Jake Guentzel, LW/RW (41) -- The wing had a breakout season skating with Crosby at even strength, scoring an NHL-career high 40 goals and 76 points with nearly three SOG per game (2.8). After valuable right wing Phil Kessel was traded to the Coyotes, Guentzel will likely be elevated to the first power play with Crosby, Malkin and elite defenseman Kris Letang, giving Guentzel a higher ceiling (11 PPP last season; 12 in 2017-18). Guentzel has a high shooting percentage in his NHL career (16.3 in 204 games) and staying power among the top 50 overall with strong coverage of hits (1.5 per game).
Kris Letang, D (48) -- He's annually among the top 10 fantasy defenseman rankings and was one of the most valuable options at the position last season despite missing 17 games. He was tied for eighth in scoring among defensemen (56 points) and ranked eighth at the position with 206 SOG. Letang has had at least 51 points, 19 PPP and 197 SOG in four of his past five seasons, so fantasy owners can expect him to match or exceed those numbers if healthy for most of the season and provide strong coverage of hits (116 in 65 games).
Matt Murray, G (70) -- He had 29 wins in an NHL career-high 50 games (all starts) with a 2.69 goals-against average and .919 save percentage last season. Murray has had at least 27 wins and 49 games played in each of his three full seasons; he has 88 wins in that span (tied with Carey Price for 10th in NHL) despite injuries. Fantasy owners can reasonably expect Murray, who's 12th in NHL.com's fantasy goalie rankings, to have above-average peripherals and set an NHL career high in wins (32 in 2016-17).
