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Fantasy: 3 players primed for big seasons

Jerome Miron / USA TODAY Sports

Taylor Hall

It might be all the losing in Edmonton that casts shade on how good a player Taylor Hall is, but when it comes to the NHL's top offensive threats, he's right there among the very best. And when it comes to drafting your fantasy squad, Hall should be treated as such. 

Hall quietly rose to the ranks of the NHL's elite in 2013-14, recording 27 goals, 53 assists, 17 power-play points, 44 penalty minutes and 250 shots on goal in 75 games. He finished seventh in total points, but the seven missed games add further context to his offensive prowess. With 1.07 points per game, Hall was slotted behind only Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Getzlaf, John Tavares and Steven Stamkos in that category. Decent company, to be sure.

Another stat that demonstrates his proficiency is Individual Points Percentage, used to measure the percentage of five-on-five goals scored while a player is on the ice in which he registers a point. Hall led the NHL with an astonishing rate of 98.1 percent; Richard Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin was a distant second at 87.9.

If Hall's center - fellow first overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - can take similar steps forward, and if Edmonton's power play (ranked 21st last season) can show some improvement, Hall could be in for an even bigger bump in production, further staking his claim as a devastating force in fantasy hockey.

Victor Hedman

Only three defensemen finished ahead of Hedman in total points in 2013-14: Erik Karlsson, Duncan Keith, and Shea Weber. At five-on-five, that list shrinks to two, with Weber removed from the picture, and in terms of point per game, Hedman's mark of 0.73 tied him for third with Mark Giordano, again behind only Karlsson and Keith.

Hedman, the second overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, recorded career highs in goals (13), assists (42), and shots on goal (170). He was also a plus player (plus-five) and added 53 penalty minuted and six shorthanded points.

Interestingly, only 25.4 percent of his points came on the power play, as compared to 41.8 percent for Karlsson, 34.4 percent from Keith and 46.4 percent from Weber. This allowed him to finish first among all blue liners with 1.55 points per 60 minutes in five-on-five situations.

With a full season from a healthy Steven Stamkos (and a host of other talented forwards in Tampa Bay), and in light of Hedman's ability to push play at five-on-five, his point totals are primed to rise even further as the club's first unit power play quarterback from the blue line.

Braden Holtby

Holtby broke into the NHL during the 2010-11 season, and made a huge impression during the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs by outdueling Tim Thomas en route to a first-round upset of the reigning Stanley Cup champion Bruins. After a couple years of sharing the crease with a host of other would-be starters, the 25-year-old is finally in a position to grab hold of the number one job in Washington. 

One might argue he's already proven he belongs in any conversation about top-tier goalies. Over the past four years, Holtby ranks third among all goalies with five-on-five save percentage of .930 (minimum 3,000 minutes played), tied with Sergei Bobrovsky and behind only Tuuka Rask and Henrik Lundqvist. Decent company.

His time to shine coincides with the arrival of a decidedly defensively minded head coach in Barry Trotz, significant reinforcements on the Capitals' blue line, and goalie coach Mitch Korn (who worked with the likes of Dominik Hašek, Pekka Rinne, Grant Fuhr and Tomas Vokoun), all of which should serve to benefit fantasy owners looking for an off-the-radar, elite-level goalie.

More than likely to set a career high in games played, Holtby could crack 35 wins and five shutouts, and could very well be this season's version of Ben Bishop and Semyon Varlamov.

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