Matt Larkin’s 2026-27 Fantasy Hockey Must-Draft Players
Every fantasy hockey draft comes down to a handful of decisions that shape your entire season — and the easiest wins are the players the market simply has wrong. A must-draft player isn’t necessarily a sleeper or a breakout pick. It’s a player whose price has drifted well below his proven value: an established producer sliding rounds past where his track record says he should go, a bounce-back candidate the room is punishing for bad luck, or a foundational piece available at a discount that won’t exist by November. If you leave your draft with several of these players, you’ve already banked an edge before the season starts.
The DFO Fantasy team has identified the players they refuse to leave drafts without in 2026-27. Below, each of our four analysts shares their must-draft targets — and the reasoning behind why the market is wrong about each of them.
What is True ADP: True ADP reflects where a player is actually being selected across all draft rooms — not just the ones that drafted him. A player’s raw ADP only averages the leagues where he was picked, so for someone drafted in just 25% of rooms, True ADP blends his draft position with the reality that he goes unselected everywhere else — telling you when a typical league actually takes him.
All Must-Draft Lists:
Brock Seguin’s Fantasy Hockey Must-Draft Players
Beebs Bondy’s Fantasy Hockey Must-Draft Players
Nick Szeman’s Fantasy Hockey Must-Draft Players
Adrian Kempe (LA — RW) — True ADP: 53.7
Kempe has been a trusted fantasy name for years now, especially in banger formats, averaging 36 goals, 70 points, 248 shots and 117 shots 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’ arrived 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.
Jesper Wallstedt (MIN — G) — True ADP: 60.2
Wallstedt was on the shortlist of 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 isn’t a lock to be 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. He could crash the top five at his position.
Cap Summary
Draft Picks
Will Smith (SJ — LW/RW) — True ADP: 64.7
Macklin Celebrini gets all the deserved adoration in San Jose, but Smith has elite pedigree in his own right, selected fourth overall in the NHL Draft the year before the Sharks nabbed ‘Mack.’ Smith quietly jumped from 45 points in 74 games as a rookie to 59 points in 69 games in his second season. With great smarts and vision, he’s an ideal second fiddle to Celebrini. As long as the two remain linemates, I expect Smith’s production to keep skyrocketing. Among 384 forwards who played at least 500 minutes at 5-on-5 last season, Smith landed in the 94th percentile in primary assists per 60. Don’t be remotely rised if he flirts with a point-per-game season in Year 3 of his career.
JJ Peterka (BOS — LW/RW) — True ADP: 191.9
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 season tells us his floor remains highly playable in medium to deep leagues. Now, let’s ponder the ceiling. The 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 likely 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 tethered 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.
Matt Savoie (EDM — C/RW) — True ADP: 206.5
Oh, it’s time. Savoie has made himself indispensable to the 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. They need Savoie no matter what, and his breakout season is upon us. Don’t fret too much over the injury that will cost him training camp; remember, camps are shorter this year, and an injury could lower Savoie’s ADP, making him an even better pick.
