Finding value at the goalie position in 2021-22 Fantasy hockey drafts sometimes comes down to taking chances on players who are coming back from tough situations. Washington goalie Ilya Samsonov's numbers coming out of last year don't look great, but COVID interrupted much of his 2020-21, and an injury ended his prior campaign in the playoffs. After the tough run, his current 2021-22 Fantasy hockey ADP has been just south of 65 overall.
This season, he needs to hold off Vitek Vanecek for the starting role, but if he can do that, Washington should have enough pieces in place for Somsonov to have a strong 2021-22. Where should he be in your 2021-22 Fantasy hockey rankings, and which other potential Fantasy hockey sleepers, breakouts and busts should you be aware of?
Before setting your 2021 Fantasy hockey draft strategy, check out the Fantasy hockey rankings 2021-22 from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Last year, the model predicted Andre Burakovsky would have a top-100 season despite the fact that he was going undrafted, and the Avalanche winger produced 19 goals and 25 assists in 53 games. It also predicted Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry wouldn't live up to his top-70 Fantasy hockey ADP and he saw his GAA drop from 2.43 to 2.75 and his save percentage fall from .921 to .909 season over season.
The model was created by Mike McClure, a predictive data engineer and professional daily Fantasy player with almost $2 million in career winnings. He's used his prediction model to simulate the entire 2021-22 NHL schedule 10,000 times and identify the top Fantasy hockey sleepers, breakouts and busts. Head to SportsLine now to see them.
McClure's model takes factors such as player history, schedule, injuries and matchups into account to create the most unbiased 2021-22 Fantasy hockey rankings possible. Now the model has zeroed in on the 2021-22 NHL season, ranked every player, and found the top sleepers, breakouts and busts. See every pick here.
Top 2021-22 Fantasy hockey picks
One of the 2021-22 Fantasy hockey busts SportsLine has identified: Jakob Chychrun. The 23-year-old Arizona Coyotes defenseman led all NHL defenders in scoring last season with 18 goals. Arizona primarily addressed attacking needs on its roster in the offseason, and Chychrun will bear the brunt of the load on defense this season. Last year he was logging more minutes on the ice than ever, and in 2021-22, the Coyotes are thinner and more inexperienced on defense than other teams.
Chychrun was likely due for a bit of goal-scoring regression already, but Arizona is going to have to keep him upright and active this season. If Chychrun goes down, the Coyotes would have a concerning scenario on their blue line. He played every game in 2020-21, but the NHL moved back to 82 games this year. Chychrun's current Fantasy hockey ADP is falling in the sixth round, but SportsLine's model projects that his true 2021-22 value places him as an early ninth-rounder.
Another surprise: Jeremy Swayman is one of the model's top 2021-22 Fantasy hockey breakouts. The Bruins goalkeeper is a great stash option. He'll start the season as the second option behind Linus Ullmark, but Swayman was impressive in his opportunities last season. In 10 2020-21 starts, he went 7-3 with a .945 save percentage and 1.55 goals against average. Ullmark came over after six years in Buffalo, but in about twice the sample size last year, he had a .917 save percentage and 2.63 goals against average.
The Bruins allowed the fourth-fewest goals in the league last season. However, primary goalie Tuukka Rask, took just a .667 quality start percentage from his 24 appearances. Swayman finished with a .900 mark in his 10 games in the cage. Ullmark finished with the lowest quality start ratio of his career last season, at .550. As a player that is going undrafted in 10-team leagues, Swayman could be a great addition for the second half of the year with a chance to finish as the starter for Boston.
How to find proven 2021-22 Fantasy hockey rankings
The model has also made a surprising call on new Blackhawks goalie and last year's Vezina winner Marc-Andre Fleury, and it features a stunner in the top 10 you won't want to miss. You can only see the latest Fantasy hockey rankings 2021-22 here.
So what's the exact value of every NHL player in the 2021-22 Fantasy hockey rankings? And what surprising player cracked the top 10? Visit SportsLine now to get Fantasy hockey rankings, all from a DFS pro who has won almost $2 million in his career and has simulated the entire NHL season 10,000 times, and find out.
