Some fantasy hockey leagues round out their offensive categories with penalty minutes or hits. Others dive into the faceoff circle, putting an added emphasis on efficient, heavy-lifting centers around the NHL.
If your league counts faceoff wins (FOW), make sure to prioritize centers with strong FOW-per-game and points-per-game averages. When comparing two centers with similar points-per-game averages to draft in this type of league, use their faceoff wins-per-game averages as a tiebreaker.
Fantasy: Faceoff wins draft guide for 2017-18
Players worth prioritizing based on points-per-game, FOW-per-game averages
© Mark Blinch/Getty Images
FANTASY RANKINGS: Top 250 | Top 100 'F' | C | LW | RW | Top 50 'D' | Top 25 'G'
DRAFT GUIDES: Standard mock draft 1.0 | Keeper / dynasty | Hits | Faceoff wins
2017-18 PROJECTIONS:Forward points | D-man points | Goalie wins | Team previews
LISTS: Forward bargains | D-man bargains | Breakouts | Sleepers | Deep sleepers | Rookies
NHL.com has retrieved a list of players who produced at least 5.0 faceoff wins per game and 0.50 points per game last season (minimum 17 games played). These players are listed in order of points-per-game average with FOW-per-game averages and games played (GP) also listed for reference. Positions indicate eligibility in Yahoo leagues. Players with injury concerns (INJ.) are noted below.
1. Sidney Crosby, C, PIT (1.19 P/GP -- 11.2 FOW/GP -- 75 GP)
2. Steven Stamkos, C, TBL (1.18 P/GP -- 6.2 FOW/GP -- 17 GP)
3. Evgeni Malkin, C, PIT(1.16 P/GP -- 5.9 FOW/GP -- 62 GP)
4. Nicklas Backstrom, C, WSH (1.05 P/GP -- 8.4 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
5. Mark Scheifele, C, WPG (1.04 P/GP -- 8.0 FOW/GP -- 79 GP)
6. Ryan Getzlaf, C, ANA (0.99 P/GP -- 6.9 FOW/GP -- 74 GP)
7. Leon Draisaitl, C/RW, EDM (0.94 P/GP -- 5.8 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
8. Jack Eichel, C, BUF (0.93 P/GP -- 5.1 FOW/GP -- 61 GP)
9. John Tavares, C, NYI (0.86 P/GP -- 10.7 FOW/GP -- 77 GP)
10. Aleksander Barkov, C, FLA (0.85 P/GP -- 7.8 FOW/GP -- 61 GP)
11. Auston Matthews, C, TOR (0.84 P/GP -- 6.5 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
12. Joe Pavelski, C/RW, SJS (0.84 P/GP -- 5.5 FOW/GP -- 81 GP)
13. Henrik Zetterberg, C/LW, DET (0.83 P/GP -- 8.6 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
14. Jonathan Toews, C, CHI (0.81 P/GP -- 11.8 FOW/GP -- 72 GP)
15. Bryan Little, C, WPG (0.80 P/GP -- 10.3 FOW/GP -- 59 GP)
16. Jeff Carter, C, LAK (0.80 P/GP -- 9.0 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
17. Eric Staal, C, MIN (0.79 P/GP -- 7.0 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
18. Ryan O'Reilly, C, BUF (0.76 P/GP -- 14.4 FOW/GP -- 72 GP)
19. Ryan Johansen](https://www.nhl.com/player/ryan-johansen-8475793), C, NSH (0.74 P/GP -- 9.8 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
20. Alex Wennberg, C, CBJ (0.74 P/GP -- 7.6 FOW/GP -- 80 GP)
21. Nazem Kadri, C, TOR (0.74 P/GP -- 6.6 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
22. Jason Spezza, C/RW, DAL (0.74 P/GP -- 5.2 FOW/GP -- 68 GP)
23. Mikko Koivu, C, MIN (0.73 P/GP -- 11.7 FOW/GP -- 80 GP)
24. Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, WSH (0.72 P/GP -- 5.6 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
25. Ryan Kesler, C, ANA - INJ. (0.71 P/GP -- 12.5 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
26. Claude Giroux, C, PHI (0.71 P/GP -- 11.9 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
27. Tyler Bozak, C, TOR(0.71 P/GP -- 9.9 FOW/GP -- 78 GP)
28. Sean Monahan, C, CGY (0.71 P/GP -- 9.1 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
29. Kyle Turris, C, OTT (0.71 P/GP -- 8.3 FOW/GP -- 78 GP)
30. Artem Anisimov, C, CHI (0.70 P/GP -- 6.5 FOW/GP -- 64 GP)
31. Anze Kopitar, C, LAK (0.68 P/GP -- 11.7 FOW/GP -- 76 GP)
32. Derek Stepan, C, ARI (0.68 P/GP -- 8.8 FOW/GP -- 81 GP)
33. Tyler Johnson, C, TBL (0.68 P/GP -- 8.8 FOW/GP -- 66 GP)
34. Patrice Bergeron, C, BOS (0.67 P/GP -- 13.8 FOW/GP -- 79 GP)
35. Vincent Trocheck, C, FLA (0.66 P/GP -- 10.2 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
36. Mika Zibanejad, C, NYR (0.66 P/GP -- 8.8 FOW/GP -- 56 GP)
37. David Krejci, C, BOS (0.66 P/GP -- 8.0 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
38. Nathan MacKinnon, C, COL (0.65 P/GP -- 9.4 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
39. Mikael Backlund, C, CGY (0.65 P/GP -- 8.8 FOW/GP -- 81 GP)
40. Bo Horvat, C, VAN (0.64 P/GP -- 9.3 FOW/GP -- 81 GP)
41. Kevin Hayes, C/RW, NYR (0.64 P/GP -- 5.8 FOW/GP -- 76 GP)
42. Paul Stastny, C, STL (0.61 P/GP -- 11.9 FOW/GP -- 66 GP)
43. Henrik Sedin, C, VAN (0.61 P/GP -- 7.5 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
44. Jordan Staal, C, CAR (0.60 P/GP -- 9.2 FOW/GP -- 75 GP)
45. Travis Zajac, C, NJD - INJ. (0.56 P/GP -- 11.1 FOW/GP -- 80 GP)
46. Martin Hanzal, C, DAL - INJ.(0.55 P/GP -- 10.8 FOW/GP -- 71 GP)
47. Victor Rask, C, CAR (0.55 P/GP -- 5.6 FOW/GP -- 82 GP)
48. Matt Duchene, C/RW, COL (0.53 P/GP -- 8.9 FOW/GP -- 77 GP)
49. Valtteri Filppula, C, PHI (0.53 P/GP -- 7.0 FOW/GP -- 79 GP)
50. Sean Couturier, C, PHI (0.52 P/GP -- 8.9 FOW/GP -- 66 GP)
51. Frans Nielsen, C, DET (0.52 P/GP -- 8.3 FOW/GP -- 79 GP)
52. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, C, EDM (0.52 P/GP -- 6.8 -- 82 GP)
53. Brandon Dubinsky, C, CBJ - INJ. (0.51 P/GP -- 9.6 FOW/GP -- 80 GP)
NOTE: Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin (0.88 points/game; 4.9 FOW/game; 82 GP) just missed this list because he split time between center and wing last season. That said, he's expected to play primarily at center this season under new coach Ken Hitchcock.
