The hockey season is less than a month away and that means it is time for fans everywhere to start building their fantasy teams. After playing fantasy hockey for a few years now I realized that going into the draft prepared really helps. I based my rankings on the most common stats used in fantasy league such as goals, assists powerplay points (PPP), penalty minutes (PIM), and +/- rating. If you have any question to why I placed someone in the spot I did feel free to leave a comment and I will respond.

1. Alex Ovechkin- Alex has averaged 54 goals and 50 assists in his first 4 years in the league. He is also averaging around 40 PPP. Only weakness for Ovechkin is his +/- which has been sparadic throughout his career. Last year he started slow so I am expecting a bigger year. Projection:62g 54a 43 PPP 60 PIM +8
   
2. Sidney Crosby- A lot of people believe Malkin should be in this spot but I think Crosby will have a career year. I think they finally found some players that he has good chemistry with. Projection:35g 76a 41 PPP 58 PIM +15
3. Evgeni Malkin- Malkin had a career high 78 assists last year and led the league in points. I don't think he will do as well next year but he will certainly still reach 100 points. Projection:39g 67a 38 PPP 64 PIM +19
4. Pavel Datsyuk- Averaging 30g 60a and atleast a +/- of atleast 30 the past 3 years. I see no reason why he can't reach those again this year. Only weakness is his PIM. Projection:33g 68a 36 PPP 20 PIM +36
5. Jarome Iginla- Iginla has averaged 40g and 50a the last 3 years. Was a -2 last year but has a career +65 so he will probably improve this year. Projection:45g 52a 36 PPP 50 PIM +15
6. Marc Savard- Savard has really done well since joining Boston in 2006. He tallied up 63 assists the last 2 years and had a career high +25 last year. Projection:24g 68a 35 PPP 65 PIM +21
7. Zach Parise- Parise had a career high in goals, assists, and +/- last year but really hasn't proved himself as an elite player. He had yet to reach 70 points until last year. I think he will be able to continue having success next year though. Projection:51g 41a 39 PPP 25 PIM +28
8. Nicklas Backstrom- He improved from 69 points in his first year to 88 in his second. His improved powerplay points had a lot to do with that. Like Parise he really hasn't proved himself but I think he will this year. Projection: 22g 67a 36 PPP 40 PIM +12
9. Ryan Getzlaf- Getzlaf has averaged around 25 goals the last three years and his assists have gradually improved to a career high 66 last year. His +/- took a drastic drop from 32 to 5 but that should improve again this year. Projection:26g 60a 34 PPP 80 PIM +17
10. Daniel Sedin- Daniel has been pretty consistant the last 4 years. He had a career high 51 assists last year. I think he will improve again next year. Projection: 34g 50a 30 PPP 40 PIM +20
11. Henrik Sedin
12. Joe Thornton
13. Eric Staal
14. Rick Nash
    
15. Ilya Kovalchuk
16. Henrik Zetterburg
17. Mike Richards
18. Martin St. Louis
19. Alexander Semin
20. Jeff Carter
21. Mike Ribeiro
22. Ray Whitney
23. Patrik Elias
24. Jonathan Toews
25. Martin Havlat
26. Corey Perry
    
27. Daniel Alfredsson
28. Simon Gagne
29. Slava Kozlov
30. Derek Roy
31. Patrick Kane
32. Mike Cammalleri
33. Shane Doan
34. Jason Spezza
35. Vinny Lecavalier
36. Mikko Koivu
37. Anze Kopitar
38. David Krejci
39. J.P. Dumont
40. Thomas Vanek
41. Brad Boyes
42. Scott Gomez
43. Olli Jokinen
44. Todd White
45. Chris Kunitz
46. Ales Hemsky
47. Jason Pominville
48. Ryan Smith
49. Kristian Huselius
50. Jason Arnott