This week on Frozen Tool Forensics we are diving into the Yahoo rankings. I try to include some sort of Yahoo thematic article every year as there is a significant number of folks that use Yahoo as their platform and there are always some significant odd balls in the projections. Getting an idea of some players who are listed high or low can be a help on draft day. It helps remind drafters of players that might not be showing up in their standard cue, or if there are some players to avoid given their ranking.

For today's article we are going to look at the standard ranking that came in one of the leagues I am involved in. Ranks may deviate slightly depending on your settings, but the categories under consideration are goals, assists, power-play points, shots, hits, blocks, and faceoff wins. I have a number of other ranking sources and essentially am identifying places where Yahoo has significant deviation from those other sources.

First up we are going to dig into a few players that Yahoo is higher on than other sources.

Mark Stone is ranked 55 in my yahoo league. Players available almost immediately after Mark Stone include Jack Eichel, Kevin Fiala, Roman Josi, and Alex DeBrincat. On the one hand I can sort of understand this ranking. Mark Stone is an excellent player and when he plays, he typically puts up very strong numbers. The problem is his health. He has never played an 82-game season in his 12 -year career. So sure, on a per game level he is in the range of those other players, there is a significant risk drafting him like he is going to be available for the full season.

Andrei Kuzmenko is ranked 87th in my Yahoo league. Players available immediately after him include Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Marchessault, Mats Zuccarello, and Evan Bouchard. This one is a bit of a head scratcher to me. Based on his performance in 22-23 Kuzmenko ranked 192. So we should expect a player who put up almost 40 goals in 22-23 to improve on that performance by 100 ranks? That seems like a tall order particularly since Kuzmenko got those 38 goals by shooting above 26 percent. There are question marks as to whether or not he can just repeat his value from 22-23 let alone improve it by a significant margin.

Viktor Arvidsson is ranked 95th. Players available immediately after him include Brandon Montour, Andrei Svechnikov, Anze Kopitar, and Jonathan Marchessault. Same argument (but to a lesser extent) with Kuzmenko. Arvidsson had a nice season with about a 60-point pace and he provides extra value because he has good shooting numbers. But with all of that he ranked 126th last season. One of the best seasons of his career ranked him 126th and yet Yahoo is expecting him to improve? I have no issue with the player, but the ranking is too high.

Now let's hit a few players ranked too low.

Kris Letang is ranked 223rd. So, undrafted is most leagues. Now hear me out on this one. Yes, Erik Karlsson certainly puts his points and some of his time on ice into question. That drops his value for sure. But does that mean he is essentially un-roster-able? Not at all. Particularly in leagues that count peripheral categories, Letang has long contributed an excellent combination of points, shots, hits and blocks. Even in a 'down' year from a points perspective in 22-23 he still put up more than a block and a half per game, more than two and a half hits per game, and more than two and a half shots per game. He is essentially singular in that. Only Jacob Trouba put up comparable category coverage. Plus, Letang is just one injury away from being the go-to on the top power-play again.

Filip Forsberg is ranked 207. I get that injuries are a concern here, but how do you rank Forsberg 207 and Mark Stone 55? Is it possible he doesn't come back at all? Sure. But if you are going to wait until 207 to take that chance he is already gone. Someone else was willing to take the chance on a 70-point pace, three shots per game, and one hit-plus per game player when healthy.

Barrett Hayton is ranked 183. I will admit to this one being a bit more of a personal preference, but color me intrigued. From December 23rd (about when he saw a big jump in ice time) to the end of the season, Hayton put up 38 points in 51 games (about a 62-point pace), two and half shots per game, half a hit per game, and about nine faceoff wins. He was locked in with Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz at even strength and on the power play and only got better as the year progressed. So sure, don't overreach, see if he is falling, but he is certainly worth an earlier look.

And now for a bonus round:

It is a little hard to be critical of the 200's range because it is when we are all starting to take chances and hoping something hits, but guys like Marcus Johansson (202), and Tomas Tatar (199) kind of stand out. Both were ranked around the 330s based on 22-23's stats and has really much changed to improve their standing? As it stands now Tatar is unsigned and it seems like a poor decision to take a chance on someone who wasn't particularly valuable even when signed. Johansen is at least on a team with maybe second line minutes on the table, but again he wasn't valuable for more than a stream in 22-23, and there are no indications that he is going to be suddenly jumping in value for 23-24.

Lastly, Patrick Kane. He is currently ranked 170. This one is a bit pedantic honestly, but it is just another example of the confusing process used to come up with these rankings. Here we have an unsigned currently injured player who was ranked at 187th in 22-23. Obviously Kane was elite prior to 22-23 and we have to assume he will be signed somewhere at some point. For drafters it is just a guessing game. This is an interesting situation where his consensus ranks are a bit worse than his Yahoo 17recognition orating some hesitancy with his production, likely for the reasons above, plus you know age regression), but anyone hoping to draft him will likely have to take him a bit earlier than that because you know someone is going to draft on name recognition, or be hoping for a significant bounce back.

That is all for this week.

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