Different from points leagues, head-to-head category competition offers its own brand of fantasy fun in that a single goal, assist, power-play point, hit etc. can spell the difference between weekly victory and defeat. One lonesome digit of a save percentage or goals-against average carries the potential weight of swinging fortune in the favor of one manager over another.
With that view, here's a look at some so-named 'Category Giants', who offer distinct value by excelling in one field, while still contributing in other fantasy fashion.
Managers in ESPN's standard H2H game and other leagues (i.e. Roto) should also find the following useful, considering the significant overlap in valuing top performers in all fantasy disciplines.
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Goals
Auston Matthews scored a jaw-dropping 69 this past season, while Artemi Panarin waded into fresh fantasy territory with almost 50 (plus another 71 assists), and David Pastrnak dipped back to "only" 47. Then there was Nathan MacKinnon's first turn at eclipsing the 50-mark (51). Likely an unnecessary review, since most of us are fairly familiar with the heavy-hitters in the game's snazziest category, including newbies Zach Hyman (54) and Sam Reinhart (57), who both erupted for career numbers.
So, looking past the obvious superstars, Tage Thompson and Timo Meier both sport the wherewithal to improve on last year's mediocre tallies. I also expect a rebound campaign from Dallas's Jason Robertson on a top unit with Roope Hintz and new linemate Wyatt Johnston, who takes over for a retired Joe Pavelski. Kings forward Adrian Kempe is a 40-goal scorer who should return to such form after slipping to just 28 in 2023-24.
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Assists
Nobody needs to be told to draft Nikita Kucherov or Connor McDavid -- who both hit the century plateau in helpers -- or Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes, so let's move along. Blues forward Robert Thomas earned 60 assists this past season, while also rifling home 26 goals. Mitch Marner is a perennial top performer in setting up his gifted goal-scoring linemates. Ottawa's Tim Stutzle and Vancouver's Elias Pettersson are other standouts in this department, with the former likely to be available beyond the first few rounds. For the second straight season, 10 defenders exceeded 50 assists, including Victor Hedman and an underappreciated Morgan Rielly.
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Mark Scheifele, F, Winnipeg Jets
Mats Zuccarello, F, Minnesota Wild
Power-play points
Does former Golden Knight Jonathan Marchessault skate on the Predators' top power play with Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg, and Roman Josi this season? If so, I'm banking on more than the 17 points he earned with the extra skater in 2023-24. Prone to overachieve in this category, Minnesota's Zuccarello and Edmonton's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are likely to remain available once the fantasy scoring hotshots are off the board. Hurricanes' defender Shayne Gostisbehere wrapped 2023-24 seventh in power-play points with 29, ahead of Noah Dobson, John Carlson, Heiskanen and others.
Short-handed points
While there's little purpose in targeting a specific player with short-handed points in mind over another superior fantasy performer, if you're already looking at Travis Konecny, or Yegor Sharangovich in deeper leagues, go on then. Mika Zibanejad, J.T. Miller, and Pettersson also offer a little extra in pitching in production while down a skater. But we're still talking sums in the single digits, even for the very best at it.
Shots
If somehow needing that extra push in selecting Nathan MacKinnon first or second overall, know that the reigning Hart winner led the league with 4.94 shots/game in 2023-24 while competing in every single contest. A minor rate-dip after cranking out 5.15 the season previous. Beyond the MacKinnons -- and Pastrnaks and Mattheweses etc. -- Jack Hughes serves as a standout in shots on net, along with several other scoring categories. The 23-year-old is inarguably a top-10 category-league darling when healthy.
A bounce-back run in New Jersey should once again net 300-plus shots for Meier. Many anticipate a breakout season from Philadelphia's Owen Tippett, which should result in 30-plus goals and 300-plus shots (easily). While Roman Josi dominates defenders in this category, it's worth knowing that Werenski and Erik Karlsson are also inclined to fire on net much more often than others.
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Blocked shots
Ultimately, fantasy managers want to secure a defender who not only blocks a hefty number of shots, but also frequently contributes to the scoresheet. Detroit's Moritz Seider and Blues defenseman Colton Parayko both present as ideal candidates in this regard. MacKenzie Weegar serves as another gem after finishing sixth in most blocked shots this past season, while also scoring 20 goals and 32 assists. In deeper leagues, Matt Roy could help managers dominate this category as a late-round pickup. For what it's worth, Matthews and Trochek finished second and fourth respectively in blocked-shots amongst forwards. If managers somehow needed another reason to select either.
See also:
Nick Seeler, D, Philadelphia Flyers
Hits
As with blocked shots, you should target a keen banger who also pitches in otherwise. This is a good occasion to bring up Brady Tkachuk, fantasy royalty in the realm of category leagues. The Senators captain nearly does it all. Ranking fourth in shots on net, third in hits, and second in penalty minutes in 2023-24, Tkachuk also puts up impressive scoring numbers. He's as multi-dimensional as it gets. Defenders Seider, Rasmus Dahlin, and Jacob Trouba also like to throw their bodies around while contributing other healthy fantasy numbers. Reaching his prime, Utah forward Lawson Crouse is has the potential to serve as a sneaky physical performer in especially deep fantasy leagues.
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Faceoffs won
Sidney Crosby reigns in this category, and it isn't close. Ruling with 2,068 in the past two years, he leads the NHL's next runner-up, Anze Kopitar, by more than 300 faceoff wins. Consequently, there's cause to crank the Penguins' captain up your own fantasy rankings in competition that rewards such domination in the dot. Particularly since he's pretty adept at satisfying a host of other scoring categories. New York's Vincent Trocheck is another figure who boasts extra fantasy appeal with faceoff wins in mind, while Nashville center Ryan O'Reilly deserves additional consideration in deeper competition. Look for Nico Hischier and Elias Lindholm to put up solid numbers, if the former can stay healthy, and the latter settles in well as Boston's new No. 1 center.
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Goalie wins
You can't win from the bench. In pursuing victories, you want the busiest of goaltending bees on the very best teams. In addition to the more prominent fantasy names -- Vasilevskiy, Hellebuyck, Shesterkin and so forth -- Colorado's No. 1 merits attention. That happens to be Alexandar Georgiev, who won more games than any other netminder this past season. Others who deserve extra interest include Jacob Markstrom behind a better Devils' defense, Boston's new undisputed go-to, Jeremy Swayman, and Darcy Kuemper in Los Angeles. Of the fantasy cream, a freshly extended Juuse Saros is also bound to play, and win, plenty in Nashville.
Shutouts
As with short-handed points, a shutout falls too infrequently to merit chasing as an individual stat. Sure, through sheer opportunity, busier goalies on better teams stand a greater chance of blanking the opposition more often. But also know that Saros, Jake Oettinger, and Frederik Andersen all finished with three shutouts last year, despite a wide discrepancy in appearances (Saros: 64/Oettinger: 54/Andersen: 16). In his one and only NHL game for the Stars, (the other) Matt Murray blanked the Wild on 23 shots. A tangibly perfect season! In 55 appearances for the Senators, Joonas Korpisalo flawlessly denied no one.
Point is, you're best off selecting quality netminders, with a view to securing victories, then let the shutout chips fall where they may.
Save percentage
Unlike with wins, here's where a superior member of a goaltending tandem has the opportunity to really shine. One singular stellar performance from a solid part-timer could capture this category all on its own. Veteran Semyon Varlamov of the Islanders pops to mind, particularly if Ilya Sorokin sees a decrease in workload following offseason back surgery. The aforementioned Andersen knocked out a .932 SV% in 2023-24. Anthony Stolarz appeals in this sector, if Joseph Woll doesn't fully take over the reins in Toronto. Former Leafs netminder Ilya Samsonov also merits monitoring if he challenges Adin Hill for regular starts in Vegas.
Goals-against average
Again, it's more a matter of quality over quantity. Similarly to save percentage, here's space for solid tandem-team members in the fight to post as low a goals-against average as possible. Outside of the gaggle of select fantasy elites - Connor Hellebuyck, Sergei Bobrovsky etc. - Andersen's partner in Carolina, Pyotr Kochetkov (2.33 GAA in 2023-24) is an attractive option. As is Seattle's Joey Daccord (2.46 GAA). You're not going to snatch these guys before a Jeremy Swayman or Igor Shesterkin, but they could still prove rather useful as later draft picks in category leagues that reward such netminding numbers.
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