Top 200 Cap League Skater Rankings – July 2021
Alexander MacLean
2021-07-25
The Salary Cap League Rankings are here! All of the top 200 skaters.
****
The Rangers' top blueliner Adam Fox adds a Norris trophy to his list of accolades along with king of the cap rankings. The top names on the list haven't changed much since the last update, but there has been some movement, and Keith Yandle is making his first appearance here due to a buyout.
The numbers will change even over the next few days as the future lineups and free agent market settles out with plenty of new contracts are signed. Scoring projections are taken into account, and the future salaries for the UFAs/RFAs are estimated through my model, with free agent skaters currently rated based on their expected next contracts, and if you want to see those numbers, they were last updated in the Ramblings just a few days ago.
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, though the scale of the ratings has changed a little since the last update.
All salary info is courtesy of capfriendly. Without further ado, the rankings:
| Rank | Name | Age | Pos | Cap Hit | Yrs | Rating | Prev Rank |
| 1 | Adam Fox | 23 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 315.73 | 1 |
| 2 | Jason Robertson | 21 | F | $795,000 | 1 | 265.05 | 2 |
| 3 | Alexis Lafreniere | 19 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 235.12 | 3 |
| 4 | Connor McDavid | 24 | F | $12,500,000 | 5 | 233.95 | 4 |
| 5 | Martin Necas | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 233.64 | 5 |
| 6 | Nick Suzuki | 21 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 225.76 | 6 |
| 7 | Quinton Byfield | 18 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 219.52 | 7 |
| 8 | Tim Stützle | 19 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 218.96 | 8 |
| 9 | Leon Draisaitl | 25 | F | $8,500,000 | 4 | 215.37 | 9 |
| 10 | Ty Smith | 21 | D | $863,333 | 2 | 212.44 | 10 |
| 11 | Carter Verhaeghe | 25 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 208.97 | 11 |
| 12 | Nathan MacKinnon | 25 | F | $6,300,000 | 2 | 206.81 | 12 |
| 13 | Cole Caufield | 20 | F | $880,833 | 2 | 201.54 | 14 |
| 14 | Tyson Barrie | 29 | D | UFA | 0 | 200.26 | 13 |
| 15 | Joel Farabee | 21 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 188.72 | 15 |
| 16 | Marco Rossi | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 186.75 | 16 |
| 17 | Trevor Zegras | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 185.58 | 17 |
| 18 | Jack Hughes | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 182.60 | 18 |
| 19 | Dylan Cozens | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 181.67 | 19 |
| 20 | Jonathan Huberdeau | 28 | F | $5,900,000 | 2 | 179.26 | 20 |
| 21 | Lucas Raymond | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 178.68 | 21 |
| 22 | Oliver Wahlstrom | 21 | F | $894,167 | 2 | 178.24 | 23 |
| 23 | Joshua Norris | 22 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 177.51 | 22 |
| 24 | Shea Theodore | 25 | D | $5,200,000 | 4 | 172.78 | 25 |
| 25 | Alex Newhook | 20 | F | $908,333 | 2 | 172.67 | 26 |
| 26 | Jakob Chychrun | 23 | D | $4,600,000 | 4 | 171.92 | 27 |
| 27 | Nikita Kucherov | 28 | F | $9,500,000 | 6 | 171.25 | 24 |
| 28 | Nils Hoglander | 20 | F | $891,667 | 2 | 170.83 | 28 |
| 29 | Mark Scheifele | 28 | F | $6,125,000 | 3 | 170.42 | 29 |
| 30 | Brad Marchand | 33 | F | $6,125,000 | 4 | 166.85 | 30 |
| 31 | Mikko Rantanen | 24 | F | $9,250,000 | 4 | 165.15 | 31 |
| 32 | Roope Hintz | 24 | F | $3,150,000 | 2 | 165.09 | 32 |
| 33 | Jordan Kyrou | 23 | F | RFA | 0 | 164.48 | 33 |
| 34 | MacKenzie Weegar | 27 | D | $3,250,000 | 2 | 163.50 | 34 |
| 35 | Aleksander Barkov | 25 | F | $5,900,000 | 1 | 162.98 | 35 |
| 36 | Jake Guentzel | 26 | F | $6,000,000 | 3 | 161.93 | 36 |
| 37 | Filip Zadina | 21 | F | $894,167 | 1 | 161.45 | 37 |
| 38 | Cale Makar | 22 | D | RFA | 0 | 159.93 | 38 |
| 39 | Nicholas Robertson | 19 | F | $821,667 | 3 | 159.01 | 40 |
| 40 | David Pastrnak | 25 | F | $6,666,666 | 2 | 157.07 | 41 |
| 41 | John Klingberg | 28 | D | $4,250,000 | 1 | 156.18 | 42 |
| 42 | Jamie Drysdale | 19 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 156.11 | 43 |
| 43 | Drake Batherson | 23 | F | RFA | 0 | 155.72 | 45 |
| 44 | Quinn Hughes | 21 | D | RFA | 0 | 155.16 | 44 |
| 45 | Bowen Byram | 20 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 155.01 | 39 |
| 46 | John Carlson | 31 | D | $8,000,000 | 5 | 152.07 | 46 |
| 47 | Alex DeBrincat | 23 | F | $6,400,000 | 2 | 152.03 | 54 |
| 48 | Victor Hedman | 30 | D | $7,875,000 | 4 | 151.90 | 48 |
| 49 | Cole Perfetti | 19 | F | $894,166 | 3 | 151.48 | 49 |
| 50 | Kaapo Kakko | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 151.46 | 50 |
| 51 | Jack Roslovic | 24 | F | $1,838,362 | 1 | 149.00 | 52 |
| 52 | Adam Boqvist | 20 | D | $894,167 | 1 | 148.64 | 53 |
| 53 | K’Andre Miller | 21 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 148.01 | 55 |
| 54 | Filip Hronek | 23 | D | RFA | 0 | 147.91 | 56 |
| 55 | Evan Bouchard | 21 | D | $863,333 | 2 | 147.54 | 57 |
| 56 | Keith Yandle | 34 | D | UFA | 0 | 147.31 | NR |
| 57 | Max Comtois | 22 | F | RFA | 0 | 146.98 | 47 |
| 58 | Mitch Marner | 24 | F | $10,903,000 | 4 | 146.48 | 58 |
| 59 | Elias Lindholm | 26 | F | $4,850,000 | 3 | 146.26 | 59 |
| 60 | Morgan Rielly | 27 | D | $5,000,000 | 1 | 146.17 | 60 |
| 61 | Mike Reilly | 28 | D | UFA | 0 | 145.82 | 63 |
| 62 | Kirill Kaprizov | 24 | F | RFA | 0 | 144.70 | 61 |
| 63 | Mathieu Joseph | 24 | F | $737,500 | 1 | 144.51 | 105 |
| 64 | Daniel Sprong | 24 | F | $725,000 | 1 | 144.36 | 62 |
| 65 | David Perron | 33 | F | $4,000,000 | 1 | 143.81 | 51 |
| 66 | Johnny Gaudreau | 27 | F | $6,750,000 | 1 | 143.64 | 64 |
| 67 | Mason Appleton | 25 | F | $900,000 | 1 | 143.62 | 65 |
| 68 | Pavel Zacha | 24 | F | $2,250,000 | 1 | 143.54 | 66 |
| 69 | Auston Matthews | 23 | F | $11,640,250 | 3 | 141.82 | 67 |
| 70 | Morgan Frost | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 141.74 | 68 |
| 71 | Mika Zibanejad | 28 | F | $5,350,000 | 1 | 140.07 | 70 |
| 72 | Kirby Dach | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 140.02 | 71 |
| 73 | Mikhail Sergachev | 23 | D | $4,800,000 | 2 | 139.74 | 74 |
| 74 | Yegor Sharangovich | 23 | F | RFA | 0 | 139.63 | 69 |
| 75 | J.T. Miller | 28 | F | $5,250,000 | 2 | 139.48 | 72 |
| 76 | Denis Gurianov | 24 | F | $2,550,000 | 1 | 139.15 | 73 |
| 77 | Jason Spezza | 38 | F | $750,000 | 1 | 138.11 | 111 |
| 78 | Sebastian Aho | 23 | F | $8,460,250 | 3 | 137.72 | 76 |
| 79 | Moritz Seider | 20 | D | $863,333 | 3 | 137.56 | 77 |
| 80 | Devon Toews | 27 | D | $4,100,000 | 3 | 136.66 | 79 |
| 81 | Jared McCann | 25 | F | $2,940,000 | 1 | 136.40 | 99 |
| 82 | Rasmus Dahlin | 21 | D | RFA | 0 | 135.98 | 80 |
| 83 | Samuel Girard | 23 | D | $5,000,000 | 6 | 135.90 | 78 |
| 84 | Gabriel Vilardi | 21 | F | $894,167 | 1 | 135.87 | 81 |
| 85 | Nikolaj Ehlers | 25 | F | $6,000,000 | 4 | 134.92 | 83 |
| 86 | Dougie Hamilton | 28 | D | UFA | 0 | 133.90 | 82 |
| 87 | Troy Terry | 23 | F | $1,450,000 | 2 | 133.83 | 84 |
| 88 | Alexander Romanov | 21 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 132.74 | 86 |
| 89 | Darnell Nurse | 26 | D | $5,600,000 | 1 | 132.56 | 87 |
| 90 | Noah Dobson | 21 | D | $894,167 | 1 | 132.43 | 104 |
| 91 | Alexander Wennberg | 26 | F | UFA | 0 | 132.40 | 89 |
| 92 | Brock Boeser | 24 | F | $5,875,000 | 1 | 132.37 | 90 |
| 93 | Artemi Panarin | 29 | F | $11,642,857 | 5 | 132.27 | 92 |
| 94 | Chandler Stephenson | 27 | F | $2,750,000 | 3 | 132.24 | 93 |
| 95 | Kevin Fiala | 24 | F | RFA | 0 | 132.07 | 94 |
| 96 | Erik Brannstrom | 21 | D | $863,333 | 1 | 131.91 | 96 |
| 97 | Kris Letang | 34 | D | $7,250,000 | 1 | 131.88 | 85 |
| 98 | Ryan Strome | 28 | F | $4,500,000 | 1 | 130.92 | 95 |
| 99 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 26 | F | $5,400,000 | 5 | 130.75 | 98 |
| 100 | Tyson Jost | 23 | F | RFA | 0 | 130.46 | 75 |
| 101 | Patrick Kane | 32 | F | $10,500,000 | 2 | 130.27 | 100 |
| 102 | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 28 | F | $5,125,000 | 8 | 130.24 | 168 |
| 103 | Kyle Connor | 24 | F | $7,142,857 | 5 | 130.12 | 101 |
| 104 | Tomas Hertl | 27 | F | $5,625,000 | 1 | 130.10 | 102 |
| 105 | Brayden Point | 25 | F | $6,750,000 | 1 | 129.89 | 88 |
| 106 | Vitali Kravtsov | 21 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 129.78 | 97 |
| 107 | Nicolas Beaudin | 21 | D | $863,333 | 2 | 129.17 | 106 |
| 108 | Mark Stone | 29 | F | $9,500,000 | 6 | 129.06 | 107 |
| 109 | Anthony DeAngelo | 25 | D | $4,800,000 | 1 | 129.01 | NR |
| 110 | Nicolas Hague | 22 | D | $791,667 | 1 | 128.59 | 91 |
| 111 | Sidney Crosby | 33 | F | $8,700,000 | 4 | 128.35 | 109 |
| 112 | Cody Glass | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 127.80 | 181 |
| 113 | Neal Pionk | 25 | D | RFA | 0 | 127.74 | 110 |
| 114 | Tyler Toffoli | 29 | F | $4,250,000 | 3 | 127.30 | 112 |
| 115 | Sean Couturier | 28 | F | $4,333,333 | 1 | 127.27 | 113 |
| 116 | Connor McMichael | 20 | F | $863,333 | 3 | 126.96 | 114 |
| 117 | Jakub Vrana | 25 | F | RFA | 0 | 126.82 | 115 |
| 118 | Jeff Petry | 33 | D | $6,250,000 | 4 | 126.72 | 116 |
| 119 | Alexander Holtz | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 126.57 | 118 |
| 120 | Thomas Chabot | 23 | D | $8,000,000 | 7 | 125.95 | 119 |
| 121 | Brandon Hagel | 22 | F | RFA | 0 | 125.78 | 120 |
| 122 | Mathew Barzal | 24 | F | $7,000,000 | 2 | 125.20 | 123 |
| 123 | Rasmus Sandin | 21 | D | $894,167 | 1 | 125.05 | 121 |
| 124 | Bryan Rust | 29 | F | $3,500,000 | 1 | 124.84 | 122 |
| 125 | Anthony Beauvillier | 24 | F | RFA | 0 | 124.60 | 170 |
| 126 | Pavel Buchnevich | 26 | F | RFA | 0 | 124.33 | 108 |
| 127 | Charlie McAvoy | 23 | D | $4,900,000 | 1 | 124.29 | 126 |
| 128 | Grigori Denisenko | 21 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 124.07 | 124 |
| 129 | Torey Krug | 30 | D | $6,500,000 | 6 | 123.77 | 125 |
| 130 | Alex Barre-Boulet | 24 | F | RFA | 0 | 123.54 | 135 |
| 131 | Kasperi Kapanen | 24 | F | $3,200,000 | 1 | 123.41 | 103 |
| 132 | Eeli Tolvanen | 22 | F | RFA | 0 | 123.02 | 127 |
| 133 | Conor Garland | 25 | F | RFA | 0 | 122.97 | 158 |
| 134 | Teuvo Teravainen | 26 | F | $5,400,000 | 3 | 122.48 | 128 |
| 135 | Matthew Tkachuk | 23 | F | $7,000,000 | 1 | 122.17 | 129 |
| 136 | Jesse Puljujarvi | 23 | F | $1,175,000 | 1 | 122.09 | 130 |
| 137 | Anthony Duclair | 25 | F | $3,000,000 | 3 | 121.73 | 131 |
| 138 | Jordan Greenway | 24 | F | $2,100,000 | 1 | 121.48 | 133 |
| 139 | Dominik Kubalík | 25 | F | $3,700,000 | 1 | 121.30 | 134 |
| 140 | Andrei Svechnikov | 21 | F | RFA | 0 | 120.72 | 136 |
| 141 | Ryan O’Reilly | 30 | F | $7,500,000 | 2 | 120.46 | 137 |
| 142 | David Farrance | 22 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 120.07 | 141 |
| 143 | Elias Pettersson | 22 | F | RFA | 0 | 120.02 | 139 |
| 144 | Travis Konecny | 24 | F | $5,500,000 | 4 | 119.76 | 140 |
| 145 | Shane Pinto | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 119.25 | 142 |
| 146 | Andre Burakovsky | 26 | F | $4,900,000 | 1 | 118.88 | 144 |
| 147 | Andrew Mangiapane | 25 | F | $2,425,000 | 1 | 118.54 | 147 |
| 148 | Jonathan Marchessault | 30 | F | $5,000,000 | 3 | 118.22 | 149 |
| 149 | Pius Suter | 25 | F | RFA | 0 | 118.07 | 151 |
| 150 | Ondrej Palat | 30 | F | $5,300,000 | 1 | 117.99 | 152 |
| 151 | Max Pacioretty | 32 | F | $7,000,000 | 2 | 117.97 | 153 |
| 152 | Eric Robinson | 26 | F | $975,000 | 1 | 117.85 | 154 |
| 153 | Victor Olofsson | 26 | F | $3,050,000 | 1 | 117.65 | 155 |
| 154 | Thomas Harley | 19 | D | $863,333 | 3 | 117.62 | 146 |
| 155 | Mario Ferraro | 22 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 117.52 | 157 |
| 156 | Henri Jokiharju | 22 | D | RFA | 0 | 117.18 | 161 |
| 157 | Christian Fischer | 24 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 117.13 | 159 |
| 158 | Zach Werenski | 23 | D | $5,000,000 | 1 | 116.73 | 160 |
| 159 | Jesper Bratt | 22 | F | $2,750,000 | 1 | 116.72 | 162 |
| 160 | Matt Grzelcyk | 27 | D | $3,687,500 | 3 | 116.68 | 163 |
| 161 | Colin Blackwell | 28 | F | $725,000 | 1 | 116.62 | 164 |
| 162 | Kailer Yamamoto | 22 | F | RFA | 0 | 116.38 | 165 |
| 163 | Roman Josi | 31 | D | $9,059,000 | 7 | 116.38 | 166 |
| 164 | Liam Foudy | 21 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 116.11 | 145 |
| 165 | Pierre-Olivier Joseph | 22 | D | $863,333 | 1 | 115.56 | 167 |
| 166 | Barrett Hayton | 21 | F | $894,167 | 1 | 115.42 | 156 |
| 167 | Seth Jones | 26 | D | $5,400,000 | 1 | 114.97 | 143 |
| 168 | Anders Bjork | 24 | F | $1,600,000 | 2 | 114.29 | 132 |
| 169 | Vince Dunn | 24 | D | RFA | 0 | 114.22 | 172 |
| 170 | Brady Tkachuk | 21 | F | RFA | 0 | 113.95 | 173 |
| 171 | Kale Clague | 23 | D | RFA | 0 | 113.57 | 175 |
| 172 | Gabriel Landeskog | 28 | F | UFA | 0 | 113.32 | 169 |
| 173 | Michael Bunting | 25 | F | RFA | 0 | 113.25 | 178 |
| 174 | Anton Lundell | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 113.08 | 148 |
| 175 | Owen Tippett | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 113.06 | NR |
| 176 | Alex Ovechkin | 35 | F | UFA | 0 | 113.01 | 179 |
| 177 | Justin Holl | 29 | D | $2,000,000 | 2 | 112.85 | 180 |
| 178 | Alexander Radulov | 35 | F | $6,250,000 | 1 | 112.59 | 186 |
| 179 | Robert Thomas | 22 | F | RFA | 0 | 112.46 | 176 |
| 180 | Mike Hoffman | 31 | F | UFA | 0 | 112.36 | 171 |
| 181 | Ross Colton | 24 | F | RFA | 0 | 112.28 | 183 |
| 182 | Vincent Trocheck | 28 | F | $4,750,000 | 1 | 111.97 | NR |
| 183 | Justin Schultz | 31 | D | $4,000,000 | 1 | 111.87 | 185 |
| 184 | Bo Horvat | 26 | F | $5,500,000 | 2 | 111.66 | 174 |
| 185 | Jack Studnicka | 22 | F | $769,167 | 1 | 111.63 | 187 |
| 186 | William Nylander | 25 | F | $6,962,366 | 3 | 111.62 | 188 |
| 187 | Tomas Tatar | 30 | F | UFA | 0 | 111.37 | 189 |
| 188 | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | 22 | F | RFA | 0 | 111.08 | NR |
| 189 | Miro Heiskanen | 22 | D | $8,450,000 | 8 | 110.93 | 182 |
| 190 | Peyton Krebs | 20 | F | $863,333 | 3 | 110.89 | 191 |
| 191 | Nolan Patrick | 22 | F | RFA | 0 | 110.73 | 199 |
| 192 | Calle Jarnkrok | 29 | F | $2,000,000 | 1 | 110.63 | 192 |
| 193 | Aaron Ekblad | 25 | D | $7,500,000 | 4 | 110.59 | 195 |
| 194 | Kieffer Bellows | 23 | F | RFA | 0 | 110.56 | 150 |
| 195 | Jaret Anderson-Dolan | 21 | F | $747,500 | 1 | 110.33 | 193 |
| 196 | Jake Bean | 22 | D | RFA | 0 | 110.18 | 194 |
| 197 | Craig Smith | 31 | F | $3,100,000 | 2 | 109.49 | 196 |
| 198 | Evander Kane | 29 | F | $7,000,000 | 4 | 109.24 | 198 |
| 199 | Brett Pesce | 26 | D | $4,025,000 | 3 | 108.71 | 200 |
| 200 | Matthew Boldy | 20 | F | $880,833 | 3 | 108.65 | NR |
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