January Fantasy Hockey Rankings: Left Wings

We're almost at the halfway point in the NHL season, and some pre-draft darlings just aren't cutting it. I'm looking at you Bobby Ryan, JvR, and, to a lesser extent, Rick Nash. Jeff Skinner gets bumped down because of the dreaded "C" word.

Moving up: "Fat" Ovi. You're welcome, owners of #8. Nothing like calling out someone as a fat ass to get 'em back in gear. Scott Hartnell. Dude just keeps producing. I had him much higher than consensus pre-draft, but he's bested even that. Brenden Morrow. When healthy, he's a Top 15 option.

Left Wing Rankings -->> Top 30

1. Daniel Sedin, LW (1)

2. James Neal, LW/RW (2)

3. Patrick Sharp, LW/C (3)

4. Alex Ovechkin, LW (6)

5. Ryan Kesler, LW/C (7)

Note: Left Wings are ranked for their expected performance from this point to the end of the 2011-2012 season using standard scoring league categories: Goals, Assists, Power Play Points, Shots on Goal, Plus/Minus, Penalty Minutes, and Average Time on Ice. Last month's ranking is indicated in parentheses.

6. Zach Parise, LW (8)

7. Thomas Vanek, LW (4)

8. Jamie Benn, LW/C (5)

9. Ilya Kovalchuk, LW (10)

10. Taylor Hall, LW (9)

11. Milan Lucic, LW (13)

12. Patrik Elias, LW/C (15)

13. Henrik Zetterberg, LW/C (17)

14. Scott Hartnell, LW (27)

15. Rick Nash, LW/RW (11)

16. Joffrey Lupul, LW/RW (21)

17. Brad Marchand, LW/C (23)

18. Patrick Marleau, LW (18)

19. Evander Kane, LW (20)

20. Ryane Clowe, LW (19)

21. Chris Kunitz, LW (25)

22. Brenden Morrow, LW (28)

23. Jeff Skinner, LW (12)

24. Bobby Ryan, LW (14)

25. Matt Moulson, LW (off)

26. Gabriel Landeskog, LW (30)

27. Max Pacioretty, LW (16)

28. Ray Whitney, LW (off)

29. Steve Ott, LW (24)

30. Brandon Dubinsky, LW (off)

On the bubble: Andrew Ladd, Tomas Fleischmann, Milan Michalek, Mike Cammalleri, Alexander Semin

**Re: position designations--if a player is listed with dual eligibility of W/C, he will be ranked among the wings.
If he is listed as a LW/RW he will be ranked at the position where he sees/has seen the most ice time.

***ESPN continues to add dual position eligibility, however, I am not updating as we'd be left with very few pure centres. It is a bit arbitrary, but should also improve one's ability to make player comparisons (by dividing the forwards out somewhat evenly).