2021-22 Fantasy Hockey ROS Forward Rankings

The Fantrax HQ forward rankings have been updated, and I’ll be going over the biggest changes to the rankings thus far.

2021-22 Fantasy Hockey ROS Forward Rankings

At the Top

To no one’s surprise, Connor McDavid remains in first. He puts up a ton of offense with his league-leading 73 points in 50 games, and does so at a consistent rate. Teammate Leon Draisaitl bumps up from third to second with his 72 points and league-leading 35 goals. Nikita Kucherov missed a good chunk of the season, but he’s right back to doing what he does best, scoring 22 points in 15 matches.

However, the biggest jump near the top is Jonathan Huberdeau. He was initially ranked 18 in the pre-season forward rankings, but he’s proving to the world that he’s a top playmaker in the game. Huberdeau leads the league with his 55 assists, 10 more than second place McDavid. Huberdeau has popped in 17 goals too, to give him 72 points, good for third in league scoring. Anyone who drafted Huberdeau got extremely good value, as it’s possible they snagged the Art Ross winner outside of the first round.

Risers

I keep waiting for Nazem Kadri’s scoring to slow down but it just doesn’t happen. His 64 points put him tied for fourth in league scoring. I do still expect some regression in the next two months, so he’s not at the very top, but instead at a respectable position at 20, the highest of anyone initially unranked. There are four forwards in the top 20 from the Colorado Avalanche, plus they have the top ranked defenseman. Those who invested in the Avalanche have truly reaped the rewards.

Being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets last season, Patrik Laine’s offense plummeted. He tallied just 21 points in 45 contests, with a minus-29 rating. A fresh start with a new Head Coach is resulting in a much more productive Laine. He’s racked up 35 points in 31 appearances, including an active 10-game point streak where he’s racked up 12 goals and 20 points. He’s on fire, and could finish a season over a point-per-game pace for the first time in his career. Laine rose 46 spots in the rest of season rankings.

Fallers

There weren’t any dramatic drops like there were in the defense rankings. The highest ranked player to fall off the list was Yanni Gourde, previously at rank 52. With Gourde leaving Tampa Bay and heading to Seattle, I had increased expectations for his production. He posted a 64-point season back in 2017-18, so it was possible we saw more of his offense with him playing in an expanded role. Instead, nearly every member of the Seattle Kraken have struggled, and their fantasy stocks have dropped like a rock.

Elias Pettersson was limited to 26 appearances last season, but he still scored 21 points. A slight drop in his scoring rate, but not too bad considering the Vancouver Canucks struggles last year. We had him at 34 in pre-season rankings, expecting him to bounce back and even take a step forward. But it was a disastrous start, with Pettersson losing all his confidence. Even with a new Head Coach in town, it’s taken time to get Pettersson going again. He has seven points in his past three matchups, so he might be starting to turn it around. For now though, he’ll have to settle for 75 in the ROS rankings.

Several members of the Dallas Stars have fallen, including Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, and Jamie Benn. The three were ranked 53, 69, and 82 respectively. Each player missed the top 100 forwards. Seguin has just 27 points in 49 games, Radulov has 16 points in 43 games, and Benn has 23 points in 49 games. They just aren’t scoring like they used to. Seguin played just three contests last year, and Radulov only 11. Bounce back seasons after so much time off seemed reasonable, and for Benn’s production to increase with them in the lineup. If you’re holding out hope that they’ll turn it around, I’d say it’s time to cut ties and find replacements on the waiver wire.

Also check out our Rest of Season Goalie Rankings and Defensemen Rankings!

Forward rankings based on Goals, Assists, Plus/Minus, Shots on Goal, Power-Play Points, and Hits.

Injured: Drake Batherson, Sean Couturier, Nikolaj Ehlers, Anthony Mantha, Josh Norris, T.J. Oshie, Mark Stone, Jakub Vrana

Dropped out: Yanni Gourde, Tyler Seguin, David Perron, Taylor Hall, Nicholas Suzuki, Dominik Kubalik, Alexis Lafreniere, Martin Necas, Alexander Radulov, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Conor Garland, Tomas Tatar, Jamie Benn, Mike Hoffman, Brendan Gallagher, Cole Caufield, Maxime Comtois, Bo Horvat, Andre Burakovsky, William Karlsson, Jared McCann, Phil Kessel, Brock Nelson, Jonathan Toews