With a high-flying team like the Edmonton Oilers, it’s no surprise that a number of their players are ranked among the league’s best.
And on Thursday, Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin revealed his top 300 player rankings ahead of next season, which featured seven Oilers in the top 100, among a dozen total on his list.
It should be no surprise that Connor McDavid comes in at the top spot, and as Larkin noted, there’s “nothing to overthink here.”
“To put it in perspective: an MVP-winning career season from Nathan MacKinnon is pretty much the baseline expectation for McJesus every year,” he added. “After his goal total halved itself from 64 to 32, surely he can jump back up the 40s.”
Where Connor goes, Leon Draisaitl does too, coming in as Larkin’s third-ranked player this season. Despite being the No. 3 on his list, Larkin actually sees this as a buy-low opportunity for the German.
“It’s LOL-worthy to say it, but…is this a buy-low opportunity?” Larkin wrote. “After ‘only’ giving us 41 goals and 106 points last season, he can tack 10 more onto each of those numbers. For fantasy purposes, I’d like to see him shoot more, but he’s so peerlessly accurate that he can do damage with far fewer pucks on goal than other superstars need.”
Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard, fresh off a breakout season, comes in as the 17th-ranked player, and third ranked defenceman behind Cale Makar (No. 7) and Roman Josi (No. 15). Bouchard racked up 16 goals and 82 points last year, but Larkin could see him improving on those numbers.
The next Oiler is Zach Hyman, who comes in at the 33rd slot. Larkin still thinks highly of him, but sees some regression coming his way.
“A little low for someone who finished third in the NHL in goals? Nah,” he wrote. “Hyman is fantastic, but he’s 32, he smashed his career high in shooting percentage last season and he’s been a point-per-game player once in his nine seasons. He probably slides back to something like 45-30-75 this season. Nothing wrong with that.”
Also in the top 100 are both of the Skinner — Stuart and Jeff — coming in at the 72nd and 79th spots, respectively. Stuart is the 11th ranked goaltender on the list, behind Connor Hellebuyck (No. 14), Igor Shesterkin (No. 19), Jeremy Swayman (No. 24), Jake Oettinger (No. 31), Sergei Bobrovsky (No. 36), Juuse Saros (No. 37), Thatcher Demko (No. 43), Andrei Vasilevskiy (No. 44), Jacob Markstrom (No. 48) and Ilya Sorokin (No. 51).
“He’s maddeningly inconsistent and will thus have stretches where you need to bench him in head-to-head,” wrote Larkin of Skinner. “But he’s also the unchallenged No. 1 on an elite team and a safe bet for 55-plus starts. That’s quite valuable in fantasy.”
When it comes to Jeff, Larkin sees him having a strong season, but says not to overproject his potential output.
“In a season Buffalo deemed buyout-worthy, Skinner still managed 24 goals,” he wrote. “While the hype factor in Edmonton will make him hard to profit on, it would be a mild upset if he doesn’t at least return to 30-goal production given all the talent around him now. Just don’t go crazy projecting him. He’s 32 and has one 40-goal season in 14 tries.”
The last Oiler to sneak into the top 100 is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at the 98th spot.
“Two years ago, he exploded for 104 points when his previous career high was 69” wrote Larkin. “Regressed right back to his normal level last year. That sounds about right. Keep in mind, however, that Nuge has some increased competition for looks from Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson.”
Here’s where the remaining Oilers slotted in on Larkin’s rankings:
- No. 145 – Viktor Arvidsson
- No. 171 – Darnell Nurse
- No. 174 – Evander Kane
- No. 186 – Mattias Ekholm
- No. 291 – Matt Savoie
You can see Larkin’s full rankings here.
