10 bold fantasy hockey predictions for 2026-27

Sep 25, 2026, 10:30 EDT

Lane Hutson, Jesper Wallstedt and Darren Raddysh

The 2026-27 NHL season is days away, and that means we’ve reached the peak of fantasy hockey draft season. We’ve served you a loaded platter of content at Daily Faceoff, all of which you can find in our 2026-27 Fantasy Draft Kit, curated by our managing fantasy editor Brock Seguin.

We’ve mapped out our rankings, sleepers, busts, must-draft players and so much more. Now it’s time to plant my flags with some bold predictions for 2026-27.

Here are 10 hot fantasy takes I’m committed to, in random order.

1. Lane Hutson levels up again and finishes as the No. 1 fantasy defenseman.

Hutson’s 66 points in Year 1 included tying the NHL rookie blueliner record for assists in a season. He doubled his goal total from six to 12 and climbed to 78 points as a sophomore. Not only is Hutson an ascendant talent at just 22 years old, but he’s also surrounded by a mix of prime-year Montreal Canadiens stars like Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki and young guns still getting better, such as Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov. Hutson hasn’t hit his ceiling yet, and I like him to crack 90 points this season, with 15 goals and, for banger-leaguers, 150 blocks. That would put him squarely in the mix for No. 1 overall status at his position.

2. Tethered to Artemi Panarin, Adrian Kempe has a career year and tops 45 goals.

Kempe has been a trusted fantasy name for years now, especially in banger formats, averaging 36 goals, 70 points, 248 shots and 117 hits per 82 games over his past five seasons. But he has a chance to nuke every one of his career highs in 2026-27. Two words: Artemi Panarin. After ‘The Bread Man’ debuted with the Los Angeles Kings Feb. 25, Kempe ripped off 16 goals in his final 25 games, scoring at a 52-goal pace, with Panarin assisting on 11 of those tallies. Kempe has never spent a season alongside a playmaker as natural as Panarin. If they stay together all year long, expect Kempe to push for 45 goals. I’m willing to reach on him.

3. Jesper Wallstedt completes his rise to elite status and finishes as a top-three fantasy goalie.

Wallstedt was on the shortlist of the decade’s highest-regarded goaltending prospects and, after he struggled to get his career off the ground, languishing on bad AHL Iowa teams, his moment finally arrived last season after Marc-Andre Fleury’s retirement vacated Minnesota’s No. 2 job behind Filip Gustavsson. Wallstedt flourished, posting the NHL’s second-best save percentage at .915. He was tremendously helpful in fantasy formats favoring rate stats, but the volume wasn’t high enough for him to be elite, as he started just 33 games. This season, however, we can expect him to push for 45-50 starts. Not only did he get the nod over Gustavsson to open the 2025-26 playoffs and start all but one of the Wild’s games, but Gustavsson is recovering from offseason hip surgery and not ready for the start of the regular season, leaving Wallstedt as Minnesota’s undisputed No. 1 to open 2026-27. Wallstedt has the size, talent and technical proficiency to become an elite fantasy goalie for years to come, and it will happen beginning this season.

4. Despite his suspicious breakout at 29, Darren Raddysh is not a bust in his age-30 campaign.

It’s easy to write off Raddysh’s 22-goal, 70-point season as a clear outlier given it came at a relatively late age developmentally. But what stands out to me isn’t just the production; it’s the role. Filing in as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s go-to offensive defenseman with Victor Hedman absent much of last season, Raddysh played 22:42 per night, more than five minutes north of his 2024-25 total. Joining the Toronto Maple Leafs and earning $8.5 million a year, Raddysh should have a similarly large workload, and his blistering shot will augment a power play that will trot out the likes of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, Matthew Knies and/or Gavin McKenna. Maybe Raddysh isn’t a 70-point player again, but a 15-45-60 type of campaign feels well within reach, which would justify his current D9 ADP.

5. Akira Schmid overtakes Jacob Markstrom’s starting job and is the 2026-27 season’s biggest fantasy steal in net.

Schmid may be my favorite Hail Mary of the 2026-27 fantasy draft season. Yes, the Panthers acquired Jacob Markstrom to be their Sergei Bobrovsky replacement, but guess what? Markstrom is 36 and fresh off a terrible season in which he graded out as one of the NHL’s weakest starters in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes. Maybe joining a powerhouse like Florida will revive Markstrom’s career – he’s a viable boom/bust pick in the middle rounds of drafts – but what if Markstrom is washed? Enter Schmid. The towering Swiss keeper has only succeeded in fits and starts in his NHL career so far. But the analytics-leaning Panthers do their homework and clearly see something in him, having signed him for two years at a $2-million AAV. If Markstrom falters, Schmid could get the best opportunity of his career, starting for a Stanley Cup contender. He’s pretty much free in drafts right now – his ADP is so low that it isn’t even listed by Yahoo – so he’s the kind of bench stash that could suddenly make you look like a genius by January.

6. While they deliver a fantastic real-life season, the loaded Washington Capitals cannibalize each other’s fantasy value with such a crowded depth chart.

I was with Tom Wilson at the NHL Player Media Tour a couple weeks ago and asked him, “Where are all you guys going to play in this lineup? The depth chart looks stacked.”

“If you go and ask [Jordan] Kyrou, if you ask [Alex] Tuch, if you ask Boone Jenner, if you ask me, if you ask ‘Ovi,’ what’s the most important thing? Winning,” Wilson said. “We want to win a Cup. That’s all that matters to me right now in my career. That’s all that matters to ‘Ovi’ in his career. That’s all that probably matters to Kyrou in his career right now. Those guys, they’ve made their money, they’ve had great years, they’ve been a part of good teams, but there’s something that’s missing. So if you tell me, ‘Hey, this year you’re gonna have 18 goals, or 14 goals, and you win the Stanley Cup,’ I’d literally sign right now…If the team’s winning and we’re playing well, maybe your role might change a little bit.”

It makes perfect sense. But someone has to suffer in fantasy as a result. Can rookies Ilya Protas and Cole Hutson fully break out if they’re playing third line and second pair, respectively, and PP2? Can Jenner still be a banger-league beast when he’s currently ticketed for the fourth line? I’m extremely bullish on the Capitals as a Cup contender this season, but it might be tough for their players to hit their ceilings in fantasy.

7. JJ Peterka rebounds from a ho-hum 2025-26 and has a career year as David Pastrnak’s linemate.

Hear me out. Yes, Peterka’s first and only season with the Utah Mammoth was a disappointment. But at least 25 goals for a third consecutive year tells us his floor remains highly playable in medium to deep leagues. Now, let’s ponder the ceiling. The Boston Bruins, desperate for another dynamic, prime-aged scorer, paid two first-round picks to acquire him. That tells us they intend to play the heck out of Peterka. Secondly, he’s slated to get a look alongside David Pastrnak. He has been a fantasy superstar for years but added an elite playmaking element to his game last season; no NHLer averaged more primary assists per 60 at 5-on-5. If attached to ‘Pasta’ all season, Peterka has a real chance to go nuclear, and perhaps playing for a fellow German in head coach Marco Sturm will unlock Peterka’s potential. With a 35-40-75 ceiling yet draftable at a 25-25-50 cost, Peterka seems primed to turn you a profit in fantasy this season.

8. Brandt Clarke crashes the fantasy D1 party with a huge breakout season for L.A.

After years of jockeying with franchise legend Drew Doughty for alpha right-shot defensemen status, Clarke is firmly established as the Kings’ top offensive weapon on the point. They committed to him as their horse by extending him on a five-year, $7.4-million AAV contract over the summer. Over the past three seasons, only Cale Makar averages more primary assists per 60 at 5-on-5. Clarke is the real deal as an offensive dynamo. He’ll quarterback PP1 all season and should blow past his career high of 40 points pretty easily.

9. An Oilers sleeper will be a massive fantasy bargain this season…and he’s not named Podkolzin or Howard.

To be clear, I like Podkolzin and Howard to turn fantasy profits for you. Draft them. But I think Matt Savoie will make an even bigger splash this season, and his early-season injury absence could keep him under the radar in drafts. Savoie has made himself indispensable to the Edmonton Oilers because he’s such a multi-dimensional player; he has the speed and filthy hands to be a dynamic scorer, but he’s also a brainy player entrusted on the penalty kill. The latter trait gives Savoie a sneaky-big TOI ceiling. He could add several minutes to the 14:47 he averaged as a rookie. That would be a boon for someone who was already breaking out in limited ice time. Popping off when he got a look as a top-sixer, Savoie put up nine goals and 19 points in 24 games after the Olympic break. Sure, there’s a slight fear that new coach Mike Babcock will lean more on veterans and mothball his kids, but the Oilers aren’t deep enough to allow that.

10. Sergei Murashov takes over as Pittsburgh’s starter by December and plays like a top-15 goalie the rest of the way.

You can learn a lot about a player by how a team handles his internal competition. The Pittsburgh Penguins let Stuart Skinner walk as a UFA and didn’t replace him. Translation: they love Murashov and no longer want to block him. And who can blame them? Murashov has excelled at one level after another over his past couple seasons, transitioning smoothly from the KHL to the ECHL to the AHL. He was one of the latter league’s best players in 2025-26, posting a .919 SV% in the regular season and dominating at a .931 mark in the postseason. He’s ready for the NHL. Maybe he starts as Arturs Silovs’ 1B, but I’d bet on Murashov overtaking him for the 1A by December.

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POST SPONSORED BY bet365

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