Fantasy hockey drafts open in earnest over the next several weeks, and the 2026-27 landscape looks meaningfully different than it did a year ago. A blockbuster offseason reshuffled several contenders, the league’s deepest rookie class in years is about to hit the ice, and a handful of category-defining players are dealing with injury or role uncertainty that will separate the managers who did their homework from the ones drafting off name recognition. Here’s the wide view heading into your draft.
The Top of the Board Is Settled — For Now
Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid remain the two names anchoring first-overall conversations across most expert boards, with reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov and Sharks sophomore Macklin Celebrini rounding out the top tier.
Celebrini’s jump into the elite tier is the story worth sitting with — a 115-point sophomore season pushes him into first-round conversations in nearly every format, and unlike a lot of second-year breakouts, his usage and shot volume support the ceiling.
Behind that group, Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard stands alone at the top of the defenseman pool after becoming the only blueliner to clear 90 points last season, and Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy enters the year as the presumptive first goalie off the board after a league-leading 39-win, Vezina-winning campaign. If your league rewards category coverage over pure counting stats, Matthew Tkachuk’s move to Florida deserves a hard look — he’s one of only two players over the last five seasons with 150+ goals and 700+ hits, the other being Alex Ovechkin, and that dual-category profile is exactly the kind of asset that wins punt-heavy builds.
The Defenseman Pool Got a Norris-Sized Shake-Up
Zach Werenski’s Norris Trophy season changes the calculus on offensive-defenseman value, and combined with Bouchard’s monster year, drafters should expect the gap between the top four or five blueliners and the replacement-level options to widen again this season. If you miss on the top tier at the position, the smarter play in most formats is to punt to volume specialists rather than reach for a name-brand veteran whose role has quietly eroded.
Goaltending: Fewer Sure Things Than the Name Recognition Suggests
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, TB — coming off his second career Vezina and a league-leading win total, he’s the safest goalie pick in fantasy this year.
- Jacob Markstrom, FLA — after Florida’s June 29 trade for Akira Schmid, Markstrom may be in a timeshare, but the Panthers’ defensive structure (third-fewest shots allowed over the past two seasons combined) still makes him a top-10 fantasy goalie target even in a shared workload.
- Juuse Saros, NSH — a volume goalie who has led the league in shots faced and saves in three of the last four seasons, but his rate stats have slipped and Nashville is no lock to be a competitive team. Know your league’s scoring settings before you draft him.
Injuries and Role Questions to Track Before You Draft
- Connor Bedard, CHI: underwent offseason shoulder surgery and may not be available until mid-November. He’s still worth a stash in keeper and deeper redraft formats, but he’s a significant tempo hit in shallower leagues if you’re drafting for Week 1 production.
- Charlie McAvoy, BOS: is dealing with a suspension that will affect his availability to start the year — check the latest timeline before locking him into your draft-day plan.
- Anton Lundell, FLA: was a legitimate breakout in Florida last season with Aleksander Barkov out, but with Barkov back and healthy, Lundell returns to third-line center duty behind Sam Bennett unless he forces a change — a name to watch on your bench rather than draft for a repeat of last year’s role.
The Rookie Class Is the Deepest in Years
Last year’s rookie crop looked thin on paper and still produced Matthew Schaefer and Ivan Demidov. This year’s class doesn’t have that excuse — evaluators are counting more than a dozen legitimate Calder contenders, and the fantasy implications start immediately.
- Gavin McKenna, TOR: — the No. 1 overall pick landed in the best possible spot, skating alongside Toronto’s veteran offensive talent. He posted 15 goals and 51 points in 35 games at Penn State, won the Big Ten scoring title and Rookie of the Year, and was a Hobey Baker finalist. NHL.com’s fantasy staff already has him inside their top 100 overall for standard redraft leagues — a 70-point rookie season is a realistic target.
- Ivar Stenberg, SJS: — taken second overall, Stenberg brings a heavy shot and the ability to play either wing. Several evaluators rate his floor-and-ceiling combination as the best in this draft class, McKenna included.
- Porter Martone, PHI: — the No. 6 pick from a year ago is already producing at the NHL level and edges out McKenna as the top-ranked rookie on NHL.com’s fantasy board.
- Anton Frondell, CHI: — a talented Chicago forward joining an organization already anchored by Bedard, giving him a runway to significant minutes even as a rookie.
- Cole Hutson, WSH: — part of the well-known Hutson hockey family, projected as an immediate contributor on Washington’s blue line.
In dynasty and keeper formats, all five belong on your radar in the early rounds. In standard redraft leagues, treat rookies as high-upside, boom-or-bust bench stashes rather than locks for your starting lineup in September.
Draft Strategy Takeaways
- Build around dual-threat forwards first. Category-coverage forwards like Tkachuk (goals, shots, hits) are more valuable than raw point projections suggest in any league that rewards peripheral stats.
- Don’t force a top-tier defenseman if you miss the run. With the gap widening after the top four or five names, missing the elite tier means pivoting to volume and power-play specialists rather than reaching on reputation.
- Draft goalies for situation, not just talent. Goaltending remains the most volatile category year over year. Vasilevskiy is the exception, not the rule — target situation and workload over name recognition for your second and third goalies.
- Respect the injury calendar. Bedard is a stash, not a starter, in shallow leagues until his return timeline firms up. Plan your center depth accordingly for October.
- Rookies are lottery tickets, not floors. McKenna and Martone carry real Year 1 upside, but treat the rest of the class as speculative bench pieces until they show they can hold NHL minutes.
The Bottom Line
This is a fantasy season with more moving parts than usual — a stacked rookie class, a Vezina winner without an obvious challenger, and real uncertainty at center and defense behind the top tier. Managers who draft off last year’s rankings without accounting for the Tkachuk trade, the Bedard timeline, and the sheer depth of this rookie class will be caught flat-footed by Thanksgiving. Do the homework now, and your draft-day board will look a lot sharper than the one across the table.