A look at the top players from the Boston Bruins that could be valuable in building your winning fantasy hockey team for the 2023-24 season.
David Pastrnak (LW)
Fantasy Rankings: 4 – NHL.com | 4 – ESPN | 7 – Daily Faceoff
Generally, Pastrnak has been a fairly consistent scorer since the 2016-17 season. He’s registered 70 or more points in six of the last seven seasons, and set a career high with 113 points in last season’s historic and record-breaking year. But, and there’s a big but, the lineup this year is missing two critical components that helped Pastrnak get to that high-water mark: David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron. While Pastrnak has the offensive ability to make points happen on his own, how he is deployed this season could move him out of the top tier of fantasy targets. He should be atop that second tier for sure, though.
Brad Marchand (LW)
Fantasy Rankings: 34 – NHL.com | 207 – ESPN | 52 – Daily Faceoff
Of the Boston players this season, Marchand is the most primed for a falloff when it comes to fantasy hockey. First, he lost his long-time linemate. Then, he had one of his lowest productions last season. At the age of 35, that downturn could be a foreshadowing of a player on the backend of his career. However, he’ll still be in a top six role this year, and — if they find the right center to put next to him — will likely still put up decent points, power play points, and faceoff wins. Mix in the fact that every now and then the pest comes out, Marchand is a solid second-tier target for forwards.
Linus Ullmark (G)
Fantasy Rankings: 39 – NHL.com | 38 – ESPN | 46 – Daily Faceoff
The reigning Vezina winner should be a shoe-in for top of the draft board at their position…right? Well, that depends. A lot of question marks are yet to be answered on how the team absorbs the loss of key players. If they can maintain the defensive structure that saw them capture the Jennings Trophy (because you don’t win that award for goaltenders without a team commitment to defense), then the key goaltending stats in your fantasy league like goals against average, shutouts, and wins should move Ullmark high up the list. However, there are plenty of other goalies that will see a larger number of games played and could outscore him on the wins category, so that could drop Ullmark to a good second goaltender option on your draft board.
Charlie McAvoy (D)
Fantasy Rankings: 47 – NHL.com | 49 – ESPN | 46 – Daily Faceoff
Puck-moving defensemen will always be atop the wish list at this position for fantasy hockey, as they’re likely to garner assists, shots on goal, and other offensive statistical categories. McAvoy is consistently above average in most statistical categories for fantasy hockey. Where he’s been dinged in the past is in shots on goal. However, with the offense taking a bit of a hit upfront, you have to wonder if one way the system might get tweaked is a larger emphasis on generating offense from that backend. While other top-pairing defenseman might be your targets for your first blueliner drafted, McAvoy would be a top target for your second one.