Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
Among the three forward positions, left wing is probably the deepest. Many teams prefer to play wingers on their strong side – and there are more lefties than righties – and Yahoo’s annual cull of multiple position eligibility has found a lot of wingers losing their RW status.
There’s a chance some of them, such as Alex DeBrincat or Filip Forsberg, may get their dual-winger eligibility back, but it’s difficult to plan for and may leave fantasy managers with too much depth on LW and too little on RW.
Because there’s so much quality depth, there are five honorable mentions who could make strong arguments to make the top-10 list. There are no surprises at the top though there’s some uncertainty with Jonathan Huberdeau and Johnny Gaudreau switching teams, and the real debates begin around the fifth spot.
Take a look at the top 10 left wingers, and don’t forget to pick up The Hockey News’ 2022-23 Fantasy Poolbook issue:
1. Kirill Kaprizov, Wild
Kaprizov is a one-man scoring machine, the rare winger who can also be a franchise player and doesn’t need help from an elite center to put up 100 points. Nothing about Kaprizov’s production seems fluky; His shooting percentage is elite even with high volume and his possession numbers are solid. Of all the wingers who scored at least 100 points last season, Kaprizov is the surest bet because he’s the only one not to switch teams.
2. Artemi Panarin, Rangers
Since joining the Rangers, Panarin is averaging 1.34 P/GP, the highest mark by a left winger in the league. Panarin’s fantasy value takes a hit in leagues that emphasize goal scoring because he doesn’t shoot very often; In seven seasons, he’s eclipsed the 30-goal mark just three times but ranks third in total assists with 382, behind only Patrick Kane (398) and Connor McDavid (458).
3. Jonathan Huberdeau, Flames
Naysayers will say Huberdeau won’t be nearly as good without Aleksander Barkov, but let’s not forget they played on separate lines for most of the season and Huberdeau led the league with 54 first assists, according to IcyData. Only three players have scored more points than Huberdeau over the past four seasons: McDavid, Draisaitl and Kane.
4. Johnny Gaudreau, Blue Jackets
Coming right behind Huberdeau with 51 first assists – tied with McDavid, by the way – is Gaudreau, although there’s some uncertainty on how he will fare on a team without a No. 1 center. Patrik Laine is an elite sharpshooter to pair with Gaudreau, but the expectations aren’t high for a bubble playoff team.
5. Kyle Connor, Jets
Connor is one of the best shooters in the league and, like Ovechkin, moves higher up the list in leagues that weigh goals more than assists. Since entering the league, Connor ranks sixth in goals (176), 10th in shots (1,141) and 18th in shooting percentage (15.4%, min. 100 goals). Even though the Jets struggled for most of the season, Connor is coming off a career-best 47 goals and 93 points.
6. Alex Ovechkin, Capitals
Ovechkin will be 37 years old in September and he remains one of the most fearsome shooters in the league, but his consistency has waned with age. He scored 19 goals in the first 23 games of the season but only 13 over the next 30 before finishing the season with 18 in 14. Along with fewer PIM and fewer hits, Ovechkin is no longer a consensus first-round fantasy pick.
7. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
Playing with Sidney Crosby certainly helps, but Guentzel scored 40 even with Crosby missing a chunk of time and doesn’t get enough credit for his consistency. The two-time all-star ranks fifth in goals among left wingers since his breakout 40-goal season and third in G/GP (0.49) behind only Ovechkin (0.64) and Connor (0.50).
8. Gabriel Landeskog (C/LW), Avalanche
For roughly six seasons now, the Avs have played Landeskog pretty often at center, and seeing how the void left by Nazem Kadri wasn’t really addressed, his ability to rack up faceoff wins as a LW could vault him into the top-five depending on your league’s settings. The injury history is concerning, but when healthy, Landeskog is a point-per-game player with tons of peripheral appeal.
9. Chris Kreider (LW/RW), Rangers
Kreider has been on an incredible two-year run with an even 20.0 S% (72 for 360), which is not only elite, but very elite. It seems more likely Kreider scores 30 goals than 50 this coming season, but it’s not impossible for him to do it again. Even without the elite scoring, Kreider offers up multi-category upside in both shots and hits with dual-winger eligibility.
10. Brady Tkachuk, Senators
Tkachuk scores at a lower clip than every other player on this list, but in banger leagues he’s an absolute beast – a unicorn, really – with 288 shots, 117 PIM and 270 hits last season. In roto leagues, Tkachuk makes a strong case to be a first-round pick among the elite scorers. How rare is a fantasy player like Tkachuk? In the cap era, only two players have managed to rack up at least 20 goals, 200 shots, 200 hits and 100 PIM in a single season: Tkachuk and David Backes, and both have done it at least twice.
Honorable Mention
Alex DeBrincat, Senators
DeBrincat’s return to the 40-goal club is commendable, and in retrospect, his 18-goal campaign in 2019-20 was the outlier. He’s an excellent finisher playing on a team with more talent on one line than the entire Blackhawks offense last season. Another 40-goal season vaults DeBrincat into the top 10.
Brad Marchand, Bruins
Marchand’s 2022-23 fantasy value takes a hit because he’s expected to miss a good chunk of the season recovering from injury, otherwise he’s a sure-fire top-10 left winger who has only gotten better with age. Including the season Marchand turned 30 in 2018-19, he ranks seventh in points (336) and sixth in P/GP (1.24) even though everyone ahead of him except for Patrick Kane is at least three years younger.
Andrei Svechnikov, Hurricanes
Svechnikov is close, and among the honorable mentions has the best chance to crack the top 10 next season. He’s a burgeoning power forward who is close to a 40-goal, point-per-game season with a high volume of both shots and hits, and plays on a very talented young team. He’s an excellent value pick in the middle rounds.
Filip Forsberg, Predators
We shall see if playing Matt Duchene on the wing shows sustained success after the switch helped Duchene get back on track and Forsberg to a career-best 42 goals in his contract year. Forsberg was on a 50-goal pace with a higher-than-normal 18.6 shooting percentage and he needs to repeat it to be a top-10 LW option.
Jason Robertson, Stars
Robertson has multiple 40-goal seasons in him, but with scoring up across the league and featuring more talent than ever, scoring goals alone while offering up little in other categories really dampens his fantasy value. There were 17 players who scored at least 40 goals last season and Robertson ranked 10th in PPG, 14th in assists, 14th in P/GP and 17th in shots, making him at the lower end of the top 15 at a stacked position.
(Positions are based on Yahoo’s pre-season settings and rankings are based on default scoring. Players with dual-position eligibility are noted in brackets.)
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