Shuffle Up: Evgeni Malkin rules the world

You're going to need plenty of offensive firepower to win your fake hockey league this year. Here's a list of 112 forwards to get you started.

Normal Shuffle Up rules apply. I reserve the right to tweak this list as the day goes along; bring your best debates to the comments. Win the discussion, win the rank. And it's all good if you have a lot of disagreement on the list - that's what makes the game so enjoyable. If everyone had the same general ranks, what fun is that?

Categories considered in this exercise: goals, assists, plus-minus, power-play points, shots on goal, penalty minutes. And implicit in any ranking is an eye towards playing time, durability, upside and downside. One additional factor: when two players were basically even, I tended to rank a winger higher than a center. Season to taste.

A notable star, currently injured, is sitting at No. 112. Maybe you foresee a quick and miraculous recovery, but that's not how I play the game. I doubt I'll be drafting him this year. (Not a knock on the player in question, just a dash of the voodoo that goes into this exercise.)

Okay, have at em, gamers. When you suggest that (key player) should be (higher or lower) on the list, don't forget to supply a reason - and list the corresponding player moves you'd make to accommodate your preferred rank. And if you need help at the other positions, check back to the Goalie Shuffle or Defenseman Shuffle, which were posted last week.

1. Evgeni Malkin
2. Steven Stamkos
3. Alex Ovechkin
4. Sidney Crosby
5. Daniel Sedin
6. John Tavares
7. Claude Giroux
8. Corey Perry
9. Henrik Sedin
10. James Neal
11. Phil Kessel
12. Jason Spezza
13. Zach Parise
14. Ilya Kovalchuk
15. Tyler Seguin
16. Eric Staal
17. Jonathan Toews
18. Scott Hartnell
19. Rick Nash
20. Pavel Datsyuk
21. Jordan Eberle
22. Nicklas Backstrom
23. Henrik Zetterberg
24. Patrick Sharp
25. Joe Thornton
26. Martin St. Louis
27. Patrick Kane
28. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
29. Jarome Iginla
30. Joe Pavelski
31. Gabriel Landeskog
32. Dany Heatley
33. David Backes
34. Marian Gaborik
35. Marian Hossa
36. Logan Couture
37. Taylor Hall
38. Brad Richards
39. Ryan Getzlaf
40. Bobby Ryan
41. Milan Lucic
42. Jamie Benn
43. Patrick Marleau
44. Teemu Selanne
45. Mike Richards
46. Anze Kopitar
47. Mikko Koivu

I've upgraded Koivu, and maybe not high enough. That top line in Minnesota should be dynamite.

48. Loui Eriksson
49. David Krejci
50. Thomas Vanek
51. Joffrey Lupul
52. Alexander Semin
53. Paul Stastny
54. Mike Ribeiro
55. Matt Moulson
56. Jordan Staal
57. Jeff Skinner
58. Jason Pominville
59. Matt Duchene
60. Max Pacioretty
61. Jakub Voracek

Count me in on the young, talanted Colorado forwards coming off so-so years. Looking at you, Stastny and Duchene. (Okay, Stastny has been ordinary for two straight years, but I know he's a lot better than this.)

62. Vincent Lecavalier
63. Jaromir Jagr
64. Patrik Elias
65. Evander Kane
66. Blake Wheeler
67. P.A. Parenteau
68. Tyler Ennis
69. Daniel Alfredsson
70. Patrice Bergeron
71. Olli Jokinen
72. Brad Marchand
73. Justin Williams
74. Tomas Fleischmann
75. Jeff Carter
76. Dustin Brown
77. Ray Whitney
78. Ryan Callahan
79. Valtteri Filppula
80. Chris Kunitz
81. Andrew Ladd
82. Stephen Weiss
83. James van Riemsdyk
84. Travis Zajac
85. Jonathan Huberdeau
86. Nail Yakupov
87. Johan Franzen
88. Drew Stafford
89. Alex Burrows
90. Kris Versteeg
91. Vladimir Tarasenko
92. Martin Erat
93. Martin Havlat
94. Shane Doan
95. Teddy Purcell
96. Tomas Plekanec
97. Mikhail Grabovski
98. Ryane Clowe
99. David Perron
100. Derek Roy
101. T.J. Oshie
102. Brayden Schenn
103. Milan Michalek
104. Nathan Horton
105. Alex Tanguay
106. Ryan O'Reilly
107. Kyle Turris
108. Derek Stepan
109. Andy McDonald
110. Patric Hornqvist
111. Nikolai Kulemin
112. Ryan Kesler