Hello, I hope you're doing well and laying low at this time. A special shout out to all the health-care workers working the frontlines of this pandemic, plus anyone else who is working extra hard during this time.

The Anaheim Ducks have signed 2019 first-round pick Trevor Zegras to a three-year, entry-level contract. Now that he has left college, Zegras is a strong bet to be on the Ducks' roster next season (or even if the regular season somehow resumes). For more on Zegras, see his Dobber Prospects profile.

We haven't been given names of the Senators or Avalanche players who tested positive for COVID-19. However, broadcasters Gord Wilson (Ottawa) and John Kelly (St. Louis) have both tested positive for the coronavirus. Hoping for the best for both.

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Last week (Saturday and Sunday) I discussed assist-heavy forwards, noting on Sunday that no forward had been in the top 25 of assists per goal over all of the previous three seasons. In response to that, reader Jason Gagnon suggested: "If you redo the analysis after removing secondary assists, I’m assuming you’ll find more repeat players over years, and maybe one that appears in all three years." I'm willing to put that to the test.

For ease of pulling data for the reports below, I have taken players who finished in the top 100 in total assists each season, as opposed to players who finished with a minimum of 20 assists as I had last week. That will reduce the list, but not by much, as the cutoff for all three seasons was fewer than 30 assists.

A1 = primary assists

A2 = secondary assists

A1/G = primary assists per goal

2019-20

Player	GP	G	A	A1	A2	P	A1/G
Jakub Voracek	69	12	44	28	16	56	2.333
Ryan O’Reilly	71	12	49	27	22	61	2.250
Teuvo Teravainen	68	15	48	32	16	63	2.133
Pavel Zacha	65	8	24	17	7	32	2.125
Robert Thomas	66	10	32	21	11	42	2.100
Mitchell Marner	59	16	51	32	19	67	2.000
Joe Thornton	70	7	24	13	11	31	1.857
Nick Schmaltz	70	11	34	20	14	45	1.818
Taylor Hall	65	16	36	28	8	52	1.750
Jonathan Huberdeau	69	23	55	39	16	78	1.696
Mathew Barzal	68	19	41	30	11	60	1.579
Vincent Trocheck	62	11	27	17	10	38	1.545
Nikita Gusev	66	13	31	20	11	44	1.538
Ryan Strome	70	18	41	27	14	59	1.500
Chris Tierney	71	11	26	16	10	37	1.455
Nicklas Backstrom	61	12	42	17	25	54	1.417
Josh Bailey	68	14	29	19	10	43	1.357
Jonathan Toews	70	18	42	24	18	60	1.333
Mark Stone	65	21	42	28	14	63	1.333
Johnny Gaudreau	70	18	40	24	16	58	1.333
Dylan Strome	58	12	26	16	10	38	1.333
Nick Suzuki	71	13	28	17	11	41	1.308
Brad Marchand	70	28	59	36	23	87	1.286
William Karlsson	63	15	31	19	12	46	1.267
Sidney Crosby	41	16	31	20	11	47	1.250

2018-19

Player	GP	G	A	A1	A2	P	A1/G
Chris Tierney	81	9	39	23	16	48	2.556
Blake Wheeler	82	20	71	47	24	91	2.350
Phillip Danault	81	12	41	26	15	53	2.167
Mikkel Boedker	71	7	28	15	13	35	2.143
Ryan Johansen	80	14	50	29	21	64	2.071
Mitchell Marner	82	26	68	52	16	94	2.000
Teuvo Teravainen	82	21	55	36	19	76	1.714
Mikael Granlund	79	16	38	27	11	54	1.688
Claude Giroux	82	22	63	37	26	85	1.682
Josh Bailey	82	16	40	26	14	56	1.625
Artemi Panarin	79	28	59	44	15	87	1.571
David Krejci	81	20	53	31	22	73	1.550
Evgeni Malkin	68	21	51	31	20	72	1.476
Brayden Schenn	72	17	37	25	12	54	1.471
Jakub Voracek	78	20	46	29	17	66	1.450
Jonathan Drouin	81	18	35	26	9	53	1.444
Joe Thornton	73	16	35	23	12	51	1.438
Mats Zuccarello	48	12	28	17	11	40	1.417
Sidney Crosby	79	35	65	49	16	100	1.400
Connor McDavid	78	41	75	57	18	116	1.390
Nicklas Backstrom	80	22	52	30	22	74	1.364
Clayton Keller	82	14	33	19	14	47	1.357
Jonathan Huberdeau	82	30	62	40	22	92	1.333
Paul Stastny	50	13	29	17	12	42	1.308
Nikita Kucherov	82	41	87	53	34	128	1.293

2017-18

Player	GP	G	A	A1	A2	P	A1/G
Henrik Sedin	82	3	47	13	34	50	4.333
Ryan Getzlaf	56	11	50	34	16	61	3.091
Henrik Zetterberg	82	11	45	32	13	56	2.909
Max Domi	82	9	36	22	14	45	2.444
David Perron	70	16	50	34	16	66	2.125
Blake Wheeler	81	23	68	48	20	91	2.087
Jakub Voracek	82	20	65	41	24	85	2.050
Tyler Bozak	81	11	32	21	11	43	1.909
Kevin Labanc	77	11	29	20	9	40	1.818
Josh Bailey	76	18	53	30	23	71	1.667
Mathew Barzal	82	22	63	35	28	85	1.591
Dylan Larkin	82	16	47	25	22	63	1.563
Oliver Bjorkstrand	82	11	29	17	12	40	1.545
Derek Stepan	82	14	42	21	21	56	1.500
Mats Zuccarello	80	16	37	23	14	53	1.438
Johnny Gaudreau	80	24	60	34	26	84	1.417
William Nylander	82	20	41	28	13	61	1.400
Leon Draisaitl	78	25	45	34	11	70	1.360
Mikael Backlund	82	14	31	19	12	45	1.357
Steven Stamkos	78	27	59	36	23	86	1.333
Jonathan Drouin	77	13	33	17	16	46	1.308
Mark Stone	58	20	42	26	16	62	1.300
Artemi Panarin	81	27	55	35	20	82	1.296
Corey Perry	71	17	32	22	10	49	1.294
Nicklas Backstrom	81	21	50	27	23	71	1.286

I was able to find three forwards that appeared for all three years, all of whom have played in the Metropolitan Division during this time. Let's expand on each forward, as well as what the numbers could mean from a fantasy perspective.

Jakub Voracek

It's unfortunate that the season ended when it did for both Voracek and the previously red-hot Flyers. Voracek had recorded ten points (all assists) over his last six games on the Flyers' top line with Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier.

On Saturday I noted that Ryan O'Reilly was the overall leader in assists per goal. However, ROR posted six more secondary assists than Voracek with roughly the same number of primary assists. In fact, it's remarkable how similarly ranked the two players have been in 2019-20.

Name GP G A PTS PPP SOG +/- Hits

RYAN O’REILLY 71 12 49 61 18 118 11 16

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JAKUB VORACEK 69 12 44 56 17 132 14 17

Voracek is clearly an assist-heavy forward, having scored just 12 goals this season while reaching 20 goals in each of his previous three seasons. Over his 12-year career, Voracek's career high is 23, so it seems unlikely that the 30-year old winger will ever reach the 30-goal mark in his career.

Assists-wise, Voracek ranks 17^th among all players in assists over the last three seasons and is 8^th among all players in assists over the last six seasons. When it comes to primary assists, he's ranked similarly (16^th and 10^th, respectively) over the same spans.

In terms of his value in multicategory leagues (ie. Top 100 Roto Rankings), I'd consider Voracek a bubble top-100 player. In pure points leagues, Voracek could be considered a top-50 player. That value drops in roto leagues for a number of reasons. One is that the point total is assist-heavy, and goals are more valuable than assists because there are fewer of them. Another is his hits total, which is about 20 per season – not much higher than Phil Kessel. Other categories check out okay, although his shots total has dipped to 132 this season after he posted 200+ shots over each of the previous six seasons.

Nicklas Backstrom

The first player that I honestly guessed as at the top of the assists per goal list is Backstrom. Although he has had four 20-goal campaigns entering 2019-20, he is/was on pace for fewer than 20 goals this season. Backstrom has a slightly lower than expected 9.1 SH%, which could be partially due to an age-related decline from the 32-year-old center. Backstrom's career high of 33, set way back in 2009-10, seems like an outlier, since he has never reached even reached 25 goals in any other season.

Backstrom is as consistent as it gets when it comes to assists. Entering this season, he had posted at least 50 assists over each of his previous six seasons. That makes him the top assist-getter since the 2013-14 season. As many players' production has increased over the past few seasons, Backstrom's has declined slightly, as he is 22^nd in total assists over the past three seasons.

His current production and consistent deployment with Alex Ovechkin on the top line and first-unit power play means that the 32-year-old should push for 20 goals and 50 assists again, so something close to 70 points should be expected again next season. Aside from that, Backstrom has okay-but-not-great non-banger peripherals, which this season have been very similar to Voracek and O'Reilly listed above. And like Voracek and O'Reilly, Backstrom's value should be higher in points leagues than it is in multicategory leagues, particularly bangers leagues.

On a side note, has Backstrom had a Hall of Fame career, or is he simply someone for the Hall of Very Good? I'd love some opinions on that one.

Josh Bailey

Since Bailey's first full season back in 2009-10, he has never recorded a 20-goal season. Not even during his "breakout" 2017-18, when he recorded 71 points in John Tavares' final season on the Island. With 14 goals in 68 games, that wasn't likely to change this season. To give you an idea how unlikely Bailey is to reach 20 goals, the last time a player recorded his first 20-goal season at age 30 or higher was in 2013-14, when Joel Ward reached that milestone at age 33.

Bailey is essentially a poor man's Backstrom (or Voracek or O'Reilly). Even though he has peaked over the last four seasons, he still falls behind the other three in assists over the past three seasons. To his credit, though, he followed up Tavares' departure with his third consecutive 40-assist campaign. On his current pace this season, he was likely just going to fall short of that total.

A closer look at his peripheral categories shows a player that should only be drafted in deeper leagues. Bailey had failed to reach even 100 shots (just over one shot per game) at the time the league shut down, while his power-play point totals were about half that of Backstrom, Voracek, and O'Reilly. The other peripheral categories are no better, so if Bailey isn't chipping in assists, he's providing little else to your roster. In a Barry Trotz-led defensive system, don't expect that assist total to jump either.

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Since there isn't a ton happening in the hockey world right now, feel free to leave any questions or comments, and I may discuss them in a future Ramblings. For more fantasy hockey information, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.