Top 10 Fantasy Duos (2014-15)
Tom Collins
2015-02-16
The top 10 fantasy hockey duos
Imagine owning two linemates from the same NHL team in one of your fantasy leagues. One of the best feelings in fantasy hockey is watching a game when that line goes nuts.
Last season, for example, there was a game when Jamie Benn had six points in a Stars 7-3 rout over the Flames. Of course, with Benn getting so many points, fantasy owners knew Tyler Seguin also benefited, as he had four goals and five points. If you owned both of them in the same league, you were laughing that night.
5. Phil Kessel and James Van Riemsdyk
These two guys are in a bit of a unique situation because neither one of them is a centre (the only pair on this list without a centre). And with all due respect to Tyler Bozak, it is these two that are the cogs in the Leafs top scoring line. About a month ago, an argument could have been made to have these two higher on the list. But lately, they haven't been playing as much together (just 67 per cent of the time this season, compared with 81.6 per cent of the time last year), they're both going through a scoring slump, and with rumours that pretty much everyone on Toronto is getting traded within the next few months, these two may not be linemates for much longer.
4. Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek
This tandem probably wouldn't have made the list last season (Stamkos-St. Louis and Malkin-Neal would have been ahead of them, plus most of this list), but thanks to Voracek's coming out party this year, they climbed the rankings pretty rapidly. Giroux has been on the ice for 55 of Voracek's 60 points this season. In their mid-20s, they're just hitting their prime now, so this tandem might be even better the next couple of years.
3. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin
The youngest duo on this list, the two have been linemates for just under two season seasons, but they're already making waves on the ice. Benn has scored 130 points since Seguin has been his linemate, and Seguin has been on the ice for 114 of them. As they are really just getting started, it's scary to imagine how good these two can become over the next few years. They could easily be number one on this list in two years.
2. Alexander Ovechkin and Nick Backstrom
To give you an idea on how well these two work together, on Ovi's 57 points this season, Backstrom was on the ice for 51 of them. Even when you go back to Ovi's last 50-goal, 100-point season in 2009-10, Backstrom was there, being on the ice for 86 of Ovi's 108 points. And it's been pretty much like that forever, it feels like. The two work so well together, and they know their roles perfectly. They're a modern-day Hull and Oates: Backstrom is responsible for the setup, and Ovi scores the goals.
1. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry
No two linemates has as many points since the 2010-11 season than the Ducks duo (Ovi and Backstrom are close, just seven combined points behind before last night's game). The two Ducks have pretty much played with each other exclusively since they came into the league in 2005-06. Some guys just have instant chemistry. Perry and Getzlaf have that. And that's what makes them so dangerous on the ice and in your fantasy leagues.
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