Unless you’re in a deep league, the forwards you draft will mostly be playing in a top six role. Consider this a cheat sheet to get a quick glimpse as to how top six forward groups around the NHL could look.
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You’ll notice that not every spot is a lock. Many teams have new faces joining from the offseason – inckuding a handful of rookies. However, aside from Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko, the others are not guaranteed to remain in the top six all year.
Some teams have two quality options as their top center. Don’t be surprised to see Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen each spend time on the top line. Likewise both Hughes and Nico Hischier should both get opportunities with Taylor Hall as their winger.
It’s interesting to note that several successful teams have openings within their top six.
- Boston for second line RW
- Calgary for second line RW
- Colorado for second line LW and RW
- Dallas for second line LW
- Nashville for second line RW
- Pittsburgh for second line RW
- San Jose for second line LW
- St. Louis for second line RW
- Winnipeg for second line C
What this means is likely a rotating door of players will fill into this slot for their respective teams. It also creates an opportunity for a prospect to make the team out of training camp and start in a prominent role. San Jose has the most glaring hole, with Marcus Sorensen in as the place holder. Don’t expect him to keep that spot.
2019 Fantasy Hockey Rankings: Goalkeepers | Defensemen | Forwards
Biggest Offseason Improvements
New York Rangers: Signed free agent Artemi Panarin and drafted Kakko.
New Jersey Devils: Traded for Nikita Gusev and won another draft lottery to land Hughes.
Arizona Coyotes: Traded for Phil Kessel, who becomes their top forward.
Colorado Avalanche: Completely revamped the second line.
Vancouver Canucks: Traded for J.T. Miller and signed Micheal Ferland.
Biggest Offseason Regression
Columbus Blue Jackets: Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, and Ryan Dzingel all left via free agency. They signed Gustav Nyquist to mitigate some of the losses.
San Jose Sharks: Lost their captain and goal-scoring leader in Joe Pavelski. His 38 goals will be missed, and no one was signed to fill the void.
Depth Charts
If you’re torn on who to draft, use the following depth charts to give you an idea as to where they may fall in their team’s top six.
Anaheim Ducks | ||
| Rickard Rakell | Sam Steel | Jakub Silfverberg |
| Maxime Comtois | Ryan Getzlaf | Ondrej Kase |
Arizona Coyotes | ||
| Clayton Keller | Nick Schmaltz | Phil Kessel |
| Christian Dvorak | Derek Stepan | Vinnie Hinostroza |
Boston Bruins | ||
| Brad Marchand | Patrice Bergeron | David Pastrnak |
| Jake DeBrusk | David Krejci | Danton Heinen |
Buffalo Sabres | ||
| Jeff Skinner | Jack Eichel | Sam Reinhart |
| Conor Sheary | Casey Mittelstadt | Marcus Johansson |
Calgary Flames | ||
| Johnny Gaudreau | Sean Monahan | Elias Lindholm |
| Matthew Tkachuk | Mikael Backlund | Michael Frolik |
Carolina Hurricanes | ||
| Andrei Svechnikov | Sebastian Aho | Teuvo Teravainen |
| Ryan Dzingel | Jordan Staal | Nino Niederreiter |
Chicago Blackhawks | ||
| Alex DeBrincat | Dylan Strome | Patrick Kane |
| Brandon Saad | Jonathan Toews | Andrew Shaw |
Colorado Avalanche | ||
| Gabriel Landeskog | Nathan MacKinnon | Mikko Rantanen |
| Andre Burakovsky | Nazem Kadri | Joonas Donskoi |
Columbus Blue Jackets | ||
| Gustav Nyquist | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Cam Atkinson |
| Oliver Bjorkstrand | Alexander Wennberg | Josh Anderson |
Dallas Stars | ||
| Jamie Benn | Tyler Seguin | Alex Radulov |
| Jason Dickinson | Roope Hintz | Joe Pavelski |
Detroit Red Wings | ||
| Tyler Bertuzzi | Dylan Larkin | Anthony Mantha |
| Andreas Athanasiou | Valtteri Filppula | Taro Hirose |
Edmonton Oilers | ||
| Leon Draisatil | Connor McDavid | James Neal |
| Alex Chiasson | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Zack Kassian |
Florida Panthers | ||
| Jonathan Huberdeau | Aleksander Barkov | Evgenii Dadonov |
| Mike Hoffman | Vincent Trochek | Brett Connolly |
Los Angeles Kings | ||
| Dustin Brown | Anze Kopitar | Tyler Toffoli |
| Alex Iafallo | Jeff Carter | Ilya Kovalchuk |
Minnesota Wild | ||
| Jason Zucker | Eric Staal | Mats Zuccarello |
| Zach Parise | Mikko Koivu | Kevin Fiala |
Montreal Canadiens | ||
| Tomas Tatar | Phillip Danault | Brendan Gallagher |
| Jonathan Drouin | Max Domi | Paul Byron |
Nashville Predators | ||
| Filip Forsberg | Matt Duchene | Vitkor Arvidsson |
| Mikael Granlund | Ryan Johansen | Craig Smith |
New Jersey Devils | ||
| Taylor Hall | Jack Hughes | Kyle Palmieri |
| Nikita Gusev | Nico Hischier | Jesper Bratt |
New York Islanders | ||
| Anthony Beauvillier | Mathew Barzal | Josh Bailey |
| Anders Lee | Brock Nelson | Jordan Eberle |
New York Rangers | ||
| Artemi Panarin | Mika Zibanejad | Kaapo Kakko |
| Chris Kreider | Filip Chytil | Pavel Buchnevich |
Ottawa Senators | ||
| Brady Tkachuk | Colin White | Drake Batherson |
| Anthony Duclair | Chris Tierney | Bobby Ryan |
Philadelphia Flyers | ||
| Claude Giroux | Sean Couturier | Travis Konecny |
| James van Riemsdyk | Kevin Hayes | Jakub Voracek |
Pittsburgh Penguins | ||
| Jared McCann | Sidney Crosby | Jake Guentzel |
| Alex Galchenyuk | Evgeni Malkin | Dominik Kahun |
San Jose Sharks | ||
| Evander Kane | Logan Couture | Timo Meier |
| Marcus Sorensen | Tomas Hertl | Kevin Labanc |
St. Louis Blues | ||
| Jaden Schwartz | Brayden Schenn | Vladimir Tarasenko |
| David Perron | Ryan O’Reilly | Robert Thomas |
Tampa Bay Lightning | ||
| Yanni Gourde | Brayden Point | Nikita Kucherov |
| Ondrej Palat | Steven Stamkos | Tyler Johnson |
Toronto Maple Leafs | ||
| Zach Hyman | John Tavares | Mitch Marner |
| Andreas Johnsson | Auston Matthews | William Nylander |
Vancouver Canucks | ||
| Micheal Ferland | Elias Pettersson | Brock Boeser |
| Tanner Pearson | Bo Horvat | J.T. Miller |
Vegas Golden Knights | ||
| Max Pacioretty | Paul Stastny | Mark Stone |
| Jonathan Marchessault | William Karlsson | Reilly Smith |
Washington Capitals | ||
| Alex Ovechkin | Nicklas Backstrom | Tom Wilson |
| Jakub Vrana | Evgeny Kuznetsov | T.J. Oshie |
Winnipeg Jets | ||
| Kyle Connor | Mark Scheifele | Blake Wheeler |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | Bryan Little | Patrik Laine |
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