With the NHL All-Star break in full swing, it’s time to look back at the first half of the fantasy hockey season. While some players have lived up to their pre-season draft rankings, others have fallen well short of their projections.
We run down the biggest studs/duds from the first half of the NHL fantasy hockey season below (all rankings used are from Yahoo!):
Studs:
Nazem Kadri, COL, C
Currently ranked as the number 2 player in all of fantasy hockey behind only Leon Draisaitl, Kadri is well on his way to shattering all his previous career highs. With 60pts (19G, 41A) at the halfway mark, the former Leaf is making owners who took a flyer on him on draft day look like absolute geniuses.
With a pre-season rank of 198th overall, Kadri was being drafted behind the likes of Jordan Staal, Alec Martinez, and Eeli Tolvanen. In fact in smaller leagues, Kadri was likely a waiver wire pickup for some teams. Not very often is it you can find someone producing at a 1.46PPG clip off the scrap heap.
Mix in 46PIMs (for leagues that count that stat), and 19pts via the powerplay, and you’ve got yourself a bonafide fantasy workhorse from someone you likely took with your next to last pick.
Chris Kreider, NYR, LW/RW
Just as everyone predicted, Chris Kreider is your NHL goal scoring leader at the All-Star break. Prior to this season, Kreider was known more for his abnormally long neck than his goal scoring prowess but here we are.
The 30 year old currently has 47pts (33G, 14A) through 47 games giving him a tidy point per game played. Not only is he pacing the league in scoring, but he also leads the NHL in power play goals with 17 on the year. That’s right, Chris Kreider has 4 more PPG than his next closest competitor in Draisaitl.
The Boxford, MA native already has more goals scored in 2021-22 than he had points all of last year. Like Kadri, Kreider is on pace to set career highs across the board and is easily outperforming his pre-season ranking of 126th overall. With half a season to go, we might see Kreider flirt with the 50 goal plateau as he and his Rangers teammates attempt to chase down Carolina for the division lead.
Timo Meier, SJ, LW/RW
You can usually write down the 12 best players in the NHL on a piece of paper, and of that list, 9 will usually go on to finish in the top 10 for fantasy purposes. There’s very little movement amongst the league’s top performing players, year in year out when it comes to fantasy hockey.
But Meier now represents the 3rd player currently ranked in the top 10 who no one would have predicted having the season they are heading into draft day. With 47pts (21G, 26A) through 41 games, the Swiss born winger continues our theme of players having career years this season.
While Kadri and Kreider at least had the benefit of being ranked in top 200 players pre-season, Meier wasn’t on anybody’s draft list. Coming in at 225th overall, Meier actually appeared to be trending in the wrong direction since his breakout 2018-19 campaign. He went from 66pts to 49, and then 31 last year. While COVID obviously played a factor in those diminished totals, his points per game reflected the fantasy decline as well, going from 0.85, to 0.7, and then 0.57ppg last year.
Meier is currently seeing top line billing in San Jose, and features on the Sharks first powerplay unit as well. While he’s likely to cool off in the 2nd half of the season, expect the talented winger to put up north of 75pts when all is said and done.
Duds:
Tyson Barrie, EDM, D
Coming off a strong 2020-21 campaign where he posted 48pts (8G, 40A) in only 56 games, many thought he was in line for a similar output this season as he became more familiar with his Oilers teammates. Needless to say, that theory hasn’t panned out.
Coming off the board as the 11th defenseman taken in most drafts, Barrie was Yahoo’s 61st ranked player heading into this year. However with only 17pts (3G, 14A) on the season, Barrie’s stock has fallen all the way to 338th overall. Owners who took him at his pre-draft position are likely kicking themselves for not going with a proven commodity like Roman Josi (currently ranked 25th overall), or Kris Letang (fittingly ranked 58th) both of whom were slotted in just behind Barrie on pre-draft cheat sheets.
Barrie still has time to turn things around this year as he still sees regular time QBing Edmonton’s top powerplay unit, but his early returns haven’t been great. He’d be a prime “buy low” candidate for team’s looking for blue line help as we approach the real life and fantasy trade deadlines.
Philipp Grubauer, SEA, G
A Vezina finalist last year, Grubauer’s 2021-22 season could be a case study in not putting stock in previous year’s returns when a player changes teams. Going from powerhouse Colorado to outhouse Seattle has Grubauer owners kicking themselves for drafting him as high as they did.
Coming into the year as the 13th ranked goaltender in fantasy hockey, the 30 year old has scuffled to a 3.09GAA and paltry .887SV%. Undoubtedly the supporting cast (or lack thereof) in front of him bears some responsibility for these less than stellar numbers, as Seattle will be closer to vying for the first overall pick in this year’s draft than they will be to replicating Vegas’ expansion year success.
The German netminder has gone from 70th overall in pre-season rankings to 446th at the halfway mark. Adding insult to injury is the fact that two goaltenders ranked right behind him on draft boards (Jack Campbell at 71, and Juuse Saros at 73) are outperforming their rankings and posting top 40 numbers.
While Barrie may have a roadmap to turning things around as the NHL schedule fires up again, it’s likely to be more of the same in Seattle for Grubauer and the Kraken. I’d steer clear of him if you’re pondering moves to bolster your roster for the fantasy playoffs.
Alexander Radulov, DAL, LW/RW
Some fantasy hockey players have seen this decline coming for several seasons now. No longer a spring chicken at 35 years old, the Russian born winger is now not only on the back 9 of his career, but within sight of the clubhouse.
Evidently some players and ranking services, Yahoo included, still thought Radulov had some gas left in the tank. Afterall, he was still better than a point per game player as recently as 2018-19, notching 72pts (29G, 43A) in only 70 games played.
Unfortunately the former Predators draft pick has been downright unplayable this season with only 15pts (2G, 13A) and a -15 mark through 37 games this year. Coming into the season ranked as the 77th ranked player in all of hockey, Radulov now finds himself 466th overall and fully droppable in most leagues.
Somehow he’s still being rostered in 38% of Yahoo leagues, but unless Dallas was able to find a time machine during the All-Star break, this figure should continue to decline as the season wears on. Much like Grubauer, there’s no trade value here, as you’re likely to see him on your waiver wire sooner rather than later.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner