Looking at the top 10 bounce-back candidates for the 2016-17 fantasy hockey season.

As we get closer to the start of another fantasy hockey season, a lot of fantasy general managers are deciding on who to keep.

There's always tough decisions, but the hardest is trying to figure out the players who had an off year. Was it the start of things to come or can these players actually bounce back to have more fantasy relevance once again?

Below are 10 players that are due for a bounce-back season. Note that I don't include guys who were injured last season unless they were horrible when they actually got into some games.

On to the list.

10. Evander Kane

For Kane, it's more of a bounceback to when he was still with the Jets and had all the talent and expectations that came with it. We've seen his points-per-game drop off each year as his off-ice problems increase In the last five years. But I think this will be the year he finally turns it back around and it has to do more with his teammates. Kyle Okposo gives Kane another top-six option to play with. Then the young guys of Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart will be a little older and more experienced. And Kane will be determined to prove that he can contribute on the ice despite all his legal issues.

9. Logan Couture

Couture missed 30 games but wasn't as effective for your fantasy squad as he should have been when he did play. His 0.69 points-per-game was his lowest of the past five seasons. Just 21 of his 36 points came while even strength. He also saw his lowest time on ice per game average of the past five years and he saw a lot of Joonas Donskoi, Tommy Wingels and Joel Ward as linemates. But remember that he did have a streak of 18 points in 20 games once he came back from his injury and still plays on the Sharks' top power play unit.

8. Radim Vrbata

It seems weird that Vrbata is on the list even though he doesn't even have an NHL contract. He's still a prime candidate for a bounce-back season. He'd be number one on the list if he actually was signed somewhere. His 0.43 points-per-game last year was his worst of the last five years (in three of those years he was around 0.80 points per game), his minus-30 was one of the worst in the NHL, and his 5 on 5 shooting percentage of 5.25 per cent was awful. All he needs to do is be a little better in each category and it will be considered a great rebound year.

7. Rick Nash

Nash had a horrible season last year. But he started off hot. Most poolies forget that. Nash had 29 point in 38 games to start the year (a 63-point pace), but seven in 22 games in the second half (a 26-point pace). It will be interesting to see what happens now that his most common linemate, Derick Brassard, is gone. Injuries derailed him somewhat but he should be able to get back to the 60-point mark.  

6. Tuukka Rask

Rask just had his worst season since 2010-11 with a 2.56 GAA and a .915 save percentage when he played just 29 games and was backup to Tim Thomas. However, there are some reasons to believe Rask will post better numbers. His slow start to the season impacted his overall numbers. From Dec. 1 to March 31, Rask had a more respectable 2.34 GAA and a .924 save percentage. Also to consider, he had great numbers against the East (23-11-6, .925 save percentage, 2.30 GAA) and was horrible against the west.

5. Jakub Voracek

Much was made of Voracek's demotion to the fourth line last year. But there were some bright signs in his so-so season. He did see 18:35 ice time per game, highest of his career. He was still on the Flyers' top power play unit and notched 23 assists with the man advantage. He still shot the puck a ton. He just couldn't score (just 11 goals overall and one on the power play).

4. Corey Perry

This past season was one of Perry's worst fantasy seasons to date. You could argue 2011-12 was worse, but that year he had almost double the PIM and 60 more shots so he was more helpful then. Don't get me wrong, he was still a great fantasy asset. But his 62 points in 82 games was disappointing. Part of that was being split from Ryan Getzlaf for part of the season. A new coach will be able to get Perry back on track.

3. Craig Anderson

Anderson has one of these love-hate relationships with his career. One year, he's dynamite and the next season he posts some pretty horrific numbers. This year he's due for a great campaing. New coach Guy Boucher is committed to having the team play better defense (which is great as long as he doesn't bring back that awful 1-3-1 trap). There's no one to challenge him for starts. It all looks good for another great season for Anderson, until next year anyways.

2. Mark Streit

Everyone is raving about Shayne Gostisbehere but people should also be paying attention to Streit. Just like Andrei Markov had a bit of a career resurgence when playing with the much young P.K. Subban, the same will happen for Streit this year. In the last 23 games of the season, Streit played regularly with Ghost on both the power play and even strength with Streit posting 11 points, four power play points and 46 shots in that timeframe. Even better is that he still saw 3:34 of power play ice time per game and 22:39 overall. He'll push for 45 to 50 points this year.

1. Tyler Johnson

Everyone was expecting a 70-point season from Johnson this past season. Or maybe even a 60-point season if things went badly. Instead Johnson was way below that at 38 points. Albeit in 69 games. But that was still just a 45-point pace. But there's no reason to believe Johnson won't be able to bounce back. He has great chemistry with his linemates and plays on the squad's top power play unit. He should be able to get back to 60 points pretty easily.