As the All Star break approaches, the left wingers boast three out of the top four goal scorers in the entire NHL. Some of them have had injury troubles this season (some throughout their careers). Most are looking good, though, and should have strong second halves.
1. Alexander Ovechkin
AO is a fantasy stud. Enough said.
2. Alexander Semin
Semin has 38 points in 27 games played so far, a 115 point pace when pro-rated to a full schedule. He would be up with the top scorers in the NHL, including his teammate Ovechkin, and the two Pittsburgh superstars. However, he’s missed a bunch of games and is unlikely to catch up. The good thing is, when he does play, he contributes across the board, in fantasy hockey and in actual games. Start him with confidence because he’ll outproduce most other players out there but beware of injuries from him because he’s proven to be a bit prone to them.
3. Zach Parise
Parise is averaging well over a point-per-game and he doesn’t look like he’ll be slowing down any time soon. Even though the Devils occasionally go through games of being shutout, they also sprinkle in some big scoring games to make up for it overall. Parise is having a breakout year and will shatter his career high from last year of 65 points. Hold onto him in any keeper/dynasty leagues. Expect him to finish the regular season the same way he started it: on fire.
4. Henrik Zetterberg
Zetterberg is certainly off his 92 point pace from last season, as he’s actually averaging under a point per game thus far. Zetterberg is still one of the most valuable players out there, though, and he could catch fire at any point down the stretch. His point totals will probably be off the mark compared to last year’s but he’ll still garner at least 75 points. Perhaps a bit disappointing for those of you who drafted him in the first or second rounds but he does contribute quite nicely in other categories, like shots on goal and is especially valuable in leagues where faceoff wins are used because Zetterberg is usually listed as a winger but frequently plays center and takes faceoffs.
5. Patrik Elias
Elias is seeing a nice rebirth with a 1.16 point-per-game average, same as teammate Parise. No doubt playing with each other on the power play boosts their efficiency in point production. Elias and Parise do not usually play on the same line at even strength, but that may actually be better overall because teams cannot simply focus all their best defensive personnel on one line. Elias has had some very good per game scoring averages in the past but sprinkled inbetween were also some rather mediocre totals. His best year was in 2000-2001, back in the Devils’ prime, where he hit 96 points. He is on pace to just miss that mark by a point or so if he doesn’t slow down. That would be quite nice for fantasy owners out there as it’s likely Elias was drafted somewhat lower because of his performances the past couple years.
6. Simon Gagne
Gagne is just about averaging a point per game with 42 in 40 played. A big bonus regarding Gagne is the fact that he has 8 shorthanded points: 4 goals and 4 assists. This is huge in leagues that use shorthanded points as categories because SHP overall are so few and far between. The big thing for Gagne is though, that he’s injury prone. Last season he only ended up playing 25 games total and he has missed a few games so far this season too. If all things go well, though, Gagne can potentially finish out the season with a career high in points.
7. Daniel Sedin
The Sedins continue to be a quiet and consistent scoring tandem for the Canucks. Daniel has is averaging exactly a point a game and is unlikely to get off that pace significantly. With the addition of Sundin, perhaps Daniel and Henrik will have some pressure relieved and be able to cash in on more opportunities on the ice. If teammate Demitra can get hot again like in previous stretches so far this season, Daniel Sedin should improve his own totals because of it. Sedin should finish out the second half the same way he has the first.
8. Thomas Vanek
Vanek started the season on a ridiculous tear of goal scoring. He started the season scoring goals in 5 straight games and putting up 9 goals total for the short month of October. He was at one point on pace to hit over 60 goals. Clearly, he has slowed a bit from that pace but is still looking good to hit perhaps the half-century mark by year’s end. His assist totals are catching up a bit thankfully for fantasy owners out there. However, do not rely on Vanek to get you the helpers, his real task out there is to score goals and lots of them and he’s doing that quite nicely. Currently he’s a minus player but perhaps that’s not unexpected as he was a minus player last season, as well. The year he was +47 seems more like a byproduct of being on a good team because he was getting the majority of his points at even strength and was able to avoid a lot of the other teams’ best checkers due to the scoring depth the Sabres had that season. This season (and last season) he is the go-to guy but is living up to it at the moment and gets a lot of power play time, which is where he does a lot of his damage. Vanek should end up with a very nice goal total if he stays on pace or even gets back to his original pace. If he had more assists and contributed more in some other key categories, he would be that much higher on the list.
9. Dany Heatley
It is highly unlikely that Heatley fell out of the first round of initial drafting at the beginning of the season, let alone the second round. Since this is the case, Heatley has been a big disappointment. Undoubtedly, managers were hoping for another 100 point season out of Heater but at his current pace he’ll fall short by almost 25 total points. Aside from the big drop in point production, perhaps an even bigger surprise is the fact that Heatley is a minus player on the year. After averaging +31 over the past three straight previous years, it’s a big deviation. Don’t lose faith in Heatley, though, he is still one of the premiere players in the NHL and the entire Senators team, a former offensive powerhouse, is struggling big time. With the recent cleaning house of management and coaching, the Sens play could start shifting towards something more positive down the line. Perhaps he can get a good string of games going at the end of the year and possibly carry that momentum into next season.
10. Ilya Kovalchuk
Kovy continues to show that it does not matter who he plays with because he can and will score regardless. Averaging just barely under a point per game overall, Kovalchuk’s biggest downfall this season has been his lack of goal scoring. A perennial candidate for the Rocket Richard, Kovalchuk is only on pace for about 30 goals so far. It is highly unlikely that he stays there as he is such an explosive player; he can easily catch fire and string together a few games with goals and get going. There are some rumors of him getting traded but aside from that, you usually know you can count on Kovalchuk to score points even when his team is doing poorly. The one thing you should not expect is a good +/- rating, though, but most people know that going in when they draft or otherwise acquire him.
Notables: Rick Nash, Michael Cammalleri
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