Week 20: Fantasy top 100 forward rankings for 2016-17

All season long, NHL.com will rank the top 100 forwards for standard Yahoo leagues (goals, assists, plus/minus, penalty minutes, power-play points, shots on goal). Players with long-term injuries have been removed from this list. Positions indicate eligibility in Yahoo leagues.
These rankings are based on expectations for the rest of the season. Value is quantified by line combinations, power-play usage, past performance and overall upside in standard leagues. Changes in value each week are based on recent performance and/or lineup trends.

The 2017 NHL Trade Deadline day was slower than expected. There were a few significant moves to digest, but the ones that sent shockwaves across the NHL (Kevin Shattenkirk, Ben Bishop) transpired in the days prior.
MORE FANTASY COVERAGE:
TRADE DEADLINE ROUNDUP
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TOP 50 'D'
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TOP 25 'G'
That said, the movement (and lack thereof) will have a far-reaching impact on the perception of players around the League from a fantasy standpoint. Teams have anywhere from 18 to 22 games left in the regular season entering Thursday, enough of a window for hot streaks, slumps and everything in between to make or break the seasons of fantasy championship contenders.
Here are some fantasy forward developments involving players who were traded, teammates involved, and others who stayed put:

TRENDING UP:

-- Anze Kopitar has severely underachieved based on fantasy expectations (Yahoo average draft position: 29.4), and his low-caliber Los Angeles Kings linemates (most frequently Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik and/or Trevor Lewis) have not helped matters. The addition of Jarome Iginla (RW, 17 percent owned) offers an improved right wing for Kopitar, and chemistry between the two at even strength and/or on the first power-play unit could go a long way in a season-ending hot streak for the center. The default Yahoo fantasy trade deadline falls on March 2, so this may be your final opportunity to buy low on Kopitar for a decent price.
-- Radim Vrbata, who's on a one-year contract, surprisingly stayed put with the Arizona Coyotes at the deadline. But an underrated storyline is that Vrbata will remain in a top-line, first power-play role for the rest of the season, offering exposure to Max Domi and Oliver Ekman-Larsson in those spots. Even though the Coyotes are out of contention, Vrbata's usage likely would have diminished had he been traded. Vrbata (RW, 26 percent owned; 100th in Yahoo) is readily available and riding a 10-game point streak with 12 points, three PPP, a plus-2 and 30 SOG in the span.

-- Shattenkirk joining the Washington Capitals' first power-play unit could impact Marcus Johansson (LW/RW, 51 percent owned) by association. In addition to playing with Evgeny Kuznetsov at even strength, Johansson is a fixture on the special teams unit that features Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and now an elite power-play quarterback. In Shattenkirk's debut for the Capitals at the New York Rangers on Tuesday, Johansson had two goals, one assist, one PPP and four SOG. He's covering points (43), plus/minus (plus-17) and PPP (12), and could see a SOG (98) uptick as a result of sharing ice time with Shattenkirk.

TRENDING DOWN:

-- A trade involving Matt Duchene and/or Gabriel Landeskog would have helped each player's short-term fantasy value, but the inactivity of the Colorado Avalanche is a tough break for their patient fantasy owners. Duchene (265th in Yahoo) is pointless in his past four games with a combined minus-3 and likely won't have strong enough linemates to put together a point streak greater than a few games. Landeskog (241st) had a three-point game against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, but that was his only game with a point in his past seven. Each has a dismal rating (Duchene: minus-20; Landeskog: minus-15), and there's not much hope it will get any better. With the exception of Landeskog in a league that counts hits (107), it's time for shallow-league owners of Duchene and/or Landeskog to cut their losses.

-- Patrick Eaves has an opportunity to play on a line with either Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry after being traded to the Anaheim Ducks, but each of them has been a big fantasy disappointment to this point. Even if Eaves finds chemistry with one of those forwards, he likely won't be on the first power-play unit to go along with it. With the Dallas Stars, he was a fixture not only on the top line with Jamie Benn but also on the first power-play unit with Benn and Tyler Seguin, two of the top 15 forwards in this week's rankings. Eaves has had a career season in goals (21), points (37), PPP (16) and SOG (159), but don't expect anything close to those rates of production over the Ducks' final 19 games.
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Top 100 Fantasy Forwards

These rankings were last updated March 2
1. Sidney Crosby, C, PIT (SAME)
2. Connor McDavid, C, EDM (SAME)
3. Patrick Kane, RW, CHI (+1)
4. Alex Ovechkin, LW, WSH (-1)
5. Evgeni Malkin, C, PIT (SAME)
6. Nicklas Backstrom, C, WSH (SAME)
7. Auston Matthews, C, TOR (SAME)
8. Brad Marchand, LW, BOS (+1)
9. Jamie Benn, LW, DAL (+1)
10. Nikita Kucherov, RW, TBL (+1)
11. Patrik Laine, LW/RW, WPG (+5)
12. Mark Scheifele, C, WPG (+1)
13. John Tavares, C, NYI (+1)
14. Tyler Seguin, C/RW, DAL (+1)
15. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, STL (-7)
16. Joe Pavelski, C/RW, SJS (+1)
17. Phil Kessel, RW, PIT (-5)
18. Artemi Panarin, LW, CHI (SAME)
19. Wayne Simmonds, RW, PHI (SAME)
20. David Pastrnak, RW, BOS (SAME)
21. Max Pacioretty, LW, MTL (+2)
22. Mikael Granlund, C/LW/RW, MIN (+3)
23. Jakub Voracek, LW/RW, PHI (-2)
24. Cam Atkinson, RW, CBJ (-2)
25. Jeff Carter, C, LAK (-1)
26. Aleksander Barkov, C, FLA (SAME)
27. Jack Eichel, C, BUF (SAME)
28. Nazem Kadri, C, TOR (SAME)
29. Leon Draisaitl, C/RW, EDM (SAME)
30. Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, WSH (+2)
31. Patrice Bergeron, C, BOS (+5)
32. Filip Forsberg, LW, NSH (+37)
33. Ryan Kesler, C, ANA (-3)
34. Blake Wheeler, RW, WPG (-3)
35. Ryan Johansen, C, NSH (+9)
36. Mitch Marner, C/RW, TOR (NR - INJ.)
37. Mike Hoffman, LW, OTT (+1)
38. Corey Perry, RW, ANA (-5)
39. Alexander Radulov, LW/RW, MTL (-5)
40. Jonathan Huberdeau, LW, FLA (-3)
41. Jonathan Toews, C, CHI (+25)
42. Claude Giroux, C, PHI (SAME)
43. Mikko Koivu, C, MIN (SAME)
44. James van Riemsdyk, LW, TOR (-9)
45. Matthew Tkachuk, LW, CGY (+1)
46. Nino Niederreiter, LW/RW, MIN (+16)
47. Johnny Gaudreau, LW, CGY (+8)
48. Patric Hornqvist, RW, PIT (-9)
49. Eric Staal, C, MIN (-9)
50. Nick Foligno, LW/RW, CBJ (-9)
51. Logan Couture, C, SJS (SAME)
52. Alex Galchenyuk, C, MTL (+2)
53. William Nylander, C/RW, TOR (+3)
54. Alex Wennberg, C, CBJ (+3)
55. Taylor Hall, LW, NJD (-10)
56. Ryan Getzlaf, C, ANA (-9)
57. Brayden Schenn, C/LW, PHI (+2)
58. T.J. Oshie, RW, WSH (DTD)
59. Nikolaj Ehlers, LW/RW, WPG (-7)
60. Mark Stone, RW, OTT (SAME)
61. Ryan O'Reilly, C/LW, BUF (-8)
62. Jaromir Jagr, LW/RW, FLA (-4)
63. Jonathan Drouin, LW/RW, TBL (SAME)
64. Evander Kane, LW, BUF (-3)
65. Anders Lee, LW, NYI (SAME)
66. Viktor Arvidsson, LW/RW, NSH (+25)
67. Henrik Zetterberg, C/LW, DET (+21)
68. Anze Kopitar, C, LAK (+8)
69. Chris Kreider, LW, NYR (-21)
70. Joe Thornton, C, SJS (-6)
71. Kyle Okposo, RW, BUF (-22)
72. J.T. Miller, C/LW/RW, NYR (-2)
73. Artem Anisimov, C, CHI (DTD)
74. Tyler Toffoli, C/RW, LAK (SAME)
75. Mats Zuccarello, RW, NYR (-8)
76. Tyler Johnson, C, TBL (+5)
77. Jeff Skinner, LW, CAR (DTD)
78. Charlie Coyle, C/RW, MIN (-7)
79. Jakob Silfverberg, RW, ANA (-6)
80. Marian Hossa, RW, CHI (-5)
81. Derek Stepan, C, NYR (-4)
82. Jason Zucker, LW/RW, MIN (SAME)
83. James Neal, RW, NSH (-3)
84. Sean Monahan, C, CGY (-1)
85. Justin Williams, RW, WSH (-1)
86. Patrick Marleau, C/LW, SJS (SAME)
87. Vincent Trocheck, C, FLA (SAME)
88. Marcus Johansson, LW/RW, WSH (+8)
89. Radim Vrbata, RW, ARI (NEW)
90. Brandon Saad, LW/RW, CBJ (-12)
91. Kyle Turris, C, OTT (+3)
92. Kyle Palmieri, RW, NJD (NEW)
93. David Krejci, C, BOS (NEW)
94. Rick Nash, LW/RW, NYR (-9)
95. Patrick Maroon, LW, EDM (-5)
96. Richard Panik, LW/RW, CHI (NEW)
97. Jason Spezza, C/RW, DAL (SAME)
98. Zach Parise, LW, MIN (DTD)
99. Mikael Backlund, C, CGY (NEW)
100. David Backes, RW, BOS (NEW)
Dropped out: Kevin Hayes (C/RW, NYR), Matt Duchene (C/RW, COL), Patrick Eaves (RW, ANA), Alexander Steen (LW/RW, STL), Sam Reinhart (C/RW, BUF), Jason Pominville (RW, MIN), Michael Grabner (LW/RW, NYR)
Just missed:Nick Schmaltz (C/LW, CHI), Daniel Sedin (LW, VAN), Josh Bailey (LW/RW, NYI), Milan Lucic (LW, EDM), Tanner Pearson (LW, LAK), Nathan MacKinnon (C/RW, COL), Tomas Hertl (C/LW, SJS), Rickard Rakell (C/LW, ANA), Brandon Dubinsky (C, CBJ), Jussi Jokinen (C/LW, FLA), Paul Stastny (C, STL), Jarome Iginla (RW, LAK), Tyler Bozak (C, TOR), Jake Guentzel (C/LW, PIT), Martin Hanzal (C, MIN)
Key injuries: Steven Stamkos (C, TBL), Conor Sheary (LW/RW, PIT), Andre Burakovsky (LW/RW, WSH), Robby Fabbri (C/LW, STL)
READ: Last week's Top 100 forward rankings