Why Shattenkirk playing for the Rangers is good for fantasy

A big reason why Kevin Shattenkirk chose the New York Rangers was the opportunity to play on the same team as Ryan McDonagh.

Shattenkirk was offered more money by other teams but chose his hometown Rangers at a reasonable price of $26.6 million over four years.

"Ryan McDonagh was a big part of my decision," Shattenkirk said. "My goal is to be a phenomenal defenseman in all aspects, and I think that Ryan McDonagh will help me achieve that. It was a major part of my decision to be able to play with one of the best." The Rangers trade with Montreal for McDonagh years ago keeps paying benefits.

The native of New Rochelle, New York gave up money to go back home and play for the Rangers. Shattenkirk is an offensive stud who is nothing special defensively but he should quarterback the Rangers power play. That should get him to the 45-50 point mark but he will need help in his own zone during five-on-five play. Draft him in the fourth or fifth round if points are your only consideration.

Shattenkirk scored 13 goals and 56 points in 80 games in 2016-17. He will continue to be an effective fantasy asset next season.

TNZ Fantasy's Top 25 goaltenders for 2017-18

Please note: We will update this list throughout the offseason and beginning of 2017-18 season. The updates will probably change the rankings because of players signing with/being traded to new teams, which may increase and/or decrease fantasy value.

As we await the 2017-18 NHL season, Carey Price seems to be the NHL's top goaltender in terms of fantasy value and production.

But if you notice that Matt Murray is No. 2 on our list, that is because he will definitely take over tge starting goaltending position for the Pittsburgh Penguins with Marc-Andre Fleury being taken by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft.

Braden Holtby is No. 3, followed by Columbus' Sergei Bobrovsky at No. 4 and St. Louis' Jake Allen at No. 5.

Here are our Top 25 goaltenders heading into the 2017-18 NHL season:

1. Carey Price, MTL
2. Matt Murray, PIT
3. Braden Holtby, WSH
4. Sergei Bobrovsky, CBJ
5. Jake Allen, STL
6. Cam Talbot, EDM
7. Pekka Rinne, NSH
8. John Gibson, ANA
9. Devan Dubnyk, MIN
10. Martin Jones, SJS
11. Tuukka Rask, BOS
12. Jonathan Quick, LAK
13. Ben Bishop, DAL
14. Corey Crawford, CHI
15. Henrik Lundqvist, NYR
16. Brian Elliott, PHI
17. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL
18. Frederik Andersen, TOR
19. Mike Smith, CGY
20. Cory Schneider, NJD
21. Craig Anderson, OTT
22. Jaroslav Halak, NYI
23. Scott Darling, CAR
24. Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK
25. Robin Lehner, BUF (RFA)

Honorable Mentions: Connor Hellebuyck, WPG (RFA); Roberto Luongo, FLA; Steve Mason, WPG; Jimmy Howard, DET; James Reimer, FL

TNZ Fantasy's Top 50 defensemen for 2017-18

Please note: We will update this list throughout the offseason and beginning of 2017-18 season. The updates will probably change the rankings because of players signing with/being traded to new teams, which may increase and/or decrease fantasy value.

When we were making this list of defenseman rankings, we were loojing at fantasy value and production, and that was what we mainly took into consideration for these rankings.

Brent Burns was the top blueliner last season and took home the Norris Trophy. But before Burns' rise to the top, Erik Karlsson, who is No. 2 on our lost, was the top d-man in the NHL.

A huge influence in tbese rankings was the New York Rangers landing defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk was one of the top players on his teams when he played for St. Louis and Washington, and he shod be able to do the sabe with the Rangers. Shattenkirk will most likely paired with Ryan McDonagh most of the season, and the two together can be a great defensive combination.

Here are our Top 50 defenseman for the 2017-18 NHL season.

1. Brent Burns, SJS
2. Erik Karlsson, OTT (INJ.)
3. Victor Hedman, TBL
4. Dustin Byfuglien, WPG
5. Roman Josi, NSH
6. Kris Letang, PIT (INJ.)
7. Duncan Keith, CHI
8. Dougie Hamilton, CGY
9. Kevin Shattenkirk, NYR
10. Shea Weber, MTL
11. Drew Doughty, LAK
12. Torey Krug, BOS (INJ.)
13. P.K. Subban, NSH
14. Zach Werenski, CBJ
15. Alex Pietrangelo, STL
16. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, ARI
17. Rasmus Ristolainen, BUF
18. Justin Schultz, PIT
19. Ryan Suter, MIN
20. Shayne Gostisbehere, PHI
21. Justin Faulk, CAR
22. Mark Giordano, CGY
23. Ryan McDonagh, NYR
24. Jake Gardiner, TOR
25. John Klingberg, DAL
26. Oscar Klefbom, EDM
27. Aaron Ekblad, FLA
28. Ryan Ellis, NSH
29. Keith Yandle, FLA
30. Cam Fowler, ANA
31. Jared Spurgeon, MIN
32. John Carlson, WSH
33. Seth Jones, CBJ
34. Colton Parayko, STL (RFA)
35. Zdeno Chara, BOS
36. Jacob Trouba, WPG
37. Matt Dumba, MIN
38. Ivan Provorov, PHI
39. Brent Seabrook, CHI
40. Jaccob Slavin, CAR
41. Dion Phaneuf, OTT
42. Tyson Barrie, COL
43. Matt Niskanen, WSH
44. Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJS
45. Jake Muzzin, LAK
46. Shea Theodore, VGK
47. Josh Manson, ANA
48. Dmitry Orlov, WSH
49. Nick Leddy, NYI
50. Brandon Carlo, BOS 

Honorable Mentions: Trevor Daley (DET), Alec Martinez (LAK), Morgan Rielly (TOR), Nikita Zaitsev (TOR), Sami Vatanen (ANA - INJ.), TJ Brodie (CGY), Josh Morrissey (WPG), Noah Hanifin (CAR), Esa Lindell (DAL), Andrei Markov (UFA), Mattias Ekholm (NSH), Radko Gudas (PHI), Damon Severson (NJD - RFA),Alexander Edler (VAN), Charlie McAvoy (BOS)

TNZ Fantasy's Top 100 forwards for 2017-18

Please note: We will update this list throughout the offseason and beginning of 2017-18 season. The updates will probably change the rankings because of players signing with/being traded to new teams, which may increase and/or decrease fantasy value.

Heading into 2017-18, the NHL's top forward has to be Connor McDavid. Sure, you can argue that Sidney Crosby should be at No. 1 and not No. 2, like our lust says, but McDavid produced more in 2017-18, so McDavid is really No. 1 in terms of fantasy hockey.

Auston Matthews is up there too at No. 3 on our list. So is Jamie Benn, Patrick Nikita Kucherov, Patrick Kane, and Alex Ovechkin.

You're probably wondering why we have Nikita Kucherov over Patrick Kane and Alex Ovechkin. Well, as we said above with McDavid being No. 1 over Crosby, we were lookong at production from 2016-17. Kucherov seemed to have more of that this past season.

Some roster moves that we considered when making these rankings were recent transactions by the New York Rangers. By trading center Derek Stepan to the Arizona Coyotes, that enabled Mika Zibanejad to become the Rangers' top center, even with the Rangers also signing center David Desharnais from the Montreal Canadiens.

Below are our Top 100 forwards for the 2017-18 NHL season:

1. Connor McDavid, C, EDM
2. Sidney Crosby, C, PIT
3. Auston Matthews, C, TOR
4. Nikita Kucherov, RW, TBL
5. Jamie Benn, LW, DAL
6. Patrick Kane, RW, CHI
7. Alex Ovechkin, LW, WSH
8. Evgeni Malkin, C, PIT
9. Brad Marchand, LW, BOS
10. Patrik Laine, LW/RW, WPG
11. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, STL
12. Jack Eichel, C, BUF
13. Nicklas Backstrom, C, WSH
14. Tyler Seguin, C/RW, DAL (INJ.)
15. Mark Scheifele, C, WPG
16. Leon Draisaitl, C/RW, EDM - RFA
17. John Tavares, C, NYI
18. Steven Stamkos, C, TBL (INJ.)
19. Artemi Panarin, LW, CBJ
20. Phil Kessel, RW, PIT
21. Ryan Getzlaf, C, ANA
22. Joe Pavelski, C/RW, SJS
23. Blake Wheeler, RW, WPG
24. David Pastrnak, RW, BOS - RFA
25. Mitchell Marner, C/RW, TOR
26. Filip Forsberg, LW, NSH
27. Wayne Simmonds, RW, PHI
28. Patrice Bergeron, C, BOS
29. Johnny Gaudreau, LW, CGY
30. Max Pacioretty, LW, MTL
31. Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, WSH
32. Ryan Johansen, C, NSH - RFA (INJ.)
33. William Nylander, C/RW, TOR
34. Alexander Radulov, LW/RW, DAL
35. Sean Monahan, C, CGY
36. Aleksander Barkov, C, FLA
37. Claude Giroux, C, PHI
38. Mikael Granlund, C/LW/RW, MIN - RFA
39. Cam Atkinson, RW, CBJ
40. Mike Hoffman, LW/RW, OTT
41. Corey Perry, RW, ANA
42. Jeff Carter, C, LAK
43. Jonathan Toews, C, CHI
44. Jonathan Huberdeau, LW, FLA
45. Anze Kopitar, C, LAK
46. Sebastian Aho, LW/RW, CAR
47. Nikolaj Ehlers, LW/RW, WPG
48. Jakub Voracek, LW/RW, PHI
49. Jonathan Drouin, LW/RW, MTL
50. Taylor Hall, LW, NJD
51. Ryan Kesler, C, ANA
52. James van Riemsdyk, LW, TOR
53. Jeff Skinner, LW, CAR
54. T.J. Oshie, RW, WSH
55. Eric Staal, C, MIN
56. Brandon Saad, LW/RW, CHI
57. Brayden Schenn, C/LW, STL
58. Logan Couture, C, SJS
59. Nathan MacKinnon, C/RW, COL
60. Henrik Zetterberg, C/LW, DET
61. Rickard Rakell, C/LW, ANA
62. Jake Guentzel, C/LW, PIT
63. Ryan O'Reilly, C/LW, BUF
64. Jordan Eberle, RW, NYI
65. Jason Spezza, C/RW, DAL
66. Nazem Kadri, C, TOR
67. Viktor Arvidsson, LW/RW, NSH - RFA
68. Mark Stone, RW, OTT
69. Tyler Toffoli, C/RW, LAK
70. Kyle Turris, C, OTT
71. Anders Lee, LW, NYI
72. Evander Kane, LW, BUF
73. James Neal, RW, VGK
74. Zach Parise, LW, MIN
75. Mikko Koivu, C, MIN
76. Patric Hornqvist, RW, PIT
77. Andre Burakovsky, LW/RW, WSH
78. Mats Zuccarello, RW, NYR
79. Kyle Okposo, RW, BUF (INJ.)
80. Milan Lucic, LW, EDM
81. Jaden Schwartz, C/LW, STL
82. Jakob Silfverberg, RW, ANA
83. Alex Galchenyuk, C, MTL
84. Mika Zibanejad, C/RW, NYR - RFA
85. Marcus Johansson, LW/RW, NJD
86. Conor Sheary, LW/RW, PIT - RFA
87. Nino Niederreiter, LW/RW, MIN - RFA
88. Matthew Tkachuk, LW, CGY
89. Ondrej Palat, LW, TBL - RFA
90. Nick Foligno, LW/RW, CBJ
91. Patrick Marleau, C/LW, TOR
92. Alexander Wennberg, C, CBJ - RFA
93. Kyle Palmieri, RW, NJD
94. Evgeny Dadonov, LW/RW, FLA
95. Vadim Shipachyov, C, VGK
96. Chris Kreider, LW, NYR
97. Tyler Johnson, C, TBL - RFA
98. Nick Schmaltz, C/LW, CHI
99. Nico Hischier, C, NJD
100. Nolan Patrick, C, PHI (INJ.) 

Honorable Mentions: Derek Stepan (C, ARI), Matt Duchene (C/RW, COL), Vincent Trocheck (C, FLA), Patrick Maroon (LW, EDM), Alexander Steen (LW/RW, STL), Bryan Little (C, WPG),Max Domi (LW, ARI), Sam Reinhart (C/RW, BUF), Brendan Gallagher (RW, MTL), Rick Nash (LW/RW, NYR), David Krejci (C, BOS -INJ.), Joe Thornton (C, SJS - INJ.), Joshua Ho-Sang (C/RW, NYI), Anthony Mantha(LW/RW, DET), Jesse Puljujarvi (RW, EDM)