As the 2025-26 NHL fantasy hockey season kicks off, The Hockey News is ranking the top 10 players at each position.
The criteria is goals, assists, shots, power-play points, hits and blocks, with an emphasis on scoring as those are the most difficult categories.
The players listed below all play left wing as their primary position even though they have multi-position eligibility on Yahoo.
The richest player in hockey starting next season, Kirill Kaprizov with his eight-year, $136-million contract with an average annual value of $17 million, headlines the list. The Wild superstar has MVP potential, and while he may lack in certain categories such as hits, his potential to be one of the league’s leading scorers outweighs everything else.
Check out the rest of the list below.
1. Kirill Kaprizov, Wild
Had Kaprizov played a full 2024-25 season, he would’ve scored 40 goals for the fourth straight season. Only five other players – David Pastrnak, Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews, Alex Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk – have accomplished the feat in the cap era, and over the past four seasons, only six players have a higher point-per-game average than Kaprizov. Armed with elite offensive skill and a strong supporting cast, don’t be surprised if Kaprizov finishes in the top five in scoring.
2. Brady Tkachuk, Senators
In multi-category leagues, Tkachuk makes a very strong argument to be a top-five pick overall. Though he may never win a scoring title, the potential to provide over 100 penalty minutes, 300 shots, 300 hits and 300 face-off wins provides additional value that no other player on this list can provide. The best feature of Tkachuk’s fantasy value is he doesn’t need to be a top scorer to help managers win leagues.
3. Kyle Connor, Jets
Connor’s elite goal scoring and shot volume overcomes his lack of peripherals. He’s scored at least 40 goals in two of his past four seasons, and if we’re factoring in position, Connor is one of four left wingers who have scored at least 150 goals during that span.
4. Artemi Panarin, Rangers
Panarin’s upside is points, and he scores a lot of it. He ranks fourth in total points over the past six seasons since joining the Rangers, trailing only Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon. It’s really low-key impressive because Panarin has never come close to winning any individual awards during that span, and he also doesn’t shoot the puck all that often relative to his peers. He remains consistent even though his supporting cast has gotten worse, which makes him a relatively safe fantasy asset because his production doesn’t seem to be affected very much by what’s happening around him.
5. Jake Guentzel, Lightning
Guentzel had a terrific first season with the Lightning, scoring 40 goals for the third time in his career, including a career-high 17 power-play goals and an 18.9 shooting percentage, the highest since his rookie season. As long as Guentzel shares the ice with the league’s premier playmaker in Nikita Kucherov, he’s a great bet to score 40 goals every season.
6. Clayton Keller, Mammoth
Keller set a career high with 90 points last season but he should push those limits even higher in the coming seasons. He has been a model of consistency with at least 75 points, 20 power-play points and 200 shots in each of his past three seasons, and don’t be surprised if he reaches the century mark this coming season. If there’s any doubt who leads the Mammoth’s attack, consider this: Over the past three seasons, Keller’s 81.44 individual points percentage at 5-on-5 ranks fourth in the league (min. 1000 TOI), meaning when his team scores a goal while Keller’s on the ice, he has recorded either a goal or an assist 81.44 percent of the time.
7. Filip Forsberg, Predators
In his best seasons, Forsberg is a slightly better than point-per-game player, but he provides tremendous fantasy value in shots and hits. He’s averaged well over three shots per game in his career and becoming more of a physical presence later in his career, debunking any myths about European players and their unwillingness to get in the dirty areas. In the right situation, Forsberg can score 40 goals, but he’s not a threat every season like his peers above.
8. Jason Robertson, Stars
That 109-point season was likely an anomaly, but Robertson has remained remarkably efficient with back-to-back 80-point seasons since then despite declining shot totals and ice time. It’s a weird inverse relationship when, usually, players put up better numbers with more ice time. However, now with Mikko Rantanen by his side for an entire season, Robertson should have more opportunities to score points.
9. Cole Caufield, Canadiens
There are a few players who can stake this final spot due to similar profiles: 40-goal potential, lots of shot volume but little else. Alex DeBrincat, Kevin Fiala and even Brandon Hagel come to mind, but what separates Caufield from the rest is his younger age, his role as the go-to goal scorer on his team and the Habs’ potential. He’s a fixture on their top line and increased his goal totals in each of his past four seasons. The 2025-26 season is setting up to be his finest and finally making good on his potential to be one of the league’s top goal scorers.
10. Alex Ovechkin, Capitals
Ovechkin scored at a 55-goal pace in his age-39 season, which in itself is absolutely incredible. The smart money is take the under – way under – on 55 goals this season, but given his shot volume and power-play proficiency, scoring 30 goals should be no problem. Where Ovechkin ranks ahead of all the other left wings with 30-goal potential and massive shot volume is hits. Though his hits have really declined, he’s registered at least 100 in every season except the shortened 2020-21 season.
Honorable mention:
Alex
DeBrincat, Red Wings
Brandon
Hagel, Lightning
Nikolaj
Ehlers, Hurricanes
Kevin
Fiala, Kings