Daily Faceoff

Report: Hurricanes’ Alexander Nikishin requested trade following 2025-26 season; request remains in place

Kyle Morton — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 19:04:32 GMT

With just over two weeks remaining until the puck will drop for the start of the 2026-27 NHL regular season, several notable restricted free agents are still without new contracts.

That includes Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin, who notched 33 points in 81 games as a rookie before adding a point in 17 postseason games as the Hurricanes rolled to the Stanley Cup.

According to the latest from NHL insider Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Nikishin and his representation requested a trade away from the Hurricanes after the conclusion of Carolina’s successful playoff run, a request that remains in place with the start of training camp just days away.

“Defenseman Alexander Nikishin remains unsigned by the Carolina Hurricanes as camps get set to open,” LeBrun noted. “The 24-year-old RFA requested a change of scenery after the season, and one thing that was made clear to me Monday is that the request remains in place.”

That Nikishin’s name is coming up in trade conversations is no surprise— NHL insider Frank Seravalli reported in June that he was the centerpiece of the Hurricanes’ offer to the Winnipeg Jets to land star goalie Connor Hellebuyck, and other reports have linked Nikishin to other teams, as well.

What is news based on LeBrun’s reporting is that those discussions may be a result of Nikishin’s camp’s request and not just an effort on Carolina’s part to cash in on a valuable young asset.

Nikishin’s arrival to the Hurricanes was heavily anticipated by fans, as the Russian defenseman the club selected with the No. 69 overall pick in 2020 spent years as a star in the KHL blossoming into one of the top NHL prospects playing outside North America. Nikishin eventually departed SKA St. Petersburg, who he captained from 2023 through 2025, to debut in Carolina during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The big Russian blueliner finished seventh place in the voting for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie, nabbing a pair of third-place votes, 14 fourth-place votes and 40 fifth-place votes. He was also named to the NHL’s all-rookie team, joining Calder winner Matthew Schaefer as one of the team’s two defensemen.

If Nikishin is traded, he would be just the second player from Carolina’s Cup-winning roster to depart the organization this offseason, joining goalie Frederik Andersen, who signed with the Edmonton Oilers as an unrestricted free agent.

Report: Cam Talbot to sign one-year contract with Blue Jackets

Kyle Morton — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 18:34:58 GMT

In need of help behind standout starting goalie Jet Greaves, the Columbus Blue Jackets are reportedly closing in on a solution.

According to a report from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, the Blue Jackets are on the verge of signing veteran Cam Talbot to a one-year contract with a salary cap hit of $950,000.

Hearing the Blue Jackets will be signing UFA veteran goalie Cam Talbot, 39, to a one-year deal ($950k) later today. Colleague @Aportzline speculated in his piece today that this might possibly happen.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) September 14, 2026

A reliable backup with extensive experience as a journeyman late in his career, Talbot is coming off a two-year stint with the Detroit Red Wings in which he served as the primary goalie in 2024-25 before backing up John Gibson last year.

Talbot made 34 appearances including 25 starts last year in the Motor City in which he posted a 12-9-6 record while turning aside shots at a .883 clip and allowing a goals against average of 3.19. For his career, which also includes stints with the Los Angeles Kings, Ottawa Senators, Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers, Talbot owns a .911 SV% and 2.69 GAA along with 278 wins and 33 shutouts.

Talbot will again be in the backup role with the Jackets, as Greaves has successfully established himself as the go-to guy for Rick Bowness between the pipes. The 25-year-old Canadian was strong last season, posting a .908 save percentage while handling a full workload of 55 appearances.

The need for more goaltending help in Ohio’s capital arose when it was announced that incumbent backup Elvis Merzlikins had undergone shoulder surgery and that there was no timeline for his return. Merzlikins worked 30 games for Columbus last year to the tune of a .883 SV% and 3.22 GAA.

Columbus is looking to continue to improve under Bowness, who sparked a huge turnaround upon his hiring last season and even led the Blue Jackets to hold a playoff spot for awhile before a late-season slump caused them to miss the postseason for the sixth consecutive year.

Columbus will get its 2026-27 season started by hosting the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 1.

Leafs sign Nick Blankenburg to PTO

Scott Maxwell — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 18:08:00 GMT

The Toronto Maple Leafs are bringing another defenseman into the mix for training camp.

The Leafs announced on Monday that they have signed defenseman Nick Blankenburg to a professional tryout contract.

The @MapleLeafs have signed D Nick Blankenburg to a Professional Tryout (PTO).
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) September 14, 2026

The story was first reported by the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont.

Blankenburg was an unrestricted free agent after the conclusion of his two-year contract with a $775,000 cap hit, one he signed with the Nashville Predators in free agency in 2024. While there was some expectation Blankenburg would secure a larger contract after a strong couple seasons, but whether the market wasn’t there for him or he overpriced himself, he finds himself heading into training camp without a contract, and requiring a PTO to play during the preseason.

It will be interesting to see how the Leafs fit Blankenburg into their team as well, should the defenseman impress them enough. Not only are the Leafs $2,752,382 over the salary cap according to PuckPedia (although a long-term injury to Max Domi will likely relieve the Leafs of his $3.75 million cap hit for most of the season and leave them with $997,618 in salary cap space), but they also have 50 standard-player contracts signed to their roster. Should Toronto decide to sign Blankenburg, they will need to get rid of at least one contract to make room for him.

Blankenburg is coming off of his best season in the NHL, where he had eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points in 61 games with the Predators and Colorado Avalanche. He is also a strong play-driver at both ends of the ice, with his 12.5 expected goals above replacement ranking 26th among defensemen last season, albeit in sheltered third-pairing minutes. Still, he could prove to be an effective bottom-pair defenseman for the Leafs, something they’ve lacked in recent years.

The Leafs are coming off an active summer, as new general manager John Chayka looked to make his mark on the team in hopes of improvement after a disappointing 2025-26 campaign. In addition to winning the draft lottery and selecting Gavin McKenna, Toronto also acquired Darren Raddysh, Nick Paul and Emil Andrae and signed Sergei Bobrovsky, Jack Roslovic, Teddy Blueger, Colton Sissons and Brandon Duhaime in free agency.

‘I just want to get back to myself’: Elias Pettersson hoping to find old form with Canucks

Ryan Cuneo — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 18:06:10 GMT

The Vancouver Canucks are looking to turn the page to their next era.

This offseason, they hired a new general manager in Ryan Johnson, a new head coach in Manny Malhotra, and new team presidents in franchise legends Henrik and Daniel Sedin. While the organization as a whole wants to look forward, at least one player on the team is hoping to wind the clock back a few years.

Speaking to the media ahead of the 42nd annual Jake Milford Golf Invitational, Canucks center Elias Pettersson spoke about wanting to rediscover the All-Star form that has abandoned him the past two seasons.

“I just want to get back to myself,” Pettersson said. “I haven’t been that the last two years, but it’s in the past. I’m coming in with a fresh mind and I’m excited to play hockey again.”

#Canucks EP40 on trying to regain his form of a few seasons ago pic.twitter.com/Ld9zFe7jfC
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) September 14, 2026

Perhaps no player in the NHL has a been a bigger disappointment the past two seasons than Pettersson. The Swedish national was on top of the world coming off his 2022-23 campaign, in which he broke out with 39 goals and 63 assists for 102 points in 80 games. He earned votes for the Selke Trophy and even the Hart Trophy, and looked every bit the star forward Vancouver had craved since the Sedin’s retirement.

His 2023-24 season wasn’t quite up to par with the season prior, but he still played at over a point-per-game pace, registering 34 goals and 55 assists for 89 points in 82 games while helping the Canucks make the playoffs after a three-year absence. In March of that season, the Vancouver signed him to an eight-year, $92.8 million contract.

Since then, however, he’s looked like a different player. Over the past two seasons, he’s had a total of just 96 points over 138 games, while various injuries have limited his games played and seemingly hampered his confidence. He and the Canucks alike are hoping the team’s fresh approach will give him new life.

‘I don’t want to run away’: Filip Hronek on Canucks’ rebuild

Ben Steiner — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 17:54:16 GMT

Filip Hronek is set to be one of the oldest players on the Vancouver Canucks this season, but the 28-year-old veteran defenseman isn’t jumping ship on the rebuilding team.

While he has shown frustration in the past with the Canucks’ direction and the struggles that come with playing for a losing team, the rebuilding phase the organization is in may be a different kind of challenge. After all, it would be the team’s choice to move him, considering his current contract runs through the end of the 2031-32 season, with an average annual value of $7.25 million.

Speaking to reporters on Monday at the Jake Milford Canucks Charity Invitational Golf Tournament, Hronek said, “I don’t want to run away,” when asked about sticking around for the first clear-cut year of what is expected to be a lengthy rebuild.

“Obviously winning is really important, but I just don’t want to run away,” he said, looking to build on his eight goals and 49 points in 82 games from last season. “I think we can build something special.”

Hronek’s words come as fall marks the end of a formative summer for the Canucks, which saw the organization move on from general manager Patrik Allvin and president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, in favor of co-presidents Henrik and Daniel Sedin and a new GM in Ryan Johnson.

With those appointments, the team finally has a sense of direction, aiming to execute a full rebuild instead of retooling to maintain mediocrity. As such, this season will likely test the mentality of Hronek and the rest of the Canucks, as they are not widely expected to finish anywhere near the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Canucks will open their preseason schedule on Sept. 19 on the road against the Seattle Kraken, leading up to their visit to the Edmonton Oilers on Sept. 29, where they will drop the puck on the 84-game regular-season schedule.

2026-27 NHL team preview: New York Rangers

Kyle Morton — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 17:30:00 GMT

X = Player has not yet chosen new number, per team spokesperson

LAST SEASON

The 2025-26 season was supposed to be a bounceback campaign in which the New York Rangers proved that their crash-and-burn effort from 2024-25 that saw them go from winning the Presidents’ Trophy the year prior to out of the playoffs altogether was a fluke. They moved on from coach Peter Laviolette and hired two-time Stanley Cup champion Mike Sullivan to tighten up the schematics, and with J.T. Miller freshly named as captain and ready to spend a full season back on Broadway, things were looking up.

Instead, Ranger fans were served up another disaster. The season began with an embarrassing run of being shut out at home (New York didn’t score on Madison Square Garden ice until the fourth home game), which set up a 3-5-2 start to the year that immediately put them well behind the eight-ball.

The next two months were a big improvement, highlighted by a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers at the Winter Classic in South Florida, improving New York’s record to 20-18-5, but it was immediately followed by a streak of five consecutive losses in which they were outscored 30-12 as star goalie Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox were both sidelined with injuries. Without those two franchise pillars, the roster lacked the strength in other areas to keep the season afloat, and the losses piled up until the season came to an end with a 34-39-9 record that saw them finish last in the Metropolitan Division by a 10-point margin.

Between last Trade Deadline season and this summer, general manager Chris Drury has focused on selling where possible to a degree. He moved Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings last deadline and followed that up this summer by dealing Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth. In doing so, Drury has also acquired some talent that can help the team now, getting defenseman Sean Durzi back as part of the return for Trocheck and dealing some draft capital to add talented scorer Pavel Dorofeyev from the Vegas Golden Knights.

There will unquestionably be a different feel to the Rangers this season, while plenty of familiar faces from the teams that contended earlier in the first half of the decade are set to return. Will a more structured year two with Sullivan combined with good health from Fox and Shesterkin be enough to fuel a return to the playoffs, or is New York destined for a third straight season of missing out on the dance?

KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES

Additions

Pavel Dorofeyev, RW
Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW
Marcus Pettersson, LD
Sean Durzi, RD
Eeli Tolvanen, RW
Joe Veleno, C
Joonas Korpisalo, G
Cole Beaudoin, C
Dennis Cholowski, D
Alberts Smits, D

Departures

Vincent Trocheck, C (Uta)
Jonathan Quick, G (retired)
Will Borgen, D (Bos)
Jonny Brodzinski, C (Wsh)
Brendan Brisson, C (Tor)
Casey Fitzgerald, D (Fla)
Conor Sheary, LW (Buf)
Adam Edstrsom, F (Nsh)
Brett Berard, LW (Mtl)

OFFENSE

Few players on the Rangers had the sort of year they were looking for when the season began last October. The clear exception to that is Mika Zibanejad, who was widely speculated to be on the outs if he would waive his trade protection but stuck around and wound up as New York’s leading producer by a lot, with 78 points in 81 games played.

Now, he returns to be one of the centerpieces of the Rangers’ offensive attack, alongside Miller (53 points), Alexis Lafreniere (57 points) and the newly acquired Dorofeyev, who racked up 37 goals in 82 regular season games and 12 goals in 22 Stanley Cup playoff games last year with the Golden Knights.

While Trocheck and Panarin being gone is a big detraction from the group that began last season, Drury made several moves to try to add players who can provide support scoring behind his big guns. Eeli Tolvanen and Oliver Bjorkstrand aren’t going to set the world on fire, but they’re reliable 30-40 point producers who can step up when called upon.

One of the more exciting aspects of this upcoming season will be the growth of the Rangers’ stable of young forwards. It’s year two as full-time NHLers for Gabe Perreault and Noah Laba, who notched 27 and 24 points last season, respectively. They both look like solid bets to at least perform as quality middle-sixers this season, but the upside for more, particularly with Perreault, is one of the biggest reasons to be bullish on the Rangers this year.

This forward group doesn’t look as strong at the top as it did two years ago or even at the outset last season, but the new acquisitions and the emergence of Laba as a capable center mean the second, third and fourth lines are all stocked with capable NHL players for their respective roles, which is something that frequently could not be said last year.

At the bottom of the lineup, watch out for Tye Kartye. Unheralded as a late-season waiver claim from the Seattle Kraken last year, he stood out as a huge bright spot down the stretch for the Rangers, notching 14 points in 24 games after putting up just eight in 40 contests with the Kraken.

DEFENSE

If Drury has been willing to look toward the future in his decision-making around the forward a bit by moving Trocheck and Panarin, he’s taken the opposite approach on defense, and for good reason.

Sullivan’s arrival stopped much of the defensive bleeding according to the underlying numbers. Under Laviolette in 2024-25, New York ranked 28th in the NHL with 2.76 expected goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5. That improved last season to 2.55, good for 11th in the league. Despite the considerable underlying improvement, you wouldn’t find many Ranger fans who were satisfied with the defensive effort last year, and based upon the additions of Durzi and Pettersson, Drury likely wasn’t either.

After trading K’Andre Miller last summer, it seemed like, whether he knew it or not, Druruy was signing up to have two bottom pairings behind a new-look top unit of Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov. With Pettersson and Durzi in the mix, there’s a clear duo that looks capable of handling 20 minutes a night against opponents’ second lines, something that wasn’t really the case a year ago.

Still, so much of how this defense performs will come down to the health of Fox. The 28-year-old took a lot of heat last year when he was left off the American Olympic team by a brass that included his own NHL general manager and head coach, and then that team went on to capture the gold medal without him. There has been a lot of subsequent discourse about the things Fox can’t do that has quickly come to overshadow the many things he can do.

Fox was still elite when available last year, racking up 53 points in his 55 regular season games and controlling an astonishing 58.63% of the expected goals at 5-on-5. The next closest Ranger, Lafreniere, was only at 53.45%. When Fox is healthy, the Ranger blueline is led by an top-tier producer who is capable of overcoming a mediocre environment to produce dominant underlying numbers. A better second pairing means he should have fewer flaws to cover up, but this unit is still in big trouble if Fox misses any meaningful amount of time again,

GOALTENDING

Much like the defense, the crease for New York is all about the health of its star. Shesterkin is arguably the best goalie in the NHL when healthy, and over the years, he like Fox has done a lot to cover for some bad individual play and subpar roster construction.

It was more of the same in 2025-26, as Shesterkin posted a .912 save percentage and 2.50 goals against average to go with his 25-19-6 record in his 51 starts and appearances. Among the 71 NHL goalies who played at least 10 full games last year, Shesterkin ranked fifth with 0.45 goals saved above average per 60 and second among the cohort of workhorse goalies with at least 50 appearances.

A healthy Shesterkin is a money-in-the-bank Vezina Trophy candidate who is extremely likely to lift New York’s floor high enough to avoid another last-place finish in the division. If he’s not healthy, the contingency plan shifts from the now-retired Jonathan Quick to veteran Joonas Korpisalo. Quick was comfortably, but not egregiously, below league average last year (-0.12 GSAA/60). In his 31 games last season backing up Jeremy Swayman for the Boston Bruins, Korpisalo was a bit better with -0.04 GSAA/60 to go with his .894 SV% and 3.15 GAA.

The Metro is a tough goaltending division with Logan Thompson in with the Washington Capitals and Ilya Sorokin leading the charge for the Rangers’ local rivals, the New York Islanders, but Shesterkin is the class of the league when he’s healthy and on his game. The improved defense should help make his job easier, too, and a second Vezina trophy as the NHL’s top goalie is certainly in the cards if this season doesn’t fall apart the way the last two have for the Rangers.

COACHING

This will be year two for Sullivan behind the Blueshirt bench as the head boss. He had a previous stint as an assistant for the Rangers under John Tortorella in the 2010s, and he will make history on Opening Night, which will be the 1,000th game of his career as an NHL head coach. He notched his 500th win last season, and his 513 for his career place him 28th in the NHL in the history of the profession. He’s proven to be a cheat code for improving possession and shot quality metrics throughout his career, and the improvement he brought New York last season was noticeable on the spreadsheet if not in the standings. Is there enough talent on this roster for Sullivan to spark that jump, too?

He has plenty of head coaching experience on his bench, including that of former Rangers head coach David Quinn, who returned to New York last season after a second opportunity as a head coach with the San Jose Sharks. There’s also veteran Joe Sacco, who has 356 games under his belt as a head coach split between the Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins. There’s also Ty Hennes, who was on Sullivan’s staff in Pittsburgh as a skills coach and returns for a second year in New York.

As mentioned previously, the braintrust was able to bring considerable growth to the Rangers’ ability to drive shot share and quality, but the results were not there in the end. The staff was also effective on special teams, as New York finished 15th in the league on the penalty kill with a 79.9 percent success rate and fifth on the power play, converting on 24.7 percent of their opportunities.

ROOKIES

While he’s drawn warranted criticism in recent years for the organizational approach to drafting and development, Drury has donee well to restock the pipeline with potential impact contributors on rookie deals. Alberts Smits, chosen with the No. 5 overall pick in this past June’s draft, is physically ready to step in on an NHL blueline right away. New York has enough capable bodies to make that a luxury option more than a mandatory plan, but if Smits impresses in camp, he could bring an interesting element to New York’s bottom pairing.

There’s also Liam Greentree and Cole Beaudoin, a pair of interesting 20-year-olds Drury acquired in the Panarin and Trocheck trades, respectively. Like Smits, neither of them is being penciled in as immediate must-have contributor this season, but the opportunity is right there for the taking. If Greentree and Beaudoin aren’t NHL options immediately, look for them to put up some gaudy numbers in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack.

BURNING QUESTIONS

1. Can Pavel Dorofeyev work as a primary offensive engine? Drury paid a premium at the NHL Draft to add a coveted scoring winger to his team in Dorofeyev. Vegas was facing a salary-cap crunch, and the opportunity to add the No. 26 and 92 overall picks in that night’s draft plus a top-10 protected pick from a team spinning its wheels was enough to seal the deal. The question becomes whether Dorofeyev can replicate his impressive output from last season in an offensive environment where there is no Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, or Mark Stone to draw defensive attention away from him. He’s not completely bereft of help on the Rangers, but it will be an entirely different challenge for the $77-million man.

2. Is this finally the year for the Alexis Lafreniere breakout? The 2020 No. 1 overall pick seemed to be on the verge of stardom two years ago after his 57 points in 82 games in his fourth season helped fuel the Presidents’ Trophy win and run to the Eastern Conference Final. In October of 2024, he signed a seven-year extension with a salary cap hit of $7.45 million. That looked expensive as he struggled to just 45 points in 82 games that year, but with the cap having jumped considerably twice since, with plenty of room for more, it looks perfectly reasonable even if he stays at his current rate of productions. His 57 points last year matched a career high, but Lafreniere has a chance to deliver real surplus value on his contract if he can just take the next step toward being the 65-70-point player he has long been projected as.

3. How long is Drury’s leash if things go sideways? Drury was named GM of the Rangers in May of 2021, and he helped build on a solid young foundation left behind by predecessor Jeff Gorton to make the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and 2024. As the impact of Gorton’s work has faded and the roster has been increasingly shaped by Drury’s decisions, things have gotten worse. Some ill-advised moves on defense and an eagerness to strip away from the 2024 core have led to two straight missed postseasons while players cast aside have thrived elsewhere. New York could have used the depth scoring veteran Chris Kreider provided for the Anaheim Ducks last season as they made the playoffs. They could have used the version of K’Andre Miller that carried a second pairing of a Stanley Cup champion in Carolina. Good players have gone out the door, and their replacements have fared worse while the team has struggled. This offseason looks like a solid step in the right direction for Drury, but what if Dorofeyev, Pettersson and Durzi aren’t enough to turn the tide? With the Knicks winning the NBA title, does the Dolan family tolerate another lost season from MSG’s other headline sporting attraction?

PREDICTION

The Metro’s reputation took a big hit last season when the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes were the only of the division’s eight teams who looked even remotely like a contender, but that obscures the fact that the Rangers were the only team in the division to finish with fewer than 87 points. Everybody else was at least pretty competitive.

That means if New York is going to turn things around and return to being a playoff team, they have a sizable gap in the standings to make up on not only at least four of their divisional foes, but likely even some of the quality teams in the bottom half of the Atlantic Division.

Full, healthy seasons from Fox and Shesterkin would go a long way toward closing that gap, but is there enough quality on this roster to sustain some inevitable setbacks and injuries and come out ahead of some quality teams in the standings anyway? It’s pretty easy to have some skepticism there.

The absolute ceiling for this Rangers team is likely a third-place finish in the Metro, but a lot would have to go right to make that happen. Drury is asking a lot of a pair of aging veterans in Zibanejad and Miller to carry the forward group as its top two centers, and since a prolonged injury to either Fox or Shesterkin most likely seals it anyway, it’s considerably more likely that the Blueshirts miss postseason for the third year in a row than make it in.

_____

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Recently by Kyle Morton

Report: Joe Sakic to remain Avalanche GM; no search happening

Tyler Kuehl — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:58:48 GMT

It looks like the big man is staying at the helm.

According to multiple reports, Joe Sakic is set to remain as general manager of the Colorado Avalanche.

Avs news: Joe Sakic will be the Avalanche General Manager full-time moving forward, team sources confirm.

There will be no GM search for now.

“Reinvigorated” was the word used to describe Sakic back in the GM role.

More soon.

— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) September 14, 2026

Sakic took over as interim GM after Chris MacFarland left the franchise, having held the GM position for four years earlier this offseason. The Nashville Predators hired MacFarland as GM and president of hockey operations, taking over for Barry Trotz.

Per reports, a search was planned for a new replacement as GM of the Avalanche, but it was later nixxed after Sakic was reportedly “reinvigorated” after the team fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in a four-game sweep in the Western Conference Final this past spring. This, after Colorado had an incredible regular season, claiming the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy in five years, and waltzing its way through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Burnaby, B.C. native has been part of the Avalanche’s front office since 2011, when he was an alternative governor. He became the GM in 2014, after being named executive vice president of hockey operations the year prior. He held both roles through the 2021-22 season, when he put together a team that won the team’s third Stanley Cup, and the first since 2001.

From there, Sakic was promoted to president of hockey operations, overseeing MacFarland as the Avs have remained one of the best teams in the NHL. However, the Avs have been unable to reach the pinnacle since Sakic’s first term as GM ended, winning only three playoff series over the past four seasons.

‘Young kid, pretty bad skater at the time:’ Canadiens’ Kreider on 2014 collision with Price

Ben Steiner — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:51:06 GMT

Chris Kreider says there wasn’t any hesitation he felt from the Montreal Canadiens to sign him ahead of the 2026-27 season, despite his most infamous run-in with the Habs being a collision in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs with then-goaltender Carey Price.

While some fans have voiced frustrations about signing the player who ran into the legendary backstop to a one-year, $2.15 million contract for the season, the player himself takes the blame as a “young” player who was a “pretty bad skater at the time.”

“No, not from them, not on my part,” Kreider said of whether there was any hesitation in his negotiations with the Canadiens. “What happened in the past happened… It was not intentional in any way. I was just a young kid and a pretty bad skater at the time, trying to score, and things happened. So it’s hockey, it’s fast, but we move on and are happy to be here.”

Kreider joins the Canadiens after leaving the Anaheim Ducks, where he scored 22 goals and 28 assists for 50 points in 75 games last season, returning to the Eastern Conference after spending parts of 13 seasons with the New York Rangers. Joining Montreal, he brings veteran poise, a scoring touch, and an injection into a forward group hoping to push two steps further than the run to the Eastern Conference final in 205-26.

“Montreal was pretty aggressive right out of the gate,” Kreider added. “There are several connections to my time spent in New York. So there’s a familiarity there. I think that’s certainly helped as well.

“And I think just everything that they’re doing here and have been doing for a few years now, the culture that they’ve built, the group that they have, obviously it’s a pretty big hockey city, the passion… I’m trying to explain to some of my friends that it’s not just a sport here; it’s a religion.”

While it may take a while for Montreal fans to get used to seeing Kreider in their colors, there aren’t any concerns from his side about his past with Price or about joining a team led by his former Rangers teammate, Martin St. Louis.

“The intensity, the tenacity, and just the things that he brought to the rink every day,” Kreider said of that time in his early career, when St. Louis acted as a pseudo player-coach in New York. “I don’t think that I can say that I’ve learned more from any one individual than the time that I spent playing with him on his line.”

Kreider could make his Canadiens preseason debut as soon as Sept. 19, when Montreal plays split-squad games against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The team’s regular season opener is set for Sept. 29 against the same original six rivals.

Sabres sign Noah Ostlund to eight-year extension

Mike Gould — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 15:58:04 GMT

The Buffalo Sabres have agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension with forward Noah Ostlund, the club announced Monday morning. Per the club’s own media release, the deal carries an average annual value of $6.6 million.

Ostlund, 22, spent the majority of the 2025-26 regular season with the Sabres, collecting 11 goals and 27 points in 60 games. The 5’11”, left-shot center added a goal and an assist in three playoff games with the club.

The Sabres originally selected Ostlund in the first round (No. 16 overall) of the 2022 NHL Draft. The Stockholm product still has one year remaining on his entry-level deal, which carries an $886,666 cap hit, before his new deal takes effect in the 2027-28 season.

EIGHT MORE YEARS OF OSTY‼️

We have signed Noah Ostlund to an eight-year contract extension with an AAV of $6.6 million.

Details → https://t.co/13eWYuJYum pic.twitter.com/lNKGnESDVO
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) September 14, 2026

Ostlund’s new contract could end up being the final eight-year deal handed out before the updated Collective Bargaining Agreement takes effect on Wednesday. Under the terms of the new CBA, all new contracts will be capped at a maximum of seven years.

A product of the Djurgardens system in his native Sweden, Ostlund made the jump to North America in 2024. He skated in his first eight NHL games with the Sabres in the 2024-25 season, being held without a point; the same year, he amassed 19 goals and 36 points in 45 games with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.

Ostlund spent just seven games with Rochester in 2025-26, racking up three goals and 10 points, before becoming a full-time contributor with the Sabres. With his new contract now in hand, he’ll undoubtedly maintain that status in 2026-27 and the years following, as one of the leading members of Buffalo’s youngest cohort alongside Konsta Helenius and Jiri Kulich.

With Ostlund signed, the Sabres now have just one notable forward slated to become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2027: Jack Quinn, who set career highs with 20 goals and 51 points in 82 games with the club in 2025-26.

Brock Seguin’s Top 300 Fantasy Hockey Rankings 2026-27

Brock Seguin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 15:45:00 GMT

Welcome to my Top 300 fantasy hockey rankings for 2026-27. Whether you’re prepping for a draft or setting your season-long hockey pool, this is the board for you!

First, a quick word on how these rankings are generated. Everything starts with my projections — a full stat line for every player, built from years of data, projected deployment, and honest regression. No vibes, no “feels like a breakout.” If a guy shot 22 percent last year, my numbers assume he won’t do it again, even when the highlight reel says otherwise.

Then we run every player through 10,000 simulated seasons. In some of those seasons, everything clicks. Some, puck luck dies or the injury bug bites. Out of all of that comes a Floor and a Ceiling for every player — the reasonable worst case and the reasonable best case, not just one tidy number pretending the future is easy to predict. That matters on draft day. In the early rounds, you want a player with a sturdy floor who won’t sink your entire season. Give me the player whose bad season still wins my week. In the late rounds, floors are for the weak. That’s where you swing at ceilings.

The rankings blend points-league and category-league value. They are built on a custom scoring setup tailored to Daily Faceoff users. I polled DFO users to see what kinds of leagues they play and which categories matter most.

League Type:

47.4% head-to-head points
44.3% head-to-head categories
8.2% other

Skater Scoring:

100% Goals
100% Assists
82.5% SOG
80.4% PPP
77.3% Hits
75.3% Blocked Shots

Goalie Scoring:

100% SVS/SV%
100% GA/GAA
96.9% Wins
77.3% SO

So that’s what these rankings are built on: settings that over 75% of polled DFO users use.

I have full player profiles for each player in my top 300. Each profile contains my Floor, Mean & Ceiling projections and player analysis.

Rank	Player	Team	Pos	ADP	Diff
1	Nathan MacKinnon	COL	C	2.1	1.1
2	Connor McDavid	EDM	C	1.5	-0.5
3	Nikita Kucherov	TBL	RW	3.8	0.8
4	Leon Draisaitl	EDM	C,LW	5.9	1.9
5	Macklin Celebrini	SJS	C	4.7	-0.3
6	David Pastrnak	BOS	RW	8.4	2.4
7	Cale Makar	COL	D	6.3	-0.7
8	Kirill Kaprizov	MIN	LW	9.8	1.8
9	Jason Robertson	DAL	LW,RW	10.2	1.2
10	Evan Bouchard	EDM	D	16.2	6.2
11	Quinn Hughes	MIN	D	12.2	1.2
12	Zach Werenski	CBJ	D	15.1	3.1
13	Andrei Vasilevskiy	TBL	G	11	-2
14	Auston Matthews	TOR	C	17.2	3.2
15	Jack Hughes	NJD	C,LW	19.1	4.1
16	Martin Necas	COL	RW	15.9	-0.1
17	Rasmus Dahlin	BUF	D	34.7	17.7
18	Wyatt Johnston	DAL	C,RW	21.1	3.1
19	Matt Boldy	MIN	LW,RW	21.3	2.3
20	Logan Thompson	WSH	G	30.3	10.3
21	Jack Eichel	VGK	C	22.6	1.6
22	Mikko Rantanen	DAL	LW,RW	25.6	3.6
23	Brady Tkachuk	FLA	C,LW	25.6	2.6
24	Kyle Connor	WPG	LW	30.1	6.1
25	Connor Hellebuyck	WPG	G	24.2	-0.8
26	Cole Caufield	MTL	LW,RW	18.1	-7.9
27	Matthew Tkachuk	FLA	LW,RW	34	7
28	Lane Hutson	MTL	D	20.8	-7.2
29	Tage Thompson	BUF	C,RW	29.4	0.4
30	William Nylander	TOR	C,RW	42.2	12.2
31	Nick Suzuki	MTL	C	12.9	-18.1
32	Jake Oettinger	DAL	G	25.8	-6.2
33	Jeremy Swayman	BOS	G	61.8	28.8
34	Clayton Keller	UTA	LW,RW	44	10
35	Adam Fox	NYR	D	56	21
36	Artemi Panarin	LAK	LW	50.7	14.7
37	Igor Shesterkin	NYR	G	42	5
38	Matthew Schaefer	NYI	D	31.6	-6.4
39	Filip Forsberg	NSH	LW	56.1	17.1
40	Jake Guentzel	TBL	LW,RW	32.8	-7.2
41	Tim Stutzle	OTT	C,LW	48	7
42	Cutter Gauthier	ANA	C,LW,RW	34.6	-7.4
43	Mitch Marner	VGK	C,LW,RW	42.2	-0.8
44	Moritz Seider	DET	D	53.2	9.2
45	Ilya Sorokin	NYI	G	36.8	-8.2
46	Mark Scheifele	WPG	C	36.3	-9.7
47	Dylan Guenther	UTA	LW,RW	41.7	-5.3
48	Sidney Crosby	PIT	C	53.1	5.1
49	Karel Vejmelka	UTA	G	69	20
50	Scott Wedgewood	COL	G	54.5	4.5
51	Roman Josi	NSH	D	77.9	26.9
52	Jake Sanderson	OTT	D	63.7	11.7
53	Darren Raddysh	TOR	D	50.9	-2.1
54	Sam Reinhart	FLA	RW	46.7	-7.3
55	Jesper Bratt	NJD	LW,RW	77.2	22.2
56	Alex DeBrincat	DET	LW,RW	41	-15
57	Brandon Hagel	TBL	LW,RW	37.8	-19.2
58	Connor Bedard	CHI	C,RW	64.6	6.6
59	Jesper Wallstedt	MIN	G	59.9	0.9
60	Josh Morrissey	WPG	D	83.6	23.6
61	Jakob Chychrun	WSH	D	51.3	-9.7
62	Sebastian Aho	CAR	C	76.3	14.3
63	Leo Carlsson	ANA	C	45.6	-17.4
64	Juraj Slafkovsky	MTL	LW,RW	53	-11
65	Adrian Kempe	LAK	RW	54.7	-10.3
66	Mikhail Sergachev	UTA	D	91.4	25.4
67	Kirill Marchenko	CBJ	RW	62.9	-4.1
68	Aleksander Barkov	FLA	C	56.9	-11.1
69	Jakub Dobes	MTL	G	82.3	13.3
70	Mika Zibanejad	NYR	C,RW	87.3	17.3
71	Nico Hischier	NJD	C	142.3	71.3
72	Lucas Raymond	DET	RW	73.7	1.7
73	Brandon Bussi	CAR	G	77.1	4.1
74	J.T. Miller	NYR	C,LW,RW	116.6	42.6
75	Jacob Markstrom	FLA	G	78.7	3.7
76	Erik Karlsson	PIT	D	74.1	-1.9
77	Pavel Dorofeyev	NYR	LW,RW	72.3	-4.7
78	Andrei Svechnikov	CAR	LW,RW	117.2	39.2
79	Drake Batherson	OTT	LW,RW	85.2	6.2
80	Miro Heiskanen	DAL	D	69.7	-10.3
81	John Carlson	TBL	D	83.8	2.8
82	Zach Hyman	EDM	LW,RW	101.3	19.3
83	Jackson LaCombe	ANA	D	79.3	-3.7
84	Dylan Holloway	STL	C,LW	107.9	23.9
85	Brandt Clarke	LAK	D	105.3	20.3
86	Bo Horvat	NYI	C	140.2	54.2
87	Dylan Larkin	DET	C	91.9	4.9
88	Robert Thomas	STL	C	77.1	-10.9
89	Brayden Point	TBL	C	85.2	-3.8
90	Adam Fantilli	CBJ	C	100.4	10.4
91	Carter Hart	VGK	G	135.9	44.9
92	Nikolaj Ehlers	CAR	LW	116.4	24.4
93	Logan Cooley	UTA	C	128.9	35.9
94	Joel Eriksson Ek	MIN	C	195.6	101.6
95	Linus Ullmark	OTT	G	140.4	45.4
96	Mackenzie Blackwood	COL	G	97.5	1.5
97	Shayne Gostisbehere	CAR	D	97.8	0.8
98	Charlie McAvoy	BOS	D	98.7	0.7
99	Timo Meier	NJD	LW,RW	103.8	4.8
100	Tomas Hertl	VGK	C,LW	196.7	96.7
101	Alex Ovechkin	WSH	LW,RW	93	-8
102	Porter Martone	PHI	RW	68.8	-33.2
103	Ivan Demidov	MTL	RW	86	-17
104	Will Smith	SJS	LW,RW	64.7	-39.3
105	Beckett Sennecke	ANA	RW	106.1	1.1
106	Steven Stamkos	NSH	C,RW	126.1	20.1
107	Travis Konecny	PHI	LW,RW	132	25
108	Kevin Fiala	LAK	LW	202.7	94.7
109	Nick Schmaltz	UTA	C,RW	96	-13
110	Jet Greaves	CBJ	G	120.9	10.9
111	Joel Hofer	STL	G	129.9	18.9
112	Lukas Dostal	ANA	G	157.6	45.6
113	Dylan Cozens	OTT	C	204	91
114	Shea Theodore	VGK	D	101.4	-12.6
115	MacKenzie Weegar	UTA	D	112.7	-2.3
116	Seth Jones	FLA	D	138.8	22.8
117	Luke Hughes	NJD	D	161.6	44.6
118	Matthew Knies	TOR	LW,RW	119.4	1.4
119	Jimmy Snuggerud	STL	RW	189.8	70.8
120	Alexis Lafreniere	NYR	LW,RW	149.6	29.6
121	Mark Stone	VGK	RW	107.1	-13.9
122	JJ Peterka	BOS	LW,RW	191.5	69.5
123	Mathew Barzal	NYI	C,RW	155.6	32.6
124	Gabriel Vilardi	WPG	C,RW	185.2	61.2
125	Seth Jarvis	CAR	LW,RW	135.8	10.8
126	Jackson Blake	CAR	RW	199.2	73.2
127	Gavin McKenna	TOR	LW	93.7	-33.3
128	Vince Dunn	SEA	D	133.3	5.3
129	Brock Faber	MIN	D	81.4	-47.6
130	Carter Verhaeghe	FLA	LW	205.8	75.8
131	Vincent Trocheck	UTA	C	205	74
132	Tom Wilson	WSH	RW	136.9	4.9
133	John Tavares	TOR	C	141.5	8.5
134	Josh Doan	BUF	RW	203.5	69.5
135	Logan Stankoven	CAR	C,RW	182.8	47.8
136	Sergei Bobrovsky	TOR	G	93.4	-42.6
137	Noah Dobson	MTL	D	94.3	-42.7
138	Victor Hedman	TBL	D	90.4	-47.6
139	Filip Hronek	VAN	D	173.8	34.8
140	Brandon Montour	SEA	D	122.5	-17.5
141	Darcy Kuemper	LAK	G	195.4	54.4
142	Nazem Kadri	COL	C,LW	168.2	26.2
143	Thomas Harley	DAL	D	115.7	-27.3
144	Rasmus Andersson	VGK	D	108.7	-35.3
145	Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen	BUF	G	120.2	-24.8
146	Dougie Hamilton	NJD	D	110.8	-35.2
147	John Gibson	DET	G	183.8	36.8
148	William Eklund	OTT	LW,RW	196.7	48.7
149	Roope Hintz	DAL	C	126.3	-22.7
150	Quinton Byfield	LAK	C	185.7	35.7
151	Anton Frondell	CHI	C	198.3	66
152	Matt Savoie	EDM	C,RW	–	65
153	Rickard Rakell	PIT	C,LW,RW	134.9	-18.1
154	Bryan Rust	PIT	RW	130.3	-23.7
155	Juuse Saros	NSH	G	106.7	-48.3
156	Alex Tuch	WSH	LW,RW	92.2	-63.8
157	Dan Vladar	PHI	G	151	-6
158	Pyotr Kochetkov	CAR	G	203.9	45.9
159	Filip Gustavsson	MIN	G	188.4	29.4
160	Cole Hutson	WSH	D	91.8	-68.2
161	Brad Marchand	FLA	LW,RW	177.2	16.2
162	Owen Tippett	PHI	LW,RW	206.6	55
163	Jordan Kyrou	WSH	RW	195	32
164	Yaroslav Askarov	SJS	G	149.6	-14.4
165	Trevor Zegras	PHI	C,LW,RW	135	-30
166	Spencer Knight	CHI	G	138.3	-27.7
167	Jake Allen	NJD	G	203.7	36.7
168	Sam Bennett	FLA	C	185.2	17.2
169	Morgan Geekie	BOS	C,LW,RW	111.9	-57.1
170	Valeri Nichushkin	CBJ	LW,RW	205.2	35.2
171	Artturi Lehkonen	COL	LW,RW	200.5	46
172	Roman Kantserov	CHI	LW	–	45
173	Matvei Michkov	PHI	LW,RW	198.3	25.3
174	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	EDM	C,LW	198.2	24.2
175	Evgeni Malkin	PIT	C,LW,RW	161.4	-13.6
176	Elias Pettersson	VAN	C	200.3	24.3
177	Zach Benson	BUF	LW	193.8	16.8
178	Joey Daccord	SEA	G	199.1	21.1
179	Dustin Wolf	CGY	G	191.5	12.5
180	Morgan Rielly	TOR	D	198.2	18.2
181	Bowen Byram	CHI	D	116.1	36
182	Zayne Parekh	CGY	D	201.6	19.6
183	Stuart Skinner	WPG	G	206.3	23.3
184	Tristan Jarry	EDM	G	206.5	22.5
185	Ivan Barbashev	VGK	LW	206.6	21.6
186	Mats Zuccarello	LAK	RW	205.7	31
187	Will Cuylle	NYR	LW,RW	–	30
188	Kiefer Sherwood	SJS	LW,RW	206.5	18.5
189	Dylan Strome	WSH	C	200.7	28
190	Mason McTavish	STL	C	206.5	27
191	Casey DeSmith	DAL	G	–	26
192	Anton Forsberg	LAK	G	–	25
193	Anthony Stolarz	TOR	G	204.9	11.9
194	Kevin Lankinen	VAN	G	200.4	23
195	Brock Nelson	COL	C	159.2	22
196	Mikael Granlund	ANA	C,LW	–	21
197	Philip Broberg	STL	D	151.6	-45.4
198	Matt Duchene	DAL	C,RW	203.7	5.7
199	Ryan O’Reilly	NSH	C	189.9	-9.1
200	Pavel Zacha	BOS	C,LW	198.4	-1.6
201	Joseph Woll	PHI	G	205.8	4.8
202	Frederik Andersen	EDM	G	201.5	-0.5
203	Matt Coronato	CGY	RW	–	14
204	Akira Schmid	FLA	G	–	13
205	Bobby McMann	SEA	LW,RW	206.6	1.6
206	Alex Laferriere	LAK	C,LW,RW	205.5	-0.5
207	Patrick Kane	CHI	RW	190.1	-16.9
208	Luke Evangelista	NSH	LW,RW	195.5	9
209	Matvei Gridin	CGY	LW,RW	–	8
210	Simon Nemec	CGY	D	199.4	7
211	Nico Daws	NJD	G	–	6
212	Alex Lyon	BUF	G	195.7	5
213	Cole Perfetti	WPG	LW,RW	–	4
214	Mason Marchment	SJS	LW	206.5	-7.5
215	Egor Chinakhov	PIT	LW,RW	203.4	-11.6
216	Aliaksei Protas	WSH	LW,RW	202	1
217	Igor Chernyshov	SJS	LW,RW	206.5	-10.5
218	Ivar Stenberg	SJS	LW	182.6	-35.4
219	Ryan Leonard	WSH	RW	205	-14
220	Easton Cowan	TOR	LW	–	-3
221	Jack Roslovic	TOR	C,RW	205.6	-15.4
222	Gabe Perreault	NYR	RW	205.6	-16.4
223	Jacob Fowler	MTL	G	182.8	-40.2
224	Sergei Murashov	PIT	G	186.8	-37.2
225	Arturs Silovs	PIT	G	204.1	-20.9
226	Thomas Chabot	OTT	D	182.8	-43.2
227	Brock Boeser	VAN	LW,RW	205.8	-21.2
228	Aaron Ekblad	FLA	D	204.3	-23.7
229	Mattias Ekholm	EDM	D	144.7	-84.3
230	Zeev Buium	VAN	D	199.5	-30.5
231	Tyler Bertuzzi	CHI	LW,RW	204.5	-26.5
232	Gabriel Landeskog	COL	LW,RW	201.5	-30.5
233	Jared McCann	SEA	C,LW	–	-16
234	Artyom Levshunov	CHI	D	–	-17
235	Mike Matheson	MTL	D	162.6	-72.4
236	Jacob Trouba	SJS	D	179.5	-56.5
237	Darnell Nurse	SJS	D	196.7	-40.3
238	Kris Letang	PIT	D	202.5	-35.5
239	Justin Faulk	DET	D	202	-37
240	Neal Pionk	WPG	D	–	-23
241	Noah Hanifin	VGK	D	202.5	-38.5
242	Alexander Nikishin	CAR	D	176.4	-65.6
243	Sam Malinski	COL	D	188.5	-54.5
244	Jake DeBrusk	VAN	LW,RW	–	-27
245	Devon Toews	COL	D	189.3	-55.7
246	Ivan Provorov	CBJ	D	189.1	-56.9
247	Frank Nazar	CHI	C	–	-30
248	Matty Beniers	SEA	C	–	-31
249	Pierre-Luc Dubois	WSH	C,LW	–	-32
250	Michael Misa	SJS	C	204.2	-45.8
251	James Hagens	BOS	C	201.8	-49.2
252	Logan Mailloux	STL	D	–	-35
253	Travis Sanheim	PHI	D	196.6	-56.4
254	K’Andre Miller	CAR	D	202.9	-51.1
255	Mattias Samuelsson	BUF	D	135.2	-119.8
256	Blake Coleman	MIN	C,LW	–	-39
257	Kyle Palmieri	NYI	RW	–	-40
258	Mackie Samoskevich	SEA	RW	–	-41
259	Anders Lee	UTA	LW	–	-42
260	Marco Rossi	VAN	C	–	-43
261	Brent Burns	COL	D	189.7	-71.3
262	Esa Lindell	DAL	D	192.8	-69.2
263	Colton Parayko	STL	D	205	-58
264	Jake Walman	EDM	D	205	-59
265	Viktor Arvidsson	DET	LW,RW	–	-48
266	Jonathan Huberdeau	CGY	LW,RW	–	-49
267	Oliver Bjorkstrand	NYR	RW	–	-50
268	Jack Quinn	BUF	RW	–	-51
269	Anthony Mantha	NJD	LW,RW	202.8	-66.2
270	Tyson Foerster	PHI	LW,RW	205.8	-64.2
271	Josh Norris	BUF	C	–	-54
272	Pavel Buchnevich	STL	C,LW,RW	205.9	-66.1
273	Justin Hryckowian	DAL	C,LW	–	-56
274	Jake Neighbours	STL	LW,RW	205.8	-68.2
275	Lawson Crouse	UTA	LW,RW	206.5	-68.5
276	Tyler Seguin	DAL	C,RW	–	-59
277	Jonathan Marchessault	NSH	LW,RW	–	-60
278	Axel Sandin-Pellikka	DET	D	–	-61
279	Jordan Eberle	SEA	RW	–	-62
280	Elias Lindholm	BOS	C	–	-63
281	Shane Pinto	OTT	C	–	-64
282	Jiri Kulich	BUF	C	–	-65
283	Anthony Cirelli	TBL	C	204.5	-78.5
284	Charlie Coyle	CBJ	C	–	-67
285	Ben Kindel	PIT	C	–	-68
286	Ilya Protas	WSH	LW	–	-69
287	Emmitt Finnie	DET	C,LW	–	-70
288	Isaac Howard	EDM	LW	–	-71
289	Nick Lardis	CHI	LW	–	-72
290	Chris Kreider	ANA	LW	–	-73
291	Connor McMichael	STL	C,LW	206.6	-74
292	Jason Zucker	BUF	LW	–	-75
293	Matthew Wood	NSH	C,RW	–	-76
294	Mavrik Bourque	NSH	C,RW	–	-77
295	Max Shabanov	MIN	RW	–	-78
296	Dawson Mercer	NJD	C,RW	–	-79
297	Danila Yurov	MIN	C,RW	–	-80
298	Brayden Schenn	NYI	C,LW	–	-81
299	Ryan Hartman	MIN	C,RW	–	-82
300	Jordan Binnington	STL	G	203.3	-96.7

PWHL San Jose sign Laila Edwards to three-year contract

Ben Steiner — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 15:22:33 GMT

PWHL San Jose made one of their biggest moves in the lead-up to their inaugural season on Monday, signing versatile forward and defender Laila Edwards to a three-year contract, instantly making her the marquee star of the California team’s expansion season.

Edwards, who played a key role in helping the USA win the gold medal at the 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina, comes into the PWHL after San Jose selected her fourth overall in the PWHL Draft, following an outstanding collegiate career.

Outside of the Olympic gold medal, Edwards has a decorated career at just 22 years old. With the USA, she won gold at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championships and silver the year prior.

At the youth level, she also helped her nation win silver at the 2022 U18 World Championships. At the most recent Olympics, she scored two goals and six assists in seven games, bringing her international totals to nine goals, 11 assists and 20 points in 21 games.

While casual hockey fans know her best for her international accolades, Edwards established herself as a clear-cut superstar in collegiate hockey, winning three NCAA Championships in four seasons with the University of Wisconsin Badgers. In that time, she scored 81 goals and 118 assists for 199 points in 151 games, headlined by an NCAA-leading 35 goals and 71 points in 41 games in 2024-25.

Last season, she scored 12 goals and 33 assists for 45 points with the Badgers, while also balancing her duties with the USA Olympic programme en route to securing the country’s first Olympic women’s hockey title since 2018.

“We are thrilled to officially welcome Laila to San Jose and are excited about what her commitment means for the future we are building here,” said Troy Ryan, PWHL San Jose general manager and head coach, who took the role after leaving the head coaching roles with the Toronto Sceptres and Hockey Canada, where he lost to Edwards’ USA teams at the international levels.

“Laila is an exceptional talent who embodies the character we value in our organization. She has tremendous potential, and we are committed to supporting her growth and development as she establishes herself as a professional.”

With her signing, PWHL San Jose’s contracted player pool rises to 14 players for its inaugural season, as they prepares to take on the first year of the 12-team PWHL, featuring itself and fellow expansion teams in Las Vegas, Detroit and Hamilton, with the season expected to start in early December.

“I couldn’t have landed in a better place and organization than San Jose,” said Edwards. “I’m so excited to get to work and get going with this group.”

2026-27 Fantasy Hockey ADP: Yahoo vs. ESPN vs. Fantrax vs. CBS

Brock Seguin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:39:37 GMT

Average Draft Position isn’t one number. The same player routinely goes three rounds apart depending on whether your league lives on Yahoo, ESPN, Fantrax, or CBS, because each platform’s default settings and draft-room pricing differ. Scott Wedgewood is currently a 3rd-round pick on CBS and a 15th-round pick on Fantrax. If you’re prepping with the wrong site’s ADP, you’re planning for a draft that isn’t yours.

The table below combines the latest ADP from all four major platforms alongside the percentage of drafts each player is actually taken in. That second number matters: a player with a 130 ADP who’s drafted in only 11% of leagues isn’t really a 130 pick; he’s a late-round flier who occasionally goes early. His “True ADP” would be something like 207.4.

A few housekeeping notes: ESPN publishes roster percentage rather than draft percentage, so that’s what appears in their column. Blank cells mean a platform doesn’t list the player. Rankings reflect the average across whichever platforms list each player.

Rank	Player	Team	Pos	Yahoo	%Drafted	ESPN	%Drafted	FanTrax	%Drafted	CBS	%Drafted	Avg Pick
1	Nathan MacKinnon	COL	C	2.1	100	1.8	100	1.4	100	1.8	100	1.8
2	Connor McDavid	EDM	C	1.5	100	2.4	100	1.8	100	1.8	100	1.9
3	Nikita Kucherov	TBL	RW	3.8	100	4.4	100	3.4	100	3.8	100	3.9
4	Macklin Celebrini	SJS	C	4.7	100	4.1	100	3.9	100	4.6	100	4.3
5	Leon Draisaitl	EDM	C,LW	5.9	100	11.0	100	5.2	100	5.0	100	6.8
6	Cale Makar	COL	D	6.3	100	10.3	100	8.5	100	5.6	100	7.7
7	David Pastrnak	BOS	RW	8.4	100	8.2	100	7.0	100	8.8	100	8.1
8	Kirill Kaprizov	MIN	LW	9.8	100	20.0	100	8.1	99	7.6	100	11.4
9	Jason Robertson	DAL	LW,RW	10.2	100	7.8	100	12.3	100	22.2	100	13.1
10	Zach Werenski	CBJ	D	15.1	100	11.8	100	13.8	100	14.8	100	13.9
11	Auston Matthews	TOR	C	17.2	100	13.1	99	12.3	100	19.2	100	15.5
12	Matt Boldy	MIN	LW,RW	21.3	100	10.1	100	17.0	100	13.6	100	15.5
13	Evan Bouchard	EDM	D	16.2	100	18.1	100	15.8	100	12.4	100	15.6
14	Quinn Hughes	MIN	D	12.2	100	30.4	100	16.1	100	11.6	100	17.6
15	Cole Caufield	MTL	LW,RW	18.1	100	13.8	100	27.1	100	17.4	100	19.1
16	Nick Suzuki	MTL	C	12.9	100	20.8	100	21.4	100	27.4	100	20.6
17	Jack Eichel	VGK	C	22.6	100	27.9	99	16.1	100	19.4	100	21.5
18	Martin Necas	COL	RW	15.9	100	32.8	99	17.0	100	30.6	100	24.1
19	Brady Tkachuk	FLA	C,LW	25.6	100	21.0	99	23.7	100	28.8	100	24.8
20	Jack Hughes	NJD	C,LW	19.1	100	49.6	99	12.8	100	22.8	100	26.1
21	Matthew Schaefer	NYI	D	31.6	100	30.6	100	24.2	100	27.6	100	28.5
22	Rasmus Dahlin	BUF	D	34.7	100	42.5	100	21.6	100	17.6	100	29.1
23	Tage Thompson	BUF	C,RW	29.4	100	25.7	100	24.9	100	36.6	100	29.2
24	Andrei Vasilevskiy	TBL	G	11.0	100	16.5	100	66.1	99	26.0	80	29.9
25	Wyatt Johnston	DAL	C,RW	19.2	99	28.1	99	28.2	100	45.4	100	30.2
26	Matthew Tkachuk	FLA	LW,RW	34.0	100	34.5	99	26.0	100	27.2	100	30.4
27	Jake Guentzel	TBL	LW,RW	32.8	100	28.8	99	31.9	100	32.2	100	31.4
28	Kyle Connor	WPG	LW	30.1	100	27.1	99	26.9	100	43.6	100	31.9
29	Mikko Rantanen	DAL	LW,RW	25.6	100	67.7	96	20.8	100	18.4	100	33.1
30	Lane Hutson	MTL	D	20.8	100	66.0	96	30.9	100	27.4	100	36.3
31	William Nylander	TOR	C,RW	42.2	100	38.0	99	29.1	100	37.6	100	36.7
32	Filip Forsberg	NSH	LW	56.1	100	18.9	99	38.0	100	37.2	100	37.6
33	Mark Scheifele	WPG	C	36.3	100	46.1	99	41.5	100	38.6	100	40.6
34	Clayton Keller	UTA	LW,RW	44.0	100	46.3	99	41.5	100	34.0	100	41.5
35	Mitch Marner	VGK	C,LW,RW	42.2	100	56.0	99	34.9	100	41.2	100	43.6
36	Sam Reinhart	FLA	RW	46.7	100	56.7	98	41.0	100	31.6	100	44.0
37	Cutter Gauthier	ANA	C,LW,RW	34.6	100	55.6	97	38.3	99	50.4	100	44.7
38	Alex DeBrincat	DET	LW,RW	41.0	100	27.5	99	49.0	100	61.4	100	44.7
39	Moritz Seider	DET	D	53.2	100	24.2	100	38.4	100	68.2	100	46.0
40	Artemi Panarin	LAK	LW	50.7	100	42.5	98	38.6	100	61.4	100	48.3
41	Tim Stutzle	OTT	C,LW	48.0	100	54.8	98	38.0	100	53.0	100	48.5
42	Logan Thompson	WSH	G	30.3	100	40.3	99	91.6	99	32.8	80	48.7
43	Jakob Chychrun	WSH	D	51.3	100	52.1	99	48.1	100	45.0	100	49.1
44	Jake Oettinger	DAL	G	25.8	100	40.6	99	98.5	99	37.0	80	50.5
45	Dylan Guenther	UTA	LW,RW	41.7	100	69.8	96	44.8	100	51.6	100	52.0
46	Sidney Crosby	PIT	C	53.1	100	62.4	98	52.0	100	41.2	100	52.2
47	Brandon Hagel	TBL	LW,RW	37.8	100	69.5	97	41.8	100	63.8	100	53.2
48	Roman Josi	NSH	D	77.9	100	52.1	99	55.9	100	33.2	100	54.8
49	Sebastian Aho	CAR	C	76.3	100	65.1	98	59.0	100	43.6	100	61.0
50	Adrian Kempe	LAK	RW	54.7	100	53.8	97	53.8	100	82.2	100	61.1
51	Adam Fox	NYR	D	56.0	100	107.5	90	41.3	100	43.6	100	62.1
52	Connor Bedard	CHI	C,RW	64.6	100	53.0	97	50.1	99	87.8	100	63.9
53	Darren Raddysh	TOR	D	50.9	100	83.0	97	53.1	100	77.4	100	66.1
54	Connor Hellebuyck	WPG	G	24.2	100	94.7	91	90.5	99	60.8	80	67.5
55	Juraj Slafkovský	MTL	LW,RW	53.0	100	58.8	98	56.2	100	103.6	100	67.9
56	Aleksander Barkov	FLA	C	56.9	100	93.7	90	52.9	100	75.2	100	69.7
57	Jake Sanderson	OTT	D	63.7	100	89.4	96	50.2	100	80.0	100	70.8
58	John Carlson	TBL	D	83.8	100	70.2	98	64.4	100	66.4	100	71.2
59	Leo Carlsson	ANA	C	45.6	100	128.5	84	49.3	98	61.8	100	71.3
60	Miro Heiskanen	DAL	D	69.7	100	91.3	94	60.0	100	66.2	100	71.8
61	Ilya Sorokin	NYI	G	36.8	100	81.4	95	102.5	99	74.0	80	73.7
62	Mika Zibanejad	NYR	C,RW	87.3	100	41.2	98	64.7	100	101.8	100	73.8
63	Alex Tuch	WSH	LW,RW	92.2	100	32.0	99	83.2	99	96.6	100	76.0
64	Erik Karlsson	PIT	D	74.1	100	104.7	95	77.5	99	54.2	100	77.6
65	Scott Wedgewood	COL	G	54.5	100	53.2	98	174.6	91	30.8	80	78.3
66	Jeremy Swayman	BOS	G	61.8	100	70.8	96	117.4	99	65.3	80	78.8
67	Kirill Marchenko	CBJ	RW	62.9	100	90.9	92	71.6	100	92.2	100	79.4
68	Zach Hyman	EDM	LW,RW	101.3	100	44.7	98	83.8	100	88.0	100	79.5
69	Josh Morrissey	WPG	D	83.6	100	94.0	96	65.0	100	76.4	100	79.8
70	Alex Ovechkin	WSH	LW,RW	93.0	100	58.6	97	95.8	100	73.8	100	80.3
71	Dylan Larkin	DET	C	91.9	100	69.1	96	80.8	100	83.8	100	81.4
72	Igor Shesterkin	NYR	G	42.0	100	100.7	89	109.5	97	79.5	80	82.9
73	Noah Dobson	MTL	D	94.3	100	34.7	99	93.4	100	115.0	100	84.4
74	Karel Vejmelka	UTA	G	69.0	100	79.4	93	122.8	99	69.0	80	85.1
75	Jackson LaCombe	ANA	D	79.3	100	120.5	88	61.5	100	85.4	100	86.7
76	Mikhail Sergachev	UTA	D	91.4	100	110.1	91	68.5	100	77.2	100	86.8
77	Brock Faber	MIN	D	81.4	100	80.3	98	104.0	100	83.8	100	87.4
78	Drake Batherson	OTT	LW,RW	85.2	100	108.5	87	81.3	100	92.8	100	92.0
79	Jesper Bratt	NJD	LW,RW	77.2	100	124.5	83	65.5	100	108.8	100	94.0
80	Brayden Point	TBL	C	85.2	100	120.9	86	71.2	100	104.6	100	95.5
81	Pavel Dorofeyev	NYR	LW,RW	72.3	100	99.8	90	92.6	99	120.0	100	96.2
82	MacKenzie Weegar	UTA	D	112.7	100	49.8	98	118.9	100	103.4	100	96.2
83	Charlie McAvoy	BOS	D	98.7	100	121.4	88	67.3	100	97.6	100	96.3
84	Lucas Raymond	DET	RW	73.7	100	127.1	83	76.5	100	114.0	100	97.8
85	Shayne Gostisbehere	CAR	D	97.8	100	160.2	79	87.8	100	48.2	100	98.5
86	Andrei Svechnikov	CAR	LW,RW	117.2	100	117.9	85	71.1	100	95.0	100	100.3
87	Steven Stamkos	NSH	C,RW	123.6	97	63.5	96	111.0	99	104.0	100	100.5
88	Nick Schmaltz	UTA	C,RW	96.0	100	111.3	87	110.8	100	87.0	100	101.3
89	Nico Hischier	NJD	C	128.9	83	73.5	95	86.2	100	116.8	100	101.4
90	Brandon Bussi	CAR	G	77.1	100	113.6	86	170.1	92	49.0	80	102.5
91	Dylan Holloway	STL	C,LW	107.9	100	116.7	86	63.1	100	128.8	80	104.1
92	Tom Wilson	WSH	RW	128.1	89	118.8	85	89.3	100	80.8	100	104.3
93	Robert Thomas	STL	C	77.1	100	174.9	73	85.7	100	79.6	100	104.3
94	Mark Stone	VGK	RW	107.1	100	145.2	81	96.5	99	70.2	100	104.8
95	Victor Hedman	TBL	D	90.4	100	155.5	80	109.6	100	67.8	100	105.8
96	Jesper Wallstedt	MIN	G	59.9	100	151.8	77	153.2	98	66.3	80	107.8
97	Nikolaj Ehlers	CAR	LW	116.4	100	127.8	83	86.7	100	104.0	100	108.7
98	Jakub Dobes	MTL	G	82.3	100	142.0	80	134.8	99	76.8	80	109.0
99	Will Smith	SJS	LW,RW	64.7	100	171.6	73	97.7	100	102.8	100	109.2
100	Rasmus Andersson	VGK	D	108.7	100	76.9	98	136.6	99	121.3	80	110.9
101	Bo Horvat	NYI	C	128.2	85	111.5	87	109.7	99	97.0	100	111.6
102	Porter Martone	PHI	RW	68.8	100	202.7	55	77.9	100	103.8	100	113.3
103	J.T. Miller	NYR	C,LW,RW	115.7	99	130.2	82	79.9	100	131.8	80	114.4
104	Brandt Clarke	LAK	D	105.3	100	143.8	83	77.3	100	131.8	80	114.5
105	Seth Jarvis	CAR	LW,RW	122.0	84	92.4	91	93.1	98	150.7	60	114.5
106	Logan Cooley	UTA	C	120.1	90	134.2	83	97.1	100	117.8	100	117.3
107	Bryan Rust	PIT	RW	127.1	96	125.3	82	113.8	99	105.2	100	117.9
108	John Tavares	TOR	C	128.8	84	119.1	84	113.6	100	111.8	100	118.3
109	Morgan Geekie	BOS	C,LW,RW	111.9	100	113.6	86	107.0	100	141.4	100	118.5
110	Adam Fantilli	CBJ	C	99.3	99	123.6	83	99.8	99	156.4	100	119.8
111	Timo Meier	NJD	LW,RW	103.8	100	94.5	89	105.6	98	178.5	40	120.6
112	Ivan Demidov	MTL	RW	86.0	100	181.5	68	94.0	100	121.5	80	120.8
113	Travis Konecny	PHI	LW,RW	129.6	97	139.6	80	94.0	100	120.2	100	120.9
114	Bowen Byram	CHI	D	115.2	99	124.7	87	98.5	100	146.5	80	121.2
115	Beckett Sennecke	ANA	RW	105.1	99	150.5	79	110.9	100	121.4	100	122.0
116	Shea Theodore	VGK	D	101.4	100	199.4	62	95.1	100	95.6	100	122.9
117	Gavin McKenna	TOR	LW	93.7	100	146.9	83	115.8	100	137.2	100	123.4
118	Vincent Trocheck	UTA	C	132.9	4	89.3	92	128.9	99	146.0	100	124.3
119	Kevin Fiala	LAK	LW	148.9	9	74.3	90	118.8	93	157.0	60	124.8
120	Jacob Markstrom	FLA	G	78.7	100	211.3	45	153.8	99	56.5	80	125.1
121	Brock Nelson	COL	C	133.0	65	108.8	88	145.8	97	123.0	100	127.7
122	Matthew Knies	TOR	LW,RW	118.5	99	156.5	78	97.3	100	140.3	80	128.1
123	Sergei Bobrovsky	TOR	G	93.4	100	173.4	72	164.8	97	83.5	80	128.8
124	Jordan Kyrou	WSH	RW	139.8	19	156.5	75	131.3	97	90.5	80	129.5
125	Mathew Barzal	NYI	C,RW	138.2	75	164.1	75	105.8	98	112.2	100	130.1
126	Juuse Saros	NSH	G	105.7	99	157.0	74	139.4	98	121.0	80	130.8
127	Dougie Hamilton	NJD	D	110.8	100	183.1	73	116.4	98	116.2	100	131.6
128	Linus Ullmark	OTT	G	134.5	92	125.2	83	168.7	96	101.5	80	132.5
129	Cole Hutson	WSH	D	91.8	100	211.2	42	115.0	100	114.2	100	133.1
130	Nazem Kadri	COL	C,LW	145.8	64	134.8	80	186.7	88	65.0	100	133.1
131	Elias Pettersson	VAN	C	137.7	11	89.1	93	127.7	96	178.3	60	133.2
132	Thomas Chabot	OTT	D	141.7	38	97.5	95	153.6	98	147.8	100	135.2
133	Thomas Harley	DAL	D	115.7	100	164.1	78	120.1	98	142.0	80	135.5
134	Seth Jones	FLA	D	127.5	86	218.8	42	95.6	99	103.8	100	136.4
135	Dylan Cozens	OTT	C	140.7	6	117.2	85	119.4	100	171.7	60	137.2
136	Vince Dunn	SEA	D	128.5	94	168.5	76	136.4	99	120.4	100	138.5
137	Owen Tippett	PHI	LW,RW	137.0	2	116.7	84	146.9	93	158.0	20	139.7
138	Brad Marchand	FLA	LW,RW	145.2	49	170.6	74	149.4	92	95.4	100	140.2
139	Sam Bennett	FLA	C	136.6	32	151.9	77	160.3	93	115.2	100	141.0
140	Tomas Hertl	VGK	C,LW	145.4	18	141.1	79	133.4	99	146.7	60	141.6
141	Brandon Montour	SEA	D	118.9	96	183.8	72	132.5	99	132.3	80	141.9
142	Joel Hofer	STL	G	126.6	96	137.5	78	168.9	98	136.0	80	142.3
143	Trevor Zegras	PHI	C,LW,RW	132.0	96	186.5	70	123.8	98	128.0	100	142.6
144	Roope Hintz	DAL	C	119.2	92	161.4	76	133.0	96	156.8	80	142.6
145	Lukas Dostal	ANA	G	134.9	69	215.3	29	149.6	99	76.5	80	144.1
146	Evgeni Malkin	PIT	C,LW,RW	141.4	70	180.6	72	141.9	97	114.0	100	144.5
147	Mackenzie Blackwood	COL	G	97.5	100	126.9	83	162.8	96	191.7	60	144.7
148	Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen	BUF	G	118.4	98	140.6	79	221.9	70	98.0	80	144.7
149	Rickard Rakell	PIT	C,LW,RW	133.4	98	171.1	73	124.0	98	151.3	60	145.0
150	Mike Matheson	MTL	D	136.0	63	106.8	93	181.7	91	167.5	80	148.0
151	Dan Vladar	PHI	G	135.9	79	168.2	71	182.3	98	105.8	80	148.0
152	Jet Greaves	CBJ	G	118.2	97	192.3	64	142.4	99	145.5	80	149.6
153	Joel Eriksson Ek	MIN	C	139.0	18	173.0	72	140.0	98	148.3	80	150.1
154	Ryan O’Reilly	NSH	C	143.3	28	145.5	79	158.6	96	156.5	80	151.0
155	Filip Hronek	VAN	D	139.7	50	174.8	75	138.6	100	153.8	80	151.7
156	Gabriel Vilardi	WPG	C,RW	144.7	36	171.5	73	145.1	98	156.8	80	154.5
157	Jimmy Snuggerud	STL	RW	135.2	25	219.1	33	117.1	99	153.0	80	156.1
158	Carter Hart	VGK	G	129.6	92	222.7	23	216.1	71	57.0	80	156.4
159	William Eklund	OTT	LW,RW	137.4	16	193.9	67	139.9	99	155.3	60	156.6
160	Alexis Lafreniere	NYR	LW,RW	142.4	89	187.4	69	140.8	99	156.3	60	156.7
161	Dylan Strome	WSH	C	141.9	11	172.7	73	157.8	95	155.5	80	157.0
162	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	EDM	C,LW	138.2	14	196.6	66	155.3	95	141.0	60	157.8
163	Yaroslav Askarov	SJS	G	128.0	73	227.4	10	177.4	96	99.5	80	158.1
164	Carter Verhaeghe	FLA	LW	134.2	3	171.4	71	189.1	85	138.5	80	158.3
165	Filip Gustavsson	MIN	G	132.6	26	74.7	94	223.3	77	205.3	60	159.0
166	Quinton Byfield	LAK	C	136.2	31	182.1	71	138.3	99	182.7	60	159.8
167	Spencer Knight	CHI	G	133.1	93	192.4	63	169.0	97	146.3	80	160.2
168	Mattias Samuelsson	BUF	D	129.7	93	188.1	71	168.0	95	155.2	100	160.3
169	Darnell Nurse	SJS	D	137.2	16	149.2	82	168.8	94	188.0	40	160.8
170	Luke Hughes	NJD	D	134.4	63	212.2	34	130.9	98	167.3	60	161.2
171	Matvei Michkov	PHI	LW,RW	138.6	14	209.4	51	147.3	99	160.3	60	163.9
172	Simon Nemec	CGY	D	141.8	13	228.6	8	163.4	96	132.0	60	166.5
173	Matt Duchene	DAL	C,RW	137.0	6	156.2	77	200.4	85	178.0	60	167.9
174	John Gibson	DET	G	138.9	35	160.0	73	221.2	73	155.8	80	169.0
175	JJ Peterka	BOS	LW,RW	139.3	24	216.6	40	148.0	96	174.0	40	169.5
176	Pavel Zacha	BOS	C,LW	144.0	15	198.3	67	172.2	93	172.3	60	171.7
177	Patrick Kane	CHI	RW	133.3	24	194.0	66	161.4	94	200.0	60	172.2
178	Morgan Rielly	TOR	D	137.9	14	155.5	80	235.1	65	164.3	80	173.2
179	Zeev Buium	VAN	D	137.2	12	223.7	17	168.5	97	170.0	100	174.9
180	Justin Faulk	DET	D	141.1	9	167.6	77	265.2	34	132.8	80	176.7
181	Valeri Nichushkin	CBJ	LW,RW	136.8	4	199.4	63	177.2	88	197.3	60	177.7
182	Ivar Stenberg	SJS	LW	133.3	34	215.1	38	168.2	95	195.0	40	177.9
183	Anton Frondell	CHI	C	138.4	14	226.9	20	170.6	92	178.3	60	178.6
184	Zach Benson	BUF	LW	146.3	23	227.3	11	198.9	86	142.0	20	178.6
185	Jackson Blake	CAR	RW	140.6	13	211.7	51	180.6	89	183.7	60	179.1
186	Philip Broberg	STL	D	134.7	77	228.2	11	160.1	96	205.0	20	182.0
187	Dustin Wolf	CGY	G	139.2	24	212.4	42	200.5	87	176.3	80	182.1
188	Aliaksei Protas	WSH	LW,RW	141.6	9	223.3	26	191.7	87	174.5	40	182.8
189	Egor Chinakhov	PIT	LW,RW	131.0	6	229.4	7	202.8	82	171.3	60	183.6
190	Gabriel Landeskog	COL	LW,RW	136.0	9	228.4	10	189.7	86	180.5	40	183.7
191	Alexander Nikishin	CAR	D	139.2	46	208.4	61	186.4	92	201.0	20	183.8
192	Tyler Bertuzzi	CHI	LW,RW	137.4	5	192.8	67	222.5	82	188.5	40	185.3
193	Ivan Barbashev	VGK	LW	139.0	2	217.8	41	198.1	87	188.0	60	185.7
194	Mattias Ekholm	EDM	D	127.9	79	198.9	69	222.4	69	194.0	60	185.8
195	Brock Boeser	VAN	LW,RW	133.6	3	181.7	70	224.4	78	205.5	40	186.3
196	Darcy Kuemper	LAK	G	145.0	20	193.4	61	227.5	72	180.0	80	186.5
197	Arturs Silovs	PIT	G	129.3	5	229.3	5	278.0	23	112.0	80	187.2
198	Kiefer Sherwood	SJS	LW,RW	133.5	2	203.9	56	178.5	91	234.5	40	187.6
199	Zayne Parekh	CGY	D	137.3	9	227.7	10	205.4	86	181.3	80	187.9
200	Logan Stankoven	CAR	C,RW	136.0	35	221.1	24	210.9	85	184.0	40	188.0
201	Josh Doan	BUF	RW	133.5	6	227.6	14	190.1	87	204.5	40	188.9
202	Travis Sanheim	PHI	D	140.8	17	179.4	74	240.1	58	200.7	60	190.2
203	Sam Malinski	COL	D	140.8	29	226.1	20	217.0	77	177.5	40	190.4
204	Anthony Mantha	NJD	LW,RW	142.8	8	218.7	38	223.0	78	178.3	60	190.7
205	Devon Toews	COL	D	133.1	25	198.2	62	245.9	49	190.7	60	192.0
206	Frederik Andersen	EDM	G	135.7	9	229.9	8	267.9	35	137.3	80	192.7
207	Mason McTavish	STL	C	132.0	2	227.6	13	233.8	74	180.0	20	193.4
208	Jake Allen	NJD	G	136.0	6	221.1	30	247.1	52	170.3	80	193.6
209	Bobby McMann	SEA	LW,RW	137.7	2	213.4	46	228.8	75	199.5	40	194.9
210	Artturi Lehkonen	COL	LW,RW	139.4	11	226.4	15	212.0	82	207.3	60	196.3
211	Oliver Ekman-Larsson	TOR	D	134.4	3	229.9	10	277.4	22	146.0	20	196.9
212	Michael Misa	SJS	C	131.1	5	227.3	12	230.6	79	199.5	40	197.1
213	Mats Zuccarello	LAK	RW	130.8	3	223.8	24	210.8	81	223.7	60	197.3
214	K’Andre Miller	CAR	D	135.8	7	218.0	37	233.9	61	202.0	40	197.4
215	Ryan Leonard	WSH	RW	133.5	4	224.5	16	214.9	82	217.0	20	197.5
216	Brent Burns	COL	D	137.8	26	198.4	67	275.7	24	180.0	40	198.0
217	Mason Marchment	SJS	LW	130.7	2	229.1	8	239.9	69	192.5	40	198.1
218	Joey Daccord	SEA	G	139.6	13	218.3	33	248.4	46	190.7	60	199.2
219	Kris Letang	PIT	D	130.1	7	203.7	65	283.6	18	181.0	60	199.6
220	Pavel Buchnevich	STL	C,LW,RW	139.2	3	222.7	32	258.2	53	182.3	60	200.6
221	Simon Edvinsson	DET	D	134.7	4	228.5	9	270.6	31	172.0	20	201.5
222	Luke Evangelista	NJD	LW,RW	145.5	20	227.0	12	217.9	84	216.0	60	201.6
223	Vladislav Gavrikov	NYR	D	139.9	4	219.6	49	272.1	31	176.0	20	201.9
224	Sean Walker	CAR	D	141.7	2	183.7	72	248.2	48	253.0	20	206.7
225	Noah Hanifin	VGK	D	139.6	8	173.6	75	274.4	26	241.0	20	207.2
226	Owen Power	BUF	D	137.4	3	223.0	21	265.6	37	207.0	20	208.3
227	Anthony Cirelli	TBL	C	138.3	5	219.4	33	258.6	42	217.3	60	208.4
228	Stuart Skinner	WPG	G	121.6	2	225.2	14	285.2	12	205.5	40	209.4
229	Tristan Jarry	EDM	G	132.3	2	229.7	7	286.2	13	204.3	80	213.1
230	James Hagens	BOS	C	130.0	8	229.3	5	271.8	38	231.0	20	215.5
231	Jacob Fowler	MTL	G	150.7	44	228.5	7	276.9	20	259.0	20	228.8
232	Aaron Ekblad	FLA	D	133.3	5	226.4	14	266.9	35	299.0	20	231.4
233	Joseph Woll	PHI	G	135.5	3	226.2	15	289.5	9	277.0	20	232.1
234	Jacob Trouba	SJS	D	138.4	41	131.2	86	148.6	99			139.4
235	Jared McCann	SEA	F			175.9	70	156.9	92	151.7	60	161.5
236	Alex Laferriere	LAK	C,LW,RW	146.2	4	186.1	68	161.0	90			164.4
237	Jake Walman	EDM	D	133.4	4			243.0	59	152.8	80	176.4
238	Mikael Granlund	ANA	F			191.1	67	216.9	79	135.0	100	181.0
239	Tyson Foerster	PHI	LW,RW	134.7	3			216.8	77	204.0	20	185.2
240	Colton Parayko	STL	D	134.1	4	153.6	79	280.7	20			189.5
241	Pyotr Kochetkov	CAR	G	139.2	6			269.8	27	166.0	20	191.7
242	Igor Chernyshov	SJS	LW,RW	132.6	2			232.4	74	215.5	40	193.5
243	Jake DeBrusk	VAN	F			169.0	71	244.2	66	190.0	20	201.1
244	Gabe Perreault	NYR	RW	128.1	3			250.4	62	226.0	40	201.5
245	Carter Yakemchuk	OTT	D	141.1	2			287.2	12	179.7	60	202.7
246	Esa Lindell	DAL	D	141.8	23	190.3	70	281.1	15			204.4
247	Ryan Hartman	MIN	F			201.6	63	225.1	76	196.0	20	207.6
248	Ivan Provorov	CBJ	D	142.9	29	201.5	67	280.5	22			208.3
249	Lawson Crouse	UTA	LW,RW	133.7	2	224.8	23	269.8	35			209.4
250	Jake McCabe	TOR	D	137.2	2	214.2	50	282.6	14			211.3
251	Blake Coleman	MIN	F			191.3	65	266.5	45	179.3	60	212.4
252	Tyler Toffoli	SJS	F			198.3	62	266.6	41	172.3	60	212.4
253	Jordan Binnington	STL	G	129.8	6	228.1	8	281.1	14			213.0
254	Alex Lyon	BUF	G	151.9	22	203.7	57	283.7	14			213.1
255	Thatcher Demko	VAN	G	133.1	2			286.3	16	222.0	60	213.8
256	Frank Nazar	CHI	F			222.8	19	212.7	79	206.0	20	213.8
257	Connor McMichael	STL	C,LW	135.7	2	230.3	7	277.4	25			214.5
258	Martin Fehervary	WSH	D	135.0	2	222.2	35	287.1	12			214.8
259	Adin Hill	VGK	G	130.1	6	229.3	7	287.2	13			215.5
260	Josh Norris	BUF	F			231.3	6	217.2	77	198.7	60	215.7
261	Drew Doughty	LAK	D	130.6	3	229.4	9	288.7	12			216.2
262	Chris Kreider	MTL	F			227.9	12	235.3	72	192.7	60	218.6
263	Denton Mateychuk	CBJ	D	133.7	3			286.1	15	238.0	20	219.3
264	Olen Zellweger	BUF	D	133.8	2			286.0	13	246.5	40	222.1
265	Jamie Drysdale	PHI	D			228.2	8	214.8	84	226.5	40	223.2
266	Elias Lindholm	BOS	F			219.3	43	255.2	57	211.0	60	228.5
267	Anders Lee	UTA	F			209.1	54	280.9	23	199.7	60	229.9
268	Jack Roslovic	TOR	C,RW	129.0	3			282.8	22	280.0	20	230.6
269	Dmitry Orlov	SJS	D			229.2	11	272.9	32	192.0	20	231.4
270	Charlie Coyle	CBJ	F			199.7	64	239.3	68	256.0	40	231.7
271	Viktor Arvidsson	DET	F			230.1	8	226.7	75	240.0	40	232.3
272	Shane Pinto	OTT	F			228.0	13	273.2	31	197.7	60	233.0
273	Anton Lundell	FLA	F			228.1	12	276.9	24	201.0	40	235.3
274	Jake Neighbours	STL	LW,RW	135.2	3			284.1	19	291.0	20	236.8
275	Anthony Stolarz	TOR	G	131.5	4			289.9	9	290.0	20	237.1
276	Kyle Palmieri	NYI	F			229.8	7	284.8	17	198.3	60	237.6
277	Oliver Bjorkstrand	NYR	F			225.7	21	285.0	16	209.0	20	239.9
278	Pierre-Luc Dubois	WSH	F			230.4	6	260.6	47	242.5	40	244.5
279	Jason Zucker	BUF	F			231.2	6	265.7	40	238.0	20	245.0
280	Jack Quinn	BUF	F			227.2	12	248.1	64	261.0	20	245.4
281	Taylor Hall	CAR	F			228.9	7	285.5	17	227.0	20	247.1
282	Boone Jenner	WSH	F			231.2	5	281.0	26	230.3	60	247.5
283	Matty Beniers	SEA	F			210.0	57	270.2	36	270.0	20	250.1
284	Emil Heineman	NYI	F			230.8	5	277.1	27	244.0	20	250.6
285	Jonathan Marchessault	NSH	F			208.7	50	288.3	10	255.0	20	250.7
286	Jordan Eberle	SEA	F			221.7	31	284.2	15	249.5	40	251.8
287	Josh Manson	COL	D			227.5	12	279.0	22	256.0	20	254.2
288	Matt Savoie	EDM	F			230.8	5	286.9	16	246.0	20	254.6
289	Gustav Forsling	FLA	D			226.3	20	283.2	17	272.0	20	260.5
290	Morgan Frost	CGY	F			230.3	5	291.1	7	298.0	20	273.1
291	John Marino	UTA	D	134.1	2					187.0	20	160.6
292	Sergei Murashov	PIT	G	134.9	29			264.7	30			199.8
293	Kevin Lankinen	VAN	G	123.5	9			287.7	9			205.6
294	Troy Terry	ANA	F					202.8	76	211.5	40	207.2
295	Cam Fowler	STL	D			230.5	10			190.0	20	210.3
296	J.J. Moser	TBL	D	136.0	3			289.0	9			212.5
297	Nikita Zadorov	BOS	D					278.1	14	165.0	20	221.6
298	Jaden Schwartz	COL	F					292.5	9	168.0	60	230.3
299	Akira Schmid	FLA	G					289.0	8	185.5	40	237.3
300	Ilya Protas	WSH	F					286.5	12	204.7	60	245.6
301	Artyom Levshunov	CHI	D					282.7	19	218.0	40	250.4
302	Mackie Samoskevich	SEA	F					289.2	9	222.0	20	255.6
303	Roman Kantserov	CHI	F					271.5	30	240.0	20	255.8
304	Luca Cagnoni	SJS	D					285.6	18	226.0	20	255.8
305	Tyler Seguin	DAL	F					283.0	20	232.3	60	257.7
306	Brady Skjei	NSH	D			218.6	53			300.0	20	259.3
307	Matvei Gridin	CGY	F					274.5	32	251.0	20	262.8
308	Andrei Kuzmenko	PIT	F					291.8	7	249.0	20	270.4
309	Tony DeAngelo	NYI	D					290.5	13	254.0	20	272.3
310	Cole Perfetti	WPG	F					251.9	63	295.0	20	273.5
311	Collin Graf	SJS	F					290.8	6	257.0	20	273.9
312	William Karlsson	VGK	F					289.4	7	265.0	20	277.2
313	Pavel Mintyukov	ANA	D					289.5	15	273.0	20	281.3
314	Danila Yurov	MIN	F					292.0	5	276.0	20	284.0
315	Devon Levi	EDM	G					291.3	6	287.0	20	289.2
316	Calum Ritchie	NYI	F					291.8	6	292.0	20	291.9
317	Sean Monahan	CBJ	F					291.1	5	294.0	20	292.6
318	Sam Rinzel	CHI	D	135.8	2							135.8
319	Ryan Ufko	NSH	D							165.3	60	165.3
320	Charle-Edward D’Astous	TBL	D							169.0	20	169.0
321	Tristan Luneau	ANA	D							185.0	40	185.0
322	Ryan Shea	EDM	D							193.0	20	193.0
323	Louis Crevier	BUF	D							234.0	20	234.0
324	Dmitri Voronkov	CBJ	F							240.0	20	240.0
325	Frank Vatrano	ANA	F							258.0	20	258.0
326	Michael Kesselring	SJS	D							264.0	20	264.0
327	Charlie Cerrato	CAR	F							268.0	20	268.0
328	Dennis Hildeby	TBL	G							278.0	20	278.0
329	Viggo Bjorck	WPG	F							283.0	20	283.0
330	Matthew Wood	NSH	F							285.0	20	285.0
331	Sebastian Cossa	DET	G							288.0	20	288.0
332	Maxim Shabanov	MIN	F							289.0	20	289.0

Matt Larkin’s fantasy hockey top 300 player rankings for 2026-27

Matt Larkin — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:28:00 GMT

Sept. 13 UPDATE: Training camps are upon us, and we’re seeing some actionable bits of fantasy news reflected in the rankings. Some of the updates are all about what IS happening – from an unexpectedly lengthened injury recovery timeline to a trade – and others are important because of what ISN’T happening – from RFAs not yet putting pen to paper to trade requests unfulfilled. We can expect a bunch of movement in next week’s edition when camps are in full swing.

Is it that time already? Well, the 2026-27 NHL season opens Sept. 29, the earliest puck drop since 2007-08, meaning we should start waking our fantasy hockey brains up. I’m here to help with my top 300 player rankings.

Who are the best, safest and riskiest picks in the first round? Who gained or lost significant value as a result of summer roster movement? Who are the key rookies, sleepers, breakouts and busts to know? I answer all those questions below.

If you’re discovering my annual list for the first time and don’t know the ground rules, please read these disclaimers before diving in:

(a) The rankings represent a working list that changes with each edition and will be updated with increasing frequency as the season approaches. Version 1: my initial impression after examining every team’s 2025-26 statistics, offseason roster additions and subtractions and prospect lists. Version 2 in mid to late August: a self-adjustment after giving my rankings a few weeks to breathe and gaining perspective on which players I under- or over-ranked. As training camp and the pre-season arrive, Versions 3 and beyond will reflect injuries, positional battles, prospects making or not making their teams, line deployments and so on. By the end of September, a.k.a. fantasy draft season, I’ll deliver pretty much daily updates leading up to the start of the NHL season.

(b) The rankings are for redraft leagues and based on the following stat categories: goals, assists, plus-minus, shots, power-play points, hits, blocks, wins, goals-against average, saves, save percentage and shutouts. Players who offer production across a variety of categories, such as Moritz Seider and Juraj Slafkovsky, get boosts. So do the precious few goaltenders who log heavy workloads and can compile beefy counting stats, like reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy.

(c) Real-life value does not always translate equally to fantasy value. Robert Thomas is the example I pick on the most nowadays. He’s a tremendous real-life player and viable No. 1 center. In fantasy? Mildly overrated. He doesn’t score many goals, doesn’t shoot the puck enough and doesn’t throw hits. You’ll therefore see some inferior real-life players ranked ahead of him on this board.

(d) Upside is everything, especially in early editions of these rankings. I am fairly harsh on the boring veteran types who get 40-50 points a year in their sleep, such as Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall. You’ll see some rookies who aren’t even guaranteed to make their teams ranked higher than them. Why? Because the boring vets can be found on the waiver wire at any time unless you play in a 32-team league. Use your late-round picks on upside plays. That might’ve landed you Jet Greaves last season.

(e) During the incredibly lengthy process of reviewing rosters, ranking players, writing bios and constantly cutting and pasting names, I sometimes accidentally delete or omit a prominent player. I’m good for one a year, at least. If I do that and you notice a conspicuous absence, hit me up on X/Twitter @MLarkinHockey and let me know.

With that, the 2026-27 rankings begin…now!

1. Nathan MacKinnon, C, Avalanche: At least 111 points in four straight seasons. Has led the league in shots three straight seasons. Reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner to boot. The only question is whether he should be pick No. 1 or pick No. 2.

2. Connor McDavid, C, Oilers: Still worthy of a No. 1 overall pick if you want to lean that way. I slot him second because, while he’s the safest point accumulator you can find, he’s not a shooter and a goal scorer every year. That part of McDavid’s game tends to fluctuate season to season.

3. Macklin Celebrini, C, Sharks: Aaargh! I was so tempted to put him first but chickened out. It’s bananas to have a 115-point season at 19, but on the off chance he scales back his offense a tiny bit while developing a complete all-around game on a San Jose Sharks team trying to make the playoffs, I place him just below the bankable icons. That said, the margin is so thin that you have my blessing to take him as high as first.

4. Nikita Kucherov, RW, Lightning: Every year, I feel like I’m disrespecting the three-time scoring champion putting him “only” fourth. But I’m just playing the percentages here; he’s the oldest of the god-tier fantasy assets and thus likelier than the others to begin a slight decline one of these years. That said: Kucherov still qualifies for the “any of these guys is fine to pick first” group.

5. Leon Draisaitl, C, Oilers: He’ll still produce like the guys above when in the lineup, but Draisaitl has missed 11 and 17 games, respectively, over his past two seasons. With load management in play for him, he belongs in his own tier as the clear No. 5 guy. That said, picking fifth isn’t a bad spot, as a healthy Draisaitl still has a No. 1 overall ceiling in fantasy.

6. David Pastrnak, RW, Bruins: Only 18 players in NHL history have recorded four consecutive 100-point seasons. ‘Pasta’ is one of them. He’s missed five total games in the past four seasons to boot. An incredibly safe first-rounder, and I expect his goal total to rebound back into the 40s at minimum.

7. Cale Makar, D, Avalanche: Still in his prime, but you no longer need to reach on him with a top-five pick. We’re in a golden era of offensive defensemen in which many match or occasionally outproduce the generationally great Makar. He’s still my No. 1 fantasy blueliner given how high his floor is, but the margin is thin now.

8. Kirill Kaprizov, LW, Wild: I still hope to see him with an elite center someday. Even without one, he’s a rock-solid first-rounder who averages 48-50-98 per 82 games so far in his career.

9. Evan Bouchard, D, Oilers: I almost ranked Bouchard above Makar. The 95 points last season show that Bouchard can match Makar’s upside, and Bouchard has missed two games in the past five seasons. The only reason I have Makar higher is that I feel his best-ever fantasy year hasn’t happened yet, whereas Bouchard’s was probably 2025-26.

10. Martin Necas, RW, Avalanche: The goal total might dip from 38 as it came with the highest shooting percentage of his career. But I still expect at least 90 points and possibly another 100 from Necas, a slick-handed scorer attached to two other elite superstars on the Colorado Avalanche.

11. Zach Werenski, D, Blue Jackets: Unlike some of the other tier-1 fantasy D-men, Werenski is the engine of his team rather than support for a superstar forward. Werenski racks up shots and goals like few others at his position. And if he gets traded to a loaded contender at some point: oh man, he could go nuclear on top of his already high ceiling.

12. Mikko Rantanen, RW, Stars: Still only 29, was pretty durable before last season and has 95 points in 84 games since being traded to Dallas. All is well.

13. Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Lightning: An absolute fantasy stud in nine of his 10 seasons since he became a starter. During that same stretch, Vasilevskiy has led the league in wins six times and posted a save percentage of .911 or better nine times. He’s the safest goalie pick on the board – albeit safe is a relative term when it comes to the position.

14. Jason Robertson, LW, Stars: He’s ninth among all NHLers in scoring over the past five seasons. Robertson has such a consistently high floor that I value him more than a couple players who have greater upside. You want safe early in the draft. And maybe there’s contract-year upside now that he’s a 2027 UFA.

15. Connor Hellebuyck, G, Jets: You best believe the official trade request he shared on social media is actionable. It’s sad news for Winnipeg Jets fans, no doubt, but it’s great news for his fantasy value. I don’t expect Hellebuyck and the Jets to drag things out too long, as he’ll return something in a trade that can help them this season, so I predict he’ll have his new team before opening night. He’s pretty much guaranteed to land on a contender, which should up his value.

16. Lane Hutson, D, Canadiens: In just his second year in the NHL, he matched Quinn Hughes’ production. Spun differently: Hutson isn’t close to his peak yet, and that peak could launch him north of 90 points. A year from now, he might be the first D-man off the board.

17. Quinn Hughes, D, Wild: The other top-tier fantasy D-men have higher annual goal-scoring ceilings, but Hughes accumulates points as well as anyone at his position. You can build your team around him.

18. Nick Suzuki, C, Canadiens: Wow. I never knew he could peak this high. Suzuki joined Doug Gilmour and Sergei Fedorov as the only players to win the Selke Trophy and notch 100 points in the same season. Even though Suzuki’s more of an all-around stud than pure scoring machine, he has so much good talent around him on the Habs that he can probably maintain production close to this going forward. We love a 90-point floor.

19. Kyle Connor, LW, Jets: Several players just below Connor on this list had to break out last year just to post stat lines he gets every year. He’s automatic for roughly 40-50-90. I’ll repeat myself: you want safe in the early rounds.

20. Cole Caufield, LW, Canadiens: He was building toward it and finally got there: a 50-goal season. No reason why he can’t score at least 45 again, with upside for 55, albeit he’s probably hit his points ceiling at last year’s 88.

21. Wyatt Johnston, C, Stars: My colleague Scott Maxwell said it best: while Johnston’s power-play scoring luck should negatively regress, his 5-on-5 luck should positively regress, and when we factor in that he’s still just 23, last year’s 45-41-86 campaign might be the floor.

22. Brady Tkachuk, LW, Panthers: I figure Brady gets the bigger fantasy boost than Matthew with the trade, as the Florida Panthers’ supporting cast is deeper and better than Brady had in Ottawa. Maybe he’s never a 40-goal scorer, but the point total might climb into the mid-80s, complementing his typical massive shot and hit totals.

23. Matt Boldy, RW, Wild: On top of the numbers, the eye test tells me Boldy still has another gear. He’s big, intelligent and talented, and he might become a 90-point guy now. Buy, buy, buy.

24. Rasmus Dahlin, D, Sabres: The hit and block totals have dropped significantly, so he’s less of a combo-meal god these days, but he’s “only” a point-per-game defenseman who still helps in all categories, so we still love him in fantasy.

25. Tage Thompson, C, Sabres: At least 38 goals in four of his past five seasons. He’s as safe as it gets if you want a big-ticket goal scorer early in the draft. Only the relatively modest points ceiling keeps Tage out of Round 1, as it does Caufield.

26. Cutter Gauthier, LW, Ducks (-5): Across his first two seasons in the NHL, Gauthier sits first in shot attempts per 60 and second in shots on goal per 60 at 5-on-5. So, yes, the 41-goal sophomore breakout is super sustainable, and there’s room for even more. He’s a dark horse to lead the NHL in shots (and goals?) this season. It’s getting a bit dicey not seeing him signed yet, but at least the Ducks have the cap space now with Chris Kreider out of the picture.

27. Jack Eichel, C, Golden Knights: Consistent 90-point production and doesn’t even need 82 games to get there. Eichel is also juuust young enough that he could bump to 100 points should he ever play a full season. Either way, he’s a great early-round pick.

28. William Nylander, RW, Maple Leafs: Feels weird to rank him above Auston Matthews. But Nylander has delivered between 30 and 45 goals and between 79 and 98 points in five straight seasons. Straight up: his floor is higher than Matthews’.

29. Auston Matthews, C, Maple Leafs: Let’s operate on the premise he can be…85 percent of his peak and play 80 percent of the games? Maybe Matthews can be a 35-45-80 guy across 65 games this season? That’s still great. It’s just not first-round elite anymore, though he still has the ceiling to be a monster if he gets his game count north of 75.

30. Mitch Marner, RW, Golden Knights: Regressed to an 80-point guy, but Marner’s life was uprooted. He was a new dad adjusting to a new market. My take: the playoff version who led the NHL with 29 points in 22 games was closer to what we get this time. I’d bank on 25-30 goals and around 90 points.

31. Jack Hughes, C, Devils: Has played 62, 62 and 61 games the past three seasons. He’ll be great when he’s in your lineup, but I’m done paying a first-round price. If you can get him in the second or third depending on league size, go for it.

32. Matthew Tkachuk, RW, Panthers: Production-wise, he’s good enough to go 10 spots higher, sure. But he carries as much annual injury risk as anyone in the top 50, and the Brady trade may create temptation to reach. Be careful.

33. Matthew Schaefer, D, Islanders: He already tied a rookie D-man record with 23 goals last year. He’s a monster. I’ve given him this relatively conservative ranking only because his supporting cast hasn’t improved much, but he should be a 70-point guy in Year 2.

34. Logan Thompson, G, Capitals: Over the past two years combined, he’s arguably been the best goalie in the NHL. Also working in Thompson’s favor: he has pulled away from Charlie Lindgren for a true bellcow role, and the Washington Capitals improved their roster a ton. Thompson’s an easy top-five netminder, and the conditions are right for him to be finish No. 1 at the position in 2026-27.

35. Leo Carlsson, C, Ducks (-8): So he won’t be $18-million good this season (too soon?), but that’s fine. He’s an all-around dominator up the middle on a rising team full of exciting young talents. I love that picking him gives you floor (a point per game) plus ceiling (100 points incoming?). That said: Troy Terry is hurt, Kreider is traded, Gauthier is unsigned…who is Carlsson going to play with? Ideally we get him between Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke on a super line, but I’m growing slightly concerned about reaching for Leo too early now.

36. Tim Stutzle, C, Senators: The goal totals aren’t consistent year to year, but he’s a reliable source of 80-plus points and 100-plus hits. He’s also young enough at 24 that we may not have seen his best season yet.

37. Jake Guentzel, LW, Lightning: So amazingly reliable for pretty much his whole career. You’ll get 30 goals and 80 points at minimum. He’s as good as the 10 guys I’ve ranked above him, but Guentzel is here because he’s 31 and has a bit less upside.

38. Ilya Sorokin, G, Islanders: The New York Islanders haven’t broken through as a surefire contender, limiting Sorokin’s win total, but he’s consistently great in the rate stats – and he leads all goalies in shutouts over the past five seasons with 26, five more than the next-best netminder.

39. Mark Scheifele, C, Jets: I’m a bit skeptical he repeats a career-best 103 points when they came in his age-32 season. But the goal totals should remain healthy because Scheifele is an unbelievably accurate shooter; he’s been north of 20 percent three of his past four seasons.

40. Brandon Hagel, LW, Lightning: He didn’t match his career year of 2024-25, but his goal-scoring pace actually improved last season. Can’t go wrong with a prime-year stud attached to an elite offense.

41. Adrian Kempe, RW, Kings: Not only does he have 35 or more goals in four of his past five seasons, but he scored at a 53-goal pace from Feb. 25 onward last season…which is when Artemi Panarin arrived. He assisted on 11 of Kempe’s 16 goals over that span. Career year incoming for Kempe?

42. Jake Oettinger, G, Stars: The epic, Vezina-grade season still hasn’t happened. But even the mildly disappointing version of Oettinger maintains one of the league’s higher floors playing on the Stars and, at 27, he still has upside left.

43. Igor Shesterkin, G, Rangers: He’s so good that he doesn’t even have to play on a good team, or even a mediocre one, to help you in fantasy. The win total will hold him back, but the good far outweighs the bad, and the Blueshirts did improve their D-corps this summer.

44. Artemi Panarin, LW, Kings: He turns 35 in October, and his 100-point campaigns are behind him, but this declining version of the Bread Man remains a frontline fantasy scorer who give you something in the 30-50-80 range.

45. Clayton Keller, RW, Mammoth: Point-per-game production like clockwork. He’s probably peaked, especially with Logan Cooley trending toward overtaking him as the team’s top playmaker soon, but Keller is a rock-solid early pick because he’s so damn safe.

46. Moritz Seider, D, Red Wings: No D-man gives you better cross-category balance. The team around him isn’t good enough to elevate him past last season’s career highs of 10 goals and 60 points, but Seider’s shot, hit and block totals make him somewhat of a cheat code.

47. Adam Fox, D, Rangers: Averages 71 points per 82 games for his career. With so many exciting young D-men taking over the game, Fox is criminally underrated in fantasy and real life at this point – which is a great buying opportunity for us. We can wait on him and profit at his probable ADP.

48. Dylan Guenther, RW, Mammoth: A rising star who has jumped from 18 to 27 to 41 goals in consecutive seasons and, at 23, likely hasn’t peaked. He should push for 45 to 50 this season on a Utah Mammoth team that looks like a Stanley Cup contender.

49. Sam Reinhart, RW, Panthers: Reinhart is one of my favorite fantasy buy-lows coming off an injury-shortened season. He had at least 30 goals in each of the previous four seasons, including 57 in 2023-24, he’s not that old at 30, and the Brady Tkachuk trade plus Aleksander Barkov’s return might vacuum drafter attention away from Reinhart, who looks like a strong bet for 35-plus goals this season.

50. Alex DeBrincat, LW, Red Wings: Three seasons of at least 40 goals. Five of at least 30. Deserves more respect. Or, he did. We probably have to be cautious now; with the Detroit Red Wings’ roster held hostage by the Dylan Larkin trade request and Patrick Kane gone, it remains to be seen whom DeBrincat plays with going forward.

51. Sebastian Aho, C, Hurricanes: He’ll play almost every game, he’ll get at least 25 goals and 75 points, and you won’t lose an ounce of sleep over him all season.

52. Sidney Crosby, C, Penguins: The elder statesman still produces at a high level entering his age-39 campaign. I do think injury layoffs like last year’s will become more frequent, so we have to start pricing in that risk.

53. Jeremy Swayman, G, Bruins: Was tremendous for his team last season. I’m not all that bullish on him for 2026-27, as I don’t love the team around Swayman. The Boston Bruins are weak defensively, and that will make it a challenge for him to repeat his performance.

54. Jackson LaCombe, D, Ducks: Age wise, he should be at his peak, but there’s potential to stack a third consecutive breakout year because the talent around him is improving so much. Could we see a 15-55-70 type of season?

55. Logan Cooley, C, Mammoth: Too young to slap an injury-prone label on him yet. Hoping that’s just a bump in the road. Let’s focus on the positive: Cooley is a dynamic rising star on an ascending team, and he could overtake Keller to become Utah’s top scorer as soon as this season.

56. Filip Forsberg, LW, Predators: Has he become underrated in his 30s? Even if his peak has passed, he still does a good Kempe impression every year, with give or take 35 goals, 75 points, 250 shots and 100 hits.

57. Lucas Raymond, RW, Red Wings: I thought he’d have levelled up into a top-25 player by now, but perhaps there’s only so much he can do on a Detroit team stuck in neutral. Still, even if he’s merely a consistent 75-point player, that’s an extremely bankable fantasy asset.

58. Jesper Wallstedt, G, Wild: He shed the Best Goalie Prospect in the NHL tag and became, well, one the best goalies in the NHL, period, in 2025-26. I’m confident Wallstedt will continue to provide great rate stats, and I’m growing increasingly confident in his volume, as Wallstedt will get a crucial head start in the 1A competition with Filip Gustavsson’s hip surgery recovery looking like it will drag into the season. Wallstedt could explode into top-five goalie status if he can seize full control of the No. 1 job.

59. Ivan Demidov, RW, Canadiens: I said it the day he was drafted, and I’ll say it again: as a pure point accumulator, he has the most upside of any Montreal Canadien since Guy Lafleur. Demidov passed his first test with a strong rookie year. I can see him inching toward the point-per-game range as a 20-year-old, though the true explosion might be a season away unless Montreal finds him a better veteran center to play with.

60. Juraj Slafkovsky, RW, Canadiens: With Suzuki and Caufield having such banner years, Slafkovksy’s breakout got overshadowed a bit. But the beastly power forward has grown into his body and, since he’s only 22, the 30-43-73 line of last season probably won’t go down as his apex.

61. John Carlson, D, Lightning: Still an excellent power-play asset, and he joins a juggernaut offense. Put another way: the obscure Darren Raddysh went off for 70 points in an age-29 breakout in that role. Carlson is a fringe future Hall of Famer, so what could he do in this spot? I think he has one more monster season in him, even at 36.

62. Jakob Chychrun, D, Capitals: Only two defensemen have more goals over the past eight seasons. He’s the most reliable contributor for that stat at his position, though last season was his first time even hitting 50 points, let alone the 60 he finished with.

63. Miro Heiskanen, D, Stars: We know he’s one of the best all-around blueliners in the game. We know he’s capable of borderline elite fantasy seasons. But the path is always bumpy year to year, with occasional injury layoffs or dips in production. He’s thus never my fave pick among the D1 crowd, as we simply can’t predict what he’s giving us year to year.

64. Beckett Sennecke, RW, Ducks: Already a strong multi-category contributor as a rookie. Sophomore slumps are always possible, but Sennecke has a fertile fantasy environment around him, and the combo-meal stat profile keeps his floor high – to accompany a rising ceiling.

65. Dylan Larkin, C, Red Wings: He’s automatic for 30-35-65 with 200 shots every year. Could he do more on his next team if traded? Maybe, maybe not. Certain destinations would increase his value while others could decrease it. For now I’m valuing him as ‘Detroit Larkin.’ But we can dare to dream of him playing with Kaprizov in Minnesota or the Tkachuks in Florida. Larkin is no longer the Wings’ captain, but there’s no reason to lower his ranking as long as he’s reporting to camp. We just want him playing hockey somewhere.

66. Connor Bedard, C, Blackhawks: Is this about right for Bedard? He’ll miss 15-20 games recovering from his shoulder injury. But he should deliver 30 goals and 70-75 points across the 65-ish games he does play, assuming he can find his sea legs quickly enough. Loving the positive buzz about his recovery, by the way – but so far the reports suggest he’s on schedule, not ahead, so I won’t boost his ranking yet.

67. Darren Raddysh, D, Maple Leafs: I suspect drafters will show a healthy amount of skepticism toward his 22-goal, 70-point explosion at age 29. That’s great, as his draft cost should fall as a result and land him among the projected 55-60-point defensemen. His deployment alone should help him produce that much even if he regresses in Year 1 as a Toronto Maple Leaf. He’ll get ample power-play time with that booming shot of his and should get home as a low-end D1 – or better.

68. Andrei Svechnikov, RW, Hurricanes: We get wildly different games played, goal, assist, and point totals every year, so we have to dock Svechnikov a tiny bit for his annual inconsistency. But he’s still a player you want if he falls far enough, as he can carry you for weeks at a time with his power-forward profile in banger formats.

69. Jesper Bratt, RW, Devils: Extremely durable and reliable for at least 20 goals and 70 points. He needs the rest of his teammates to stay healthier if he wants to reach that 88-point ceiling again, but he’s still a great pick at his baseline, especially if you’re planning on some riskier picks later in your draft.

70. Will Smith, RW, Sharks: This ranking could be way too low, right? He could put up serious numbers if he stays on Celebrini’s right side, and Smith already broke out for 59 points in 69 games last season. I’ll project another 10-15-point jump but still slot him just below the Bratts of the world who are locks to produce at that rate.

71. Kirill Marchenko, RW, Blue Jackets: A first-line forward in his prime, averaging close to a point-per-game, and likely playing with ascendant Adam Fantilli. So much to like, regardless of whether Marchenko is traded.

72. Morgan Geekie, C, Bruins: I was skeptical he could repeat his breakout, but he duplicated what I thought was an unsustainable shooting percentage. Maybe this is just him if he keeps getting high-percentage looks with that blistering shot of his, though his individual chance-generation data isn’t overly impressive.

73. Aleksander Barkov, C, Panthers: He should be back healthy to start the season, and he’ll produce better than a point per game when he plays, but the Panthers want a Stanley Cup, and they’ll likely load manage their top center a bit coming off ACL and MCL tears, so I only expect him to play give or take 65 games.

74. Drake Batherson, RW, Senators: Last year’s 33-goal outburst was tied to a shooting percentage spike, so I’d expect a return to the high 20s, but with 65 points and a triple-digit hit total, making him a prudent choice in banger leagues.

75. Alex Tuch, RW, Capitals: Yes, he’s joining a loaded-up Caps team that looks like a wagon. But that depth chart is also crowded, especially at the right wing, and could essentially roll three first lines, so I wouldn’t expect more than Tuch’s typical goal and point totals in the low 30s and mid 60s.

76. Lukas Dostal, G, Ducks: He’s a talented workhorse on a playoff team without a strong No. 2 to push him hard for work. The only thing keeping Dostal as a good, not great fantasy netminder for now is the fact his team still plays sloppy defense and actually got worse on the blueline compared last season. He’s also coming off a relatively down year. But we know he’ll help in the volume cats at least, and he’s good enough to bounce back in the rate stats.

77. Brayden Point, C, Lightning: He’s still just 30 and only a season removed from scoring 40 goals. You could do a lot worse hunting for bounce-back candidates. That said, I see a banged-up player whose totals have steadily declined across four seasons and I fear he’s aging quicker than most, so I’m not going crazy reaching on him.

78. Zach Hyman, RW, Oilers: He was quietly all the way back last season, with an 82-game pace of 44 goals. That said, he’s 34 now, so while I still like Hyman to produce while he’s in the lineup, the decline could begin any time, and the injury risk remains high.

79. Matthew Knies, LW, Maple Leafs: Past two seasons: 27 goals, 65 points and 174 hits per 82 games. The Leafs were wise not to trade their unicorn power forward this offseason, and you would be wise to target him, especially in banger formats.

80. Scott Wedgewood, G, Avalanche: Deserves a higher rank based on his team and stellar 2025-26, but coach Jared Bednar has a quicker hook than most. Mackenzie Blackwood is still going to play a lot.

81. Josh Morrissey, D, Jets: Still a reliable stud fantasy D-man, but he’s 31, and his point total has fallen from 76 to 69 to 61 to 55 in consecutive seasons. He appears to be declining, as has the team around him. That said, I think he can maintain his current level for a few seasons.

82. Dylan Holloway, LW, Blues: Bloomed somewhat late, so he’ll already be 25 when the season starts – meaning the current (very good) Holloway is in his prime and probably close to his top level. His career year should arrive right around now if he plays 75 or more games: 30-40-70 plus help in the banger categories.

83. Jake Sanderson, D, Senators: He’s just so damned good at, well, everything? Sanderson is such a stalwart in all situations that we may never see him unleashed for elite-tier scoring, but he’s a focal point on an above-average team and a worthy low-end D1.

84. Jakub Dobes, G, Canadiens: The new contract carries a $5.358-million AAV. That’s not workhorse starter money, but it’s 1A money. That tells us Dobes is secure to start 50 games on a Cup contender despite the long-term threat of Jacob Fowler. Dobes is a borderline top-10 fantasy goalie.

85. Roman Josi, D, Predators: Deity-level Josi’s time has come and gone. But current Josi is still highly productive in his rover role. It’s a matter of landing him at the draft juncture that prices in his injury risk; if you do, and he can play 70 games, he’ll deliver you D1 value at the cost of a D2.

86. Robert Thomas, C, Blues: Don’t be fooled by the career-best goal-scoring rate. He reverted to rarely shooting the puck, and he was buoyed by the NHL’s highest shooting percentage. So it appears Thomas is back to being a guy who helps in points and assists but nowhere else. That’s still useful, but keep your expectations tempered.

87. Travis Konecny, RW, Flyers: Thought he had one more gear, but he never got there. That’s OK. He’s still useful for his bankable totals: at least 24 goals and 61 points in four straight seasons, with ceilings of 33 and 76.

88. Tom Wilson, RW, Capitals: He should keep chipping in 30-ish goals with big hit totals. But Wilson is 32, and the Caps have added a lot at forward, so between ice time and age, Wilson has a bit more downside than he used to.

89. Nico Hischier, C, Devils: Perfect No. 2 center for your fantasy squad. He’ll play a ton of minutes due to his two-way role, and while he hit his ceiling a couple years back, the floor yields something like last year’s 28-38-66 every year.

90. Steven Stamkos, C, Predators: OK then, he’s not cooked! The 42 goals did come with the highest shooting percentage of his 18-season career, but he was still a high-percentage shooter to begin with. I’ll say he scores his age in goals at 36 this season.

91. Brad Marchand, LW, Panthers: Including the playoffs, he’s logged 75 games as a Panther, during which he’s amassed 37 goals and 74 points. At 37, he has not aged out of relevance at all, though he’s a lock to miss double-digit games for bodily maintenance – and now he’s in danger of missing the start of the season after revealing that he had surgery for an unspecified injury. It’s not the update you want for a player his age.

92. John Tavares, C, Maple Leafs: He’s never as washed as he’s perceived to be. Even on a terrible team last season, he managed 30 goals and 70 points. That said, he turns 36 in September, so the downward trend has begun, even if it only means incremental decline.

93. Alex Ovechkin, LW, Capitals: Pretty awesome that ‘Ovi,’ in his age-41 season, is still good enough that the almost-retired version of him is, uh, Tom Wilson. Ovechkin will still stand out there for the entirety of every power play and probably has another 30 goals in his peerless stick.

94. Adam Fantilli, C, Blue Jackets (-11): I was a year too early. The big breakout didn’t happen. I’m still a believer that he can become an All-Star-caliber forward. He was great in the final few months for a second consecutive season. If he can find some year-round consistency, he’ll become a coveted fantasy asset. Not great for his chances of finally starting a season well: not being signed yet. Ugh. It’s concerning news.

95. Nikolaj Ehlers, LW, Hurricanes: Didn’t get the huge ice time hike we envisioned after his team change, but it was an uptick nonetheless, and Ehlers amassed the highest point total of his career. The speedy Dane should be good for another 25 goals and 65 points in 2026-27.

96. Mark Stone, RW, Golden Knights: I tip my cap to Stone for scoring at a 100-point pace last season. A phenomenal all-around player in real life. But his body is slowly betraying him, and we all know it. He averages 52 games played over this past five seasons. You absolutely cannot pay full price for him.

97. Porter Martone, RW, Flyers: He’s probably the Flyers’ most dangerous forward already, and he’s 19. He’s my Calder Trophy favorite. I’m bullish on him – but just make sure you grab the guys you know are getting 70 points before deciding you think Martone is. That’s my rule for rookies. Ehlers is a perfect comparison point: he’s a lock for 65, and Martone needs to be Calder-level good to get there. Likely, just not guaranteed.

98. Karel Vejmelka, G, Mammoth: Only two goalies started more games over the past two seasons, and I love the team GM Bill Armstrong is putting together in Utah. I do think Sebastian Cossa is more talented that Vejmelka’s previous backups, however, meaning he might start half a dozen fewer games this season.

99. Bo Horvat, C, Islanders: A consistent secondary source of goals for your fantasy team. He’ll always get you 30, with a relatively modest point total, and I don’t expect much to change this season.

100. Brock Nelson, C, Avalanche: In fantasy, he’s essentially the same player as his former Isles teammate Horvat. Nelson is three and a half years older but has a better team around him. So why not slot these two side by side?

101. Jacob Markstrom, G, Panthers: You’re betting on the team and situation rather than the player if you draft him. Markstrom is 36, and he was one of the NHL’s weakest starters last year, but now he joins a stacked and stingy Florida team with designs on a third Cup in four years. Markstrom is a fascinating boom/bust pick.

102. Pavel Dorofeyev, LW, Rangers: He’s one of just 12 players to score at least 35 goals in each of the past two seasons. But his supporting cast permutations are weaker with the New York Rangers than they were in Vegas, and he has that $11-million price tag to live up to now. Is it irrational of me to be nervous about taking him too early?

103. Jet Greaves, G, Blue Jackets: Undersized, but he’s one of the most purely talented goaltenders in the NHL. I’d rank him higher if I had more confidence in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ trajectory as a franchise.

104. Jordan Kyrou, RW, Capitals: Averaged 34-40-74 across four seasons before last season’s setback. The sample size of excellence is big enough for us to trust in a major bounceback. He’s in his prime at 28 and could be a nice bargain.

105. Mika Zibanejad, C, Rangers: His durability is a plus. The production is tough to predict year to year, and the supporting cast is flimsier than normal, so I’m not loving the ceiling even if the floor remains strong.

106. Mathew Barzal, C, Islanders: He’ll forever frustrate me, as I truly believe he has 100-point natural ability. But, hey, it was nice to see him stay healthy all year. He’ll never help much in goals, but he’ll produce in the playmaker categories.

107. Quinton Byfield, C, Kings: It’s finally time to get aggressive on a Byfield projection. He shoots the puck more than he used to, he has almost zero competition for No. 1 center work in L.A., and he’ll have two of Panarin, Kempe, Kevin Fiala and Mats Zuccarello on his wings. If Byfield doesn’t level up this season, he never will.

108. Roope Hintz, C, Stars: Becoming more of a floor guy than a ceiling guy. It feels like he’s always dinged up, but he had played at least 73 games in four straight seasons before the dip to 53 last season, so he gets a mulligan.

109. Gavin McKenna, LW, Maple Leafs: I’d expect a stat line highly similar to Ivan Demidov’s 19-43-62 last season. McKenna has the filthy mitts and confidence to deceive goalies right away, and the Leafs need him badly enough to hand him a prominent scoring-line role and power-play time right away.

110. Brandt Clarke, D, Kings: Clarke is now The Guy on L.A.’s blueline. He’s been an efficient generator of offense so far in his career, and now he’ll get ice time befitting his talent. Bet on a big-time breakout season.

111. JJ Peterka, LW, Bruins: We know he has that 25-goal, 50-point floor, but what if he spends a full season with Pastrnak? I’m willing to chase that outcome given how likely it looks. The Bruins lack talented natural left wingers. Career year incoming for JJ playing for a German countryman in coach Marco Sturm.

112. Mikhail Sergachev, D, Mammoth: At least 10 goals and 53 points in three of his past four seasons. Sergachev deserves more love as a reliable blueline stud in fantasy.

113. Erik Karlsson, D, Penguins: Karlsson is a microcosm of the Pens’ 2025-26 campaign: I salute him for the surprise resurgence but remain wary on investing again given his age. That said, even if he regresses 20 percent, he’ll be a pretty useful source of 50 points.

114. Linus Ullmark, G, Senators: His mental health struggles led to a volatile 2025-26. But zoom out: he was better after the Olympic break and outstanding in the playoffs. Zoom out further: he’s been excellent for most of his career aside from the first half of last year. The sample size has far more good than bad, and Ullmark doesn’t have stiff competition for starts. I’d buy.

115. Seth Jarvis, RW, Hurricanes: Three straight seasons between 32 and 33 goals and 66 and 67 points, but he’s getting that number in fewer games each time. Glass half full: Jarvis is maturing as a star-level scorer. Glass half empty: he’s playing fewer games each year as he gets nicked up. He’s recovering from shoulder surgery and will likely miss the first month of the season at minimum, but we’ll keep an eye out in case he’s ahead of schedule.

116. Vincent Trocheck, C, Mammoth: I’ve been a conductor on the Trocheck Train for years now, but it may be time to hop off. He’s 33, his scoring has declined two years in a row, and he’s joining a deep and crowded depth chart in Utah. He’s a great real-life addition, but I don’t see him playing as much as he did in New York.

117. Owen Tippett, RW, Flyers: A good specialist if you’re strong in assists and points; Tippett isn’t a plus contributor there, but he’s always good for 25 goals or so, with highly useful hit and shot counts.

118. Charlie McAvoy, D, Bruins: Was an overrated fantasy asset for so long, then he finally delivered a great offensive year. Still…the man gives and takes so much punishment that he’s a lock to miss double-digit games, so I don’t advise chasing what he accomplished last season. Crucial reminder: he’s suspended for Games 1-6 of the season for his slash on Zach Benson.

119. Nick Schmaltz, C, Mammoth: The coolest thing about his career-high 33 goals last season: they didn’t come because of a puck-luck bump. He actually shot the puck a lot more. This new, improved Schmaltz could be here to stay. If not, he’s still a 20-40-60 guy at worst.

120. Timo Meier, LW, Devils: Now that expectations for him have lowered, he could be a good boring-veteran value pick? Can’t go wrong with 25 goals, 250-plus shots and 100-plus hits, even if there’s no ceiling beyond that anymore.

121. Shayne Gostisbehere, D, Hurricanes: Averages 13-42-55 over his past five seasons. Doesn’t have the cachet of other top fantasy D-men, but he produces at close to their level every year. A great boring-veteran pick for your D2.

122. Jackson Blake, RW, Hurricanes: Nice, steady progression for the goal-scoring second liner. He followed up a career best 22-goal, 53-point campaign with 20 points in 19 playoff games. He might also get an early-season look on line 1 while Jarvis recovers. Giddyup.

123. Bowen Byram, D, Blackhawks: Use that $12.5-million overpay to your advantage. Just because he makes too much money doesn’t mean he won’t have a career year, as he’ll get a huge spike in ice time, particularly on the power play. Don’t be surprised if he explodes for 60 points, albeit with a yucky plus-minus.

124. Egor Chinakhov, RW, Penguins: If we extrapolate his numbers in 43 games post-trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins: 34 goals and 68 points. What a find. I believe he’s legit, but I’m keeping the projection cautiously optimistic. I’ve ranked him as if he’s give or take a 30-30-60 guy in a full season as a Pen.

125. Alexis Lafreniere, RW, Rangers: Just as we were ready to give up…Lafreniere finished last season with 25 points in his final 25 games. He’s still just 24, so we can chase that upside one more time, as we will with his fellow 2020 top-two pick Byfield.

126. Trevor Zegras, C, Flyers: Found the right environment, delivered a career-best 26-41-67, and while there was a time I thought he’d become a perennial top-10 scorer in the league, he’s still settled in as a productive scoring-line forward. I don’t think last season was a fluke.

127. Dan Vladar, G, Flyers: Has played his way to low-end G1 or high-end G2 status in fantasy after a breaking out in his first season as an NHL starter. The only thing giving me pause: Joseph Woll is a much bigger playing time threat than the stiffs Vladar had behind him last season.

128. Gabe Vilardi, RW, Jets: He’s sort of a poor man’s version of linemate Scheifele: low-volume shooter who piles up goals via amazing accuracy. Vilardi was an injury risk before he played 82 games last season, but he’s a handy pick to puff up your goal and power-play-point totals.

129. Brock Faber, D, Wild: Since Quinn Hughes arrived and joined him, Faber put up 13 goals and 46 points in 59 games across the regular season and playoffs. He doesn’t play PP1, but the Hughes factor erases concerns over Faber’s consistency, so I’m buying in.

130. Jimmy Snuggerud, RW, Blues: Better than a point-per-game player after the Olympic break. First-round pedigree. First-round role. Everything you want in a breakout pick coming off a good rookie year.

131. Shea Theodore, D, Golden Knights: He’s become a more complete all-around defenseman, but he doesn’t get bonus marks for that in fantasy, and he’s also one of the most injury-prone players at his position. Still a solid D2, but feel free to chase greater upside elsewhere.

132. Bryan Rust, RW, Penguins: He’s missed double-digit games in four of his five past seasons. Still, he’s as productive as ever when in the lineup. He doesn’t need a full season to get 30 goals and 60 points.

133. Dylan Cozens, C, Senators: Not only did his offense surge last season, but he’s developed into quite a banger-league asset, good for 200-plus hits. I’m not ranking him aggressively as I’d like to see him deliver consecutive strong seasons before I’m fully in.

134. William Eklund, LW, Senators: The playmaker will clearly get a major opportunity in Ottawa. They gave up the Keaton Verhoeff pick to acquire Eklund, and I fully expect him to take Brady Tkachuk’s spot alongside Stutzle. Eklund’s fantasy value increases with the trade, and while he’s never going to be a big-time goal scorer, I expect he’ll beat his career high of 58 points.

135. J.T. Miller, C, Rangers: Hard to believe he was a 100-point player two seasons ago. Miller is declining and so is the team around him, it seems, but he’s still rosterable even in shallow leagues. This version of him can still amass 50 or 60 points with 100-plus hits.

136. Dylan Strome, C, Capitals: If you notice a recurring theme: I envision the loaded Caps forward group cannibalizing each other’s fantasy value a bit. So maybe Strome’s ceiling isn’t eye-popping. But he’s as safe a bet as you’ll find for 20 goals and 60 points.

137. Matvei Michkov, RW, Flyers: Such a disappointing sophomore campaign. But it also established that his rock-bottom floor of 20 goals and 51 points is playable. The ceiling hasn’t gone anywhere. If he can show up in shape and win over coach Rick Tocchet, Michkov could turn you quite a profit in fantasy given he’ll carry considerably less hype than he did a year ago.

138. Ryan O’Reilly, C, Predators: Scored at the second-highest rate of his career last season. But I see a 35-year-old two-way center who likely regresses to his norm of the previous few seasons and doesn’t help in many cats aside from points. He doesn’t excite me.

139. Thomas Harley, D, Stars: Talent wise, deserves a much higher rank, but he’s more of an event-strength asset, with a lower points ceiling, as long as he’s stuck behind Heiskanen on PP2.

140. Zach Benson, LW, Sabres: Such a tough player to rank. First things first: I love this kid in real life. He’s a game-breaking agitator. In fantasy: his playmaker profile provides empty calories. But if we extrapolate his playoff production? He was shooting the puck more and far more physical. My gut says that was the real him, and he could break out massively this season.

141. Valeri Nichushkin, LW, Blue Jackets: Sleeper for a bounce-back year? The Blue Jackets need him a lot more than the Avs did. He should play more than the 17:44 he averaged last year. I smell a 60-point campaign, or at least a 60-point pace, as he never plays a full season and is thus a better pick for head-to-head formats than roto.

142. Anton Frondell, C, Blackhawks: Should be one of the best two or three rookies in the NHL. Plays a pro-ready game. Averaged three shots nightly across his 12-game taste late last season. There was some talk of him starting on the wing, but will Bedard’s injury thrust Frondell into major duty up the middle? Maybe this ranking proves way too low.

143. Josh Doan, RW, Sabres: Don’t be surprised if Doan benefits more than anyone from Tuch’s departure. It means less competition at right wing, and Doan already established a playable floor with his 25-goal breakout. Is there a world in which Doan outproduces Tuch this season? It’s not that big of a stretch.

144. Logan Stankoven, C, Hurricanes: The pit bull progressed in his first full season with the Carolina Hurricanes and levelled up with 11 goals in 19 games during their run to the Cup. Stankoven won’t score that much over a full season, but he’s established as Carolina’s No. 2 pivot, he’s only 23, and he’s ascending. It feels like the right time to buy.

145. Sam Bennett, C, Panthers: Was a profitable pick last season playing the most minutes of his career with Barkov out. Now Bennett slides back down the depth chart, though he’ll still have great linemates no matter what, so we don’t have to penalize him too much.

146. Artturi Lehkonen, LW, Avalanche: A good depth winger on your fantasy squad given he’s typically playing with MacKinnon, but Lehkonen still has never exceeded 27 goals or 51 points in a season, partially because he never plays a full one, so don’t overbid.

147. Nazem Kadri, C, Avalanche: Even after being traded back to the Avs, he put up a modest 18 points in 29 games across the regular season and playoffs. He turns 36 in early October. The decline years are here.

148. Aliaksei Protas, LW, Capitals: The shooting percentage regressed, and the goal total game down. The big fella is a nice real-life asset for the Caps, but his ceiling is capped in fantasy considering he gets no power-play time – not even the second unit.

149. Joel Eriksson Ek, C, Wild: He just plays the sport too hard not to miss bushels of games. When he’s in Minnesota’s lineup and our fantasy lineups, Eriksson Ek remains a solid source of power-play goals who piles up shots and hits.

150. Kevin Fiala, LW, Kings (-26): Was expected to be ready for training camp after breaking his leg at the Olympics in a horrific scene, but his return has been delayed after he underwent an additional procedure related to the initial surgery. Should return to giving us a pace of 25 to 30 goals and a bushel of shots, but it’s unclear when he’ll be back at this point. Too bad.

151. Noah Dobson, D, Canadiens: Even if he’s blocked from PP1 work, Dobson has as least 10 goals in five straight seasons and at least 47 points in four of his past five. He’s underappreciated as a 5-on-5 weapon.

152. Mason McTavish, C, Blues: I recognize that McTavish has done little to earn our trust in fantasy. But look at the St. Louis Blues’ acquisition cost of two first-round picks. They intend to play the man and hand him lots of responsibility. He’s still just 23 – a year younger than Holloway, to put it in perspective – so a post-hype breakout feels plausible.

153. Jared McCann, LW, Kraken: He was durable before last season, so that gives us hope going forward. I’d love to see him traded to a team with a high-end playmaker to facilitate him, but we’ll have to settle for him being the best fantasy asset on a depressing Seattle Kraken team.

154. Carter Hart, G, Golden Knights: Hart was bad for much of last season, then excelled down the stretch as he found his rhythm, and it was a mixed bag in the playoffs. One could justify ranking him higher than this as the starting goalie on a team that just reached the Cup Final, but the Vegas Golden Knights are notoriously ruthless, particularly with their goalies. They’ll abandon any starter at any moment if they see a better one in play, and Hart hasn’t been so good that he’s cemented himself as their long-term answer.

155. Ivan Barbashev, LW, Golden Knights: One of those sturdy veteran mid-draft picks every fantasy team needs to keep its floor high. Because he’s an accurate shooter, he doesn’t need volume to get 20 goals, and he’ll add 50-60 points and a robust hit total to that.

156. Tomas Hertl, C, Golden Knights: Maybe his big slump and relative obscurity overshadowed by other stars in Vegas can make him a draft-day value now? Hertl still has at least 22 goals and 58 points in four of his past five seasons.

157. Ryan Leonard, RW, Capitals: I’m a huge believer in the talent. Leonard is a future star to me. It’s that pesky depth chart, eh? So many wingers competing for minutes. Can Leonard escape the third line yet? At least he gets power-play time.

158. Rickard Rakell, LW, Penguins: Still productive playing with Crosby. But inconsistency and/or injuries make Rakell’s overall fantasy value yo-yo from year to year. Best bet is to look at his career average of 25-29-54 and project that for one of the NHL’s least predictable players season to season.

159. Elias Pettersson, C, Canucks: At this point, you’re drafting him for the 50-point floor and hoping he gets traded, as the right environment could jump him back to the point-per-game range. He’s still talented enough to be special, just not in Vancouver anymore.

160. Carter Verhaeghe, LW, Panthers: A classic late bloomer who is older than many people realize. He’ll be 31 when the season starts, and his fantasy peak came two to three years go. Today, he’s a safe source of 25 goals in medium leagues or larger but probably a borderline pick in very shallow leagues.

161. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G, Sabres: Has the 1A edge over Alex Lyon, but those two traded spots so many times in the pecking order last season that I have to rank both with capped volume in mind.

162. Brandon Bussi, G, Hurricanes: With Freddie Andersen out, Bussi is the starter for the defending Stanley Cup champs… probably. He was also the starter during the regular season for a while, then he wasn’t for Rounds 1-3 of the playoffs, and he’ll compete with the younger, higher-ceilinged Pyotr Kochetkov who is healthy for 2026-27. I still like Bussi, don’t get me wrong, but the Canes aren’t predictable with their goalie usage, so be careful not to pay the inflated price here.

163. Matt Duchene, C, Stars: Why do I distrust Duchene and regularly underrate him in fantasy? How about I just display the point totals for every season of his career and let them do the talking: 55, 67, 28, 43, 70, 55, 59, 41, 59, 70, 42, 13, 86, 56, 65, 82, 45.

164. Jake Allen, G, Devils: Allen has been above average across his two seasons as a New Jersey Devil. He also has his best path to starter-level playing time in at least half a decade. That said, he turns 36 in August, and the Devils aren’t an elite team, so the upside isn’t sky-high.

165. Pavel Zacha, C, Bruins: He’s not a goal scorer. He got 30 last season when his accuracy almost doubled his career right. I’m not paying for that in drafts, nor should you.

166. Rasmus Andersson, D, Golden Knights: He’s a brand name who delivered a strong fantasy season between the Flames and Golden Knights but was a zero in the postseason offensively. I’m not sure what to make of Andersson. He’s overrated in real life given his defensive shortcomings, and as a second-pair, PP2 guy in Vegas, might he be overrated in fantasy now too?

167. Frederik Andersen, G, Oilers: Some boom/bust to picking Andersen. The good: it shouldn’t be hard to hold off Tristan Jarry for 1A work, which will be a boon for Andersen’s win total. The bad: he won’t have the Hurricanes’ elite structure in front of him anymore. Maybe the higher shot volume actually helps the save percentage, though? Update: an offseason training injury will shelf him until late October – probably at the earliest, as the Oil will be careful with the soon-to-be 37-year-old.

168. John Gibson, G, Red Wings: Was quite good last season, but the Wings are a tire fire right now, and we don’t know what they’ll look like going forward. Wins may be tough to accumulate, but the good news is Gibson has played well on bad teams for much of his career, so he can probably do so again.

169. Bobby McMann, LW, Kraken: Buried 10 goals in 18 games after the trade to Seattle, which coincided with a TOI increase of 2:39 per game. The 29-goal campaign of last season might be repeatable, then – though I’m conservative with McMann’s rank because I see him as more of a speedy, overachieving bottom-sixer rather than a natural scoring talent. He’s also quietly 30 already.

170. Josh Norris, C, Sabres: On a per-game basis, he’s closer to a top-100 fantasy player. Emphasis on per-game. He just doesn’t play many of ’em. He’s thus not worth a big draft investment unless he tumbles pretty far.

171. Ivar Stenberg, LW, Sharks: Has the pedigree and mature hockey brain to be an impact player immediately in the NHL. As for where to draft him, I’ve tried to find the exact cutoff point of, “If I’m a year too early on him, I’m OK that I missed out on the guys below to pick him.”

172. Spencer Knight, G, Blackhawks: Knight is an excellent goalie, one of the best in the league. The team around him is just putrid, though. If the Hawks’ collection of young talent finally starts winning one of these years, Knight will go from bench fodder to a viable fantasy star. It’s worth stashing him on the chance that this is the year.

173. Matt Savoie, RW, Oilers: He went 9-10-19 in 24 games after the Olympic break, and he’s secure in the top six. He already established a useable deep-league floor last season, and he has major breakout potential for 2026-27. I’m taking the swing. You with me? Don’t worry too much about the injury. It doesn’t sound like he’ll miss significant time, and that should drop his draft-day cost, which makes me want to pick him even more.

174. Dustin Wolf, G, Flames: Just like Knight, Wolf is a talented young goalie, but he’s not going to help much in wins or goals-against average with such a poor team in front of him. The Calgary Flames still look years away from relevance to me.

175. Alexander Nikishin, D, Hurricanes: His value could explode if he’s traded. Nikishin is a talented puck-mover who helps in the banger categories with his physical play. But he’s just a background player in the Canes’ championship cast at the moment. He needs someone to age out or a new home to maximize his vast potential.

176. Mackenzie Blackwood, G, Avalanche: Blackwood has a decent enough floor as a busy 1B on a dominant team. But he also has the ceiling to take the net back from Wedgewood and be a top-15 fantasy goalie. Blackwood is a high-upside third or fourth goalie to keep on your bench and stream when he plays.

177. Mavrik Bourque, RW, Predators: On one hand, his linemate quality will go down. On the other, his ice time should climb. The player who had 26 points in 34 games to close out last season intrigued me, and I think he can continue scoring at that rate.

178. Tyson Foerster, LW, Flyers: Better real-life player than fantasy given his two-way acumen, but he averages 26 goals per 82 games, and he could break out for 30 if he plays a full healthy season.

179. Tyler Bertuzzi, LW, Blackhawks: You need a clothespin on the nose for the plus-minus, but Bertuzzi should remain an affordable source of 25-30 goals in the back half of drafts if you need to target that category.

180. Vince Dunn, D, Kraken: If you’re building a Zero-D roster, Dunn might be a good first pick for your D-corps. He’s lost in the beigeness of the Kraken, but he always gets 10 goals and 40 points or better as the team’s top offensive defenseman, and it’s a contract year.

181. Frank Nazar, C, Blackhawks: Production hasn’t increased at the rate I expected. But the Bedard injury opens a door for him to be leaned on more early. Breakout season still within reach.

182. Mason Marchment, LW, Sharks: Was close to a point-per-game player in Columbus after he was traded there last season. As a Shark, he’ll have more depth-chart competition, but “lands on Celebrini’s left wing and blows away career highs” is in Marchment’s range of outcomes. Sleeper.

183. Anton Forsberg, G, Kings: Overtook Darcy Kuemper for the Kings’ starting job by playoff time and presumably has the net to start the season. If I hear otherwise, I’ll adjust this ranking. I expect their split to be almost even, though.

184. Dougie Hamilton, D, Devils: Finished his season with 31 points in 41 games from January onward. He’s not totally cooked. Good blueline asset for goals and shots.

185. Cole Hutson, D, Capitals: Clear favorite to lead rookie defensemen in scoring this season. But since he’s likely third-pair and PP2 on a stacked roster, that might hold his ceiling back in the 45-point range. The upside for more than that is undeniable, though.

186. Luke Hughes, D, Devils: I thought he’d explode last year, but he failed to overtake Hamilton for PP1. Until he does, Hughes will remain more of a D2 or high-end D3 in fantasy. To the moon if New Jersey trades Hamilton, however.

187. Sergei Bobrovsky, G, Maple Leafs: He was a fun real-life signing, and in fantasy, he offers some risk-reward fun if you grab him as your third goalie. Maybe the famously hardworking ‘Bob’ finds one more great season, and maybe the Leafs’ wild offseason moves work. But it’s just as likely the Leafs and Bobrovsky are toast. Place your bets.

188. Joel Hofer, G, Blues: Hofer has been the better goalie than Jordan Binnington for a while now, and it was finally reflected in the starts last season, with Hofer getting 43 of them. I’m not gaga over picking him, though, as Binnington will still play a lot, and it’s debatable if the Blues are a good team.

189. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, LW, Oilers: Did that 104-point season really happen? Talk about a fever dream. Now he’s producing about half that total. At least a 20-30-50 floor is nice and high.

190. Victor Hedman, D, Lightning: What does the future Hall of Famer have left, mentally and physically? He was an elite fantasy asset as recently as 2024-25, and he might be again this coming season, but he’s 35, he played just 33 games last season, and Carlson will steal power-play time from him. Too many reasons not to pick him.

191. Patrick Kane, RW, Blackhawks: ‘Showtime’ can still produce points in bunches, especially on the power play, where he’ll get all the time he wants with the Chicago Blackhawks. The plus-minus should be ugly, but he can probably replicate last season’s 57 points in 67 games. He may get to play with Bedard once he’s back from injury, too.

192. Evgeni Malkin, C, Penguins: My hat’s off to ‘Geno’ on still producing north of a point-per-game in his age-38 campaign. But we can only project 55 to 60 games, which means 50-60 points at best if he doesn’t decline any further at 39. Similar to picking Kane, just with slightly more downside.

193. Connor McMichael, LW, Blues: The six-year contract at a $6.75-million AAV makes me bullish on McMichael’s playing time with his new team. Don’t be surprised if he bounces back toward his career-best line of 26-31-57 from 2024-25.

194. Mats Zuccarello, RW, Kings: No longer attached at the hip to Kaprizov, and it’s unlikely Zuccarello plays on the Los Angeles Kings’ first line with Panarin and Kempe in those winger spots, so Zuccarello’s new destination hurts his value. That said, he can still give you 15-30-45 at minimum.

195. Anton Lundell, C, Panthers: Very hard player to appraise for 2026-27. The no-Barkov breakout happened, as Lundell scored at the highest rate of his career while his ice time jumped two-and-a-half minutes per game. Now Barkov is back, meaning Lundell returns to third-line center duty unless he can overtake Bennett. Great player, but the depth chart caps Lundell’s upside this time.

196. Juuse Saros, G, Predators: He can be a key piece of your team if your stat configuration favors volume. He has led the NHL in shots faced and saves in three of the past four seasons. But if we’re talking rate stats: Saros has been below average a couple years running, and the Preds are no sure bet to be a competitive club.

197. Shane Pinto, C, Senators: Excellent real-life player, one of the best defensive forwards in hockey. In fantasy: still a third-line center who will be hard-pressed to improve on last season’s 23-23-46 line based on role, though simply getting through 82 games would bump the totals slightly.

198. Gabriel Landeskog, LW, Avalanche: He’ll never be the same player again after the three-year injury layoff. But he did show signs of getting his timing back. If you add up his numbers from the Olympic break through the end of the postseason: 13-11-24 in 32 games. So he’s clearly still a draftable asset in medium leagues or bigger.

199. Pierre-Luc Dubois, C, Capitals: Don’t forget about him. He missed most of last season but was a 66-point player the year before that. Dubois does carry more risk now, not just because of health but because he could fall as low as the third line with Boone Jenner joining the Caps.

200. Anders Lee, LW, Mammoth: He was one of the best play-driving wingers in the NHL last season. But I’m not too jazzed about drafting Lee season only because of where he signed. He has a lot of competition on the depth chart in Utah and will need to stay on the top two lines for fantasy relevance.

201. Will Cuylle, LW, Rangers: Didn’t take the additional step forward I envisioned. But Cuylle has a safe floor of 20 goals and 300 hits, which makes him a must-draft player in banger leagues.

202. Luke Evangelista, RW, Devils: For hockey pool purposes, he’s becoming a Zuccarello-type player who can buoy you in assists but hasn’t shown upside yet in other stat categories. That said: if he gets a look on Jack Hughes’ line, that assist total could climb quite a bit. The trade to New Jersey has his arrow pointing upward.

203. Anthony Cirelli, C, Lightning: He gets his 20 goals and 50 points but is more of a two-way forward who isn’t going to exceed those numbers. He’s Pinto with less of a goal-scoring ceiling.

204. Konsta Helenius, C, Sabres: In a loaded rookie class, he’ll fly under the radar. Helenius, a chance-generation machine, can really play. He made the AHL look easy, and you can probably get him 100 picks after the Gavin McKennas and Anton Frondells of the world.

205. Matt Coronato, RW, Flames: He’s not a first-liner on almost any other team, but he’ll continue getting all the opportunities he wants in Calgary, so we can expect another 20 goals and 200 shots.

206. Brock Boeser, RW, Canucks: The Vancouver Canucks are a dead end, and so is Boeser’s ceiling for now, but you can get a safe 20-25 goals and 45-50 points. Just be warned in plus-minus leagues; he’s minus-73 over the past two seasons.

207. Viktor Arvidsson, RW, Red Wings: Had a really nice bounce-back season in Boston. Arvidsson can still bag 25 goals, and the Wings certainly need him. He remains a massive injury risk year to year, however.

208. Matvei Gridin, LW, Flames: Early statistical profile in the NHL suggests playmaker, but Gridin was much more of a goal scorer in junior, so there’s plenty of untapped upside to unlock.

209. Pyotr Kochetkov, G, Hurricanes: Bussi has the net after backstopping the Cup win. But Kochetkov is a year younger and arguably possesses more upside. No matter what, he’ll play quite a bit more than most backups while still carrying potential to flip roles with Bussi.

210. Jake DeBrusk, LW, Canucks: Same situation as Boeser’s. We take the 20-plus goals and pray for a trade – though DeBrusk has never shown the same peak form as Boeser’s.

211. Filip Hronek, D, Canucks: Not a bad Zero-D pick in that Hronek plays a ton – more than 25 minutes a game after the Quinn Hughes trade – and will accumulate a nice point total. I just have to issue the plus-minus disclaimer for pretty much every Canucks player. I’ll stop now. Consider it implied.

212. Chris Kreider, LW, Canadiens (-6): It’s not impossible for him to maintain a 25-25-50 level of production on his new team, but whereas he was often a first-line guy in Anaheim, he’s a middle-sixer in Montreal. Even if he’s a nice real-life get, I think the trade dings his fantasy value a bit.

213. Pavel Buchnevich, RW Blues: He’s in his boring-veteran era now. It’s not exciting to draft him, but he’s a reliable source of 20-plus goals and 50 or so points as long as he’s a top-six forward in St. Louis.

214. Jack Quinn, RW, Sabres: Pretty quietly smoked his career highs with a 20-30-51 line last year. Quinn was an exciting prospect and has the talent to best that… if the playing time is there. I’m not so sure it is. He’s a 15-minute TOI guy, so I’ll project a repeat of last year.

215. Simon Nemec, D, Flames: Zayne Parekh obviously has the higher ceiling, but Nemec is the safer young Flames D-man to pick in redraft leagues if you want a higher floor. Why: $7.25 million reasons. They’re paying him to play well north of 20 minutes a night, which means he’ll deliver volume.

216. Olen Zellweger, D, Sabres: He’s not going to be an instant Bowen Byram facsimile…or is he? There’s room for Zellweger to make an immediate impact as a secondary offensive defenseman and a PP2 quarterback. I’d expect a nice uptick in 5-on-5 ice time and a rise to 40 points, give or take.

217. Roman Kantserov, RW, Blackhawks: Casual-league drafters can wait until pretty late and bamboozle their rivals with a Kantserov pick. He’s ready to help right away, fresh off leading the KHL in goals.

218. Sergei Murashov, G, Penguins: You can learn a lot about a player by how a team handles his internal competition. The Pens let Stuart Skinner walk as a UFA and didn’t replace him. Translation: they love Murashov and no longer want to block him. Maybe he starts as Arturs Silovs’ 1B, but I’d bet on Murashov overtaking him for the 1A by December.

219. Gabe Perreault, LW, Rangers: Finished his season with 19 points in 23 games. Was a record-breaking scorer for the USNTDP. And it appears he’ll get a first-line opportunity to open the season. A great breakout pick hiding in plain sight with so many other exciting rookies and sophomores commanding attention.

220. Michael Misa, C, Sharks (+13): To continue the Eberle point: grab Misa instead. He’s a pure leap-of-faith pick, having not done much damage as a rookie, but his raw offensive talent could progress to the point he explodes in Year 2. Loving the rookie camp buzz. I’m buying in.

221. Mackie Samoskevich, LW, Kraken: Already has a floor of 15 goals, 150 shots and 130 hits… and he’ll play more than 14:38 a night going forward, with less competition on the depth chart. Offsetting the breakout potential is a weaker team around him, so maybe it’s just a mini-breakout.

222. Anthony Mantha, RW, Devils: Just like the UFA market, I’m not showing Mantha the respect a 30-goal season should command. But only a fool will pay full price on him staying healthy and maintaining a shooting percentage of 21.7. He won’t be nearly as profitable a pick this time. I’m not dropping him yet after the Evangelista trade; let’s see if he still lands in the top six.

223. Yaroslav Askarov, G, Sharks: Askarov, one of the century’s most hyped goalie prospects, is getting to play plenty now. He isn’t actually playing well yet, though? So we can’t reach too hard. But he’s just 24, younger than a lot of rookie netminders, so his upside remains as high as ever.

224. Lawson Crouse, LW, Mammoth: Crouse delivers Cuylle-like production minus the potential for more. Crouse is at his peak and may slide down the depth chart as the Mammoth continue to improve the roster around him. But we can enjoy the 20 goals and 200 hits.

225. Seth Jones, D, Panthers: The rangy righty’s body seems to be failing him, costing him games every season, but he can help in every category when he’s in the lineup.

226. Troy Terry, RW, Ducks: Classic example of a solid veteran scorer suddenly surging in production as his supporting cast drastically improves. He’s out until November or December recovering from hip surgery but makes for a good late-round stash.

227. Joey Daccord, G, Kraken: Outplayed by tandem partner Philipp Grubauer last season, but that’s the first time it happened. I still trust Daccord more. Across the past three seasons, among 41 goalies with 100 or more games played, he’s eighth in SV%. If only the team around him wasn’t so hopeless. I could not be more out on the Kraken.

228. Matty Beniers, C, Kraken: I’m not a big believer in the fantasy profile or the team, but Beniers is draftable in deep leagues for volume. He’ll play 19 minutes a night and get PP1 work on a team with no better option for its No. 1 center.

229. Jacob Fowler, G, Canadiens: He’s arguably the best goalie prospect in the game. The Habs are committed to Jakub Dobes as their starter, but Fowler will play a healthy amount. It’s not inconceivable that he pushes Dobes hard for No. 1 work, though I think that happens in 2027-28, not this season.

230. Boone Jenner, C, Capitals: Jenner never plays anywhere close to a complete season but is an excellent banger-league contributor on a per-game basis. At least, he has been. He has fantasy bust potential even when on the ice this season as he might not play as much on such a deep team. He’s not even a lock for PP2, let alone PP1.

231. Ilya Protas, LW, Capitals: Aliaksei’s younger brother obliterated major junior in 2024-25, made it look breezy in his first AHL season and had four points in four NHL games for his debut. Major upside here. The obstacle is not knowing where he’ll play – it could be as low as the fourth line – so we’ll have to see how training camp plays out. Protas could be a big riser in future rankings updates.

232. Igor Chernyshov, LW, Sharks: If you think he can stay on the Celebrini line, Chernyshov can turn a huge profit this season, especially because his sample size of 9-10-19 in 28 games was small enough not to attract too much attention last season. Casual drafters will overlook him.

233. Jordan Eberle, RW, Kraken: He’s the leader of a Kraken group that seemingly features a million 45-50-point players. You can stream him, but why not take some bigger swings at this point in the draft? You can always add Eberle types off the wire later.

234. Collin Graf, RW, Sharks: Already was deep-league usable last season with his 21-goal, 46-point breakout, and he’s a top-six forward entering his prime in an ascending offense. That is the definition of a wise investment to me.

235. Christian Dvorak, C, Flyers: I literally yawned typing his name. A 50-point center who doesn’t score goals is such a low-upside play in fantasy that I prefer boom/bust picks over guys like Dvorak at this stage of the draft.

236. Marco Rossi, C, Canucks: He’s handed Vancouver’s No. 2 center gig out of the gate and, between Elias Pettersson’s disappointing play and trade rumors, Rossi could easily end up as the No. 1 center. The role alone could get him back over the 50-point line.

237. Ryan McLeod, C, Sabres: In real life: a good soldier who plays in all situations and has held down No. 2 center duty when needed. In fantasy: only helps in points, and that’s not a guarantee anymore either if Helenius ends up overtaking him on the depth chart.

238. Claude Giroux, C, Senators: The type of twilight-year vet who barely hangs on the fantasy roster bubble in most leagues and will get added and dropped several times throughout the year. Can give you a small lift in assists and power-play points in deeper leagues.

239. Filip Gustavsson, G, Wild: He had already lost the 1A job to Wallstedt by the playoffs, and hip surgery puts Gustavsson further back in the race now. Still rosterable as he’ll help you when he does play, which will still be a healthy amount once he’s healed up.

240. Mattias Samuelsson, D, Sabres: What was last season? He’d never scored like that at any level coming up, so I’m nervous to project a repeat for the big two-way blueliner.

241. MacKenzie Weegar, D, Mammoth: He’s still an elite accumulator in the banger categories, and I’m wondering if the offensive totals can rebound a bit with a full season playing a prominent role on a rising team.

242. Alex Laferriere, RW, Kings: Underrated in leagues that count hits and shots on goal. He’ll give you robust totals in both and add 20 goals and 40 points.

243. Zeev Buium, D, Canucks: A year ago, Buium was absolutely an all-world prospect. He still is. He was the key to the Quinn Hughes trade. He’ll get every chance to inherit a similar role in Vancouver. It doesn’t mean the breakout will be instantaneous, but Buium has the ability to become a special player, so he’s worth a flier.

244. Sebastian Cossa, G, Mammoth: Love him in dynasty. We should pump the brakes in redraft, though. Utah’s starter Vejmelka is a true workhorse, and Cossa has one career NHL game to his name, so there still might be a learning curve despite his immense potential.

245. Philip Broberg, D, Blues: A great real-life find for St. Louis. In fantasy, though, he has to get all his numbers for you at 5-on-5, which really caps his upside, so he’s not too exciting. If he can secure PP1 work to open the season, however, I’ll likely jump him 50 spots.

246. Emil Heineman, LW, Islanders: I didn’t know he had this much offense in him to complement all the hits. I like this kid. At 24, he’s young enough to level up again.

247. Elias Lindholm, C, Bruins: He could not be less exciting to draft, as back issues have limited his effectiveness, but he’s still a second-line center on a team coming off a playoff berth.

248. Thomas Chabot, D, Senators: He’s still pretty productive when playing, putting up 48 points per 82 games across his past five seasons, but he’s missed 19 games per year across that span. If you pick him, you’ll need some insurance during his IR stint(s).

249. Jake Neighbours, LW, Blues: A pretty handy banger-league blend of goals and hits, but you’ll notice that he’s plateaued. He’s blocked from top-six work by Holloway, Snuggerud, Buchnevich and now McMichael, so Neighbours won’t do much better than what he is now for fantasy purposes.

250. Ike Howard, LW, Oilers: The Edmonton Oiler depth chart is still shallow enough that Howard will get another chance at a key scoring-line role. And after he tore up the AHL last season, he’s clearly readier than he was a year ago. Might be the right time to buy, especially with Savoie’s injury freeing up more room on the depth chart.

251. Matthew Wood, C, Predators (+27): 17 goals for the towering rookie were nothing to sneeze at. Bigger breakout coming? The odds go way up after the Evangelista trade. I like Wood to be a top-six fixture.

252. Zayne Parekh, D, Flames: He obviously has the upside to become a top-100 player at any point, but he’s only 20, his team is terrible, and the Nemec acquisition creates power-play competition. I’m not in hard on Parekh this season.

253. Andrei Kuzmenko, LW, Penguins: This year’s Mantha? Kuzmenko is one of the league’s more efficient power-play generators, and he could get some quality looks on Pens team looking to get cost-efficient scoring. Sleeper to snipe 25 goals.

254. Danila Yurov, C, Wild: The Wild sound loath to part with Yurov in a trade for a No. 1 center, perhaps because they believe Yurov can still become one. He held his own decently as a rookie. He has upside to double last year’s 27-point debut if he can stick with Kaprizov all season.

255. Charlie Coyle, C, Blue Jackets: This is an incredibly low ranking for someone coming off a 58-point season, I know, but it was a clear outlier for a 34-year-old who will have to compete with Sean Monahan for No. 2 center work. Pass.

256. Nick Lardis, LW, Blackhawks: Don’t sleep on him. He’s lost in a sea of exciting Blackhawks prospects, but he scored 71 goals in his last major junior season, then posted 18 goals in 35 games as an AHL rookie, then had 10 in 41 games with Chicago playing only 12:15 a night. All Lardis has done in his life is score at every stop.

257. Joseph Woll, G, Flyers: Woll is a clear No. 2 behind Vladar. But Woll still has the raw talent of a No. 1 and could push Vladar with a well-timed hot streak. Either way, Woll should be a high-end backup who plays 25-plus games.

258. Dawson Mercer, RW, Devils: Not a bad player by any means, but the big breakout never happened, and I’m no longer convinced it will. He’s had enough chances at this point.

259. Maxim Shabanov, RW, Wild: Didn’t do much as a rookie with the Isles. But he was a big-time KHL scorer, he’s only 25, and the Wild will likely try him with Kaprizov. Interesting deep-league sleeper.

260. Mikael Granlund, C, Ducks: Lacks upside at this stage of his career but plays a lot of minutes in Anaheim’s top six. Can still help in assists.

261. Jacob Trouba, D, Sharks: The scoring hasn’t been consistent enough that we can count on a repeat of last year. But he’ll play plenty on his new team and accumulate plus totals in shots, hits and blocks.

262. Jaden Schwartz, LW, Avalanche: Can a 34-year-old be a…sleeper? Schwartz could play with some of his highest-quality linemates in years if he’s a top-sixer in Colorado. If he can stay healthy and can force his way onto the second line, he has a 25-25-50 type of season in him, but he’s more of a late-round flier since he’s just as likely to play on line 3.

263. Tyler Toffoli, LW, Sharks: Toffoli can still score, but the depth chart around him is getting crowded, and his ice time shrunk to a decade-low 14:59 last season. Fewer looks means he has to be a lot more efficient just to get 20 goals.

264. Akira Schmid, G, Panthers: A voice has slowly gotten louder in my head this summer. “Akira Schmid, league winner,” it beckons. Hey – it could happen. What if Markstrom is finished? Do yourself a favor and stash Schmid on your bench with an endgame pick in deep drafts.

265. Jamie Drysdale, D, Flyers: He’s a talented puck mover who has finally found himself with the Flyers and deserved his shiny new contract. That said: the fantasy production hasn’t popped yet at all. He has yet to top 32 points in a season.

266. Brandon Montour, D, Kraken: A Zero-D GM could do worse than Montour to fill out the roster. He’ll help in goals and shots.

267. Alexander Wennberg, C, Sharks: Don’t chase the 55-point season from a career bottom-six center. It came out of necessity. Better, younger players will soon push Wennberg down the depth chart. He was a nice find for the Sharks, but I’m not buying the fantasy value boost one bit.

268. Mattias Ekholm, D, Oilers: Helpful in assists and plus-minus, but any fantasy value Ekholm accrues is incidental. He’s a real-life stopper who doesn’t play much on the power play but will accumulate stats sharing the ice with some of the world’s greatest scorers.

269. Darcy Kuemper, G, Kings: Only a season removed from huge fantasy value, but it feels like only one of Kuemper and Forsberg is rosterable on a mediocre Kings team. If Kuemper wins the upper hand back during camp, we can swap their rankings.

270. Travis Sanheim, D, Flyers: One of those real-life workhorses who can deliver a tiny bit of deep-league fantasy value because he’s on the ice so much that he’ll compile some volume. Pencil him in 35 points and a bunch of blocks.

271. Blake Coleman, LW, Wild: My early gut feeling is the move to a better team hurts Coleman’s value. He might slide from a 17-minute guy to a 15-minute guy in Minnesota. Still, the floor of 20 goals and 150 hits is playable, with a tiny bit of upside for more should the Wild try him at center.

272. Yakov Trenin, C, Wild: Banger-league pick only, but what a pick. He threw 413 friggin’ hits last year, the second most in NHL history.

273. Arturs Silovs, G, Penguins: A vote of non-confidence here. I recognize that Silovs is a slight favorite to open the season starting, but I don’t expect him to keep that job. Murashov SZN!

274. Mike Matheson, D, Canadiens: A least 30 points in five consecutive seasons, and three straight with at least 150 blocks. Deep-league floor play.

275. Tyler Seguin, C, Stars: Sounds like he’ll be back from his ACL injury by training camp. Seguin is about as injury prone as any player in the league, but the Stars might need him more than normal with their depth chart thinned out, and he still produces when he plays.

276. Jason Zucker, LW, Sabres: I disrespect Zucker every year in these rankings, and he always pops 20 goals. If your league is too shallow to draft him, he’s at least a reliable waiver guy year to year.

277. Sam Malinski, D, Avalanche: What a steal for the Avs finding the undrafted Malinski. He’s entrenched in Colorado’s top four and coming off a fantasy-relevant season of 40 points and 164 shots. I could see him repeating it, but I’m wary of the fact 20 percent of his points came during a 10-game stretch when Makar was injured.

278. Ryan Hartman, C, Wild: His line placement tends to fluctuate throughout the year, but he typically gets his 20 goals and 40 points. Might he be better off traded to a weaker team that would use him more consistently in the top six?

279. Oliver Kapanen, C, Canadiens: Intriguing as a shooter coming off a 22-goal rookie campaign, but I’m hesitant to buy all the way in since he can play anywhere from line 2 to 4.

280. Alex Lyon, G, Sabres: Can dominate for extended stretches, but he’s still likely just a 30-35-game guy playing second fiddle to ‘UPL.’ Good streamer during the season.

281. Viggo Björck, C, Jets (+4): All the offseason envangelism from the Jets suggests they plan to give Björck an immediate shot at a scoring-line center job after taking him eighth overall in the 2026 NHL Draft. He’s a tiny 5-foot-9 and 177 pounds but plays with the heart of a lion and looked comfortable centering Sweden’s top line at the 2026 World Championship. The competition for the No. 2 center vacancy simply isn’t that fierce in Winnipeg. Björck has a real chance to stick with the big club and be one of the league’s better rookies. I spoke with Scheifele about Björck last week – asked him straight up whether he thinks he’ll make the team – and while Scheifele maintained a poker face, he’s clearly excited about the younger.

282. Luca Cagnoni, D, Sharks: Someone has to man that top power-play unit for San Jose, and the early indications suggest Cagnoni, an AHL power-play wizard, is their guy. Huge breakout potential as a late-round pick in that case. Let’s watch the camp deployments intently.

283. Taylor Hall, LW, Hurricanes: Careful not to let his point-per-game playoff run sway you. Regular-season Hall is a fairly low-ceiling guy at this stage of his career, putting up 15-20 goals and 40 or so points. He’ll outscore dozens of players I’ve ranked higher than him – but this is the point of a draft where we want to take the upside swings. If they don’t pan out, we can drop those guys for Hall types.

284. Jack Roslovic, RW, Maple Leafs: Doesn’t have the highest ceiling or floor. But he’s coming off a 21-goal year, and there’s a decent chance the Leafs try him with his old USNTDP linemate Matthews. We’ll keep a close eye on the line combos in training camp.

285. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, free agent: Let’s see where he lands. He still has another 20-goal season in his stick if he finds the right fit.

286. Denton Mateychuk, D, Blue Jackets: He’s blocked by Werenski, but this kid has some real offensive talent, as evidenced by his 13 goals as a sophomore. Maybe not a must-draft player yet but someone for your watch list in the event of a Werenski injury or trade.

287. Vasily Podkolzin, LW, Oilers: At least for now, he’s a projected second-liner in Edmonton. A high-teens goal total and well north of 200 hits make for a fine late-round roster filler in banger leagues, and I’m intrigued seeing him work on his Hyman-style net skills this offseason. There might still be some upside to unlock for the one-time elite prospect.

288. Fraser Minten, C, Bruins (+8): Minten should start the season on Boston’s third line, but he did get some time with Pastrnak last season, so we need to consider the upside of that arrangement happening again. If you subscribe to the theory that money talks: $7.2 million isn’t third-line money. Boston sees his ceiling as something higher now, and so should we.

289. Devon Toews, D, Avalanche: He’ll outscore plenty of D-men I have listed above him, but there’s no upside anymore with Toews. He’s not on PP1, and he’s not useful in many categories aside from assists and plus-minus now.

290. Noah Cates, C, Flyers: An important real-life player who was productive enough for deep-league rostering last season. But I’m wary chasing 47 points from a third-liner. That’ll be tough to repeat.

291. Sean Monahan, C, Blue Jackets: I’m low-key stunned he played 78 games last season. He didn’t do much in them, but he’s just a year removed from averaging better than a point per game, so he could be playable if he holds off Coyle for second-line center duty.

292. James Hagens, LW, Bruins: I’m bearish, pun intended, on Hagens’ early-season prospects. But his upside remains significant, and he only has to overtake Casey Mittelstadt to become a top-sixer in Boston. Don’t forget about Hagens.

293. Artyom Levshunov, D, Blackhawks: It hasn’t been pretty so far. But Levshunov has a combo-meal skill set that could turn him into a Seider-like asset in fantasy someday. Why not use your last pick on him in case the Hawks look improved in Week 1 of the season? If it’s not his time yet, you drop him, no biggie.

294. Tij Iginla, LW, Mammoth: One of the more important rookies to monitor in camp. He was close to a goal per game in the WHL last season. If he makes the Mammoth, he’s an immediate threat to lead NHL rookies in snipes.

295. Easton Cowan, RW, Maple Leafs: Had a respectable rookie season, and being a large part of an AHL title run should help accelerate his development. Whether he’s a priority late-round pick will depend on his line deployments in camp. He’s not all that exciting if he’s a bottom-sixer.

296. Erik Haula, C, Kings: Not an exciting fantasy asset at all – but he doesn’t have much competition to be L.A.’s No. 2 center and will have something like Fiala/Zuccarello as his wingers. Not bad?

297. Justin Hryckowian, LW, Stars: Worth watching closely in camp. The Bourque trade vacated a scoring-line role, maybe even a first-line role, and Hryckowian is fresh off a solid rookie year in which he had 30 points and 119 hits.

298. Brett Howden, C, Golden Knights: Is it worth taking a late-round flier on a guy who led the 2025-26 playoffs with 14 goals in 22 games? Meh, probably not, as they came on 34.5 percent shooting. But there’s at least a tiny bit of intrigue in the chemistry he found with Marner and William Karlsson on Vegas’ second line.

299. Bradly Nadeau, C, Hurricanes: Could we have another Blake here? Nadeau has done nothing but score in the AHL. He’s too good for that league and has been waiting for a spot to open up on the Canes. With Jarvis missing the start of the season, Nadeau has a chance to make himself too important to bench even after Jarvis returns.

300. Simon Edvinsson, D, Red Wings (-6): Ice time is increasing, the goal totals are good for a young blueliner, and his size and physicality should keep growing those hit and block totals. Draftable even if the ceiling isn’t exciting yet. But, uh…he doesn’t have a contract, nor does he have a GM with whom he can negotiate said contract. This is officially a concern.

ON THE BUBBLE

Casey DeSmith
Patrik Laine
Michael DiPietro
Devon Levi
K’Andre Miller
Nikita Klepov
Victor Eklund
Jonathan Marchessault
Darnell Nurse
Peyton Krebs
Justin Faulk
Benjamin Kindel
Brayden Schenn
Pavel Mintyukov
Devin Cooley
Thatcher Demko
Jordan Binnington
Charlie Lindgren
Eeli Tolvanen
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Morgan Frost
Shane Wright
Tony DeAngelo
Owen Power
Tommy Novak
Kyle Palmieri
Calum Ritchie
Dennis Hildeby
Nick Robertson
Adin Hill
Anthony Stolarz
Gustav Forsling
Alex Newhook
Kent Johnson
Kiefer Sherwood
Mathieu Olivier
Brent Burns
Drew Doughty
Aaron Ekblad
Ridly Greig
Fabian Zetterlund
Chandler Stephenson
William Karlsson
Kaapo Kakko
Casey Mittelstadt
Kevin Lankinen
Conor Garland
Jamie Benn
Michael Bunting
Alex Killorn
Teuvo Teravainen
Jordan Staal
Noah Ostlund
Esa Lindell
Morgan Rielly
Caleb Desnoyers
Philipp Grubauer
Nikita Zadorov
Jordan Spence
Zach Bolduc
Dmitry Voronkov
Dalibor Dvorsky
Matias Maccelli
Connor Brown
Justin Sourdif
Emmitt Finnie
J.J. Moser
Ryan Shea
Berkly Catton
Artem Zub
John Marino
Cam Fowler
Arseny Gritsyuk
Simon Holmstrom
Dmitry Orlov
Sam Dickinson
Jake Walman
Andrew Copp
Evan Rodrigues
Damon Severson
Eetu Luostarinen
Linus Karlsson
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Marat Khusnutdinov
Ivan Provorov
Sam Rinzel
Sean Durzi
Alexandre Texier
Ross Colton
Trevor Moore
Ryan Donato
Noah Hanifin
Stuart Skinner
Oliver Bjorkstrand
Tristan Jarry
Parker Kelly
Joel Farabee
Cole Eiserman
Gage Goncalves
A.J. Greer
Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Ryan Poehling
Brady Martin
Mikael Backlund
Jiri Kulich
Liam Ohgren
Ilya Mikheyev
Justin Brazeau
Nate Danielson
Kirby Dach
Rutger McGroarty
Isak Rosen
Michael Brandsegg-Nygard
Colten Ellis
Marco Kasper
Sean Walker
Axel Sandin Pellikka
Connor Zary
Ryan Strome
Jonathan Huberdeau
Cole Sillinger
Victor Olofsson
Yegor Sharangovich
Andre Burakovsky
Josh Manson
Alex Bump
Logan Mailloux
Lian Bischel
Carter Yakemchuk
Jagger Firkus

Top 300 at a glance

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POST SPONSORED BY bet365

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Recently by Matt Larkin

Canadiens president Jeff Gorton: Chris Kreider called us, not the other way around

Hunter Crowther — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:16:30 GMT

According to Montreal Canadiens’ president Jeff Gorton, Chris Kreider called them, not the other way around.

Gorton spoke with reporters Monday during the team’s annual golf tournament, and explained the process around how the team was able to sign Kreider to a one-year contract over the weekend.

“Obviously, I wasn’t expecting for him to be available,” he said. “If you go back a couple weeks, when he became available, we were looking at our roster and (thought) he would be a good fit for a couple reasons. Size, speed, experience. His playoff record is really good.”

Gorton added that it didn’t seem like there were really any negatives when the Canadiens were thinking about signing Kreider.

“Once he called us and said he wanted to come to Montreal, that he liked our group, we were really excited,” he added.

Kreider and the Habs agreed to a one-year, $2.15-million deal on Saturday, just days after the Anaheim Ducks placed Kreider on waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract.

According to TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun, Kreider had three teams to choose from, but he decided to sign with the Canadiens because he has a “comfort level” with Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis, as well as a history with Gorton.

In 2025-26, Kreider had 22 goals and 28 assists for 50 points in 75 games with the Ducks. He finished second on the team with eight power-play goals, and reached the 20-goal mark for an eighth straight season.

The deal raised some eyebrows on social media as Kreider has been one of the most booed athletes in modern Montreal sports history after he injured former Canadiens’ goaltender Carey Price during the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2014.

Through 14 NHL seasons, Kreider, a native of Boxford, Mass., has 348 goals and 284 assists for 632 points in 958 career regular-season games with the Ducks and New York Rangers.

He was selected by the Rangers with the No. 19 pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He was acquired by the Ducks after the 2024-25 season, with New York getting forward prospect Carey Terrance in return.

Bo Horvat named 16th captain in Islanders history

Tyler Kuehl — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:01:02 GMT

One of the top veterans in the game is going to be wearing the ‘C’ once again.

On Monday, the New York Islanders announced that the team has named forward Bo Horvat the 16th captain in franchise history.

Bo Horvat has been named the 16th captain of the New York Islanders.

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) September 14, 2026

Horvat takes over the role previously held by Anders Lee. Lee had been the Islanders’ captain since John Tavares signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018, but moved away from the franchise after signing a three-year contract with the Utah Mammoth this past July.

This isn’t the first time the 31-year-old has been tabbed as a team’s on-ice leader. During his time with the Vancouver Canucks, he captained the team for parts of four seasons before the Islanders acquired him in a January 2023 trade.

Horvat has been a key piece of the Islanders lineup ever since he moved to Long Island. He has averaged over 30 goals in each of his three full seasons with the club, including posting a career-high 33 tallies during the 2023-24 campaign. This past year, despite missing 14 games due to injury, the London, Ont. native notched 31 goals and 26 assists for 57 points, leading the Isles in the goals, while finishing second in overall scoring behind Mathew Barzal.

In his tenure with the Islanders, Horvat has scored move goals (99) and points (198) than any other player that has donned the blue and orange. He has helped the team qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs twice, losing in the first round to the Carolina Hurricanes in both 2023 and 2024. The Isles have missed the postseason in each of the past two years.

In 881 regular-season games in the NHL, Horvat has posted 300 goals and 318 assists for 618 points, with another 21 points in 34 playoff contests.

Why the Capitals are a must-watch team for fantasy hockey players in 2026-27

Ben Steiner — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:00:00 GMT

With the NHL season quickly approaching, so too are the countless NHL Fantasy league drafts around the globe. While players will no doubt flock to the superstars as they do every year, the sleeper picks could be the difference in each league.

And the Washington Capitals find themselves in a peculiar position. Despite missing the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, their offseason additions and the ongoing presence of Alex Ovechkin make them one of the must-watch teams, in terms of fantasy, in 2026-27.

On a recent episode of Daily Faceoff Live, co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton sat down with DFO Fantasy expert Brock Seguin to break down the Capitals, and why their depth could be a magical factor to winning a fantasy league this season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The Washington Capitals were very busy this season, and you have a lot of popular names- names that guys are going to recognize- and just a bunch of guys with 20-goal potential, like Alex Tuch, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jordan Kyrou, Tom Wilson, Boone Jenner, Dylan Strome, Alex Ovechkin, Aliaksei Protas, Anthony Beauvillier and Ryan Leonard. I just went off on a bunch of guys who could very easily score 20 goals next season, but… there’s only one puck that can go in the net in Washington.

How do you handle a team like this when it comes to fantasy? They’re all good players, but they’re not all gonna have great years. There’s only one puck, of course, and there are only four forwards on the power play.

Brock Seguin: Yeah, there’s a lot of mouths to feed there for sure, and obviously you’ve got Ovechkin out there soaking up like four and a half minutes a night on the power play. Their lineup is, obviously, to me the hardest to project coming into the season, since there are so many new faces and so much depth. You’ve got the Protas brothers both really starting to come into their own, and then you’ve got really just a lot of right wingers too.

It’s going to be interesting to see what they do with how they fit all those pieces, and even Ovechkin- I think he’s probably more of a third-liner now and just going to be a power-play specialist.

It’s interesting you asked me about the Capitals because this works out perfectly for me. I did a huge schedule analysis yesterday, and it’ll be released on Daily Faceoff and on the DFO YouTube channel in the coming days, but the Capitals have one of the best fantasy schedules in the NHL this year. They have the most light-night games in the league at 40, which basically means half. You’ll easily be able to fit the Capitals into your lineup, and then they have the best fantasy hockey playoff schedule as well.

So they are a team that I like taking late, filling some of my bench spots with these guys, so that you can maximize your roster throughout the season. I’m probably still going to shy away from some of the guys being drafted a little bit earlier, like Ovechkin, like Alex Tuch, because, as you mentioned, there’s a lot of mouths to feed, and I don’t know if they’re all going to reach their potential. Yet, Jordan Kyrou and Dylan Strome are two guys that are going super late in drafts. Kyro is seemingly being completely forgotten, and he is still a very good player and a very good goal scorer. So he’s one of my favorite late-round targets, and Dylan Strome is fine as well.

Those guys, they’re going to sit on your bench, butou’re going to be able to play them super easily, and then come playoff time, I think Kyrou especially could be a guy that ends up being one of the biggest fantasy hockey steals this year.

You can catch the full episode and Brock’s full NHL fantasy breakdown right here, with more coverage to follow throughout the season.

Top goalie battles to watch during 2026-27 NHL preseason

Steven Ellis — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

In the past, NHL teams played around seven preseason games each. It was WAYYYY too long, and something fans heavily criticized every September.

This year will be the first featuring a reduced preseason schedule, with 65 games split up over eight days. That means training camps are going to be extra tight this year, with teams looking to make the most of their limited time before the season kicks off on Sept. 29. For goalies, that doesn’t give them many opportunities to prove themselves. That alone should make the next few weeks quite fascinating to follow.

With some teams bringing in new goaltenders to the fray, and some goalies looking to burst through and become full-time NHLers, here’s a look at seven of the most interesting crease battles to watch over the next few weeks. We tried to focus less on teams with clear tandem situations – that’s much more common now. Don’t assume any goaltender has a spot locked up – it’s the most unpredictable position in the sport, and very few are true No. 1s these days:

Buffalo Sabres: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen vs. Alex Lyon vs. Colten Ellis

At times last year, Buffalo’s goaltending depth proved that one guy could struggle and another could swoop in and steal a win. It’s a big reason why the team was as successful as they were last season in the club’s return to the playoffs. At one point, the club went 25 games without a goalie getting back-to-back starts. It happened to also be Buffalo’s most dangerous stretch of the season, going 18-4-3 to help them fly up the standings. That’s 30 percent of the season – in a row – where the team relied on its three-man rotation to get the club where they are today. The team’s goals saved above expected was top five in the NHL. There were times during the playoffs where Lyon looked like an absolute beast. And at others, not so much.

Buffalo fully embraced the three-goalie strategy last year and they look destined to try it again. But can any of the three – UPL, Lyon or Ellis – step up and take control? Is that even what the Sabres want? Will none of this matter, and the Sabres will just acquire Connor Hellebuyck anyway? None of the three goalies is waiver exempt, so a three-goalie system feels like the way they’re going to go again. All three had their shining moments, but it feels like one of either Luukkonen or Lyon will have the edge to start the season. If one goalie absolutely thrives in camp, maybe we’ll see a bit more clarity on the starter front. Most likely, though, the Sabres will look to utilize the system that worked so well throughout the season last year before hopefully getting one of them to be stable enough to earn the bulk of the postseason playing time.

Edmonton Oilers: Devon Levi vs. Tristan Jarry

Freddy Andersen is set to miss all of training camp, meaning there will be extra spotlight on Levi and Jarry. Levi is the new recruit after a couple of excellent seasons with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Jarry, meanwhile, had some solid moments in Pittsburgh last year before struggling to find his groove with the Oilers. Clearly, the Oilers didn’t believe in Jarry enough and got him some extra help, resulting in a three-goalie system.

Goaltending has been a long-term issue for the franchise, and it’s hard to feel fully confident in the crop this year. Andersen is 36 and has struggled to stay healthy for quite a while – he hasn’t played 40 regular-season games in five years. Levi has primarily played in the AHL throughout his pro career, while Jarry’s inconsistency has plagued him for far too long. Levi might be the most interesting goalie in the system, though. He was once viewed as one of the top prospects in the sport, and after dominating in the AHL, he’ll have his first real opportunity to establish himself in the big leagues. Regardless, the pressure’s on for a team looking to finally win in the Connor McDavid era.

Montreal Canadiens: Jakub Dobeš vs. Jacob Fowler vs. Samuel Montembeault

By all accounts, it’s Dobeš’ net to lose. He stole the starter’s gig late in the regular season and kept the fight alive all the way to the Eastern Conference Final. He was excellent and looks like a legitimate contender for the Vezina Trophy this year. Fowler, meanwhile, had a 17-game stint with the big club last year and should be in the hunt for the Calder Trophy, although it’s always difficult for a goalie to take home the coveted hardware. It’s a largely unproven duo, from a longevity standpoint, but one with a ton of promise.

The real intrigue here, though, is Montembeault. He was one of the best goaltenders analytically for a few years and even served as a backup for Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off team. But a terrible 2025-26 season relegated him to third-string duty, a role he’ll likely continue with if he stays in Montreal this year. But that’s the thing – will he? If Montembeault has an incredible camp, he could become a prime trade candidate prior to opening night. If not, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Montreal throw him on the waiver wire to give him a shot elsewhere. Montreal seemed to really like the three-goalie system, but it’s not fair for a pending UFA to sit and watch all season. Montembeault will be extra motivated to prove himself at camp and earn starts again before getting a new contract next summer.

New Jersey Devils: David Rittich vs. Nico Daws

Jacob Markstrom didn’t get the job done in Newark last year, leaving the Devils to make some changes to the crease. Jake Allen will assume starting duties after an above-average campaign last year. He’s also inexpensive at $1.8 million, making him one of the better value starters in the league. The backup battle will be a bit more intriguing, with 25-year-old Daws set to challenge for starts against 34-year-old Rittich. Daws has 55 NHL games to his credit, which included 25 appearances in 2021-22. For the most part, he’s been decent throughout his NHL career, which includes a 5-2 record over the past two years.

The 6-foot-4 goaltender is definitely capable of holding his own as a backup, but will it be enough to overcome the challenge from a veteran like Rittich? The Czech netminder had some solid performances with the New York Islanders a year ago and even boasted a surface-level .921 save percentage with the Los Angeles Kings in 2023-24. Inconsistency has been a problem throughout his career, though, which is why finding a long-term stable home has been a challenge. Rittich’s best days are behind him but, after playing 64 NHL games over the past two years, he’s not going to go down without a fight in training camp.

New York Islanders: Semyon Varlamov vs. Vitek Vanecek

Ilya Sorokin owns the crease and will continue to be one of the league’s top netminders. But the backup gig on Long Island should be an interesting one to follow. Varlamov is set to be a full participant in training camp after missing most of the past two years due to knee injuries. He last played in the NHL 21 months ago before undergoing multiple surgical procedures on his knees. He got into a pair of AHL games with Bridgeport last year, which was a good sign. But seeing him back at camp is truly remarkable, and it’ll be fun to see if he can get his game back on track after most considered his career to be on its last legs.

Varlamov will go up against Czech veteran Vítek Vaněček, who has been a serviceable, yet unremarkable backup throughout most of his career. His numbers have been nothing to get excited about as he has bounced around from team to team over the past few seasons. The 30-year-old comes in at an inexpensive $1-million cap hit, so the Islanders could elect to hold on to a three-goalie system throughout the year. But it seems unlikely he would have signed with the Islanders without some belief he could beat out a guy who has primarily watched from home for two years.

San Jose Sharks: Yaroslav Askarov vs. Alex Nedeljkovic vs. Eric Comrie vs. Ilya Samsonov

If the Sharks are going to truly contend this season, their goaltending needs to be better. Askarov had his moments last year but wasn’t good enough when they needed him to be to really push the needle forward. Nedeljkovic is a solid veteran presence and actually played some of his best hockey down the stretch last year. He was definitely the better of the two goalies, which, depending on your long-term view of Askarov as the starter, could be either a good or bad thing.

And now, they’ve added two others to the mix: Comrie and Samsonov. Between them, they have 584 regular-season games under their belts, with Samsonov leading the way at 200. But, ironically, he’s the least likely to play NHL games this year after signing a two-way deal with the Sharks last week. Of the four, Comrie boasted the best goals saved above expected at 5-on-5 of 7.15, while Nedeljkovic registered a 4.7. Askarov, meanwhile, was near the bottom of the league with a -5.9. Comrie has been a solid backup throughout his career, but hasn’t managed to break through as a starter (hard to do that when you’re backing up Hellebuyck). Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see how the Sharks manage the workload during the preseason, and whether or not they’ll employ a three-goalie strategy. The team’s goaltending needs to be much more effective this season if they’re going to make some real noise, so GM Mike Grier deserves credit for throwing a little bit of everything at the crease.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Dennis Hildeby vs. Jonas Johansson

Some day, eventually, Andrei Vasilevskiy won’t be the answer in net. But after winning his second Vezina Trophy, that’s not happening any time soon. Johansson has been the backup for three seasons already and has failed to crack the .900 save percentage barrier in that time. Record-wise, he’s capable of winning about 10 games a year. But it’s hard to consider him anything more than below average at this point, which is partly reflected in his $1.25-million cap hit.

But, finally, he’ll have someone to really push him for the backup gig: Hildeby. The ‘Hildebeast’ went 5-7-4 in the NHL last year, boasting a .914 save percentage and 7.16 5-on-5 GSAx. Those are solid numbers for a third-string goalie (who actually fell to the fourth spot after losing the Toronto Marlies starting gig to Artur Akhtyamov. Hildeby doesn’t have an expansive NHL portofolio, but has been solid enough throughout his career to earn a serious look as Tampa’s backup. Tampa could elect to go with the three-goalie rotation, but given Vasy’s typical workload, that doesn’t make a ton of sense.

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Recently by Steven Ellis

Canadiens sign head coach Martin St. Louis to multi-year extension

Tyler Kuehl — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 12:48:29 GMT

One of the rising stars in the coaching ranks is staying in La Belle Province for a couple more years.

On Monday, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced that the team has signed head coach Martin St. Louis to a multi-year contract extension.

Les Canadiens s'entendent sur les termes d’une prolongation de contrat de plusieurs saisons avec l’entraîneur-chef Martin St-Louis.

The Canadiens have agreed to terms on a multi-year contract extension with head coach Martin St-Louis.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/vwS5B88JA5

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 14, 2026

The terms of the contract have yet to be reported. Hughes said St. Louis’ work with the club has earned him a new contract.

“Marty has done a terrific job leading our young team,” Hughes said in a release. “He is a great communicator and teacher. We look forward to his continued efforts to mold this group into a championship-caliber team.”

St. Louis was an inauspicious hiring by the Canadiens when he joined the team in the middle of the 2021-22 season, following the dismissal of Dominique Ducharme. While he had a long and storied playing career, including winning a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, the Quebec native had yet to coach at any high level.

Yet, with his experience as a player in tow, St. Louis helped lead Montreal through a rebuild, helping develop some of the team’s young talent. Patience and guidance paid off, as the Habs, the youngest team in the NHL, qualified for the playoffs in 2024-25, the team’s first postseason berth in four years. St. Louis was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as a result.

Things continued to trend upward in Montreal this past season. With more experience throughout the lineup, the Canadiens competed for the top spot in the Atlantic Division for much of the 2025-26 campaign. The team ended up finishing third, but went on an exciting run in the playoffs. After beating the Lightning in the first round, Montreal outlasted the Atlantic-winning Buffalo Sabres to advance to the Eastern Conference Final. There, they ran into the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes, with the Habs bowing out in five games.

In his five-plus seasons as the bench boss in Montreal, St. Louis has earned a record of 163-155-47 during the regular season, with a 10-14 record in the postseason.

Former Oilers chairman Cal Nichols passes away at 84

Scott Maxwell — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 23:24:10 GMT

The Edmonton Oilers announced on Sunday that Cal Nichols, former chairman for the Edmonton Investors Group, passed away at the age of 84 on Saturday.

On behalf of his family, it is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of former Edmonton Investors Group Chairman, Cal Nichols.

Our hearts are with Nichols' family & friends. Once an Oiler, Always an Oiler. pic.twitter.com/J00sMtqEEC
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 13, 2026

Nichols first made a career in the oil and gas industry, most notably by helping found Northridge, which was Canada’s first private crude oil and natural gas marketing company, along with Gasland Oil, which became one of the largest service station chains in Western Ontario. It was that work which allowed Nichols to develop his wealth and community relations to the point where he could contribute to the Oilers organization.

When Peter Pocklington, then-owner of the Oilers, went into financial trouble in the late 1990s’ and was forced to sell the team, Nichols led the way to save the franchise from relocation to Houston. First, he more than doubled the team’s season ticket base through the Friends of the Oilers ticket drive in 1996, which gathered enough community support to keep the franchise in Edmonton.

Nichols followed that by reaching out to the business community of Edmonton and collected enough interest to accumulate the $110 million required to purchase the franchise, including $5 million of his own money. This newly formed Edmonton Investor Group, which Nichols became chairman of, held ownership of the team from 1998 until they transitioned ownership to Daryl Katz.

“Cal truly was a self-made man who, from modest beginnings as a teenager, gradually built a successful business career — turning his management of a single gas station into running his own oil company,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “An early Oilers season ticket holder, he co-chaired a ticket drive in 1996 that forestalled relocation. The following year, when the team was up for sale, he rallied dozens of local business leaders to purchase the Club and keep it in Edmonton. And he served as the Oilers’ governor for a decade.”

Nichols was a season ticket holder for the Oilers until his passing.

Blue Jackets sign Carson Soucy to PTO

Scott Maxwell — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 22:07:00 GMT

The Columbus Blue Jackets will have another body on their blueline, at least for training camp, as they’ve announced that they’ve signed defenseman Carson Soucy to a professional tryout contract.

NEWS: #CBJ have signed defenseman Carson Soucy to a pro tryout contract.

The blueliner has recorded 32-67-99 in 441 games over eight NHL campaigns. He split the 2025-26 season between the NY Rangers and NY Islanders, combining for 5-7-12 in 76 games.https://t.co/CJ1qJ6otnT
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) September 13, 2026

Soucy was an unrestricted free agent after the conclusion of his three-year contract with a $3.25 million cap hit. With the PTO, Soucy will be able to participate in training camp and preseason action with the Blue Jackets, and if his play is good enough, he can sign with Columbus if they offer him a contract. However, they don’t have Soucy’s signing rights, so if any team is impressed with his play, he can sign a contract with them as well.

“Carson Soucy is a big, physical stay-at-home defenseman who blocks shots, clears the net and plays an overall solid defensive game,” Blue Jackets general manager and president of hockey operations Don Waddell said in a statement announcing the signing. “He is a competitive, experienced player and we look forward to having him in camp.”

It is possible that the Blue Jackets signed Soucy to a PTO with the intention to sign him, but need to wait until they resolve the situation with restricted free agent Adam Fantilli first. Columbus has $12,645,001 in projected salary cap space according to PuckPedia, but based on the recent spike in the RFA market, Fantilli may take up all, if not more, than what is remaining. It will be interesting to see how Soucy fits into their salary cap picture given the situation.

Soucy split his season with both teams in New York, beginning the year with the New York Rangers before he was dealt to the New York Islanders in late January in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick. He had five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 76 games on the year between the two teams.

The Blue Jackets were in the headlines a few times during the summer, although it wasn’t always good. The most notable topic was trade rumours surrounding stars Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko, with the former needing to release a statement to dispel those rumours. They did make a few moves though, including trading for Valeri Nichushkin and signing Ryan Lomberg.

Canadiens sign Zach Bolduc to four-year contract

Hunter Crowther — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 18:08:45 GMT

The Montreal Canadiens signed forward Zach Bolduc to a four-year contract that will pay him an average annual value of $4.2 million, according to Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman.

Zach Bolduc 4 x $4.2M

Montreal

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 13, 2026

In 2025-26, Bolduc scored 12 goals and recorded a career-high 18 assists to finish with 30 points in 78 regular-season games with the Canadiens. He also had three goals and four assists for seven points in 19 Stanley Cup Playoff games that spring, helping Montreal reach the Eastern Conference Final.

Across parts of three NHL seasons, Bolduc has 36 goals and 39 assists for 75 points in 175 career regular-season games with the Habs and St. Louis Blues. He was acquired by Montreal from St. Louis in a trade in July 2025 that sent Logan Mailloux to the Blues.

The Montreal Canadiens have signed Zach Bolduc to a four year contract 🔵 ⚪ 🔴 pic.twitter.com/udrFfF7jDr

— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) September 13, 2026

Taken with the No. 17 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Bolduc spent four seasons with the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic and Quebec Remparts, where he scored 145 goals and 145 assists for 290 points in 207 career games. During his junior career, he had two 50-goal campaigns, and in his final season, recorded 110 points to help the Remparts win the league championship.

The Canadiens went 48-24-10 with 106 points in 2025-26, good for second in the Atlantic Division, third in the Eastern Conference and fifth in the entire NHL.

Captain Nick Suzuki finished fifth in the NHL in assists with 72 and sixth in points with 101. Cole Caufield became the first Montreal skater to record 50 goals in a single season since Stephane Richer did in 1989-90. His 51 goals ranked second in the league, just two behind Nathan MacKinnon’s 53.

Why Tomas Hertl, Luke Hughes could be hidden fantasy hockey gems in 2026-27

Hunter Crowther — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 16:00:00 GMT

As NHL teams prepare for training camps, fantasy hockey fans are mapping out their player rankings as they prepare for the 2026-27 season.

Earlier this week, Daily Faceoff’s Brock Seguin released his Top 300 Fantasy Hockey Rankings for the upcoming season. While the usual names of Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov sat at the top of the list, it’s further down the board that Seguin revealed where to get the best value.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton are joined by Seguin to discuss where fantasy hockey fans can find the hidden gems in their respective drafts.

Brock Seguin: The New Jersey Devils were snake-bitten across the entire roster, last year, and I expect a lot of those guys to improve this year.

Luke Hughes was the most unlucky defenseman. Thirty-six goals below expected while on the ice last year, and that’s just outrageous. He scored below the expected on a personal level, as well. I expect the assists and goal totals to improve dramatically, even if that’s just modest lucky.

On draft day in fantasy hockey, you’re still paying a price for what they did last year, and if those numbers improve like they did last year, there’s going to be massive bargains. Luke Hughes isn’t even being drafted in a third of fantasy hockey leagues, yet I have him ranked at 26th.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Can you give us a couple of other late-round targets that you’re really high on this year?

Brock Seguin: Tomas Hertl is somebody that the data last year just absolutely loves. The center position is usually a lot deeper than on the wing, so if you go with a lot of wingers and defenders early on, you could grab someone like Hertl in the later rounds.

The only player who had more expected-goals on the power play than Herttl was Wyatt Johnston. He was pretty snake-bitten. Both Hertl and Hughes are players I would take in every single draft.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episodes here…

WATCH: 7-foot-1 Sharks prospect Alexander Karmanov gets into first fight during NHL rookie tournament game

Scott Maxwell — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 14:28:36 GMT

It didn’t take long for Alexander Karmanov to use his size in an NHL-sanctioned game.

The San Jose Sharks prospect dropped the gloves with Liam Lefebvre on Saturday night during the team’s first 2026 Rookie Faceoff game against the Los Angeles Kings, and he proved to be as overwhelming in a fight as one would expect.

lak • liam LEFEBVRE 🆚
alexander KARMANOV • sjs • #nhl
2026 sep 12 • #HFrookietournaments #gokingsgo #sjsharks pic.twitter.com/eElV9KzgpB
— HockeyFights.com (@hockeyfights) September 13, 2026

The fight occurred after the seven-foot-one defenseman had run over Jakub Dvorak as the play was moving up the ice. Dvorak was injured on the play, so Lefebvre stepped up and fought Karmanov to defend his teammate. However, it was a fairly one-sided fight, as even as six-foot-three, Lefebvre was no match for Karmanov’s size and reach, and got very few licks in before falling to the ice.

The game was as one-sided as Karmanov’s fight, as the Sharks went on to win 8-1, getting multiple goals from Ivar Stenberg, Andre Gasseau and Carson Wetsch. Karmanov’s scrap wasn’t the only in the game either, as the gloves were dropped on five occasions, with the game totaling 82 penalty minutes.

Karmanov was the Sharks’ seventh-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, a pick that comes with a couple bits of history. At seven-foot-one, Karmanov is the tallest player to ever be drafted in the NHL, and will obviously become the tallest player in NHL history should he ever reach the point where he plays a game. Up to this point, the tallest players to play in the NHL are Hall of Famer Zdeno Chara, 2015-16 Chicago Blackhawk Viktor Svedberg and current New York Rangers enforcer Matt Rempe at six-foot-nine.

Hailing from Chisinau, Moldova, Karmanov is also the first Moldavian to be drafted by an NHL team. He is also eligible to play for Russia at the international level.

Karmanov is coming off a 2025-26 season that saw him take significant strides, especially when it was unclear if he would be able to play in the OHL considering his mobility at his stature. He started the 2025-26 season in the GOJHL with the Brantford Titans, where he had three goals and four assists for seven points in 15 games. His play was impressive enough that he was called up to the North Bay Battalion in the OHL, where he had two assists in 20 games. Despite the Battalion making the playoffs, he did not play when they were swept at the hands of the Brantford Bulldogs in the first round.

The Sharks will play their second and final game of the 2026 Rookie Faceoff against the Utah Mammoth on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT.

NCAA Women’s Hockey Power Rankings: Ohio State leads preseason Top 10

Tyler Kuehl — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT

While some continue to watch what is happening on the gridiron, the real ones are excited to see what’s about to take shape on the ice.

The NCAA Women’s Hockey season begins this weekend, and the quest for a national championship starts. With popularity in the women’s game continuing to grow expotentially, attention on campus puck is closer than ever. More and more people are keen to watch the next wave of PWHL talent, as young faces slowly take the torch from the old guard.

This year, a strong sense of transition is in the air. While the Wisconsin Badgers are the two-time defending champions, a massive loss of talent opens the door for a new team to climb to the top of the podium.

Let’s take a look at my top 10 teams heading into the 2026-27 season:

1. Ohio State Buckeyes

While the Buckeyes lost a couple of exceptional pieces after last season, most notably defender Emma Peschel and forward Sloane Matthews, to the PWHL. Yet, the amount of talent that’s returning sets the Buckeyes on a path back to the national championship game. The nation’s top freshman last year, Hilda Svensson, is looking to have an even better sophomore campaign. Joy Dunne and Jocelyn Amos lead a strong veteran class that includes Mira Jungaker, with other budding stars in Sanni Vanhanen and Maxine Cimoroni also ready to step into the spotlight.

As it has been since Raygan Kirk graduated, goaltending will be a question mark for OSU. After Amanda Thiele and Hailey MacLeod have both entered the pro ranks, it’s going to be interesting to see which of Genny Klein and Taylor Kressin, who played sparingly behind MacLeod last year, will win Nadine Muzzerall’s attention early on this year.

2. Wisconsin Badgers

Of the three-headed monster from the WCHA, there’s no question that the Badgers took the biggest hit, in terms of players lost. Caroline Harvey, Laila Edwards, Lacey Eden, Kirsten Simms, Vivian Jungels…gone. That said, Mark Johnson has enough players returning to the fold (including a couple of exciting new faces) to make a credible bid for a three-peat.

Sure, the team’s top seven scorers are gone, but Adela Šapovalivová is back after scoring an impressive 37 points in just 31 games. She’s going to be relied on to generate most of the offense, though players like Maggie Scannell and Claire Enright are capable of being play drivers. Then, there’s the arrival of the Slovakian prodigy, Nela Lopušanová. There are few players who have managed to capture the attention of many around the hockey world with her incredible performances at the IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championships, and she looks to show that her talents can translate to the top level of college hockey.

In net, Ava McNaughton is ready to shut the door again. One of the goaltending prospects of the 2027 PWHL Draft, the senior has been the Badgers’ starter since her rookie season and is biding her time before becoming a star on the international stage with Team USA.

3. Minnesota Golden Gophers

When you lose a player like Abbey Murphy, you have a massive hole to fill. Yet, the Golden Gophers are actually sitting in a good spot heading into the new campaign. Yes, seeing other names such as Josefin Bouveng, Sydney Morrow and Nelli Laitinen move on to the PWHL is tough, but first-year head coach Greg May has a solid arsenal to flaunt this year.

Fresh off a career-best season, senior Ava Lindsay is expected to lead an offensive attack that includes some impressive underclassmen. Bella Fanale proved that she can be a scoring machine, while Tereza Plosova has the foundation of being a key player. Sure, Minnesota took a hit on the blue line, but Chloe Primerano continues to develop into a star player and is expected to be on Canada’s roster at the IIHF Women’s World Championship next month.

On top of that, the goaltending remains unchanged. Hannah Clark is ready to build off a solid sophomore campaign, while Layla Hemp returns as the Gophers’ No. 2.

4. Quinnipiac Bobcats

I think I’m a little higher than most on Quinnipiac. I know they seemed like they were a one-trick pony with Kahlen Lamarche, who scored an NCAA-best 42 goals in her junior campaign, and they lost both Emerson Jarvis and Laurence Frenette. However, the Bobcats are the favorite to win a second ECAC championship this year, and for good reason. On top of Lamarche looking to round out her college career on a high, the team has a couple of efficient two-way blueliners in Ayndley D’Ottavio and captain Makayla Watson, both entering their junior year.

Also, Felicia Frank, fresh off leading the nation with 29 wins last year, is ready to take on the brunt of the work and lead Quinnipiac in her third year with the team. If there’s any hope for the Bobcats to be a true contender on the national scale, the Swedish backstop is going to have to be at the top of her game. If for some reason she were to slip up, freshman Natalia Dilbone is ready to pick up the slack.

5. Northeastern Huskies

I was really shocked to see how good Northeastern was last season, upsetting Minnesota to sneak into the Frozen Four. While they lost a couple of players who were vital to their success – Lily Shannon and Jules Constantinople – the Huskies have a strong returning and incoming class that places at the top of the Hockey East picture.

Stryker Zablocki might not have had the same numbers as Svensson in her first year of college hockey, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t any less impressive. With 44 points, she led the conference in goals and points, earning HEA Player of the Year honors. Morgan Jackson and Allie Lalonde are also back to drive the offensive pressure.

Maybe one of the most underrated goaltenders in college hockey last year was Lisa Jonsson. Heading into her third season in Boston, the Swede has the ability to be a show-stopper, and will have to do that again this year if Northeastern wants to continue to compete with the best of the WCHA.

6. Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs

Forever known as the fourth-best team in the WCHA, Duluth enters the 2025-26 season with hopes of challenging the top dogs in the conference. There are some notable names who have moved on, with Thea Johansson, MaryKate O’Brien, Tova Henderson and Ashley Messier all heading to the PWHL. That said, they bring back Caitlin Kraemer, who is gearing up for a make-or-break season in her development, as she looks to close the gap on a full-time spot on the Canadian National Team.

Speaking of Team Canada hopefuls, Eve Gascon has a lot riding on her shoulders heading into her senior season. Not only does she have the pressure of carrying the team against the top teams in the country, but she’ll have to be top-class if she wants to be the first goaltender taken in the PWHL Draft next summer.

The big hurdle for the Bulldogs will be their lack of depth. Rae Mayer and Madison Burr are back, hoping to bring an offensive spark, with a young Tuuli Tallinen expected to log heavy minutes in her first season in North America. However, there’s a lot of unproven personnel scattered throughout the roster.

7. Clarkson Golden Knights

Clarkson may’ve taken a dip compared to 2024-25, when the team had players like Haley Winn, Anne Cherkowski, and Nicole Gosling, but the team was able to compete with the best in the ECAC and laid the groundwork for a better 2026-27 campaign.

While Sena Catterall, Rhea Hicks and goaltender Holly Gruber have graduated, the Golden Knights have the Manness twins to rely on once again. Sara finished tied with Svensson for the most points by a rookie last season, posting 21 goals and 52 points in just 35 games. She and sister Kate have made it known they should be considered for the Canadian roster sooner rather than later. Kate was one of the top defensive scorers in college hockey last season, and will get a little help on the back end from Sydney Lamb, who transferred in from St. Cloud State.

With Gruber gone, expect to see Arianne Leblanc be the No. 1 netminder to start the year, as the senior will be supported by second-year netminder Aneta Šenková from Czechia.

8. Penn State Nittany Lions

I think many of us are hesitant to think highly of the Nittany Lions, more so than in years past. Jeff Kampersonal’s crew lost nine regulars from last season, including three of the squad’s top five scorers. Despite names like Tessa Janecke, Madelyn Christian, Katelyn Roberts and Katie DeSa turning pro, Penn State has a respectable core coming back that should lead to another Atlantic Hockey of America championship.

Following a career-best sophomore season, Grace Outwater is expected to fill some of the skates that Janecke left behind, with Matilde Fantin, Nicole Hall and Abby Stonehouse all ready to take on bigger roles this year. There’s also a strong freshman class coming to Hockey Valley. Canadian Sofia Ismael, who finished tied for second at the U18s in scoring, is joined by reigning gold medalists in Americans Kylie Ameklkovich and goaltender Morgan Stickney.

The arrival of Stickney makes things interesting for Penn State, as she’ll look to challenge sophomore Madison Campbell for playing time.

9. Princeton Tigers

Courtney Kessel guided the Tigers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years last spring, but she’ll be hard-pressed to repeat that performance this year. That said, she’ll put together a lineup card with some excellent players who will keep Princeton in contention for an ECAC title.

Issy Wunder joining the PWHL is a big loss, but Mackenzie Alexander is coming back after a solid 42-point campaign and will be complemented by sophomore Riley Sorokan up front.

The Averill sisters are also donning the black and orange this year. Both players have been decorated on the international stage, winning gold with the U.S. at the U18S; Caroline brings great scoring awareness, while Maggie, who captained the Americans to gold last January, joins a respectable blue line featuring Megan Healy and Rosie Klein. Whenever the defense falters, senior Uma Corniea, another overlooked netminder, will be there.

10. Cornell Big Red

The Big Red were disappointed that they missed out on the national tournament for the first time in three years, and it’s going to be another tough road for Doug Derraugh’s team to get back to the big dance. Losing key veterans Avi Adam, Georgia Schiff, Grace Dwyer and Alyssa Regalado won’t be easy to overcome, but whenever you have someone like Annelies Bergmann between the pipes, you always have a chance to win. While everyone is looking at Gascon and McNaughton as the top goaltending prospects of the 2027 class, Bergmann is exceptional in her own right.

Where the offense comes is always a question with the Big Red, but senior defender Piper Grober has proven to be a solid two-way blueliner, finishing with 25 points last year, while playing top-four minutes. Senior Karel Prefontaine has hit the 20-point mark in each of her three seasons, and will be looked upon to help run the power play.

If Cornell succeeds, it’s going to be because of their defense. Grober and junior Rose Dwyer are part of a pretty young D-corps that will rely on Derraugh’s structure to stay near the top of the ECAC.

Honorable Mention: Connecticut, Boston College, Minnesota State

Canadiens sign Chris Kreider to one-year contract

Hunter Crowther — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:08:11 GMT

The Montreal Canadiens announced Saturday they signed forward Chris Kreider to a one-year contract. According to PuckPedia, the deal is worth $2.15 million.

Les Canadiens s'entendent sur les termes d'un contrat d'une saison (2026-2027) avec l'attaquant Chris Kreider.

The Canadiens have agreed to terms on a one-year contract (2026-27) with forward Chris Kreider.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/7Hi5Dm83OP

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 12, 2026

Earlier this week, the Anaheim Ducks placed Kreider on waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. He was not claimed on waivers, which made him an unrestricted free agent. He had one year left with an average annual value (AAV) of $6.5 million.

Kreider’s decision came down to three teams. Montreal wins out. Comfort level with Martin St. Louis. And obviously history with Jeff Gorton.

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) September 12, 2026

Through 14 NHL seasons, Kreider, a native of Boxford, Mass., has 348 goals and 284 assists for 632 points in 958 career regular-season games with the Ducks and New York Rangers.

His best season came in 2021-22, when as a member of the Rangers, he scored 52 goals and finished with 77 points, both career highs. His 52 goals were third in the NHL that season.