You can't win in fantasy hockey without taking some big swings, or at least identifying the players that everyone seems to overlook. 

Last season, Will Smith and Leo Carlsson were among some of the top sleeper picks in the NHL, and fantasy managers who gambled on them reaped huge dividends, especially in keeper leagues.

Which players this season are getting overlooked because they’re coming off poor seasons, getting lost in the shuffle or simply playing on a team nobody expects to do well?

As part of the countdown to the 2026-27 fantasy season, it's time to look at the top 10 sleeper candidates. 

Player positions provided by Yahoo Fantasy. 

In the absence of Connor Bedard, Frondell's fantasy value will be elevated to start the season as the Blackhawks' No. 1 pivot.

He'll get the best wingers and the best deployment at even strength and on the power play, and he showed immense potential in just 12 games last season: nine points, 36 (!) shots, 13 blocks and eight hits.

I'm not convinced he'll be an elite multi-category (ie. hits and blocks) fantasy player over the course of an 84-game season, but this is a high-ceiling scorer with plenty of value in peripheral categories. 

Frondell's a front runner for the Calder Trophy along with Porter Martone but being taken nearly twice as late with a Yahoo ADP of 138.1. Even when Bedard returns, I do not believe it will damper Frondell's fantasy value much and we could see both on the ice in situations where they need a goal.

I think the Capitals made a great long-term bet on Leonard, and his mix of size and skill makes him a great fit on the Caps. Leonard offers multi-faceted fantasy value due to his goal scoring and hits, with the potential for a significant jump in PP TOI if he can earn the fifth spot on the top unit. 

The Capitals power play is also in line for a huge bounce-back after ranking 25th last season with Alex Ovechkin scoring a career-low five power-play goals. Leonard is skating with Ovechkin on the team's top line at camp, which is already a great sign. 

We saw a slight bounce back from Verhaeghe last season when he improved from 20 goals to 25 and his shooting percentage from 8.3 percent to 13.4 percent. That was expected.

This season, with an improved and healthy roster — they were clearly a little lost without Aleksander Barkov — it's time to bet on 'Verswaggy' to rediscover his mojo and score 30-plus goals again.

There is a slight concern regarding Verhaeghe's power-play ice time; Brady Tkachuk and a healthy Brad Marchand could be the fourth forward on the top unit joining Barkov, Sam Reinhart, and Matthew Tkachuk. Verhaeghe's current Yahoo ADP is 134.3, which I think is a little low if Tyler Toffoli (119.4) is going a round or two ahead of him. 

Eklund was brought in to fill the void left by Brady Tkachuk and the Sens paid a premium to get him. That bodes well for Eklund because the Sens clearly think highly enough of him to pull the trigger, and he’s also improved in each of his three full seasons.

With higher shot volume and replacing Tkachuk on the Panthers' top power-play unit, Eklund has the potential to set career highs across the board. There's built-in chemistry now that he's reunited with close friend Fabian Zetterlund, and behind Drake Batherson I don't think there's another winger on the Sens who offers more offensive upside.

The challenge will be on Travis Green to find the right combination, but with consistent top-six minutes and top power play time, I think Eklund can outperform his current Yahoo ADP of 138.3. 

Peterka is as much a bounce-back candidate as he is a sleeper pick considering his 139.6 Yahoo ADP for a player with 70-point potential. The key is whether or not Peterka plays with David Pastrnak and on PP1. Right now, it's not looking like he will with last season's top line staying intact at camp, and Pavel Zacha remaining on PP1. 

That doesn't bode well for his fantasy value right now, but things can change and the underlying metrics suggest Peterka was actually a stronger play driver than he’s ever been last season.

What clearly affected him most was the poor fit with the Utah Mammoth and the lack of power play where he averaged a minute less per game than with the Sabres in his 68-point season just prior to the trade.

Quinn's getting lost in the shuffle, but between him and Zach Benson, I'd wager Quinn scores more points at the end of the season. Their individual scoring rates per Natural Stat Trick at 5-on-5 last season were quite comparable, but I prefer Quinn's fantasy value because he's the better volume shooter with the higher offensive ceiling. 

I envision Benson as a Brendan Gallagher-type of energy player with a 60-point ceiling who can bring grit and scoring, but Quinn the better option for fantasy.

THN Fantasy Guide projects Quinn to edge Benson in scoring, 62 to 58, and if that’s the case, Quinn is the better value/sleeper pick if he's readily available in the later rounds or on the waiver wire following your draft.

They’re slated to play on Noah Ostlund’s flank, who was given an honorable mention in my breakout candidates article on a very young but talented scoring line. 

Someone has to provide the offense in Vancouver and there are no guarantees it'll be Elias Pettersson anymore. 

Rossi doesn't get enough credit for how tough he plays despite his smaller size, and he had a very strong finish last season with 20 points in 23 games. One of the few things the Canucks roster has going for them is their quality of wingers; while it's certainly not elite, there are enough proven scorers to ensure Rossi isn't carrying an entire line by himself.

With assured top-six and PP1 minutes, Rossi could score around 60 points again, making him an erstwhile option in deeper leagues that emphasize points. 

Stenberg is a Calder candidate and certainly worth a shot in the later rounds with a current ADP of 133.1. There is no shortage of mouths to feed on the Sharks — pun intended — with Stenberg sitting below Will Smith, Michael Misa and perhaps Igor Chernyshov on the food chain.

Known for his playmaking ability and vision, playing with Macklin Celebrini offers tantalizing upside, and the bet is that Stenberg finds his way up the depth chart by the end of the season. 

It's a long-term bet, but it could potentially pay huge dividends, especially in keeper leagues. The current worry is Stenberg's current center, Alex Wennberg, is an inconsistent offensive threat and gets stuck in their own zone scrambling to defend. 

The Blackhawks' second-round pick from 2023, Kantserov is slated to make his NHL debut after leading the KHL with 36 goals last season. There's an argument that the overall quality of competition in the KHL has dipped over the past few years, but it's a feat still worth noting for a 22-year-old playing in a top-tier pro league. 

The Blackhawks were one of the worst offensive teams last season and they will need Kantserov's presence to change that. He's being given A-plus opportunities at camp, skating alongside Patrick Kane on the top line and on the top power play.

Tuck Kantserov's name in your back pocket and keep him on your watch list. He's going undrafted in most Yahoo leagues and a hot start will change that very quickly. 

I'm going totally off the board here, but why not take a shot on Daws with your last pick? Admittedly, I'm a Nico Daws truther and also highly skeptical the Devils will (or should) give 36-year-old Jake Allen 50-plus starts, which suggests either a timeshare or a mid-season trade for more goalie help (Connor Hellebuyck, maybe?!) should things really go south.

Daws' sample size is very small and his development has been befuddled by injuries, but this is his big opportunity. 

With a stacked group of forwards — assuming Jack Hughes can stay healthy — and an above-average defense, the hope is the Devils can improve from a top-10 puck possession team to an elite one like the Hurricanes and Avalanche, and keep scoring chances against Allen and Daws at a minimum.

It'll put less pressure on them to make saves and give them a chance to earn a lot of wins, and I have a feeling the Devils will try to outscore their problems. Could Daws end up winning around 15-20 games, putting him near the top half of the league? It certainly seems plausible. 

You can't be considered a sleeper pick if your ADP is 68.4 and, clearly, Martone's no secret in fantasy.

In just 19 regular season and playoff games combined, Martone has already showed he's a bona fide prospect with first-line potential as a power winger with tons of scoring potential, shot volume and hits. In multi-category keeper leagues, Martone is a must-have. 

If we're talking about being NHL ready, Martone is justifiably the higher pick in fantasy (68.4 vs. McKenna's 93.9 based on Yahoo ADP) given his age, strength and sample size.

There's no doubt McKenna possesses high-end scoring talent, but the knock against him is he can be too much of a perimeter player. Plenty of perimeter players have carved out outstanding careers, but there's going to be an adjustment period.

The Maple Leafs have insulated McKenna and put him in a strong position to succeed playing with John Tavares and William Nylander in camp, but that can obviously change. THN Fantasy Guide projects McKenna to score 52 points, which would be a fair baseline, and I think we're looking at a 70-point ceiling for McKenna.

Any point total within that range would constitute an excellent rookie season, though I also suspect he'll offer little in the peripheral categories, making him only worth considering as a mid-round pick in one-year redraft leagues. 

Honorable Mentions: Zach Benson, LW, Sabres; Konsta Helenius, C, Sabres; Tyson Foerster, LW/RW, Flyers; Mason McTavish, C, Blues; Connor McMichael, C/LW, Blues; Elias Pettersson, C, Canucks; Jordan Kyrou, RW, Capitals; Pyotr Kochetkov, G, Hurricanes; Joel Hofer, G, Blues

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