Top 200 Cap League Skater Rankings – September 2021
Alexander MacLean
2021-09-25
In this month's cap league skater rankings, the 2020 draft class continues to dominate the top-10 with their remaining term at a bargain price. New contracts to Anthony DeAngelo (although still a risky option), Eeli Tolvanen, Nolan Patrick, and Kailer Yamamoto, sees them as the biggest risers. Also re-signed to a fair contract was Rasmus Dahlin, but it did drop him down the rankings from the last list as he came in a bit above projected. An offer sheet for Jesperi Kotkaniemi and a formula correction on Justin Holl dropped them down the list.
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There remain a few high-profile RFAs, including Brady Tkachuk, and a pair of Canucks. It sounds as though all three may end up around the three-to-five-year range, which would likely put them closer to Dahlin's number than to Kirill Kaprizov's.
One name that may climb a lot higher by the time the next edition comes out in November is Arthur Kaliyev. The Kings' winger is brimming with offensive potential on a team that is lacking an elite trigger-man on the power play. He has NHL size, and his offensive instincts are already above-average for the show. He should make the team this fall, so this is your last warning on the buy-low window.
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 | 22 | F | $795,000 | 1 | 271.75 | 2 |
3 | Alexis Lafreniere | 19 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 245.91 | 3 |
4 | Connor McDavid | 24 | F | $12,500,000 | 5 | 236.07 | 4 |
5 | Quinton Byfield | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 236.07 | 7 |
6 | Martin Necas | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 233.64 | 5 |
7 | Nick Suzuki | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 229.61 | 6 |
8 | Tim Stützle | 19 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 222.08 | 8 |
9 | Leon Draisaitl | 26 | F | $8,500,000 | 4 | 215.13 | 9 |
10 | Ty Smith | 21 | D | $863,333 | 2 | 212.44 | 10 |
11 | Carter Verhaeghe | 26 | F | $1,000,000 | 1 | 207.61 | 11 |
12 | Nathan MacKinnon | 26 | F | $6,300,000 | 2 | 206.62 | 12 |
13 | Tyson Barrie | 30 | D | $4,500,000 | 3 | 202.58 | 14 |
14 | Cole Caufield | 20 | F | $880,833 | 2 | 201.54 | 13 |
15 | Joel Farabee | 21 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 195.51 | 15 |
16 | Marco Rossi | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 186.75 | 16 |
17 | Jack Hughes | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 185.77 | 18 |
18 | Trevor Zegras | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 185.58 | 17 |
19 | Dylan Cozens | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 181.67 | 19 |
20 | Roope Hintz | 24 | F | $3,150,000 | 2 | 180.94 | 32 |
21 | Jonathan Huberdeau | 28 | F | $5,900,000 | 2 | 179.26 | 20 |
22 | Lucas Raymond | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 178.68 | 21 |
23 | Joshua Norris | 22 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 177.51 | 23 |
24 | Oliver Wahlstrom | 21 | F | $894,167 | 2 | 175.12 | 22 |
25 | Alex Newhook | 20 | F | $908,333 | 2 | 172.67 | 25 |
26 | Shea Theodore | 26 | D | $5,200,000 | 4 | 172.61 | 24 |
27 | Jakob Chychrun | 23 | D | $4,600,000 | 4 | 171.92 | 26 |
28 | Nikita Kucherov | 28 | F | $9,500,000 | 6 | 171.25 | 27 |
29 | Mark Scheifele | 28 | F | $6,125,000 | 3 | 171.23 | 29 |
30 | Aleksander Barkov | 26 | F | $5,900,000 | 1 | 168.04 | 35 |
31 | Brad Marchand | 33 | F | $6,125,000 | 4 | 167.65 | 30 |
32 | Anthony DeAngelo | 25 | D | $1,000,000 | 1 | 166.74 | 109 |
33 | Jordan Kyrou | 23 | F | $2,800,000 | 2 | 165.69 | 33 |
34 | Mikko Rantanen | 24 | F | $9,250,000 | 4 | 165.15 | 31 |
35 | Kailer Yamamoto | 22 | F | $1,175,000 | 1 | 164.22 | 162 |
36 | Nils Hoglander | 20 | F | $891,667 | 2 | 163.94 | 28 |
37 | Cale Makar | 22 | D | $9,000,000 | 6 | 163.88 | 38 |
38 | MacKenzie Weegar | 27 | D | $3,250,000 | 2 | 163.50 | 34 |
39 | Keith Yandle | 35 | D | $900,000 | 1 | 162.47 | 56 |
40 | Jake Guentzel | 26 | F | $6,000,000 | 3 | 161.93 | 36 |
41 | Filip Zadina | 21 | F | $894,167 | 1 | 161.45 | 37 |
42 | Max Comtois | 22 | F | $2,037,500 | 2 | 159.94 | 57 |
43 | Eeli Tolvanen | 22 | F | $1,450,000 | 3 | 159.46 | 132 |
44 | Nicholas Robertson | 20 | F | $821,667 | 3 | 159.01 | 39 |
45 | Jamie Drysdale | 19 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 156.11 | 42 |
46 | David Pastrnak | 25 | F | $6,666,666 | 2 | 155.22 | 40 |
47 | Quinn Hughes | 21 | D | 0 | 155.16 | 44 | |
48 | Bowen Byram | 20 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 155.01 | 45 |
49 | John Klingberg | 29 | D | $4,250,000 | 1 | 154.33 | 41 |
50 | Alex DeBrincat | 23 | F | $6,400,000 | 2 | 153.38 | 47 |
51 | Victor Hedman | 30 | D | $7,875,000 | 4 | 151.90 | 48 |
52 | John Carlson | 31 | D | $8,000,000 | 5 | 151.70 | 46 |
53 | Cole Perfetti | 19 | F | $894,166 | 3 | 151.48 | 49 |
54 | Kaapo Kakko | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 151.46 | 50 |
55 | Adam Boqvist | 21 | D | $894,167 | 1 | 150.55 | 52 |
56 | Jack Roslovic | 24 | F | $1,838,362 | 1 | 149.00 | 51 |
57 | K’Andre Miller | 21 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 148.01 | 53 |
58 | Evan Bouchard | 21 | D | $863,333 | 2 | 147.54 | 55 |
59 | Mitch Marner | 24 | F | $10,903,000 | 4 | 146.79 | 58 |
60 | Morgan Rielly | 27 | D | $5,000,000 | 1 | 146.17 | 60 |
61 | Elias Lindholm | 26 | F | $4,850,000 | 3 | 145.63 | 59 |
62 | Yegor Sharangovich | 23 | F | $2,000,000 | 2 | 145.61 | 74 |
63 | David Perron | 33 | F | $4,000,000 | 1 | 145.42 | 65 |
64 | Mathieu Joseph | 24 | F | $737,500 | 1 | 144.33 | 63 |
65 | Daniel Sprong | 24 | F | $725,000 | 1 | 144.14 | 64 |
66 | Mason Appleton | 25 | F | $900,000 | 1 | 143.62 | 67 |
67 | Pavel Zacha | 24 | F | $2,250,000 | 1 | 143.54 | 68 |
68 | Johnny Gaudreau | 28 | F | $6,750,000 | 1 | 143.24 | 66 |
69 | Auston Matthews | 24 | F | $11,640,250 | 3 | 143.24 | 69 |
70 | Morgan Frost | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 141.74 | 70 |
71 | Nolan Patrick | 23 | F | $1,200,000 | 2 | 141.57 | 191 |
72 | Kirby Dach | 20 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 140.02 | 72 |
73 | Mikhail Sergachev | 23 | D | $4,800,000 | 2 | 139.74 | 73 |
74 | J.T. Miller | 28 | F | $5,250,000 | 2 | 139.48 | 75 |
75 | Denis Gurianov | 24 | F | $2,550,000 | 1 | 139.15 | 76 |
76 | Mika Zibanejad | 28 | F | $5,350,000 | 1 | 138.87 | 71 |
77 | Sebastian Aho | 24 | F | $8,460,250 | 3 | 138.17 | 78 |
78 | Jason Spezza | 38 | F | $750,000 | 1 | 138.11 | 77 |
79 | Dougie Hamilton | 28 | D | $9,000,000 | 7 | 137.90 | 86 |
80 | Moritz Seider | 20 | D | $863,333 | 3 | 137.56 | 79 |
81 | Devon Toews | 27 | D | $4,100,000 | 3 | 136.66 | 80 |
82 | Gabriel Vilardi | 22 | F | $894,167 | 1 | 136.43 | 84 |
83 | Jared McCann | 25 | F | $2,940,000 | 1 | 136.40 | 81 |
84 | Nikolaj Ehlers | 25 | F | $6,000,000 | 4 | 135.91 | 85 |
85 | Samuel Girard | 23 | D | $5,000,000 | 6 | 135.90 | 83 |
86 | Mike Reilly | 28 | D | $3,000,000 | 3 | 135.75 | 61 |
87 | Troy Terry | 24 | F | $1,450,000 | 2 | 134.18 | 87 |
88 | Conor Timmins | 23 | D | $850,000 | 2 | 134.11 | NR |
89 | Brock Boeser | 24 | F | $5,875,000 | 1 | 133.98 | 92 |
90 | Erik Brannstrom | 22 | D | $863,333 | 1 | 132.93 | 96 |
91 | Noah Dobson | 21 | D | $894,167 | 1 | 132.43 | 90 |
92 | Ryan Strome | 28 | F | $4,500,000 | 1 | 132.39 | 98 |
93 | Artemi Panarin | 29 | F | $11,642,857 | 5 | 132.27 | 93 |
94 | Chandler Stephenson | 27 | F | $2,750,000 | 3 | 132.24 | 94 |
95 | Kris Letang | 34 | D | $7,250,000 | 1 | 131.88 | 97 |
96 | Alexander Romanov | 21 | D | $925,000 | 2 | 131.54 | 88 |
97 | Darnell Nurse | 26 | D | $5,600,000 | 1 | 131.43 | 89 |
98 | Alex Barre-Boulet | 24 | F | $758,333 | 3 | 131.40 | 130 |
99 | Patrick Kane | 32 | F | $10,500,000 | 2 | 131.20 | 101 |
100 | Tomas Hertl | 27 | F | $5,625,000 | 1 | 131.03 | 104 |
101 | Oliver Bjorkstrand | 26 | F | $5,400,000 | 5 | 130.75 | 99 |
102 | Kevin Fiala | 25 | F | $5,100,000 | 1 | 130.58 | 95 |
103 | Mark Stone | 29 | F | $9,500,000 | 6 | 130.14 | 108 |
104 | Brandon Hagel | 23 | F | $1,500,000 | 3 | 129.85 | 121 |
105 | Vitali Kravtsov | 21 | F | $925,000 | 1 | 129.78 | 106 |
106 | Sean Couturier | 28 | F | $4,333,333 | 1 | 129.76 | 115 |
107 | Kyle Connor | 24 | F | $7,142,857 | 5 | 129.27 | 103 |
108 | Nicolas Beaudin | 21 | D | $863,333 | 2 | 129.17 | 107 |
109 | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 28 | F | $5,125,000 | 8 | 129.07 | 102 |
110 | Nicolas Hague | 22 | D | $791,667 | 1 | 128.59 | 110 |
111 | Cody Glass | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 127.80 | 112 |
112 | Tyler Toffoli | 29 | F | $4,250,000 | 3 | 127.30 | 114 |
113 | Connor McMichael | 20 | F | $863,333 | 3 | 126.96 | 116 |
114 | Jeff Petry | 33 | D | $6,250,000 | 4 | 126.72 | 118 |
115 | Pavel Buchnevich | 26 | F | $5,800,000 | 4 | 126.61 | 126 |
116 | Alexander Holtz | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 126.57 | 119 |
117 | Gabriel Landeskog | 28 | F | $7,000,000 | 8 | 126.45 | 172 |
118 | Ross Colton | 25 | F | $1,125,000 | 2 | 125.98 | 181 |
119 | Thomas Chabot | 23 | D | $8,000,000 | 7 | 125.95 | 120 |
120 | Brayden Point | 25 | F | $6,750,000 | 1 | 125.59 | 105 |
121 | Rasmus Sandin | 21 | D | $894,167 | 1 | 125.05 | 123 |
122 | Bryan Rust | 29 | F | $3,500,000 | 1 | 124.84 | 124 |
123 | Kirill Kaprizov | 24 | F | $9,000,000 | 5 | 124.46 | 62 |
124 | Charlie McAvoy | 23 | D | $4,900,000 | 1 | 124.29 | 127 |
125 | Grigori Denisenko | 21 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 124.07 | 128 |
126 | Rasmus Dahlin | 21 | D | $6,000,000 | 3 | 123.92 | 82 |
127 | Torey Krug | 30 | D | $6,500,000 | 6 | 123.77 | 129 |
128 | Mathew Barzal | 24 | F | $7,000,000 | 2 | 123.74 | 122 |
129 | Neal Pionk | 26 | D | $5,850,000 | 4 | 123.51 | 113 |
130 | Kasperi Kapanen | 25 | F | $3,200,000 | 1 | 123.51 | 131 |
131 | Alexandre Texier | 22 | F | $1,525,000 | 2 | 122.63 | NR |
132 | Jonathan Marchessault | 30 | F | $5,000,000 | 3 | 122.43 | 148 |
133 | Jesse Puljujarvi | 23 | F | $1,175,000 | 1 | 122.09 | 136 |
134 | Teuvo Teravainen | 27 | F | $5,400,000 | 3 | 122.09 | 134 |
135 | Juuso Valimaki | 22 | D | $1,550,000 | 2 | 121.73 | NR |
136 | Anthony Duclair | 26 | F | $3,000,000 | 3 | 121.61 | 137 |
137 | Michael Bunting | 26 | F | $950,000 | 2 | 121.61 | 173 |
138 | Sidney Crosby | 34 | F | $8,700,000 | 4 | 121.59 | 111 |
139 | Jordan Greenway | 24 | F | $2,100,000 | 1 | 121.48 | 138 |
140 | Dominik Kubalík | 26 | F | $3,700,000 | 1 | 121.24 | 139 |
141 | Matthew Tkachuk | 23 | F | $7,000,000 | 1 | 121.06 | 135 |
142 | Ryan O’Reilly | 30 | F | $7,500,000 | 2 | 120.93 | 141 |
143 | David Farrance | 22 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 120.07 | 142 |
144 | Conor Garland | 25 | F | $4,950,000 | 5 | 120.05 | 133 |
145 | Ondrej Palat | 30 | F | $5,300,000 | 1 | 119.63 | 150 |
146 | Shane Pinto | 20 | F | $925,000 | 2 | 119.25 | 145 |
147 | Max Pacioretty | 32 | F | $7,000,000 | 2 | 118.99 | 151 |
148 | Andre Burakovsky | 26 | F | $4,900,000 | 1 | 118.88 | 146 |
149 | Mario Ferraro | 23 | D | $925,000 | 1 | 118.69 | 155 |
150 | Andrew Mangiapane | 25 | F | $2,425,000 | 1 | 118.54 | 147 |
151 | Jakub Vrana | 25 | F | $5,250,000 | 3 | 118.47 | 117 |
152 | Robert Thomas | 22 | F | $2,800,000 | 2 | 118.39 | 179 |
153 | Elias Pettersson | 22 | F | 0 | 117.97 | 143 | |
154 | Eric Robinson | 26 | F | $975,000 | 1 | 117.85 | 152 |
155 | Morgan Geekie | 23 | F | $750,000 | 1 | 117.66 | NR |
156 | Victor Olofsson | 26 | F | $3,050,000 | 1 | 117.65 | 153 |
157 | Thomas Harley | 20 | D | $863,333 | 3 | 117.62 | NR |
158 | Travis Konecny | 24 | F | $5,500,000 | 4 | 117.46 | 154 |
159 | Andrei Svechnikov | 21 | F | $7,750,000 | 8 | 117.17 | 144 |
160 | Jesper Bratt | 23 | F | $2,750,000 | 1 | 117.01 | 140 |
161 | Matt Grzelcyk | 27 | D | $3,687,500 | 3 | 116.68 | 159 |
162 | Colin Blackwell | 28 | F | $725,000 | 1 | 116.62 | 160 |
163 | Liam Foudy | 21 | F | $863,333 | 2 | 116.11 | 161 |
164 | Kale Clague | 23 | D | $761,250 | 1 | 116.03 | 164 |
165 | Roman Josi | 31 | D | $9,059,000 | 7 | 115.76 | 171 |
166 | Pierre-Olivier Joseph | 22 | D | $863,333 | 1 | 115.56 | 163 |
167 | Barrett Hayton | 21 | F | $894,167 | 1 | 115.42 | 165 |
168 | Craig Smith | 32 | F | $3,100,000 | 2 | 114.67 | 166 |
169 | Anders Bjork | 25 | F | $1,600,000 | 2 | 114.32 | 197 |
170 | Joel Kiviranta | 25 | F | $1,050,000 | 2 | 114.15 | 168 |
171 | Filip Chytil | 22 | F | $2,300,000 | 2 | 113.83 | NR |
172 | Andrew Copp | 27 | F | $3,640,000 | 1 | 113.35 | NR |
173 | Brady Tkachuk | 22 | F | 0 | 113.33 | NR | |
174 | Anton Lundell | 19 | F | $925,000 | 3 | 113.08 | 170 |
175 | Owen Tippett | 22 | F | $863,333 | 1 | 113.06 | 174 |
176 | Anthony Beauvillier | 24 | F | $4,150,000 | 3 | 112.71 | 175 |
177 | Alexander Radulov | 35 | F | $6,250,000 | 1 | 112.59 | 125 |
178 | Calle Jarnkrok | 29 | F | $2,000,000 | 1 | 111.98 | 178 |
179 | Vincent Trocheck | 28 | F | $4,750,000 | 1 | 111.97 | 192 |
180 | Justin Schultz | 31 | D | $4,000,000 | 1 | 111.87 | 182 |
181 | Sam Bennett | 25 | F | $4,425,000 | 4 | 111.83 | 183 |
182 | Filip Hronek | 23 | D | $4,400,000 | 3 | 111.73 | NR |
183 | Justin Holl | 29 | D | $2,000,000 | 2 | 111.70 | 54 |
184 | Bo Horvat | 26 | F | $5,500,000 | 2 | 111.66 | 177 |
185 | William Nylander | 25 | F | $6,962,366 | 3 | 111.62 | 184 |
186 | Drake Batherson | 23 | F | $4,975,000 | 6 | 111.51 | 186 |
187 | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | 22 | F | $6,000,000 | 1 | 111.08 | 43 |
188 | Sam Reinhart | 25 | F | $6,500,000 | 3 | 111.05 | 188 |
189 | Miro Heiskanen | 22 | D | $8,450,000 | 8 | 110.93 | NR |
190 | Peyton Krebs | 20 | F | $863,333 | 3 | 110.89 | 190 |
191 | Arthur Kaliyev | 20 | F | $894,166 | 3 | 110.56 | NR |
192 | Seth Jones | 26 | D | $5,400,000 | 1 | 110.15 | 167 |
193 | Jack Studnicka | 22 | F | $769,167 | 1 | 110.07 | 185 |
194 | Aaron Ekblad | 25 | D | $7,500,000 | 4 | 109.96 | 193 |
195 | Jake Bean | 23 | D | $2,333,333 | 3 | 109.80 | 196 |
196 | Jaret Anderson-Dolan | 22 | F | $747,500 | 1 | 109.54 | 195 |
197 | Brett Pesce | 26 | D | $4,025,000 | 3 | 108.71 | 199 |
198 | Matthew Boldy | 20 | F | $880,833 | 3 | 108.65 | 200 |
199 | Filip Forsberg | 27 | F | $6,000,000 | 1 | 108.63 | NR |
200 | Kyle Capobianco | 24 | F | $775,000 | 1 | 108.48 | NR |