The 2022-23 NHL season drops the puck on Oct. 7 in Prague as the Predators and Sharks will play two games over the weekend as part of the 2022 NHL Global Series. Many 2022 Fantasy hockey drafts will be complete by then, though some will keep going on the board until the North American opener on Oct. 11. Either way, time is running out to formulate your 2022 Fantasy hockey draft strategy.
The latest 2022 Fantasy hockey ADP shows Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews and Nathan MacKinnon coming off the board in the first four picks in most drafts. Those are no-brainers early, but who are the top 2022 Fantasy hockey sleepers, breakouts and busts you need to know about this season? Before making any 2022 Fantasy hockey picks, check out the Fantasy hockey rankings 2022-23 from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Last year, the model predicted that Blues wing Vladimir Tarasenko would significantly outperform his 2021-22 Fantasy hockey ADP of 196. The result: Tarasenko went on to score 34 goals and dish out 48 assists for his first ever 80-point season and was a top-75 player in all of Fantasy hockey. It also predicted that Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov wouldn't live up to his top-30 ADP overall and he finished with just 31 points and a plus/minus of -20 to finish as the No. 81 defenseman in CBS Sports Fantasy hockey leagues.
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 2022-23 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 2022-23 Fantasy hockey rankings possible. Now the model has zeroed in on the 2022-23 NHL season, ranked every player, and found the top sleepers, breakouts and busts. See every pick here.
Top 2022-23 Fantasy hockey picks
One of the 2022-23 Fantasy hockey busts SportsLine has identified: Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. The 10-time All-Star finished with 44 total points last season (13 goals, 31 assists), which was his third-lowest career total out of the nine seasons that he's played at least 70 games. He also had a modest shooting percentage of 5.7% despite firing off the second-most shots of his career (456).
His shots on target percentage dipped to 49.8%, down from his final year in St. Louis during the 2019-20 season, when he put 53.8% of his shots on net. Pietrangelo finished with plus-minus of 7 last year, which was also the fourth-lowest mark in the 10 years he's played at least 70 games. His decline in effectiveness on the ice is one of the reasons the model projects him to have a major disparity between his production versus his 2022 Fantasy hockey ADP just outside of the top 65 overall players.
Another surprise: Sabres' defenseman Owen Power is one of the model's top Fantasy hockey breakouts. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft stayed at the University of Michigan for his sophomore year in 2021-22 and recorded almost a point per game for the Wolverines. The 19-year old then got a quick taste of NHL life at the end of last season as he appeared in eight games for Buffalo, recording three points as he logged more than 22 minutes of ice time per game.
He's expected to start the year in Buffalo, meaning Power has a chance to quickly become a Fantasy hockey standout. SportsLine's model grades him almost a full round better than his current Fantasy hockey ADP, so confidentially look for Power late in drafts and count on him to be an important depth piece who could really pay dividends later in the season.
How to find proven 2022-23 Fantasy hockey rankings
The model has also made a surprising call on new Blue Jackets winger Johnny Gaudreau after he led the NHL in points and led all forwards in Fantasy scoring a season ago. It also features a stunner in the top 10 you won't want to miss. You can only see the latest Fantasy hockey rankings 2022-23 here.
So what's the exact value of every NHL player in the 2022-23 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.
