Top 200 Cap League Skater Rankings – March 2021
Alexander MacLean
2021-03-25
Last chance for those of you who have stocked up on Quinn Hughes and the rest of the 2021 RFA class, before they re-up with new contracts this summer. Included in that group is rookie Kirill Kaprizov, who is set for a big raise. A comparable situation led to a two-year deal for Artemi Panarin, and didn't work out all that well for the Blackhawks. Expect at least a five-year term for him, and a cap hit at least equal to Vladimir Tarasenko's. Even at that cost he should still provide exceptional value.
Balancing the 56-game schedule with the rankings, projections, and salary estimates has been quite the fun task. That being said, the season is more than half over, and with the trade deadline approaching, it’s a good time to take a look at next year. For those of you not near the top of your league, it may be time to start targeting a few of the top players on this list with multiple years of term remaining. Netting a Mark Scheifele, Jake Guentzel, or Travis Konecny will be the kind of piece that you can build around for years to come.
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 defencemen 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 | Quinn Hughes | 21 | D | $916,666 | 1 | 316.39 |
| 2 | Cale Makar | 22 | D | $880,833 | 1 | 290.91 |
| 3 | Elias Pettersson | 22 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 265.77 |
| 4 | Adam Fox | 23 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 265.64 |
| 5 | Kirill Kaprizov | 23 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 252.69 |
| 6 | Andrei Svechnikov | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 246.35 |
| 7 | Nick Suzuki | 21 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 240.86 |
| 8 | Filip Hronek | 23 | D | $714,166 | 1 | 224.40 |
| 9 | Leon Draisaitl | 25 | F | $8,500,000 | 5 | 218.91 |
| 10 | Jack Hughes | 19 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 218.67 |
| 11 | Conor Garland | 25 | F | $775,000 | 1 | 215.09 |
| 12 | Martin Necas | 22 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 213.71 |
| 13 | Rasmus Dahlin | 20 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 212.14 |
| 14 | Miro Heiskanen | 21 | D | $894,166 | 1 | 207.83 |
| 15 | Alexis Lafreniere | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 207.49 |
| 16 | Joel Farabee | 21 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 206.81 |
| 17 | Nathan MacKinnon | 25 | F | $6,300,000 | 3 | 204.09 |
| 18 | Connor McDavid | 24 | F | $12,500,000 | 6 | 202.36 |
| 19 | Tim Stützle | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 194.35 |
| 20 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 25 | F | $2,500,000 | 1 | 191.75 |
| 21 | Kaapo Kakko | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 190.49 |
| 22 | Brady Tkachuk | 21 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 188.53 |
| 23 | Dougie Hamilton | 27 | D | $5,750,000 | 1 | 187.59 |
| 24 | Tyson Barrie | 29 | D | $3,750,000 | 1 | 184.82 |
| 25 | Neal Pionk | 25 | D | $3,000,000 | 1 | 180.23 |
| 26 | Jordan Kyrou | 22 | F | $758,333 | 1 | 179.06 |
| 27 | Jonathan Huberdeau | 27 | F | $5,900,000 | 3 | 176.16 |
| 28 | David Pastrnak | 24 | F | $6,666,666 | 3 | 175.41 |
| 29 | Jake Guentzel | 26 | F | $6,000,000 | 4 | 173.79 |
| 30 | Adam Boqvist | 20 | D | $894,167 | 2 | 172.93 |
| 31 | John Carlson | 31 | D | $8,000,000 | 6 | 172.66 |
| 32 | Drake Batherson | 22 | F | $736,666 | 1 | 170.87 |
| 33 | Victor Hedman | 30 | D | $7,875,000 | 5 | 168.58 |
| 34 | Kailer Yamamoto | 22 | F | $894,166 | 1 | 168.46 |
| 35 | Aleksander Barkov | 25 | F | $5,900,000 | 2 | 167.22 |
| 36 | Mark Scheifele | 28 | F | $6,125,000 | 4 | 166.59 |
| 37 | Gabriel Vilardi | 21 | F | $894,167 | 2 | 165.90 |
| 38 | David Perron | 32 | F | $4,000,000 | 2 | 165.67 |
| 39 | Robert Thomas | 21 | F | $894,166 | 1 | 165.35 |
| 40 | Mikko Rantanen | 24 | F | $9,250,000 | 5 | 165.20 |
| 41 | Trevor Zegras | 20 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 164.84 |
| 42 | Dylan Cozens | 20 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 163.83 |
| 43 | Shea Theodore | 25 | D | $5,200,000 | 5 | 162.49 |
| 44 | Brad Marchand | 32 | F | $6,125,000 | 5 | 161.20 |
| 45 | Noah Dobson | 21 | D | $894,167 | 2 | 159.08 |
| 46 | Quinton Byfield | 18 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 157.74 |
| 47 | Cody Glass | 21 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 156.71 |
| 48 | Filip Zadina | 21 | F | $894,167 | 2 | 155.62 |
| 49 | Pavel Buchnevich | 26 | F | $3,250,000 | 1 | 153.51 |
| 50 | Nicolas Hague | 22 | D | $791,667 | 2 | 151.85 |
| 51 | Morgan Rielly | 27 | D | $5,000,000 | 2 | 150.64 |
| 52 | J.T. Miller | 28 | F | $5,250,000 | 3 | 149.98 |
| 53 | Morgan Frost | 21 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 149.06 |
| 54 | Mika Zibanejad | 27 | F | $5,350,000 | 2 | 146.52 |
| 55 | Marco Rossi | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 145.77 |
| 56 | Ilya Mikheyev | 26 | F | $1,645,000 | 2 | 145.37 |
| 57 | Bowen Byram | 19 | D | $925,000 | 3 | 145.21 |
| 58 | Brayden Point | 24 | F | $6,750,000 | 2 | 144.32 |
| 59 | Seth Jones | 26 | D | $5,400,000 | 2 | 143.62 |
| 60 | Gabriel Landeskog | 28 | F | $5,571,429 | 1 | 142.67 |
| 61 | Victor Olofsson | 25 | F | $3,050,000 | 2 | 142.02 |
| 62 | John Klingberg | 28 | D | $4,250,000 | 2 | 141.26 |
| 63 | Samuel Girard | 22 | D | $5,000,000 | 7 | 140.22 |
| 64 | Lucas Raymond | 18 | F | $0 | 0 | 139.56 |
| 65 | Sidney Crosby | 33 | F | $8,700,000 | 5 | 139.05 |
| 66 | Sean Couturier | 28 | F | $4,333,333 | 2 | 138.93 |
| 67 | Elias Lindholm | 26 | F | $4,850,000 | 4 | 138.55 |
| 68 | Max Comtois | 22 | F | $820,000 | 1 | 137.83 |
| 69 | Bryan Rust | 28 | F | $3,500,000 | 2 | 137.36 |
| 70 | Barrett Hayton | 20 | F | $894,167 | 2 | 137.06 |
| 71 | Bobby Ryan | 34 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 136.75 |
| 72 | Kyle Connor | 24 | F | $7,142,857 | 6 | 136.48 |
| 73 | Patrick Kane | 32 | F | $10,500,000 | 3 | 135.76 |
| 74 | Mitch Marner | 23 | F | $10,903,000 | 5 | 135.57 |
| 75 | Jamie Drysdale | 18 | D | $925,000 | 3 | 135.13 |
| 76 | Nikolaj Ehlers | 25 | F | $6,000,000 | 5 | 134.91 |
| 77 | Darnell Nurse | 26 | D | $5,600,000 | 2 | 134.65 |
| 78 | Roman Josi | 30 | D | $9,059,000 | 8 | 133.99 |
| 79 | Kirby Dach | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 133.82 |
| 80 | Evan Bouchard | 21 | D | $863,333 | 3 | 133.81 |
| 81 | Alex Ovechkin | 35 | F | $9,538,462 | 1 | 133.54 |
| 82 | K’Andre Miller | 21 | D | $925,000 | 3 | 133.54 |
| 83 | Artemi Panarin | 29 | F | $11,642,857 | 6 | 133.40 |
| 84 | Dominik Kubalík | 25 | F | $3,700,000 | 2 | 133.38 |
| 85 | Mikhail Sergachev | 22 | D | $4,800,000 | 3 | 133.37 |
| 86 | Anthony Beauvillier | 23 | F | $2,100,000 | 1 | 133.30 |
| 87 | Auston Matthews | 23 | F | $11,640,250 | 4 | 132.82 |
| 88 | Kevin Fiala | 24 | F | $3,000,000 | 1 | 132.04 |
| 89 | Jack Roslovic | 24 | F | $2,030,952 | 1 | 131.78 |
| 90 | Juuso Valimaki | 22 | D | $894,166 | 1 | 131.69 |
| 91 | Cole Perfetti | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 131.62 |
| 92 | Rasmus Sandin | 21 | D | $894,167 | 2 | 130.81 |
| 93 | Ryan Strome | 27 | F | $4,500,000 | 2 | 129.17 |
| 94 | Jakub Vrana | 25 | F | $3,350,000 | 1 | 129.14 |
| 95 | Tomas Hertl | 27 | F | $5,625,000 | 2 | 128.90 |
| 96 | Zach Werenski | 23 | D | $5,000,000 | 2 | 127.98 |
| 97 | Nazem Kadri | 30 | F | $4,500,000 | 2 | 127.68 |
| 98 | Mark Stone | 28 | F | $9,500,000 | 7 | 127.19 |
| 99 | Carter Verhaeghe | 25 | F | $1,000,000 | 2 | 126.51 |
| 100 | Johnny Gaudreau | 27 | F | $6,750,000 | 2 | 125.95 |
| 101 | Alex Iafallo | 27 | F | $2,425,000 | 1 | 125.61 |
| 102 | Brock Boeser | 24 | F | $5,875,000 | 2 | 125.39 |
| 103 | Travis Konecny | 24 | F | $5,500,000 | 5 | 125.31 |
| 104 | Torey Krug | 29 | D | $6,500,000 | 7 | 125.04 |
| 105 | Jakob Chychrun | 22 | D | $4,600,000 | 5 | 124.95 |
| 106 | Ryan Ellis | 30 | D | $6,250,000 | 7 | 123.77 |
| 107 | Thomas Chabot | 23 | D | $8,000,000 | 8 | 123.63 |
| 108 | Anthony Duclair | 25 | F | $1,700,000 | 1 | 123.43 |
| 109 | Troy Terry | 23 | F | $1,450,000 | 3 | 123.43 |
| 110 | Jeff Petry | 33 | D | $5,500,000 | 1 | 123.39 |
| 111 | Vince Dunn | 24 | D | $1,875,000 | 1 | 123.32 |
| 112 | Alex DeBrincat | 23 | F | $6,400,000 | 3 | 123.22 |
| 113 | Nick Robertson | 19 | F | $821,667 | 3 | 122.75 |
| 114 | Sebastian Aho | 23 | F | $8,460,250 | 4 | 122.72 |
| 115 | Alexandre Texier | 21 | F | $897,500 | 1 | 122.51 |
| 116 | Evgeni Malkin | 34 | F | $9,500,000 | 2 | 122.50 |
| 117 | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 27 | F | $6,000,000 | 1 | 122.28 |
| 118 | Anthony Mantha | 26 | F | $5,700,000 | 4 | 121.40 |
| 119 | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 120.97 |
| 120 | Jordan Greenway | 24 | F | $2,100,000 | 2 | 120.89 |
| 121 | Aaron Ekblad | 25 | D | $7,500,000 | 5 | 120.23 |
| 122 | Charlie McAvoy | 23 | D | $4,900,000 | 2 | 120.02 |
| 123 | Steven Stamkos | 31 | F | $8,500,000 | 4 | 119.94 |
| 124 | Jason Robertson | 21 | F | $795,000 | 2 | 119.77 |
| 125 | Devon Toews | 27 | D | $4,100,000 | 4 | 119.58 |
| 126 | Mike Reilly | 27 | D | $1,500,000 | 1 | 119.01 |
| 127 | Tyler Toffoli | 28 | F | $4,250,000 | 4 | 119.01 |
| 128 | Sam Steel | 23 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 118.99 |
| 129 | Teddy Blueger | 26 | F | $750,000 | 1 | 118.85 |
| 130 | Dominik Kahun | 25 | F | $975,000 | 1 | 118.70 |
| 131 | Adrian Kempe | 24 | F | $2,000,000 | 2 | 118.67 |
| 132 | Mathew Barzal | 23 | F | $7,000,000 | 3 | 118.50 |
| 133 | Jack Eichel | 24 | F | $10,000,000 | 6 | 117.97 |
| 134 | Dennis Cholowski | 23 | D | $894,166 | 1 | 117.07 |
| 135 | Joel Eriksson Ek | 24 | F | $1,487,500 | 1 | 116.83 |
| 136 | Erik Brannstrom | 21 | D | $863,333 | 2 | 116.34 |
| 137 | Mattias Ekholm | 30 | D | $3,750,000 | 2 | 116.28 |
| 138 | Jason Spezza | 37 | F | $700,000 | 1 | 116.12 |
| 139 | Kris Letang | 33 | D | $7,250,000 | 2 | 116.12 |
| 140 | Matt Roy | 26 | D | $700,000 | 1 | 116.04 |
| 141 | Vinnie Hinostroza | 26 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 116.03 |
| 142 | Bo Horvat | 25 | F | $5,500,000 | 3 | 115.78 |
| 143 | Alex Tuch | 24 | F | $4,750,000 | 6 | 115.70 |
| 144 | Adam Gaudette | 24 | F | $950,000 | 1 | 115.62 |
| 145 | Taylor Hall | 29 | F | $8,000,000 | 1 | 115.49 |
| 146 | Mathieu Joseph | 24 | F | $737,500 | 0 | 115.48 |
| 147 | Filip Forsberg | 26 | F | $6,000,000 | 2 | 115.44 |
| 148 | Zach Hyman | 28 | F | $2,250,000 | 1 | 115.35 |
| 149 | Dylan Strome | 24 | F | $3,000,000 | 2 | 114.93 |
| 150 | MacKenzie Weegar | 27 | D | $3,250,000 | 3 | 114.46 |
| 151 | Matthew Tkachuk | 23 | F | $7,000,000 | 2 | 114.34 |
| 152 | John Marino | 23 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 114.14 |
| 153 | Tyler Bertuzzi | 26 | F | $3,500,000 | 1 | 113.81 |
| 154 | Dillon Dube | 22 | F | $778,333 | 1 | 113.71 |
| 155 | Viktor Arvidsson | 27 | F | $4,250,000 | 4 | 113.50 |
| 156 | Andreas Athanasiou | 26 | F | $1,200,000 | 1 | 112.49 |
| 157 | Ryan O’Reilly | 30 | F | $7,500,000 | 3 | 112.19 |
| 158 | Patrik Laine | 22 | F | $6,750,000 | 1 | 112.09 |
| 159 | Dante Fabbro | 22 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 111.98 |
| 160 | Pius Suter | 24 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 111.82 |
| 161 | Jesse Puljujarvi | 22 | F | $1,175,000 | 2 | 111.37 |
| 162 | Calle Jarnkrok | 29 | F | $2,000,000 | 2 | 111.17 |
| 163 | Mike Hoffman | 31 | F | $4,000,000 | 1 | 111.16 |
| 164 | Teuvo Teravainen | 26 | F | $5,400,000 | 4 | 111.10 |
| 165 | Joe Thornton | 41 | F | $700,000 | 1 | 110.81 |
| 166 | Kasperi Kapanen | 24 | F | $3,200,000 | 2 | 110.20 |
| 167 | Ryan Pulock | 26 | D | $5,000,000 | 2 | 109.99 |
| 168 | Nolan Patrick | 22 | F | $874,125 | 1 | 109.98 |
| 169 | Connor McMichael | 20 | F | $894,167 | 3 | 109.85 |
| 170 | Rickard Rakell | 27 | F | $3,789,444 | 2 | 109.78 |
| 171 | Carl Soderberg | 35 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 109.77 |
| 172 | Andrew Mangiapane | 25 | F | $2,425,000 | 2 | 109.46 |
| 173 | William Nylander | 24 | F | $6,962,366 | 4 | 109.18 |
| 174 | Max Pacioretty | 32 | F | $7,000,000 | 3 | 109.09 |
| 175 | Chandler Stephenson | 26 | F | $2,750,000 | 4 | 108.81 |
| 176 | Derick Brassard | 33 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 108.70 |
| 177 | Moritz Seider | 19 | D | $894,167 | 3 | 108.14 |
| 178 | Pavel Zacha | 23 | F | $2,250,000 | 2 | 108.12 |
| 179 | Oskar Lindblom | 24 | F | $3,000,000 | 3 | 107.99 |
| 180 | Sam Reinhart | 25 | F | $5,200,000 | 1 | 107.70 |
| 181 | Eeli Tolvanen | 21 | F | $894,166 | 2 | 107.18 |
| 182 | Tomas Tatar | 30 | F | $5,415,602 | 1 | 106.41 |
| 183 | Nick Ritchie | 25 | F | $1,498,925 | 1 | 106.39 |
| 184 | Denis Gurianov | 23 | F | $2,550,000 | 2 | 106.30 |
| 185 | Mason Appleton | 25 | F | $900,000 | 2 | 106.23 |
| 186 | Roope Hintz | 24 | F | $3,150,000 | 3 | 106.19 |
| 187 | Daniel Sprong | 24 | F | $725,000 | 2 | 105.90 |
| 188 | Joshua Norris | 21 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 105.67 |
| 189 | Ondrej Palat | 29 | F | $5,300,000 | 2 | 105.63 |
| 190 | Ty Smith | 21 | F | $863,333 | 3 | 105.60 |
| 191 | Casey Mittelstadt | 22 | F | $874,125 | 1 | 104.92 |
| 192 | Oliver Kylington | 23 | D | $787,500 | 1 | 104.88 |
| 193 | Ville Heinola | 20 | D | $894,167 | 3 | 104.75 |
| 194 | Jonathan Marchessault | 30 | F | $5,000,000 | 4 | 104.52 |
| 195 | Tyler Ennis | 31 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 104.15 |
| 196 | Ivan Provorov | 24 | D | $6,750,000 | 6 | 104.09 |
| 197 | Nikita Gusev | 28 | F | $4,500,000 | 1 | 103.96 |
| 198 | Adam Pelech | 26 | D | $1,600,000 | 1 | 103.89 |
| 199 | Jesper Bratt | 22 | F | $2,750,000 | 2 | 103.67 |
| 200 | Sean Monahan | 26 | F | $6,375,000 | 3 | 103.60 |
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