By Ryan Dadoun, RotoWire.com

If you could redo your 2025-26 fantasy hockey draft with the benefit of hindsight, who would have been the best picks? In some cases, the popular high-end picks during the preseason proved to be among the best fantasy options this campaign, but there were also some surprises. We'll see examples of both as we hand out the awards for the best fantasy performers of the 2025-26 campaign.

Each player's position is determined by their Yahoo eligibility. Their preseason average-draft position (ADP) is also based on Yahoo leagues.

Best Fantasy Center: Connor McDavid (Edmonton)

This was the toughest choice because a strong case can be made for both McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. The 30-year-old MacKinnon did end up being the better player in terms of goals (53 to 48), shots (350 to 303) and plus/minus (plus-57 to plus-15), and the gap in those final two categories is considerable. Even still, McDavid did win when it came to points (134 to 127) and had a huge edge in power-play points (52 to 30), the latter of which is what ultimately led McDavid to claim this award by the narrowest of margins.

Either way, it's clear that you would have done well with either player. Whether a fantasy manager with the top pick took MacKinnon or McDavid, it wouldn't have significantly altered the course of that manager's season.

Biggest Value Jump #1: Dylan Cozens (Ottawa – Preseason ADP: 149.1)

Cozens didn't come out of nowhere. After all, he had 31 goals and 68 points across 81 appearances with Buffalo in 2022-23. Still, he fell off the radar a bit after falling short of the 20-goal and 50-point marks during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 regular seasons, so it came as a pleasant surprise when he scored 27 goals and 58 points across 81 outings with Ottawa this season. He also had 201 shots and a career-high 29 power-play points this campaign, but there's another aspect that shouldn't be overlooked: his physicality.

Back when he recorded 68 points in 2022-23, he dished out just 55 hits, but he's become far more aggressive without the puck, to the point where the 25-year-old set a new personal best with 212 hits this season. If you were in a league that valued that category, then his versatility has been a huge help.

Best Fantasy Left Winger: Jason Robertson (Dallas)

Leon Draisaitl (lower body) likely would have won this award had he not gotten hurt. After all, he had an incredible 35 goals, 97 points, plus-13, 186 shots and 42 power-play points across just 65 appearances. Even still, Robertson deserves this recognition. His point total (96) and power-play points (41) might be just shy of Draisaitl's, but Robertson easily bested him in terms of goals (45), shots (293) and plus/minus (plus-23), which is enough to give him a clear edge overall in most fantasy formats.

Kirill Kaprizov also came close, but while he matched Robertson in goals, Kaprizov came up shy in points (89), power-play points (32), shots (269) and plus/minus (plus-10).

It was a fantastic campaign for Robertson, who looked like a superstar with his 109-point showing in the 2022-23 regular season but then took a noticeable step back in the subsequent two years. It's also perfect timing for Robertson, given that he needs a new contract or else he'll test the waters as a restricted free agent this summer.

Biggest Value Jump #2: Andrei Svechnikov (Carolina – Preseason ADP: 128.7)

Like Cozens, we've seen Svechnikov shine before — he surpassed the 60-point mark in 2019-20 and 2021-22 – but he had regressed in recent years, to the point where he had just 48 points in 72 regular-season outings in 2024-25. This campaign was his comeback story. He set new career highs with 31 goals, 70 points and 29 power-play points. He also offered some nice category coverage in PIM (66), shots (203) and hits (148).

Best Fantasy Right Winger: Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay)

There's no real question here. Kucherov has 75 goals and 130 points in 75 outings in 2025-26. The only players on his level are McDavid, MacKinnon and arguably Macklin Celebrini, but they're all centers.

Kucherov did do a bit worse than you'd expect from a player of his caliber in terms of power-play points (37) and shots (230), but the sheer amount of offense he generated more than made up for those mild deficiencies. It certainly doesn't hurt that he also recorded a plus-44 rating.

The 32-year-old has now exceeded the 110-point mark in four straight regular seasons and has generated more than 120 points four times in his career. McDavid is the only other player of the salary cap era (2005-06 to present) who has as many 120-point regular seasons.

Biggest Value Jump #3: Mika Zibanejad (NY Rangers – Preseason ADP: 134.8)

Fantasy managers saw Zibanejad take a step back in 2024-25 with 20 goals and 62 points in 82 outings, and managers seemed to anticipate a further decline this campaign based on how far he slipped in preseason drafts. Instead, Zibanejad bounced back, supplying 33 goals and 76 points across 80 appearances this season. His minus-21 rating was a hindrance, but Zibanejad made up for it by helping in shots (212) and power-play points (34). He even dished out 105 hits, which is rare for him — he finished with under 50 in each of the prior two regular seasons.

While this was yet another disappointing campaign for the Rangers, the 32-year-old Zibanejad has shown it's far too early to anticipate his demise.

Best Fantasy Defenseman: Evan Bouchard (Edmonton)

This is another one where there's a clear divide between the best fantasy defenseman and the rest of the pack. Bouchard has 92 points, while the next best blueliner, Zach Werenski, is well behind with 81. Werenski did manage to beat Bouchard in goals (22 to 21) and shots (260 to 219), but that wasn't enough to close the gap when Bouchard also had the edge in plus/minus (plus-22 to plus-7) and power-play points (33 to 21).

This is Bouchard's best season to date and a nice rebound from his 2024-25 regular season (14 goals, 67 points). Bouchard is also another example of why you should never overvalue early-season results. It's a distant memory now, but Bouchard started 2025-26 with no points and a minus-5 rating across his first six outings.

Biggest Value Jump #4: Darren Raddysh (Tampa Bay – Preseason ADP: N/A)

The other players highlighted in the value jump category could be anticipated to one degree or another. It's doubtful anyone projected Raddysh would score 22 goals and 70 points in 72 outings in 2025-26. His success partially came because Victor Hedman missed most of the campaign, which led to Raddysh averaging 22:45 of ice time, including 3:44 with the man advantage. Still, it's one thing to get the opportunity, it's another to take advantage of it, and the 30-year-old defenseman did so while nearly doubling his previous career-best point total (37).

Raddysh also had a plus-22 rating, 62 PIM, 207 shots, 26 power-play points, 66 hits and 67 blocks over the course of his magical season.

Best Fantasy Goaltender: Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay)

This season forced us to calibrate when it comes to what we think of as a "good" goaltender. A 2.88 GAA and an .896 save percentage aren't bad anymore; that's the average for 2025-26. In that light, Vasilevskiy's 2.31 GAA and .912 save percentage across 58 outings were especially good.

Among goaltenders who made at least 40 starts, only Scott Wedgewood bested Vasilevskiy in terms of GAA and save percentage at 2.07 and .920, respectively. However, Vasilevskiy is being named the top fantasy goaltender because he played in 58 games to Wedgewood's 44, which means you got more use out of the Tampa Bay netminder. More critically, Vasilevskiy also had a league-best 39 wins, which put him cleanly above Wedgewood's 30.

Vasilevskiy fell shy of the Vezina Trophy last year, but he might claim it in 2025-26, which would mark his second win after he previously claimed the trophy in 2018-19.

Biggest Value Jump #5: Jet Greaves (Columbus – Preseason ADP: 146.4)

Greaves gave the Blue Jackets a taste of what he could do in 2024-25, posting a 7-2-2 record, 1.91 GAA and .938 save percentage in 11 appearances, and this season, he took the next step by establishing himself as the team's starting goaltender.

He didn't match his stunning 2024-25 numbers over the far larger sample size, but Greaves certainly did his part, providing a 26-19-9 record, 2.60 GAA and .908 save percentage in 55 outings this season.

Most Valuable Fantasy Player: Kucherov (Tampa Bay)

You could make a strong case that McDavid or MacKinnon had a better overall season, but Kucherov's RW eligibility gives him the edge. There were just so many elite forwards with center eligibility. On top of McDavid and MacKinnon, Celebrini, Nick Suzuki, Mark Scheifele and Martin Necas are all centers who finished with more than 100 points.

By contrast, the gap between Kucherov and the next-best wingers is 30 points. That's a tremendous step down.

Mika Zibanejad

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