Another fantasy hockey season in the books, and what a ride it was. From draft-day steals to waiver-wire wonders, it’s time to hand out the hardware to the players who made the 2024-25 campaign a thrill to follow, manage and obsess over in our leagues.
To keep the games going, sign up for ESPN Playoff Hockey Challenge, where you pick the winning team round-by-round throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Play for free today!
Fantasy hardware
Fantasy Art Ross Trophy, Most points
Finalists: Connor Hellebuyck, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar
(Likely) Winner: Connor Hellebuyck, G, Winnipeg Jets
It’s not impossible, but it’s unlikely that the Avalanche superstars can make up the 20-point gap that separates them from Hellebuyck out in front for total fantasy points this season. With just a little more than a week left to play, Hellebuyck will almost surely close out his stellar campaign as the overall fantasy leader. We knew he was the top goalie target coming into this season, but after finishing tied for 14th last season and with goaltender points trending down, it was a pleasant surprise to see him race out in front of the skaters and take this one down. It does look like overall fantasy scoring will be down from last season, with no one on pace to come close to MacKinnon’s 294.9 from 2023-24.
Fantasy Hart Trophy, Most valuable player
Finalists: Zach Werenski (106.7 average draft position), Mark Scheifele (143.0 ADP), Darcy Kuemper (215.4 ADP)
Winner: Darcy Kuemper, G, Los Angeles Kings
The fantasy version of this hardware has some expectations built into the selection rubric. All three of our nominees were heroes at their position based on their availability in drafts. A healthy Werenski proved he is among the top tier of defenders. An inspired season out of the Jets was led by Hellebuyck and Scheifele. But Kuemper has to be the winner after losing his starter’s job in Washington and then being shipped to the Kings, only to start the season with injury issues. He is now jostling for third among all goaltenders in total fantasy points as the season winds down.
Fantasy Calder Trophy, Rookie of the year
Finalists: Macklin Celebrini, Lane Hutson, Dustin Wolf
Winner: Lane Hutson, D, Montreal Canadiens
The fantasy Calder plays out a lot like the actual Calder, as it will likely be the same three nominees for the NHL. Celebrini showed well on a struggling Sharks team, while Wolf could finish among the top 10 goaltenders for fantasy. But Hutson was a difference-maker on fantasy rosters after coming in as a third-pairing defender, only to wrestle away the top of the depth chart from Mike Matheson only a month or so into the season.
Fantasy Norris Trophy, Best defenseman
Finalists: Cale Makar, Zach Werenski, MacKenzie Weegar
Winner: Zach Werenski, D, Columbus Blue Jackets
Last season, we gave this award to Weegar as the fantasy Norris likes to reward those fantasy points that defenders tend to produce without the puck (blocked shots and hits). But last season the race for the most fantasy points was tight, with Roman Josi just a couple back of Makar and Weegar. But this season Makar has a lead of more than 30 fantasy points on Werenski and more than 40 fantasy points on Weegar. We can’t deny the dominance, even though it’s mostly coming from offensive production.
Fantasy Vezina Trophy, Best goalie
Finalists: Connor Hellebuyck, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Mackenzie Blackwood
Winner: Mackenzie Blackwood, G, Colorado Avalanche
Hellebuyck and Vasilevskiy are in a class of their own among the goaltenders, but they were also the top two goaltenders off the board at fantasy drafts. Blackwood was plucked from the Sharks by the defensively struggling Avalanche and propelled to fantasy stardom overnight with a December trade. He hasn’t been the best fantasy goaltender in the league since the trade, but top five among goalies for a waiver pickup is value you just can’t beat.
Fantasy Masterton Trophy, Comeback player of the year
Finalists: Rickard Rakell, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Darcy Kuemper
Winner: Rickard Rakell, W, Pittsburgh Penguins
The fantasy version of this NHL trophy is basically what it sounds like — a comeback story, but purely from a fantasy perspective. Dubois and Kuemper are such great stories for their respective franchises. Both had albatross contracts for their former teams and were underperforming in 2023-24. A simple one-for-one swap and both players re-emerged as fantasy forces. But as great as their stories are, Rakell comes right up the middle the steal this award. While he had a solid showing in 2022-23, the last time Rakell had a 30-goal season was 2017-18 with the Anaheim Ducks. In 2023-24, he had just 15 goals and 37 points. He might end up with more goals this year than total points he had last season. It’s going to be close, but he also might finish the campaign with the most fantasy points of any member of the Penguins… and that Sidney Crosby is no slouch!
Fantasy 2012 Draft Trophy, Most disappointing picks
Finalists: Steven Stamkos (29.3 ADP), Elias Pettersson (23.6 ADP), Zach Hyman (42.1 ADP)
Winner: Elias Pettersson, C, Vancouver Canucks
This award takes its name from the infamous 2012 NHL Draft, in which Nail Yakupov, Ryan Murray, and Alex Galchenyuk went 1-2-3… and none lived up to the billing. It’s a not-so-coveted honor, handed out to the season’s biggest fantasy bust. As tempting as it is to look at Stamkos because of the increased hype for the rebuilt Predators, and the fact he went 13 games without a point during one stretch this season, Pettersson has to take the cake. The locker-room drama bled onto the ice and the Canucks paid a steep price in production from their supposed star forward. From 2.5 fantasy points per game in 2023-24, all the way down to a pedestrian 1.9, Pettersson was a total and complete flop for fantasy. If there’s some light at the end of the tunnel, Dubois won this last season, and look how that turned out.
Fantasy Ruler Trophy, Best fantasy line
Finalists: Winnipeg Jets, Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning
Winner: Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi, F, Winnipeg Jets
This silly-named award is all about drawing the perfect line. You know, like a ruler? Forget it. This award goes to the best fantasy line in the league. It’s been slightly tweaked from last season, as I didn’t like the power-play influence on the award. This is about the best even-strength line in the league.
And this is unique information. It’s not about Corsi or goals, or even what the defense pairing with them on the ice is doing. This is the fantasy points produced collectively by the three players on the line, but only when all three of them are present at five-on-five hockey.
It’s ESPN standard scoring for the calculations, so a goal is worth 2.0 points, assist is 1.0, hits and shots are 0.1 and blocked shots are 0.5. We don’t need to worry about special teams, as this is strictly five-on-five play.
And remember, it’s only the fantasy points produced by the forwards themselves. So if Morgan Rielly takes a shot at five-on-five while Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies are on the ice, that does not count. It has to be points awarded to the forwards that make up the line.
Second place for this award has not been decided. Through April 7, lines from the Habs, Lightning and Penguins were all within 10 points of each other. But the top trio from the Jets has a 30 point lead on collecting the most fantasy points together at five-on-five, so they can likely coast to victory even though one of the trio is on the sidelines. Scheifele, Vilardi and Connor have combined to earn 233.4 of their fantasy points while on the ice together.
The Habs top trio of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky is second with 197.8, while the stacked line for the Lightning of Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point is third with 189.4. Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell are in the race too, with 187.4.
Fantasy Pocket Hold ‘Em Trophy, Best fantasy pairing
Finalists: Calgary Flames, Columbus Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche
Winner: Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl, D, Calgary Flames
This award gets its name because, just like in poker, you want to be dealt a quality pair. This is the same as the above except for defense. It’s only about the fantasy points earned by the individuals in focus, not the points collected by the forwards that are also on the ice.
With another week to play, the final winner could be any of the top three pairings, but right now, the duo from the Flames lead the way. While they only have seven goals while on the ice together, Andersson and Bahl have used shot blocking to fuel themselves to 156.4 combined fantasy points at five-on-five together.
That leads Werenski and Dante Fabbro, who have 150.5, and Makar and Devon Toews, who have 149.1. The only asterisk here is that the Blue Jackets didn’t acquire Fabbro until Nov. 10, so it’s easy to imagine that pairing winning this award had they played the whole season together.
Fantasy Orpik Trophy, Most fantasy points from physical play
Finalists: Jacob Trouba, Ian Cole and MacKenzie Weegar
Winner: Jacob Trouba, D, Anaheim Ducks
You can take the captain out of New York, but you can’t take away the physical play. Even in a reduced role with the Ducks after being unceremoniously shipped off by the Rangers, Trouba has the lead heading down the stretch. He has 115.9 fantasy points from just hits and blocked shots, which has him about five points in front of Cole and Weegar. Trouba is injured at the moment, but listed as day-to-day. He won the award in 2022-23 and probably would have won it in a full season last year. We may need to eventually rename this one after Trouba, though he won’t likely reach the 300 hits and 200 blocks that Brooks Orpik managed to be the trophy’s namesake.
Fantasy all-stars
The fantasy all-star teams showcase the players we all collectively added the most since October.
First team all-stars (increase in rostership since Oct. 18)
Dylan Holloway, C, St. Louis Blues (72.2%)
Rickard Rakell, RW, Pittsburgh Penguins (72.0%)
Mikael Granlund, LW, Dallas Stars (56.3%)
Jake Walman, D, Edmonton Oilers (70.3%)
Jackson LaCombe, D, Anaheim Ducks (65.5%)
Mackenzie Blackwood, G, Colorado Avalanche (78.8%)
Second team all-stars (increase in rostership since Oct. 18)
Anthony Cirelli, C, Tampa Bay Lightning (61.3%)
Tom Wilson, RW, Washington Capitals (60.1%)
Kirill Marchenko, LW, Columbus Blue Jackets (31.1%)
Jake Middleton, D, Minnesota Wild (42.2%)
Lane Hutson, D, Montreal Canadiens (33.9%)
Kevin Lankinen, G, Vancouver Canucks (53.1%)
“Where’s the love?” all-stars
This team of fantasy all-stars leads their position in fantasy points among players still available in at least half of ESPN leagues.
Adam Fantilli, C, Columbus Blue Jackets
Pavel Dorofeyev, RW, Vegas Golden Knights
Will Cuylle, LW, New York Rangers
Nick Seeler, D, Philadelphia Flyers
Ian Cole, D, Utah Hockey Club
Joey Daccord, G, Seattle Kraken
The all-duds team (decrease in rostership since Oct. 18)
Excluding players with extended injury issues, these are the most dropped players since the start of the season.
Barrett Hayton, C, Utah Hockey Club (34.7%)
Jeff Skinner, LW, Edmonton Oilers (28.7%)
Teuvo Teravainen, RW, Chicago Blackhawks (29.4%)
K’Andre Miller, D, New York Rangers (33.8%)
Cam York, D, Philadelphia Flyers (26.9%)
Alexandar Georgiev, G, San Jose Sharks (41.5%)
If you’ve made it this far, don’t let the season end yet. Play ESPN Playoff Hockey Challenge and predict the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Source link
