request for a welfare officer to visit each week to check on players.How

Rankings take a lot more into account than pure statistical performance. For these rest-of-season rankings we produce on ESPN.com every week, a players stats so far are just one part of the equation. We consider performance in past seasons, teammates, injury or injury history, age, trajectory, statistical trends and current stats.Given the number of variables, its inevitable that our rankings will differ from the pure statistical rankings of what players have done so far this season. But sometimes it helps to take a break and have a look at just what has happened to date.We are going to take a quick peek at the goaltender rankings based purely on stats. The ESPN Player Rater does our work for us by comparing every goaltenders numbers so far this season against the rest of the league and giving us a positive (or negative) value for those stats.Its a little tricky for goaltenders because backup goalies with good ratios tend to rank quite high for pure statistical performance, but in reality backups arent as helpful to fantasy owners since they dont play consistently. To find some balance to account for the nature of backup goaltenders, we are going to leave a few out of our rankings and make a note of it. Well use a 12-team league as the setting to determine our No. 1 and No. 2 fantasy goaltenders.No. 1 fantasy goaltenders1. Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota Wild 2. Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens 3. Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets 4. Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins 5. Chad Johnson, Calgary Flames 6. Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals 7. Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings 8. Martin Jones, San Jose Sharks 9. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks 10. Matt Murray, Pittsburgh Penguins 11. Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers 12. Craig Anderson, Ottawa SenatorsDiscussion: There isnt too much disparity between this result so far and our actual rankings. Nine of the 12 No. 1 fantasy goaltenders are ranked in the same grouping below. The exceptions are Johnson, Howard and Anderson, which are all fair exceptions when you consider the context. Johnsons entire body of work is about three weeks of elite performance, Howard lost his job last season and wasnt expected to get it back, while Anderson had previously been fantasy-irrelevant for a couple of seasons partly due to injury. They are all working their way back into our good graces and certainly all three should be owned in all fantasy hockey leagues. We just need to see all three turn in solid performances a little longer before we would be willing to bet the remainder of our fantasy season on them. Its especially difficult to jump on board with Johnson or Howard because two of the best fantasy goaltenders from last season, Brian Elliott and Petr Mrazek, are competing with them for time in the crease. Johnson and Howard are clearly winning the battles so far, but its tough to shake that concern.The only goaltender on the ESPN Player Rater we skipped for this top-12 list was Antti Raanta. His statistics suggest he should be No. 6 overall on the list, but plenty of that value comes from playing only sparingly. That is not to say, however, that Raanta shouldnt be on your radar right now. Henrik Lundqvists ratios are downright pedestrian this season and the result has led to Raanta starting the past three consecutive games despite King Henrik being in perfect health. For his part, Raanta has two consecutive shutouts and won all three games. We have to allow a lot of respect for Lundqvist here, however, as hes been the king of fantasy consistency for a decade. Still, owners of Lundqvist will want to take the unexpected step of handcuffing him sooner than later.No. 2 fantasy goaltenders13. Peter Budaj, Los Angeles Kings 14. Cam Talbot, Edmonton Oilers 15. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators 16. Jake Allen, St. Louis Blues 17. Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes 18. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers 19. Mike Smith, Arizona Coyotes 20. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning 21. John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks 22. Anders Nilsson/Robin Lehner, Buffalo Sabres 23. Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs 24. Ryan Miller, Vancouver CanucksDiscussion: Things stray a bit more from our rankings for this list of fantasy No. 2 goalies. Rinne and Lundqvist are both currently ranked as No. 1s, while Smith, the Sabres tandem, Andersen and Miller miss out on our top-24 goaltender rankings. We wouldnt call Smith a surprise on this list, but its surprising to see some of the others when you note who is absent. Steve Mason is an obvious candidate for inclusion here and probably will be with another week of his recent hot streak. Cory Schneider is probably the most painful name for fantasy owners to miss from the list, but his ratios have been atrocious since the end of October. Were keeping the faith for a little longer in our rankings, mainly because Schneider has been the epitome of save percentage excellence in the league for the better part of five seasons.We opted to include Vasilevskiy here even though Ben Bishop has 18 starts compared to Vasilevskiys 11. It was a judgement call because the trend has been toward Vasilevskiy taking over more of the Lightning crease as time wears on. Unfortunately, both goaltenders have been turning in more stinkers than shiners over the past few weeks. Still, Vasilevskiys body of work this season is much greater than Bishops at the moment. Both players need to be owned in all leagues.To rank the Sabres tandem, we added together the ESPN Player Rater value of Nilsson and Lehner and divided by two. This pair is clearly a package deal for the Sabres right now, which makes it difficult to attempt to use them for fantasy purposes. Its why neither is ranked as a starter for 12-team leagues.Backups we left out of the list that are ahead of some of the listed goaltenders on the ESPN Payer Rater include Philipp Grubauer, Scott Darling, Thomas Greiss, Anthony Stolarz, Mike Condon, Juuse Saros, Aaron Dell and Curtis McElhinney. We went back and forth over the inclusion of Greiss, but his share of starts isnt trending in the right direction.Andersen and Miller are probably the biggest surprises in that they are doing just enough to be considered for regular use in fantasy leagues. Clearly neither would be ideal as a full-time asset in most leagues, but you could do worse for an occasional fill-in.The three teams that havent been mentioned to this point are the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets. Of the goaltenders for those teams, only Connor Hellebuyck should be on your radar for potential use down the road this season. We want no part of the other two teams creases for fantasy.Forwards rising and fallingCam Atkinson, RW, Columbus Blue Jackets (up 15 spots to No. 89): Almost too quietly, Atkinson has 27 points in 26 games this season. He certainly doesnt come top of mind when thinking about players who are scoring a point per game this season, but the stats dont lie. Playing with Brandon Dubinsky and Boone Jenner at the moment, Atkinson leads the Blue Jackets with 77 shots on goal, leads them with 17 assists and also leads them with 12 power-play points. The power-play points are already a career high for Atkinson, but his performance isnt entirely unfounded. Hes always been a talent around the net that generates more than his fair share of shots on goal, so the accelerated production is just a product of the Blue Jackets finally putting everything together this season. Now, we dont expect him to finish with his current pace of 85 points, but 30 goals and 65-plus points are not out of the question here.Jason Spezza, C, Dallas Stars (down 20 spots to No. 120): You might think the return of Jiri Hudler on Sunday might be a boon for Spezzas outlook on the season. But with exactly half of Spezzas 14 points this season coming on the power play, it was troubling to see Hudler bump him off the first unit. Now past the first quarter of the season, Spezzas 33 goals from last season seem like a distant memory with him currently on pace for just 16. The Stars have been a bit of a mess with injuries, including Spezza himself missing a handful of games. But the bottom line is that the team doesnt play great defense (Spezza is minus-15) and does a lot of its damage on the top even-strength line and first power-play unit. Since Spezza is sitting on the outside of both of those units, his prognosis is only getting worse.Tomas Plekanec, C, Montreal Canadiens (up 86 spots to No. 145): We will stick with our caution that it wont always be a 10-goal outing for the Habs with their top two centermen (Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais) on the shelf. After all, the Canadiens wont be playing an AHL-caliber defense like the Avalanche every night. Still, Plekanec made good on our promise that he would be worth owning in all leagues by collecting three helpers on Saturday. Other teams will shut down this top line at times, but Plekanec, Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov have more than enough talent to shine through most nights.Defensemen rising and fallingJustin Faulk, D, Carolina Hurricanes (down 23 spots to No. 167): Weve been holding off on sinking Faulks ranking because hes still in a prime position to succeed. Hes taking just as many shots on goal, while still playing the important minutes on and off the power play. But with just three goals and 12 points to show for his efforts this season, concern is growing. After scoring 15 goals in 2014-15 and then 16 goals despite missing 18 games last season, Faulk seemed locked in as a strong fantasy No. 2 defenseman this season. But the Hurricanes defense-first attitude doesnt seem to be working for his stats this season. Even if his shooting percentage increased to his career average, hed only have one more goal. Perhaps the Hurricanes brand of hockey doesnt bode well for individual fantasy performance. That would certainly explain why only Jeff Skinner and Viktor Rask are among the top 150 on the ESPN Player Rater.Goaltenders rising and fallingPeter Budaj, G, Los Angeles Kings (down 15 spots to No. 70): Its time to start working on an exit strategy for Budaj investors. Hes done more than an adequate job of holding down the fort in Jonathan Quicks absence, but with every week that goes past, Quicks inevitable return appears on the horizon. While coach Darryl Sutter sounded negative in a recent update, his suggestion that Quick wont be on the ice until 2017 isnt out of line with the original suggestion that he could miss four months. February is still earmarked for Quicks return, and Budajs fantasy value will become nil when that happens. While Budaj has provided No. 2 fantasy goaltender coverage -- and will continue to do so for another month and a half -- there is a clear end date in sight. Start making arrangements now, because youll still have two-plus months of fantasy goaltending to worry about after Budaj returns to the backup role.Quick hitsFantasy owners wont miss Max Domi all that much for the next six weeks, as his sophomore campaign hasnt really gotten going this season. We know he can do better, so perhaps a month or more on the shelf can help him make a strong push toward the end of the season. We wouldnt fault anyone in a 12-team league for dropping him, but make sure to scoop him back up again ahead of your competition. Tobias Rieder will fill in on the top line with Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata, but the trio isnt doing enough to warrant much attention.Ivan Provorov is grabbing some headlines for the Philadelphia Flyers with opportune goals and decent production in December. Once of our favorite preseason sleepers on defense might just be getting acclimatized to the NHL speed. Keep him on your short-range radar.As mentioned, Jiri Hudler is back on the ice following a 20-game mysterious illness absence. Whatever was ailing him, Hudler has big time potential with this Stars team, especially since it looks like hell get top power-play minutes with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.Coach Bruce Boudreau has been tinkering with the Minnesota Wilds lines to kick-start his offense. Keep an eye on how things settle. While the team has been winning games thanks to its defensive prowess, the offense has yet to really find that groove. All bets are off as to who might have the most value once some consistent lines emerge.Top 250 rankingsHere are the updated rest-of-season, top 250 rankings of forwards, defensemen and goalies, including position ranks.Note: Sean Allens top 250 players are ranked for their expected performance in ESPN standard leagues from this point on. ESPN standard stats include goals, assists, power-play points, shots on goal, plus/minus, penalty minutes and average time on ice for skaters, and wins, goals-against average and save percentage for goalies. Authentic Wizards Jerseys . Jay Feely kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime, and the Cardinals edged the Tennessee Titans 37-34 in overtime after blowing a 17-point lead late in the fourth quarter. Jeff Green Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. http://www.cheapwizardsjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-dwight-howard-jersey . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. Wholesale Wizards Jerseys . -- Bobby Ryan helped the U. Womens Wizards Jerseys . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. The NRL hit back at reports it failed to support Queensland grassroots clubs rocked by the suicide of young players.The games governing body said on Saturday it had provided assistance to two Gold Coast clubs devastated by three players taking their lives over the past five years.Tugun Seahawks president Rod Hill told News Corp the NRL havent done anything to help the club after the death of three young players.Hill told the Gold Coast Bulletin the club was forced to deal with the issue alone and denied a request for a welfare officer to visit each week to check on players.However an NRL spokesman denied the claims, saying welfare staff visited the Tugun club, as well as the Runaway Bay and Burleigh clubs which had been affected by the suicide of players, and counselling had been offered.The NRL and QRL had provided and funded assistance and counselling to clubs hit by tragedies, the NRL said inn a statement.ddddddddddddAs publicly announced in May this year, the NRL will join with the Queensland government to reach more than 200 junior rugby league clubs throughout Queensland over the next three years.Outreach and programs will help clubs and members to provide mental health training and ongoing assistance and awareness amongst local communities.The issue of pressure applied to young players has come into focus over the last several years following a spate of suicides including several players signed with NRL clubs.It prompted the NRL to launch the State of Mind program aimed at reducing the stigma about and addressing mental health issues.* For support and information about suicide prevention, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78. 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