Top 200 Cap League Skater Rankings – January 2021
Alexander MacLean
2021-01-25
The Salary Cap League Rankings are here! All of the top 200 skaters.
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Here are the top 200 skaters to own in your salary cap league – January 25, 2021 edition. Usually this update would come mid-season, but since we're anywhere from one to six games into the season depending on who you cheer for, the fantasy values are still a little in flux. We still have our super ELC group at the top, but Nick Suzuki is a new name near the top of the list. He impressed to close out last season, and the upwards trajectory has continued into the new year. Tim Stützle has jumped ahead of Quinton Byfield, and Robert Thomas continues his ascension up the leaderboard. Meanwhile, at the bottom end, Alex Ovechkin hangs on to a top 200 spot for now, but this may be the last season that he does.
I have been tinkering with the formulas recently, and as a result the scale has jumped a little from previous iterations. This is also in part due to adapting the 82-game model to a 52-game set and balancing the values of a current shortened season against a possible full slate next year. I won't bore you too much with the details, but this is a constantly evolving model, so if you do have any questions then leave a comment and I will get back to it.
Standard pre-rankings note:
This isn't meant to be a be-all and end-all rating system for you to use without thinking and just trade your players for anyone above them on the list that you can find, but used with some foresight for managing salaries, I'm hoping that the list can help you mine value in trades and at the draft table.
The assumed league setup is for points-only leagues, with a salary allotment of approximately $73 million per team (10% of the NHL's $81.5 million being allocated for goalies), for 12 forwards and six defensemen per roster, amongst a range from eight to 14 teams (completely covered by the top 200 list). Cap hit is used for the player cost, so if your league uses salary or AAV, please account for that, as it can greatly change the impact of rookies. The rankings are set up so as to provide the most value in the current season, while providing some value in future years, based on modeling for predicted salary increases and production growth.
For those of you with variations from this setup, whether in terms of number of teams, salary space, roster positions, or scoring categories, you can make your own personal tweaks to move players up or down as necessary. This list is made to be a baseline guide for player evaluation, and to promote discussion and understanding of how to optimize rosters in a cap league setting.
If you note a mistake, or have any further questions about the ranking system, please let me know. You can find me on Twitter here @alexdmaclean. I'm not perfect, and the rankings won't be either. Comments help with optimizing the values.
We're sticking with the +/- 5.0 rating that Dobber uses on all of his rating schemes as the range for approximately equivalent value. The skater and goalie rankings are synched so that the value of a skater against a goalie can be compared.
All salary info is courtesy of capfriendly. Without further ado, the rankings:
| Rank | Name | Age | Pos | Cap Hit | Yrs | Rating |
| 1 | Cale Makar | 22 | D | $880,833 | 1 | 339.91 |
| 2 | Quinn Hughes | 21 | D | $916,666 | 1 | 330.18 |
| 3 | Elias Pettersson | 22 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 313.04 |
| 4 | Andrei Svechnikov | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 285.67 |
| 5 | Adam Fox | 22 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 274.13 |
| 6 | Nick Suzuki | 21 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 255.28 |
| 7 | Rasmus Dahlin | 20 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 250.76 |
| 8 | Leon Draisaitl | 25 | F | $8,500,000 | 5 | 237.35 |
| 9 | Nathan MacKinnon | 25 | F | $6,300,000 | 3 | 235.81 |
| 10 | Miro Heiskanen | 21 | D | $894,166 | 1 | 221.01 |
| 11 | Jack Hughes | 19 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 218.85 |
| 12 | Filip Hronek | 23 | D | $714,166 | 1 | 216.86 |
| 13 | Conor Garland | 24 | F | $775,000 | 1 | 209.51 |
| 14 | Kirill Kaprizov | 23 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 207.80 |
| 15 | Alexis Lafreniere | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 206.28 |
| 16 | John Carlson | 31 | D | $8,000,000 | 6 | 201.94 |
| 17 | Robert Thomas | 21 | F | $894,166 | 1 | 200.17 |
| 18 | Brady Tkachuk | 21 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 199.76 |
| 19 | Martin Necas | 22 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 197.80 |
| 20 | Kaapo Kakko | 19 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 197.27 |
| 21 | Kailer Yamamoto | 22 | F | $894,166 | 1 | 193.54 |
| 22 | Mika Zibanejad | 27 | F | $5,350,000 | 2 | 193.03 |
| 23 | Connor McDavid | 24 | F | $12,500,000 | 6 | 190.86 |
| 24 | Jonathan Huberdeau | 27 | F | $5,900,000 | 3 | 190.11 |
| 25 | Neal Pionk | 25 | D | $3,000,000 | 1 | 186.55 |
| 26 | David Pastrnak | 24 | F | $6,666,666 | 3 | 185.88 |
| 27 | Brad Marchand | 32 | F | $6,125,000 | 5 | 184.97 |
| 28 | Dougie Hamilton | 27 | D | $5,750,000 | 1 | 184.45 |
| 29 | Tim Stützle | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 181.33 |
| 30 | Mark Scheifele | 27 | F | $6,125,000 | 4 | 178.99 |
| 31 | Anthony DeAngelo | 25 | D | $4,800,000 | 2 | 177.28 |
| 32 | J.T. Miller | 27 | F | $5,250,000 | 3 | 176.71 |
| 33 | Joel Farabee | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 170.19 |
| 34 | Jake Guentzel | 26 | F | $6,000,000 | 4 | 170.05 |
| 35 | Shea Theodore | 25 | D | $5,200,000 | 5 | 168.51 |
| 36 | Quinton Byfield | 18 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 168.38 |
| 37 | Roman Josi | 30 | D | $9,059,000 | 8 | 166.53 |
| 38 | Artemi Panarin | 29 | F | $11,642,857 | 6 | 164.71 |
| 39 | Kyle Connor | 24 | F | $7,142,857 | 6 | 164.61 |
| 40 | Victor Hedman | 30 | D | $7,875,000 | 5 | 164.33 |
| 41 | Bryan Rust | 28 | F | $3,500,000 | 2 | 164.07 |
| 42 | John Marino | 23 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 163.67 |
| 43 | Dylan Cozens | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 162.83 |
| 44 | Gabriel Vilardi | 21 | F | $894,167 | 2 | 159.02 |
| 45 | Barrett Hayton | 20 | F | $894,167 | 2 | 158.91 |
| 46 | Aleksander Barkov | 25 | F | $5,900,000 | 2 | 158.67 |
| 47 | Kevin Fiala | 24 | F | $3,000,000 | 1 | 157.29 |
| 48 | Adam Boqvist | 20 | D | $894,167 | 2 | 157.17 |
| 49 | Ilya Mikheyev | 26 | F | $1,645,000 | 2 | 156.76 |
| 50 | Brayden Point | 24 | F | $6,750,000 | 2 | 156.25 |
| 51 | Travis Konecny | 23 | F | $5,500,000 | 5 | 156.15 |
| 52 | Jack Eichel | 24 | F | $10,000,000 | 6 | 155.93 |
| 53 | Ryan Ellis | 30 | D | $6,250,000 | 7 | 154.71 |
| 54 | Victor Olofsson | 25 | F | $3,050,000 | 2 | 154.23 |
| 55 | Cody Glass | 21 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 154.06 |
| 56 | Torey Krug | 29 | D | $6,500,000 | 7 | 153.05 |
| 57 | Filip Zadina | 21 | F | $894,167 | 2 | 152.80 |
| 58 | Drake Batherson | 22 | F | $736,666 | 1 | 151.83 |
| 59 | Sean Couturier | 28 | F | $4,333,333 | 2 | 151.33 |
| 60 | Morgan Frost | 21 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 150.52 |
| 61 | Teuvo Teravainen | 26 | F | $5,400,000 | 4 | 149.93 |
| 62 | Adam Gaudette | 24 | F | $950,000 | 1 | 148.37 |
| 63 | Marco Rossi | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 148.00 |
| 64 | Jakub Vrana | 24 | F | $3,350,000 | 1 | 147.22 |
| 65 | Zach Werenski | 23 | D | $5,000,000 | 2 | 147.00 |
| 66 | Noah Dobson | 21 | D | $894,167 | 2 | 146.91 |
| 67 | Bowen Byram | 19 | D | $925,000 | 3 | 145.13 |
| 68 | Mikko Rantanen | 24 | F | $9,250,000 | 5 | 144.83 |
| 69 | Kirby Dach | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 144.24 |
| 70 | Tyson Barrie | 29 | D | $3,750,000 | 1 | 144.12 |
| 71 | Gabriel Landeskog | 28 | F | $5,571,429 | 1 | 143.78 |
| 72 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 25 | F | $2,500,000 | 1 | 143.47 |
| 73 | Elias Lindholm | 26 | F | $4,850,000 | 4 | 143.23 |
| 74 | Evgeni Malkin | 34 | F | $9,500,000 | 2 | 142.67 |
| 75 | Trevor Zegras | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 142.58 |
| 76 | Auston Matthews | 23 | F | $11,640,250 | 4 | 142.55 |
| 77 | Bobby Ryan | 33 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 142.39 |
| 78 | Anthony Duclair | 25 | F | $1,700,000 | 1 | 141.50 |
| 79 | Seth Jones | 26 | D | $5,400,000 | 2 | 140.76 |
| 80 | John Klingberg | 28 | D | $4,250,000 | 2 | 140.75 |
| 81 | Tomas Hertl | 27 | F | $5,625,000 | 2 | 140.12 |
| 82 | Dominik Kahun | 25 | F | $975,000 | 1 | 139.59 |
| 83 | Lucas Raymond | 18 | F | 2020 Draftee | 0 | 139.56 |
| 84 | Johnny Gaudreau | 27 | F | $6,750,000 | 2 | 139.43 |
| 85 | Anthony Mantha | 26 | F | $5,700,000 | 4 | 139.32 |
| 86 | Mikhail Grigorenko | 26 | F | $1,200,000 | 1 | 138.84 |
| 87 | Dylan Strome | 23 | F | $3,000,000 | 2 | 138.78 |
| 88 | Mike Hoffman | 31 | F | $4,000,000 | 1 | 138.58 |
| 89 | Steven Stamkos | 30 | F | $8,500,000 | 4 | 138.00 |
| 90 | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 27 | F | $6,000,000 | 1 | 137.93 |
| 91 | Sidney Crosby | 33 | F | $8,700,000 | 5 | 137.25 |
| 92 | Nikita Kucherov | 27 | F | $9,500,000 | 7 | 137.21 |
| 93 | Patrick Kane | 32 | F | $10,500,000 | 3 | 137.15 |
| 94 | Mitch Marner | 23 | F | $10,903,000 | 5 | 136.78 |
| 95 | Nikolaj Ehlers | 24 | F | $6,000,000 | 5 | 136.67 |
| 96 | Cole Perfetti | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 136.43 |
| 97 | Juuso Valimaki | 22 | D | $894,166 | 1 | 136.36 |
| 98 | Patrik Laine | 22 | F | $6,750,000 | 1 | 134.34 |
| 99 | Ryan Strome | 27 | F | $4,500,000 | 2 | 133.89 |
| 100 | Mathew Barzal | 23 | F | $7,000,000 | 3 | 133.88 |
| 101 | David Perron | 32 | F | $4,000,000 | 2 | 133.65 |
| 102 | Erik Karlsson | 30 | D | $11,500,000 | 7 | 132.69 |
| 103 | Bo Horvat | 25 | F | $5,500,000 | 3 | 132.27 |
| 104 | Sebastian Aho | 23 | F | $8,460,250 | 4 | 131.44 |
| 105 | Alex Pietrangelo | 31 | D | $8,800,000 | 7 | 131.27 |
| 106 | William Nylander | 24 | F | $6,962,366 | 4 | 131.09 |
| 107 | Dominik Kubalík | 25 | F | $3,700,000 | 2 | 131.08 |
| 108 | Tyler Ennis | 31 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 130.47 |
| 109 | Anthony Beauvillier | 23 | F | $2,100,000 | 1 | 130.43 |
| 110 | Tomas Tatar | 30 | F | $5,415,602 | 1 | 130.12 |
| 111 | Tyler Bertuzzi | 25 | F | $3,500,000 | 1 | 129.92 |
| 112 | Matthew Tkachuk | 23 | F | $7,000,000 | 2 | 129.47 |
| 113 | Pavel Buchnevich | 25 | F | $3,250,000 | 1 | 129.30 |
| 114 | K’Andre Miller | 21 | D | $925,000 | 3 | 129.05 |
| 115 | Erik Gustafsson | 28 | D | $3,000,000 | 1 | 128.95 |
| 116 | Peyton Krebs | 19 | F | $894,167 | 3 | 128.59 |
| 117 | Samuel Girard | 22 | D | $5,000,000 | 7 | 128.33 |
| 118 | Nicolas Hague | 22 | D | $791,667 | 2 | 127.53 |
| 119 | Matt Roy | 25 | D | $700,000 | 1 | 127.39 |
| 120 | Ryan Pulock | 26 | D | $5,000,000 | 2 | 126.45 |
| 121 | Morgan Rielly | 26 | D | $5,000,000 | 2 | 126.44 |
| 122 | Alexandre Texier | 21 | F | $897,500 | 1 | 126.07 |
| 123 | Aaron Ekblad | 24 | D | $7,500,000 | 5 | 125.51 |
| 124 | Mark Stone | 28 | F | $9,500,000 | 7 | 125.05 |
| 125 | Alex Turcotte | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 124.99 |
| 126 | Vince Dunn | 24 | D | $1,875,000 | 1 | 124.51 |
| 127 | Dylan Larkin | 24 | F | $6,100,000 | 3 | 124.02 |
| 128 | Thomas Chabot | 23 | D | $8,000,000 | 8 | 123.64 |
| 129 | Mattias Ekholm | 30 | D | $3,750,000 | 2 | 123.21 |
| 130 | Phillip Danault | 27 | F | $3,083,333 | 1 | 123.08 |
| 131 | Ethan Bear | 23 | D | $2,000,000 | 2 | 122.88 |
| 132 | Nick Robertson | 19 | F | $821,667 | 3 | 122.75 |
| 133 | Jordan Kyrou | 22 | F | $758,333 | 1 | 122.27 |
| 134 | Mikhail Sergachev | 22 | D | $4,800,000 | 3 | 122.15 |
| 135 | Andreas Athanasiou | 26 | F | $1,200,000 | 1 | 122.02 |
| 136 | Tyler Toffoli | 28 | F | $4,250,000 | 4 | 121.44 |
| 137 | Alex Iafallo | 27 | F | $2,425,000 | 1 | 121.38 |
| 138 | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 120.06 |
| 139 | Derick Brassard | 33 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 119.90 |
| 140 | Zach Hyman | 28 | F | $2,250,000 | 1 | 119.37 |
| 141 | Viktor Arvidsson | 27 | F | $4,250,000 | 4 | 119.31 |
| 142 | Kris Letang | 33 | D | $7,250,000 | 2 | 118.99 |
| 143 | Jeff Petry | 33 | D | $5,500,000 | 1 | 118.73 |
| 144 | Nicolas Roy | 23 | F | $750,000 | 2 | 118.61 |
| 145 | Devon Toews | 26 | D | $4,100,000 | 4 | 118.57 |
| 146 | Brock Boeser | 23 | F | $5,875,000 | 2 | 118.34 |
| 147 | Reilly Smith | 29 | F | $5,000,000 | 2 | 117.43 |
| 148 | Jaccob Slavin | 26 | D | $5,300,000 | 5 | 117.29 |
| 149 | Max Comtois | 22 | F | $820,000 | 1 | 117.26 |
| 150 | Taylor Hall | 29 | F | $8,000,000 | 1 | 117.09 |
| 151 | Adrian Kempe | 24 | F | $2,000,000 | 2 | 117.05 |
| 152 | Jaime Drysdale | 18 | D | $925,000 | 3 | 117.01 |
| 153 | Calle Jarnkrok | 29 | F | $2,000,000 | 2 | 116.88 |
| 154 | Troy Terry | 23 | F | $1,450,000 | 3 | 116.48 |
| 155 | Joel Eriksson Ek | 23 | F | $1,487,500 | 1 | 116.47 |
| 156 | Rasmus Sandin | 20 | D | $894,167 | 2 | 116.45 |
| 157 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 22 | F | $5,000,000 | 2 | 116.36 |
| 158 | Jaden Schwartz | 28 | F | $5,350,000 | 1 | 116.27 |
| 159 | Vinnie Hinostroza | 26 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 116.23 |
| 160 | Evan Bouchard | 21 | D | $863,333 | 3 | 116.14 |
| 161 | Max Pacioretty | 32 | F | $7,000,000 | 3 | 115.93 |
| 162 | Sam Reinhart | 25 | F | $5,200,000 | 1 | 115.91 |
| 163 | Ryan O’Reilly | 29 | F | $7,500,000 | 3 | 115.85 |
| 164 | Charlie McAvoy | 23 | D | $4,900,000 | 2 | 115.77 |
| 165 | Nazem Kadri | 30 | F | $4,500,000 | 2 | 115.72 |
| 166 | Sean Monahan | 26 | F | $6,375,000 | 3 | 115.50 |
| 167 | Erik Haula | 29 | F | $1,750,000 | 1 | 115.01 |
| 168 | Jordan Greenway | 23 | F | $2,100,000 | 2 | 114.73 |
| 169 | Oskar Lindblom | 24 | F | $3,000,000 | 3 | 114.25 |
| 170 | Brayden Schenn | 29 | F | $6,500,000 | 8 | 113.95 |
| 171 | Lucas Wallmark | 25 | F | $950,000 | 1 | 113.84 |
| 172 | Filip Forsberg | 26 | F | $6,000,000 | 2 | 112.93 |
| 173 | Sean Walker | 26 | D | $2,650,000 | 4 | 112.89 |
| 174 | Ivan Provorov | 24 | D | $6,750,000 | 6 | 112.86 |
| 175 | Jason Spezza | 37 | F | $700,000 | 1 | 112.60 |
| 176 | Darnell Nurse | 25 | D | $5,600,000 | 2 | 112.54 |
| 177 | Erik Brannstrom | 21 | D | $863,333 | 2 | 112.52 |
| 178 | Brendan Gallagher | 28 | F | $3,750,000 | 1 | 112.13 |
| 179 | Sami Niku | 24 | D | $725,000 | 2 | 111.63 |
| 180 | Andre Burakovsky | 25 | F | $4,900,000 | 2 | 111.62 |
| 181 | Damon Severson | 26 | D | $4,166,666 | 3 | 111.54 |
| 182 | Jakob Chychrun | 22 | D | $4,600,000 | 5 | 111.54 |
| 183 | Joe Thornton | 41 | F | $700,000 | 1 | 111.45 |
| 184 | Kevin Shattenkirk | 31 | D | $3,900,000 | 3 | 111.30 |
| 185 | Filip Chytil | 21 | F | $894,166 | 1 | 111.10 |
| 186 | Rickard Rakell | 27 | F | $3,789,444 | 2 | 110.97 |
| 187 | Conor Sheary | 28 | F | $735,000 | 1 | 110.86 |
| 188 | Jonathan Marchessault | 30 | F | $5,000,000 | 4 | 110.82 |
| 189 | Ville Heinola | 19 | D | $894,167 | 3 | 110.79 |
| 190 | Alex Galchenyuk | 26 | F | $1,050,000 | 1 | 110.61 |
| 191 | Mike Reilly | 27 | D | $1,500,000 | 1 | 110.52 |
| 192 | Anthony Cirelli | 23 | F | $4,800,000 | 3 | 110.47 |
| 193 | Alex DeBrincat | 23 | F | $6,400,000 | 3 | 110.41 |
| 194 | Josh Leivo | 27 | F | $875,000 | 1 | 110.35 |
| 195 | Timo Meier | 24 | F | $6,000,000 | 3 | 110.19 |
| 196 | Alex Ovechkin | 35 | F | $9,538,462 | 1 | 109.53 |
| 197 | Drake Caggiula | 26 | F | $700,000 | 1 | 109.51 |
| 198 | Sam Steel | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 109.46 |
| 199 | Grigori Denisenko | 20 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 109.37 |
| 200 | Caleb Jones | 23 | D | $875,000 | 2 | 109.13 |
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