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It’s that time of year again.

The time when you start building that mammoth excel spreadsheet with detailed player projections for hundreds of NHLers. You end up sitting awake until four o’clock in the morning trying to figure out who is going to be on every team’s first power-play unit, which goalies are destined for a time split, and who is the next Keith Yandle. After downing your fifth coffee, with shaking hands and bloodshot eyes, you say “screw it”, and decide you’re just going to tank this year and try to land Connor McDavid (not a bad plan, mind you).

Of course if you’re in a one-year league there is no such option, meaning it’s ‘win’, or be forced to listen to your jerk friend Steve go on and on about his fantasy dominance for another 12 painful months (man, I freakin’ hate Steve).

When developing a draft strategy I inevitably end up focusing on forwards first. That’s not to say there isn’t value to be had with defencemen and goaltenders – there certainly is. But in the majority of formats, forwards, especially those of the ‘star’ variety, have the greatest influence on your week-to-week production.

In the early rounds, nabbing one or two elite assets is always key. In previous seasons there was a case to be made around targeting an elite blueliner or tender, helping solidify positions that don’t generally boast a lot of quality depth. Today, with starting goalies playing less and less games (no one started more than 64 last year) and defencemen not-named-Karlsson falling prey to significant swings in value, the simplest approach is to select your team’s core forwards first.

Which is as good of place as any to start our preview:

The Superstars

I won’t waste any time talking about the BIG four. You know about them already. All of Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin and Stamkos will likely be off the board at the start of your draft

Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars

He’s been all over fantasy sites of late, with some outlets predicting he could un-seat Sidney Crosby as the league’s number one scorer. While that feels unlikely, he’s still in line for a terrific year. The addition of Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky, along with further maturation from Valeri Nichushkin, should give Dallas one of the better offensive groups in hockey.

Taylor Hall, Edmonton Oilers

At 22 years old, he’s entering what will be his peak production years. The only remaining issue with his stats is that pesky plus/minus (which is more of a team issue anyway). As Edmonton improves – which they will, one day – that issue will take care of itself. He may have the highest ceiling of anyone outside the BIG four. Not many players are capable of 35 goals and 55 assists, but he’s one.

John Tavares, New York Islanders

We’ve been waiting for his official breakout season, where he ascends from the ‘very good’ fantasy ranks to the ‘elite.’ Prior to his unlucky injury at the Olympics, 2013-14 looked like just that, with 66 points in 59 games (a 92 point pace). With the offseason additions of Halak, Grabovski and Kulemin, New York will ice its best roster since Tavares arrived. This could be the year Tavares starts to edge his way into that top group.

Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks

The former number one overall pick seems to have found some consistently in his production. It’s not that he was a disappointment before – far from it. But there was never any certainty as to whether a 70- or 80-point year was on the horizon. Now, he appears to have settled into the point-per-game, 250 shot range. With Chicago’s core remaining intact, there’s no reason to expect a step backwards in his game. He’ll be targeted in the late first round of most formats.

Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs

It might be time we start referring Mr. Kessel as one of fantasy’s preeminent assets. 2013-14 marked his third consecutive year as a top 10 scorer, and his sixth straight campaign with 30 or more goals (I’m going to go ahead and assume he would have accomplished it in the lockout shortened season). He’s the fulcrum of Toronto’s offence, and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon. The additions of David Booth and Daniel Winnik should help add some secondary scoring to a bottom six that was desperately in need of it. He may be a bit older than some of the “next” wave stars, but there are plenty of outstanding years left. And you can tell he takes his role as a fantasy superstar very serious.

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