Capitalize on Charlie McAvoy’s draft-day discount and track elite prospect James Hagens as a reloaded roster aims to maintain Boston’s dominance in the competitive Atlantic Division.
NHL training camps are just around the corner, which means fantasy hockey draft season is officially here. It's been a wild offseason around the league, with marquee names changing addresses, blockbuster trades and plenty of roster shakeups still settling before puck drop.
To help you get ready, we're going team by team, breaking down the names worth targeting and the ones worth avoiding. For each club, we'll flag a sleeper flying under the radar, a breakout candidate ready to take the next step, and a bust that might not live up to its draft-day price tag. Next on the list: the Boston Bruins.
Boston defied expectations this past season, finishing 45-27-10 for 100 points, good for fourth in the Atlantic Division and a return to the playoffs after missing out the year before.
Much of Boston's offseason centered on retooling around their core. The Bruins completed a blockbuster deal, sending their first-round pick to the Utah Mammoth for forward JJ Peterka, who is expected to slot into the top line with Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak, forming what could be the team's most dangerous unit in years.
On top of that, highly anticipated prospect James Hagens is expected to make the Bruins' roster in a middle-six role and could be one of the top contenders for the Calder Trophy this season.
Sleeper: Charlie McAvoy
The 28-year-old, hard-nosed defenseman is expected to miss the first six games of the season after being suspended for a two-handed, baseball-style slash on Buffalo Sabres forward Zach Benson.
When he returns, many may have already forgotten just how strong a season McAvoy was putting together last year, finishing with 11 goals and 50 assists for 61 points in 69 games while staying in the Norris Trophy conversation for stretches of the season. He's recovering from facial surgery for a linear fracture of his jaw and is fully expected to heal without lingering issues.
Between the suspension and the surgery, McAvoy's average draft position has slipped to around the 99th pick, with some platforms ranking him as low as 145th overall. That's a notable discount given the names he's currently going behind, including Shayne Gostisbehere, Cole Hutson, John Carlson and Brock Faber, all of whom he has a real chance to surpass if he picks up where he left off last season.
Once back and healthy, McAvoy has the profile of a strong number-two, or even number-one, fantasy defenseman.
Breakout: James Hagens
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.
Bust: Morgan Geekie
An underdog story is always easy to root for, but backing the right Bruins winger this season might mean looking past Geekie. Over the past two seasons, the 28-year-old Strathclair, Manitoba native has benefited enormously from heavy minutes alongside David Pastrnak, racking up 125 points in 158 games together.
That arrangement is now in jeopardy following the Peterka trade. Geekie has played some center in the past, but Boston already has that position locked down with Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm, meaning the only real path to staying with Pastrnak is beating out Peterka, who brings similar recent scoring production.
Early signs point to Peterka, the new addition, holding onto that spot, and the fantasy market reflects it, with Peterka going roughly 30 picks later on average and ranked as much as 35 spots behind Geekie on some platforms despite the likelihood of getting more ice time alongside Pastrnak.
How the top line shakes out to start the season will determine a lot here. If Peterka clicks immediately next to Pastrnak, it could spell a real step back for Geekie's production.
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