10 Fantasy Hockey Breakouts to Target This Season

Some of the best value comes from players already on the fantasy radar who are being underrated after an injury, a slow start, or simple skepticism about whether last year's flash was for real. These 10 names look primed to take a real step forward this season, and in several cases, drafters are already starting to notice.

Plenty of fantasy managers are fading the 26-year-old Czech netminder after a season that didn't quite deliver the leap many expected. 

Dostal finished 30-20-4 with a 3.10 goals-against average, essentially flat from the year before, while his save percentage dipped below .900 for the first time in his career. The hope is he gets more help in front of him this season, with Jackson LaCombe and Pavel Mintyukov another year further into their development on the blue line, along with the addition of veteran Nick Jensen on the third pairing.

Fantasy managers have been waiting for Dostal's true breakout season, and while much of the hype has cooled off after last year's plateau, he remains the clear starting goaltender for a legitimate playoff team, making him a strong value play in the 13th or 14th round of most drafts.

There's a real chance the 19-year-old, who went seventh overall in the 2025 NHL Draft, becomes an immediate difference-maker. He's already ticketed for a third-line role after a promising professional debut last season, appearing in two regular-season and three playoff games and recording one assist. 

The biggest factor in Hagens' fantasy value will be how quickly he climbs the lineup. He'll have a full offseason to adjust to the pace of the NHL, begins his career alongside fellow prospect Fraser Minten, and has a clear path to more minutes with Casey Mittelstadt currently ahead of him on the second line. Mittelstadt has proven to be a solid 40-point player, but if Hagens hits the ground running, he could push past him for top-six minutes alongside Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie. 

Some platforms have Hagens ranked just inside the top 200 players, but average draft position tells a different story, with fantasy managers already taking him as early as pick 125, just behind established forwards like Matthew Knies, Seth Jarvis and Bryan Rust. That gap between ranking and draft position points to a growing consensus that a Hagens breakout is coming, even if it means paying a premium to get him.

The 21-year-old winger enters the first season of a new seven-year deal that makes him the second-highest-paid forward on the roster, and he'll be given every opportunity to build on that investment. 

Benson finished last season with 43 points in 65 games, a pace just short of 55 points over a full 82-game slate. With another season alongside Thompson on the top line and a spot on the second power-play unit, there's a real path for him to take over the Alex Tuch role, and breakout in a major way. 

Despite that upside, he's currently listed around 136th on most platforms with an average draft position as low as 146th, going behind names like Alexis Lafrenière, Evgeni Malkin and Ivan Barbashev, all players Benson has a real shot at outproducing this season.

The ranking here is notably high for a 28-year-old entering just his second season, but Bussi has proven at every level that he's a gamer. Bruins fans knew Boston was losing a good one when he departed, given the near-perfect numbers he'd posted at the AHL level, and he finally got his NHL opportunity with Carolina. 

The Sound Beach, New York native delivered in a big way as a rookie, posting a 31-6-2 record with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage in 39 games, all while sharing time with Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov. 

With Andersen now in Edmonton, Bussi is set to take over as Carolina's clear number one after signing a three-year deal with the club. He'll get the bulk of the workload this season behind a Hurricanes defense that posted a historically low 2.05 goals-against average this past postseason and returns almost entirely intact.

The price tag reflects the hype, with Bussi ranked just inside the top 12 netminders in the league at 90th overall and an average draft position as high as 74th, making him a seventh- or eighth-round pick in some leagues. It's a steep cost for someone with just one season on his resume, but after watching how dominant Carolina's defense can be, Bussi looks like a strong bet to hold onto the starting job all year.

Entering a contract year, some are sleeping on the rapidly rising Russian import. The 26-year-old winger is entering the prime of his career and is being listed as a fringe top-50 player this season, although average draft position shows him regularly falling as many as ten spots. 

Marchenko was five points away from a point-per-game average with 74 points in 79 games during the 2024-25 season, and after finishing this past season with 67 points in 76 games, the added motivation of a new contract should easily push Marchenko back into, if not surpassing, the point-per-game range.

The Blackhawks' subtle additions could pay off big for Rinzel. The 22-year-old is set to keep playing top-pairing minutes alongside newcomer Bowen Byram, giving him his first skilled defense partner, while a deeper top six, boosted by Kane joining Bedard and continued growth from Frank Nazar and Anton Frondell, should open up more assist opportunities for Rinzel. 

He enters a contract year, with 30-plus points this season likely putting him in line for a payday. Rinzel is going just inside the top 225 picks on average, though his ADP has climbed as high as 131st overall, nearly 100 picks ahead of his ranking, signaling other drafters are buying the breakout too. 

Taking him at 131st overall feels aggressive next to defensemen typically drafted right after him, like Ekblad, Toews and Edvinsson, but compared to the tier below, including Jake Walman, Colton Parayko and Olen Zellweger, Rinzel offers considerably more upside, making him a worthwhile target in the 12th-to-14th-round range.

The story of Landeskog's return to the ice shouldn't be lost on anyone. The longtime Avalanche captain, still just 33, is back after years of battling injuries, and with a full offseason of training behind him, he has a real chance to rebuild toward his old form. 

Even in a limited return last season, he posted 35 points in 60 games, a pace that projects to just short of 50 points over a full slate. Fully healthy and likely to see heavier minutes, Landeskog could return to being a near point-per-game player, yet he's going near the back of most drafts, around 137th overall on average, with some outlets ranking him as low as 166th. 

With top-six minutes and a spot on the top power-play unit alongside MacKinnon and Makar all but guaranteed, Landeskog looks poised to remind people quickly just how good he can be, and to blow past last season's total in short order.

Injuries have derailed Seguin's recent seasons, costing him 131 games over the past three years. But when healthy, he carries easy 50-point upside over a full slate, and arguably more, after racking up 21 points in just 20 games during the 2024-25 season before going down. 

Now 34 and entering the final year of the eight-year deal he signed in 2018, Seguin has real incentive to prove he can stay on the ice, especially if he wants a new contract to keep him in Dallas for the next two to three seasons. 

In a best-case scenario, a fully healthy Seguin could finish with 60 to 70 points. He's currently going as late as 289th overall and is largely undrafted in most leagues, making him a name worth monitoring on the waiver wire.

While he awaits his next deal as a restricted free agent, the 23-year-old Swedish defender flashed at moments last season but missed ten games and finished with just 25 points, a modest total for the former sixth-overall pick from 2021. 

With an offseason to refine his game, Edvinsson looks poised to build on back-to-back seasons in the 25-to-30-point range and could push past 40 points this year. He'll have every opportunity to do so, continuing to play the top defensive pairing alongside Moritz Seider and logging heavy minutes after averaging more than 22 a night last season. 

Going as high as 133rd overall on average, Edvinsson has a real chance to outplay defensemen being drafted ahead of him, including Vince Dunn, Aaron Ekblad and Devon Toews.

At 34, many are starting to doubt whether Hyman still has his fastball, and that's exactly the kind of skepticism fantasy managers can exploit. Going as late as 100th overall, Hyman offers near point-per-game upside. 

After finishing the 2024-25 season with just 44 points in 73 games, he rebounded in a major way last season before injuries intervened, finishing with 52 points in just 58 games and showing the big-time player is still very much in there. 

With a full offseason to recover and a spot back on the top line alongside a motivated Connor McDavid looking to erase Edmonton's worst playoff finish since 2021, Hyman is set up well. Expect him to clear 70 points this season, making him a strong value in the ninth or tenth round.

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