If your fantasy team has been ravaged by injuries, you might appreciate the December version of the Roto Rankings. There might be a record number of players hitting our injured list, meaning that they are removed from the rankings for the duration of their injury. Simply put, injury timelines are not definitive, even if there are good estimates. Valuating injured players relative to healthy players is difficult.

These injuries also mean that tons of new names enter the Roto Rankings this month. More specifically, some players that were not expected to be on this list at the start of the season are there now. Will they be able to hang onto their spots once the Top 100 regulars return from injury? What happens in the new year will be telling.

Because of the number of players being pulled out, you may notice some players who you might think should fall that have actually risen a little bit this month. Rankings are based on anticipated future production for the rest of the season and not necessarily past production this season.

Due to the number of injuries and COVID-related absences, it's possible that this list is not current by the time you view it. The list "should" account for all players injured/in COVID protocol as of before puck drop on Tuesday, December 14. The next update will be made in mid-January 2022.

Keep in mind that these are single-season rankings for a head-to-head or rotisserie league using the following settings: G, A, +/-, PPP, SOG, HIT, W, GAA, SV%. These rankings are intended for 2021-22 single-season leagues and are different from keeper rankings.

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Are there any players that you believe are ranked too high or too low? Did we miss anyone in the top 100, or is there a player there that probably shouldn't be? Let us know in the comments below, and we will consider your feedback when compiling next month's rankings.

Rank	Name	Position	Nov-21	Change	Comments
1	Connor McDavid	F	1	0	12/21 – Still #1 – convince us otherwise
2	Leon Draisaitl	F	2	0	12/21 – The main threat for #1
3	Alex Ovechkin	F	3	0	11/21 – Age not an issue – keeps on scoring
4	Auston Matthews	F	9	5	12/21 – Back scoring at a G/GP pace
5	Artemi Panarin	F	5	0
6	Nathan MacKinnon	F	4	-2	12/21 – Back from injury, but just 3 G in 15 GP
7	Jonathan Huberdeau	F	10	3
8	Mikko Rantanen	F	11	3	12/21 – Colorado is scoring at will
9	Andrei Vasilevskiy	G	12	3
10	Cale Makar	D	15	5	11/21 – Band-Aid Boy again
11	Adam Fox	D	17	6	12/21 – Gunning for another Norris Trophy
12	Victor Hedman	D	20	8	12/21 – Piling up the points, particularly assists
13	David Pastrnak	F	8	-5	11/21 – Not his best start, but low GP total for B’s
14	John Carlson	D	19	5
15	Matthew Tkachuk	F	21	6	11/21 – Scoring the main reason for his rise
16	Brady Tkachuk	F	22	6	12/21 – Scoring is up, further boosting value
17	Kyle Connor	F	24	7	11/21 – Continues to score goals
18	Roman Josi	D	31	13	12/21 – Bouncing back from disappointing 2020-21
19	Mika Zibanejad	F	18	-1	12/21 – Okay start, but goal total low
20	Patrick Kane	F	6	-14	12/21 – Not scoring at the rate we’re used to
21	Patrice Bergeron	F	25	4
22	Kirill Kaprizov	F	27	5
23	Sidney Crosby	F	34	11	12/21 – Looks like he’ll be just fine
24	Darnell Nurse	D	28	4	11/21 – Brady Tkachuk’s multicategories on defense
25	Dougie Hamilton	D	29	4
26	Max Pacioretty	F	NR		12/21 – Back from injury and taking lots of SOG
27	Mark Stone	F	32	5	11/21 – Back from week-to-week IR
28	John Tavares	F	35	7
29	Anze Kopitar	F	36	7	11/21 – Continues to be an underrated fantasy option
30	Frederik Andersen	G	37	7	11/21 – Carolina a great fit so far
31	Alex DeBrincat	F	38	7
32	Morgan Rielly	D	52	20	12/21 – Piling up the assists
33	Steven Stamkos	F	41	8
34	Johnny Gaudreau	F	43	9
35	Quinn Hughes	D	45	10
36	Aaron Ekblad	D	60	24	12/21 – Picking up from last season before injury
37	J.T. Miller	F	48	11	11/21 – Underrated multicategory beast, esp. with hits
38	Juuse Saros	G	49	11
39	Charlie McAvoy	D	50	11	11/21 – Hot start, also on PP1 finally
40	Mark Scheifele	F	33	-7	12/21 – Getting back on track after slow start
41	Kris Letang	D	42	1	12/21 – Still lots of assists, but only 1 G
42	Connor Hellebuyck	G	44	2	11/21 – Slow start and also missed time
43	Nikolaj Ehlers	F	51	8
44	William Nylander	F	53	9	11/21 – Scoring at his best pace yet
45	Elias Pettersson	F	46	1	12/21 – Struggling, but will coaching change help?
46	Shea Theodore	D	54	8
47	Ilya Sorokin	G	58	11
48	Tyson Barrie	D	39	-9	12/21 – Well off last season’s scoring pace
49	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	F	59	10	11/21 – Piling up the assists
50	Evgeny Kuznetsov	F	77	27	11/21 – Nice bounce-back season
51	Tristan Jarry	G	74	23	12/21 – Having his best season yet
52	Jacob Markstrom	G	73	21	11/21 – Shutouts leader finally settling in with CGY
53	Jack Campbell	G	71	18	12/21 – Mrazek back, will that affect starts?
54	Alex Pietrangelo	D	68	14	11/21 – Appears to be sharing PP1 with Theodore
55	Seth Jones	D	70	15
56	Chris Kreider	F	75	19	11/21 – Hot scoring to start the year
57	Neal Pionk	D	62	5	12/21 – Back from concussion protocol
58	Sergei Bobrovsky	G	72	14	11/21 – Clearly the starter for a top team
59	Robin Lehner	G	40	-19	12/21 – Getting W’s, but ratios a concern
60	Vladimir Tarasenko	F	76	16	11/21 – Helping his trade value
61	Drew Doughty	D	81	20	12/21 – Was having strong roto season before injury
62	Nazem Kadri	C	NR		12/21 – An incredible rate of scoring
63	Filip Forsberg	F	86	23	12/21 – Back from injury
64	Pierre-Luc Dubois	F	NR		12/21 – Impressive bounceback season
65	Timo Meier	F	94	29	12/21 – Over a PT/GP plus peripherals
66	Vincent Trocheck	F	67	1	11/21 – Strong peripherals again
67	Jonathan Marchessault	F	66	-1	12/21 – Light in A/PPP
68	Ondrej Palat	F	82	14
69	Sam Reinhart	F	83	14
70	Joe Pavelski	F	84	14	11/21 – Picking it up after slow start
71	Cam Talbot	G	90	19	11/21 – Could be better, but still the starter
72	Darcy Kuemper	G	61	-11	12/21 – Injuries and subpar ratios
73	Brock Boeser	F	79	6	12/21 – Boudreau bump keeps him from falling
74	Nick Suzuki	F	69	-5	12/21 – Production spotty like many Habs
75	Sean Couturier	F	64	-11	12/21 – Can coaching change help?
76	Torey Krug	D	63	-13	12/21 – Long point drought last period
77	Elvis Merzlikins	G	92	15	11/21 – Deep sleeper value to start season
78	Moritz Seider	D	99	21	11/21 – Rookie already looks like real deal
79	Mackenzie Weegar	D	NR		12/21 – Same as Nurse last season in PTS, HITS, and +/-
80	Troy Terry	F	95	15	12/21 – Cooled off after point streak
81	Kevin Fiala	F	98	17	12/21 – Keep here for second-half value
82	Martin Necas	F	87	5	11/21 – Picking it up after slow start
83	Drake Batherson	F	NR		12/21 – Leading the Sens in scoring
84	Jacob Trouba	D	NR		12/21 – Hits, blocked shots, and a little offense
85	Pavel Buchnevich	F	NR		12/21 – Hitting his stride after slow start
86	Ilya Samsonov	G	NR		12/21 – Estabishing himself as starter again
87	Carter Hart	G	100	13	12/21 – Can coaching change help?
88	Teuvo Teravainen	F	NR		12/21 – Back on the list after 2020-21 injuries
89	Sam Bennett	F	NR		12/21 – Was always multicat threat, now scoring too
90	Lucas Raymond	F	NR		12/21 – Calder Trophy candidate
91	Logan Couture	F	NR		12/21 – Back scoring at a higher pace
92	Ryan Hartman	F	NR		12/21 – Unexpected addition, but strong in multicats
93	Linus Ullmark	G	NR		12/21 – Will need to fend off Swayman, maybe Rask
94	Thatcher Demko	G	NR		12/21 – 4 W under new coach, high volume starter
95	Matt Dumba	D	NR		12/21 – Benefitting from Minnesota’s success
96	Jason Robertson	F	NR		12/21 – Rebounding after slow start
97	Joel Eriksson Ek	F	NR		12/21 – Power-play usage helping value
98	Marcus Foligno	F	NR		12/21 – Bangers league wonder with goals now too
99	Radko Gudas	D	NR		12/21 – Little scoring but dominates hits
100	Mikael Granlund	F	NR		12/21 – Piling up assists

Out	Semyon Varlamov	G	91		12/21 – 0 W as of Dec 13
	Ryan O’Reilly	F	81		12/21 – Scoring dried up, light in other categories
	Taylor Hall	F	80		12/21 – Scoring well off late last season’s pace
	Tyler Bertuzzi	F	93		12/21 – Just returning from COVID protocol (surprise!)
	Tyler Seguin	F	65		12/21 – No assists in nearly a month

Injured	Evgeni Malkin	F			9/21 – Indefinite return date from surgery
	Jack Eichel	F			11/21 – Finally has a team, now the surgery
	Carey Price	G			10/21 – Out indefinitely (player assistance program)
	Nikita Kucherov	F			11/21 – Lower-body surgery
	Jake Guentzel	F	26		12/21 – Week-to-week with UBI
	Brayden Point	F	16		12/21 – On IR (UBI)
	Mitch Marner	F	14		12/21 – Shoulder injury from practice
	David Perron	F	55		12/21 – Out with upper-body injury
	Bryan Rust	F	88		12/21 – Week-to-week with LBI
	Tyler Toffoli	F	85		12/21 – Out for weeks with UBI
	Blake Wheeler	F	86		12/21 – Knee injury
	Jordan Binnington	G	89		12/21 – In COVID protocol but could return soon
	Gabriel Landeskog	F	23		12/21 – Sidelined about two weeks
	Igor Shesterkin	G	57		12/21 – Standout season before injury
	John Gibson	G	96		12/21 – Yet another injury
	Aleksander Barkov	F	7		12/21 – Back on IR after brief return
	Sebastian Aho	F	13		12/21 – COVID protocol at time of posting
	Devon Toews	D	NR		12/21 – Was going to be added, but COVID protocol
	Mathew Barzal	F	78		12/21 – COVID protocol at time of posting
	Brad Marchand	F	4		12/21 – COVID protocol at time of posting
	Andrei Svechnikov	F	30		12/21 – COVID protocol at time of posting
	Elias Lindholm	F	47		12/21 – COVID protocol at time of posting
	Roope Hintz	F	97		12/21 – On IR at time of posting
	Tom Wilson	F	56		12/21 – Day to day at time of posting

UPCOMING GAMES

Dec 27 - 19:12	DET	vs	TOR
Dec 27 - 19:12	BUF	vs	CHI
Dec 27 - 19:12	CBJ	vs	BOS
Dec 27 - 19:12	N.J	vs	CAR
Dec 27 - 20:12	DAL	vs	MIN
Dec 27 - 20:12	STL	vs	NSH
Dec 27 - 21:12	UTA	vs	COL
Dec 27 - 22:12	S.J	vs	VGK