Eastern Edge: Top players of 2019

In this week’s Eastern Edge – the final one of the calendar year – we take a look at the best players of 2019. Here’s wishing you nothing but success in your fantasy hockey leagues for 2020! Shoot me a message on Twitter @BrennanDeSouza if there’s anything you want to see in these articles during the new year.

Forwards

*Rank*	*Player*	*Team*	GP	*Goals*	*Assists*	*Points*	*PPP*	*TOI*
1	Connor McDavid	EDM	81	42	79	121	42	22:35
2	Brad Marchand	BOS	81	43	74	117	34	19:36
3	Leon Draisaitl	EDM	84	51	66	117	39	23:00
4	Patrick Kane	CHI	81	42	65	107	30	22:12
5	Nikita Kucherov	TBL	78	35	68	103	42	19:50
6	Aleksander Barkov	FLA	82	33	69	102	31	20:54
7	Jonathan Huberdeau	FLA	82	36	65	101	34	18:56
8	Nathan MacKinnon	COL	81	39	57	96	37	21:36
9	Artemi Panarin	NYR	80	37	58	95	26	20:06
10	David Pastrnak	BOS	67	44	47	91	34	18:49
11	Steven Stamkos	TBL	76	37	53	90	38	18:39
12	Teuvo Teravainen	CAR	83	20	65	85	31	18:42
13	Jake Guentzel	PIT	82	44	41	85	18	20:18
14	Jack Eichel	BUF	76	37	48	85	29	21:31
15	Auston Matthews	TOR	83	44	40	84	22	19:23
16	Patrice Bergeron	BOS	73	37	46	83	27	18:40
17	Alex Ovechkin	WSH	83	46	36	82	27	20:45
18	Sebastian Aho	CAR	83	37	42	79	23	20:04
19	Sean Couturier	PHI	83	29	49	78	19	21:08
20	Tyler Seguin	DAL	82	33	45	78	24	19:53

In the average Yahoo Fantasy League, Jonathan Huberdeau was the 65^th player off the board. 64 players were supposedly more valuable than Huberdeau, who has put up 101 points over 82 games during the calendar year. In all fairness, last season was the first in which the 26-year-old forward really exploded offensively, so I understand if his previous status as a 60- to 70-point player made you a little apprehensive. Over the past few months, Aleksander Barkov was often mentioned as the league’s most underrated player. People have started to recognize Barkov and his excellent two-way play a bit more, but I think Huberdeau’s great offensive abilities are still flying under the radar. I mean, take a look at the table above. He has more points than MacKinnon in 2019! More than Stamkos, Eichel, Matthews and Ovechkin – even though he’ll never be regarded as highly as those guys. Huberdeau has been on fire recently, with 16 points in his last six games. I know I’ve been pumping his tires a lot, but you’re here for fantasy hockey advice – so let’s think logically for a second. Huberdeau is on pace to finish this season with 114 points, but he’ll be hard-pressed to maintain his lofty shooting percentages. I personally think he’ll end up with around 100 points, but if someone in your league is enamored with Huberdeau given his recent run of success, I say you sell high.

Speaking of underrated players, how about Teuvo Teravainen? In 2019, only 11 players amassed more points than the 25-year-old forward. He tallied 76 points in 82 games last season but that didn’t seem to raise his fantasy hockey stock enough as he was drafted 95^th overall in the average Yahoo league. He’s had a strong start to the 2019-2020 campaign with 38 points in 39 games and most of the advanced stats suggest he’ll continue to thrive as the season progresses. He’s currently scoring on 6.4-percent of his shots, which is a lower rate than we’ve come to expect from him. Teravainen’s ice time has increased significantly from last season (17:55 to 19:23) and he’s also shooting the puck more than he ever has before (2.79 shots/game). He’s averaging 30 seconds more on the power-play and the Hurricanes have been more successful with the man advantage this year (23.4-percent) than last year (17.8-percent).

Jake Guentzel has been consistently excellent this year for a Pittsburgh team that has been absolutely decimated by injuries. In a cruel twist of fate, Guentzel suffered a shoulder injury during Monday’s game against the Senators and will need four to six months to recover from surgery.

After back-to-back 76-point seasons, Sean Couturier has had a slow start to the season and is on pace for a modest 63 points. I expect he’ll close out this campaign with less points than last year. His ice time has decreased considerably since last season (from 22:08 to 19:49), presumably because Kevin Hayes – who was acquired in the offseason – is eating into some of his minutes. He’s also seeing less than half of the team’s total power-play time (47.8-percent), despite seeing 61-percent of it during the last two seasons.

Defensemen

*Rank*	*Player*	*Team*	GP	*Goals*	*Assists*	*Points*	*PPP*	*TOI*
1	John Carlson	WSH	83	20	62	82	31	24:52
2	Brent Burns	SJ	81	16	53	69	22	25:35
3	Victor Hedman	TBL	72	17	50	67	30	22:53
4	Roman Josi	NSH	80	22	44	66	17	25:08
5	Dougie Hamilton	CAR	83	28	37	65	16	21:18
6	Alex Pietrangelo	STL	85	19	42	61	26	23:58
7	Keith Yandle	FLA	82	7	53	60	32	21:26
8	Torey Krug	BOS	69	7	49	56	30	20:26
9	Mark Giordano	CGY	81	15	41	56	13	24:05
10	Erik Gustafsson	CHI	80	14	41	55	20	22:07

I feel like Torey Krug doesn’t get enough credit for his impressive point production because injuries have prevented him from establishing higher point totals. When he’s in the lineup he gets the lion’s share of power-play time, which means exposure to the Perfection line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. Coach Bruce Cassidy has given Krug every opportunity to put up points as the 28-year-old blueliner has an offensive zone start percentage of 73.1 – which is really high for a defenseman.

Goalies

*Rank*	*Goalie*	*Team*	GP	W	*SV%*	*GAA*
1	Jordan Binnington	STL	59	43	.925	2.10
2	Andrei Vasilevskiy	TBL	60	40	.918	2.54
3	Darcy Kuemper	ARI	62	37	.931	2.10
4	Carey Price	MTL	68	36	.915	2.59
5	Frederik Andersen	TOR	61	35	.913	2.88
6	Connor Hellebuyck	WPG	65	34	.919	2.74
7	Braden Holtby	WSH	60	34	.907	2.87
8	Sergei Bobrovsky	FLA	63	34	.907	2.83
9	Tuukka Rask	BOS	51	33	.918	2.33
10	Martin Jones	SJ	62	33	.893	3.09
11	Petr Mrazek	CAR	49	32	.911	2.50
12	Matt Murray	PIT	57	31	.914	2.68
13	David Rittich	CGY	53	31	.909	2.77
14	Marc-Andre Fleury	VGK	52	28	.914	2.60
15	Pekka Rinne	NSH	50	28	.906	2.78
16	Ben Bishop	DAL	48	27	.934	2.02
17	Robin Lehner	CHI	50	27	.928	2.42
18	Carter Hart	PHI	52	27	.916	2.64
19	Mikko Koskinen	EDM	60	27	.906	2.97
20	Jacob Markstrom	VAN	58	25	.917	2.69

2019 hasn’t been a particularly special year for goalies in the Eastern Conference. Andrei Vasilevskiy leads the way with 40 wins, but his .918 save percentage and 2.54 GAA pale in comparison to Western Conference netminders like Jordan Binnington, Darcy Kuemper and Ben Bishop. Most of the East’s big-name goaltenders have struggled in the first half of the 2019-2020 campaign. Sergei Bobrovsky has a 3.26 GAA and .898 save percentage in 30 appearances, Carey Price has a 3.03 GAA and .901 save percentage in 32 appearances and Vasilevskiy has a 2.85 GAA and .908 save percentage in 27 appearances. To give you a little bit of perspective, 38-year-old Craig Anderson who plays for an Ottawa team that isn’t considered to be very good, has a 2.94 GAA and .907 save percentage in 18 appearances. In short, goalies are voodoo. Using a high draft pick on a goalie will often lead to disappointment in fantasy hockey. With that being said, Bobrovsky, Price and Vasilevksiy should bounce back in the second half of the campaign. So, you’d be wise to make an offer now in an attempt to buy low.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the strong play of goalie tandems from the Bruins and Islanders. Tuukka Rask, Jaroslav Halak, Semyon Varlamov and Thomas Greiss all have solid numbers this season, but won’t put up as many wins because they don’t play as frequently as a typical starting goalie would. Maybe it’s more effective to have two capable guys share the workload instead of one elite goaltender?

The sample size isn’t huge, but Tristan Jarry has been the best goalie in the Eastern Conference this year. He’s won 13 of the 18 games he’s appeared in, while posting a .938 save percentage and 1.88 GAA.