We are running through all 32 teams, three fantasy players at a time, two new teams every weekday until all 32 are done. Today it is Pittsburgh and Washington.
Pittsburgh finished second in the Metropolitan last season with 98 points and is running it back, with Crosby and Malkin both in the last year of their deals. Washington finished three points behind in fourth and spent the summer paying for what comes after Ovechkin, eight years and $10.50M for Alex Tuch. Washington's top three rank 23rd of 32 on our board, Pittsburgh's 27th.
Fantasy points below are Yahoo-style scoring from our 2026-27 projections. The band after each is that player's floor and ceiling, not a guarantee.
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh
Crosby is 50th overall and the best fantasy player on either team. We project 30 goals, 51 assists and 81 points on 220 shots, with 28 power play points on a 70.7% share.
His band is 628 to 710, 82 points wide and the tightest of the six players here. His last five seasons read 84, 93, 94, 91 and 74 points, so the 81 we project sits above last season and below the four before it.
Last season is the one to read closely. He scored 74 points in 68 games on 160 shots, 2.35 per game and his lowest rate in five years, and he converted 18.1% of them, his highest. We project 220 shots at 13.6%. That is the volume coming back and the percentage coming down.
His availability is 92.9%, the highest in this article. He is 39, the captain, signed at $8.70M, and a free agent after this season.
Bryan Rust, Pittsburgh
Rust is 81st overall, 57 fantasy points behind Crosby. We project 30 goals, 35 assists and 65 points on 220 shots, the same shot total we give Crosby, with 15 power play points.
He has scored exactly 65 points in each of the last two seasons, on 191 and 183 shots. We project 65 again on 220, so the points hold while the volume rises.
His shooting percentage across five seasons reads 13.3, 9.5, 14.3, 16.2 and 15.8, so the rate we are asking for is a modest one. The volume is the real question. 220 shots would be his most in five years, and he turns 35 in May.
He also projects 72 blocks, second in this article to Tuch. He is 34 and signed at $5.12M through 2028.
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh
Malkin is 88th overall and 40 years old, a year younger than Ovechkin. We project 28 goals, 46 assists and 74 points on 185 shots, with 28 power play points, level with Crosby for the most here.
His band is 520 to 683, 163 points wide, and only Ovechkin's is wider. His last five seasons read 42, 83, 67, 50 and 61 points across 41, 82, 82, 68 and 56 games. Both lines swing hard year to year, which is what the wide band is measuring.
The case for drafting him is the power play. 28 power play points is level with Crosby, taken 38 picks earlier, and only two skaters drafted after Malkin project for as many: Drake Batherson at 97th and Shayne Gostisbehere at 101st. He is on 71.3% of Pittsburgh's unit.
His availability is 80.2%, the lowest in this article. He is signed at $5.50M through 2027.
Logan Thompson, Washington
Thompson is 57th overall, the highest-ranked Washington player and the 4th goalie on our board. We project 33 wins and a .909 save percentage.
The number to draft him for is GSAx. We project 30.9 goals saved above expected, 1st of the 72 goalies we project, though the margin is thinner than the ranking suggests: Ilya Sorokin is at 28.4 and Jeremy Swayman at 28.2.
The save percentage is the steady half: .914, .915, .908, .910 and .912, a range of seven thousandths across five years. The wins are a climb rather than a level, 10, 21, 25, 31 and 31, and they track a backup growing into a starter's job. The projection asks for 33, two more than either of the last two years.
He is 29 and signed at $5.85M through 2031.
Alex Ovechkin, Washington
Ovechkin is 60th overall at 41. We project 35 goals, 28 assists and 63 points on 275 shots, the most shots in this article, with 23 power play points.
He takes 91.6% of Washington's power play time, the highest share of any skater in the league. Evan Bouchard is next at 86.9%.
His band is 541 to 744, 203 points wide and the widest here. His last five seasons read 50, 42, 31, 44 and 32 goals on 334, 294, 272, 237 and 244 shots. We project 35 on 275, which asks for more volume than he has produced in either of the last two seasons.
He also projects 129 hits, the most in this article, and he played all 82 games last season. His availability is 91.7%. He is signed at $4.25M through 2027 and is a free agent after this season.
Alex Tuch, Washington
Tuch is 64th overall and the one player here who is not a power play asset. He takes 33.1% of Washington's power play and we project 13 power play points, the fewest in this article. Every other skater here sits above 69%.
What he gives you instead is everything else. We project 30 goals, 38 assists and 68 points on 204 shots, plus 83 blocks, the most in this article, and 90 hits, second to Ovechkin.
His last four seasons read 79, 59, 67 and 66 points. We project 68, inside that range.
He is 30, arrived from Buffalo in a sign-and-trade, and signed at $10.50M through 2034.
What we would actually do
Crosby is the pick of the six and the safest projection on the page: the tightest band, the highest availability, and 28 power play points at 39. Draft him on the shots coming back, not on last season's 18.1% holding.
Thompson is the one we would move up for. A goalie ranked 57th overall gives you a starter's workload and the best goals-saved-above-expected figure we project, which does two jobs at once in a league that counts wins and save percentage. The GSAx lead over Sorokin and Swayman is small, so take the workload and treat the ranking as a tiebreaker.
Ovechkin is the gamble and the band says so: 541 to 744, the widest here by 40 points. He owns 91.6% of a power play, which is as close to a guaranteed role as this list gets, and he is being asked for more shots than he has taken in two years.
Tuch is the one to target in a category league. 83 blocks and 90 hits from a winger who also projects 68 points is a rare combination, and he does it on a third of the power play, so none of his value depends on the top unit.
Malkin and Rust are the two to be careful with. Rust projects the same 65 points he has posted twice running, which is reasonable, but 220 shots would be his highest in five years. Malkin's 163-point band is the second widest here, and at 80.2% availability the 74 points assume a season he has played once in the last three.
Floor, ceiling and availability on all 406 skaters and 80 goalies, sortable.
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