccarello, NYR

Mark Stone, OTT

Chris Kreider, NYR

Robby Fabbri, STL

Rick Nash, NYR

Ryan Kesler, ANA

Patrik Laine, WPG

Loui Eriksson, VAN

Teuvo Teravainen, CAR

Henrik Sedin, VAN

Jaden Schwartz, STL

Anthony Duclair, ARI

Bobby Ryan, OTT

David Backes, STL

Mike Cammalleri, NJ

Henrik Zetterberg, DET

Bryan Little, WPG

Leon Draisaitl, EDM

Derek Stepan, NYR

Jeff Skinner, CAR

Jussi Jokinen, FLA

Mikkel Boedker, SJS

P.a. Parenteau, NYI

Reilly Smith, FLA

Ondrej Palat, TB

Scott Hartnell, CBJ

Gustav Nyquist, DET

So let’s take a look at the New York Rangers players who appeared in the top 100.

#63, Mika Zibanejad

I am super high on Zibanejad this year. The 23-year-old is coming off his second consecutive 20 goals season. In the 2015-2016 campaign, Big Z notched 21 goals and 30 assists for the Senators. The Swedish-born Zibanejad was fairly consistent in terms of production by month. In every month except April when he only played in 4 games, Zibanijad had 7-8 points.

During the preseason, Zibanejad lit it up on a line with Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich. With that in mind, plus he will being seeing tons of powerplay time coupled with the fact that he racks up hits and blocks (111 hits and 43 blocks in 2015-2016) Zibanejad should be primed to have a big year. I think I probably have him ranked higher than most people do, but I think there is even a chance that he can outperform my ranking for him. Trust me, you want this kid.

#74, Mats Zuccarello

This little Norwigein pain in the ass is going to reap havoc on the rest of the league again this year. Yes, losing his best buddy Derick Brassard (who ironically enough, I have ranked one spot above him) will be tough for him, but right now it’s looking like he will be on a line with Derek Stepan and possibly Rick Nash to start the season, so he might not be taking too much of a hit in terms of linemates.

Zuccarello put up 61 points last year, and the fact that he had 69 blocks on the season helps his fantasy value in this league a little bit. I am very interested in seeing if he can match that production, but I think his potential to hit the 60 point mark again outweighs the guys I have ranked behind him’s upside for this season.

#76, Chris Kreider

I feel like I say this every year, but I think Kreider is about to breakout. Kreider was on fire at the end of last season notching 8 goals in his last 19 games. Kreider sounds more motivated than ever coming into this year. It really sounds as if the25-year-oldd has turned a new leaf.

With that said, this kids line is, as the cool kids now say, “straight fire.” With the potential for a 30+ goal season being there added to the massive hits totals he produces each year, I probably should have ranked Kreider higher on this list.

#78, Rick Nash

The 32-year-old Nash is coming off of arguably the worst season of his career, only managing to tally 15 goals and 21 assists in 60 games. Nash sustained a back injury in late December that he was never able to fully recover from. He only managed to score 3 goals in his last 24 regular season games.

Nash is another year older, but he had about 5 months off from hockey so he should be fully healed by now, Nash has come into camp with the attitude that he needed to make the team. While he was obviously a lock to make the team, it is refreshing to hear a veteran player have that mindset. There are some guys behind him who could very well outperform him this year, but Nash is 2 years removed from a 40+ goal season, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

#92, Derek Stepan

In 72 games last season, Derek Stepan scored 22 goals which, was a career high for him. The 26-year-old finished the season with 22 points in his final 19 games. Stepan, the Minnesota native will look to have another big year on a line that will most likely feature Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash. Stepan’s upside far surpasses the guys behind him on my rankings, and perhaps I am low on him, but I do think Stepan, if healthy, has the potential for a 60 point year.

Next: Tanner Glass Has Been Cut!

Early next week, I will have you guys my defensemen and goalie rankings, so keep an eye out for that. Until then, good luck in your drafts!