The Six Ottawa Senators Who Made the NHL's Top 200 in Fantasy Hockey Rankings (No Jake Sanderson?)

Fantasy hockey isn't for everyone, but those who like it like it a lot. And even if you aren't a fan of it, it's always fun to bicker about the rankings.

NHL.com put out its top 200 NHL Fantasy rankings on the weekend, and the Senators were fairly well represented, with six players making the list.

The top ten overall were as follows.

1. Connor McDavid, C, EDM

2. Nathan MacKinnon, C, COL

3. Nikita Kucherov, RW, TBL

4. Auston Matthews, C, TOR

5. David Pastrnak, RW, BOS

6. Leon Draisaitl, C/LW, EDM

7. Artemi Panarin, LW, NYR

8. Mikko Rantanen, RW, COL

9. Brady Tkachuk, LW, OTT

10. Sidney Crosby, C, PIT

That's some damn fine company for the Ottawa Senators captain, who checks in at number nine. The rankings are based on the usual fantasy categories: For skaters, it's goals, assists, plus/minus, power-play points, shots on goal and hits. For goalies, it's wins, goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts.

The Senators who made the list are:

63. Tim Stützle, C, OTT

108. Claude Giroux, RW, OTT

132. Linus Ullmark, G, OTT

145. Drake Batherson, RW, OTT

192. Thomas Chabot, D, OTT

Speaking of fantasy, it seems a little unrealistic to include Chicago rookie defenceman Artyom Levshunov ahead of Jake Sanderson. Sanderson is entering his third season, which is, historically, when many young stars take flight. Levshunov hasn't played a game yet, and it typically takes longer for the D to develop.

Sanderson did squeak into the top 50 NHL defencemen at #44, four spots behind Chabot.

It also seems suspect to have Stutzle behind someone like Wyatt Johnston, for example. Johnston is excellent, but Stutzle had 90 points in 2022-23, and even in an off-year, he still outscored Johnston, who had 65 points last season.

But these kinds of lists are highly subjective, of course, so they're always to be taken with a grain of salt. It's just a little fun here in the dog days of summer, and every hockey fan will find at least one ranking or two they'll enjoy hollering about.

You can view NHL.com's entire top 200 here.