So, as many fantasy hockey managers out there know, center is easily the deepest position out there. A lot of the time, some of the highest scorers around the league are centermen and it is no different this season. There are three center duos on here from the same teams, including the top two scorers on the list, indicating how valuable it is to have depth down the middle for NHL teams. Do not expect any of these players to slow down much, if at all. In fact, some should have even stronger production down the stretch.
1. Evgeni Malkin
Malkin is currently the leading scorer in the NHL and has a full 10 point lead over teammate Crosby who is in second place. Malkin continues to rack up the points while Crosby is injured on a day-to-day basis. It is highly likely that Malkin will win the scoring title this season because of his decent lead right now over everyone else. Malkin has almost as many assists as some of the others on this list have points. Do not expect anything less than 115 points out of Malkin this season.
2. Sidney Crosby
Sid the Kid is currently on the shelf with an injury. He and his teammate Malkin are leading the NHL in scoring and that scenario is unlikely to change for perhaps the next several seasons if they all stay together. Once Crosby gets back from his injury, he will continue on a similar scoring pace for the rest of the year. If the Pens are lucky, he may even turn it up a notch.
3. Joe Thornton
Big Joe is on pace for over 100 points right now. He has not scored under 90 points since the 03-04 season, before the lockout. Thornton is just behind Getzlaf and Savard (by one point) in scoring at the moment but he is above them both on this list because of his MONSTER second half performances recently. San Jose has been rolling along so strongly and Thornton has not had to carry the load all by himself this season, as captain Patrick Marleau is finally having a really good year along with young linemate Devin Setoguchi. Thornton has the potential to catch up to the two Penguin superstars in scoring if he can really get hot down the stretch, which is technically possible.
4. Marc Savard
Savard, the seemingly perennially underrated playmaker for the Bruins is putting up another strong season. His best asset is his playmaking skill but he is putting up his fair share of goals this season with 16 so far, a nice windfall for Savard owners who usually lean on him more for just helpers. Due to Savard’s under the radar status and his accompanying big production, sometimes he falls in drafts and may even be easier to trade for than some of his fellow counterparts below him on the list. Either way, Savard will continue to put up nice numbers with the B’s for the foreseeable future.
5. Ryan Getzlaf
After an extremely slow start scoring only 1 point in his first 6 points, Getzlaf is now on a roll. He currently has a scoring streak of 8, notching points in all January games played thus far going into tonight’s game against Minnesota. He has points in 13 out of the last 14 games for the Ducks, as well. Getzlaf is proving himself to be quite the fantasy stud this season, following up last year’s breakout season. Getzlaf will be a top 5 pivot for many years to come and should have a nice run to end the year.
6. Pavel Datsyuk
Datsyuk being 6th on the list seems low but only because of the depth at center in the league. In any case, Dats is outperforming his fellow superstar teammates Marian Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg this season with a 96 point scoring pace at the moment. Datsyuk will continue to be one of the best scorers in the league and will have a nice end to the season.
7. Jeff Carter
Jeff Carter is having an absolute breakout season right now. He has 49 points in 45 games thus far but the biggest thing is that he leads the NHL with 30 goals, just edging out out the left wing trio of Ovechkin, Vanek, and Parise, who are just barely behind him. Carter is on pace to hit at least 50 goals, which is fantastic for many fantasy managers out there who drafted him relatively low at the beginning of the season. However, Carter’s goal scoring pace has slowed down a bit with only three goals scored in the month of January but even still, he should still end up with a nice goal total when all is said and done. Ride Carter as long as you can.
8. Nicklas Backstrom
Backstrom and Ovechkin both had pretty slow starts to the year. Luckily for them, Alex Semin and Mike Green picked up the slack and put up fantastic numbers until both of them went down to injuries. Backstrom had a very respectable 69 points last season as a rookie, barely being outscored by eventual Calder Trophy winner Patrick Kane by 3 points, but this season Backstrom is barely outscoring Kane at the moment. In fact, it seems like Backstrom and AO are just getting warmed up lately going into the All Star break. The duo is expected by many to have a very big second half and that will mean an even higher point-per-game output for Backstrom down the stretch.
9. Patrick Marleau
Marleau, fellow Sharks Joe Thornton and all star
"http://saucerpass.com/2009/01/best-goalies-for-the-rest-of-08-09/">goalie Evgeni Nabokov, are carrying San Jose to one of the best records in the league. Marleau has played significant time on Thornton’s wing, even though he usually plays center otherwise, and is averaging over a point per game again after having a terrible year last season. His plus/minus rating is currently at +19 which is a giant improvement over last season’s -19 at the end of the regular season. Do not expect Marleau’s scoring pace to fall off any time soon.
10. Mike Richards
All around contributor Mike Richards is being somewhat shown up by fellow young Flyers pivot Jeff Carter. Although Richards had his breakout season last year and is poised to match the production from last year again this year, Carter’s league leading goals scored total is much more prominent to many fans out there. Make no mistake, though, Richards is the Flyers’ workhorse on the ice in all facets of the game, especially with veteran Danny Briere missing so much time thus far. Richards gets a ton of ice time and is pretty clutch on the penalty kill with six valuable shorthanded points, including 4 SHGs. Richards narrowly edges out standout sophomore David Krejci because of his higher contributions to other categories such as PIMs, power play points, and even faceoff wins.
Notables: David Krejci, Derek Roy, Mikko Koivu, Henrik Sedin
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