It is very tough when you draft a star in fantasy hockey and he has a bad season. This is a season-long hit against your team as they are too good to drop most of the time and not at the level you need them to be. Many times, those stars come back better than ever after a down season. This is who we are looking at here. These are five star forwards who should have bounce-back efforts in 2024-25.
Bounce-Back Forwards for 2024-25 Fantasy Hockey
Tage Thompson, Buffalo Sabres
Tage Thompson really came into his own in 2021-22 for the Buffalo Sabres. The following year he became a star, scoring 47 goals and 94 points. The struggles came for a lot of the Sabres last season, not just Thompson. He finished the 2023-24 season with 29 goals and 56 points in 71 games and is primed to come back strong.
Thompson closed out the final two months of the season at a point-per-game, scoring 11 goals and 21 points in 21 games. The Sabres’ power play was a big disappointment, which only hurt the offensive numbers. The big center hits and is on the top line. I don’t necessarily expect him to score 50 goals, but he should come close to a point-per-game once again and be a big score in fantasy hockey.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton Oilers
In the case of the Edmonton Oilers, more mouths to feed doesn’t necessarily mean production is going to decline. The Oilers added Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner to the top 6, but Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is still going to have a strong season playing alongside either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl at 5-on-5. This is before even discussing Nugent-Hopkins’ role on the top power play in the league.
Nugent-Hopkins went into 2022-23 with a career-high of 28 goals and 69 points. He smashed those career highs with 37 goals and 104 points. 53 of those points came on the power play. While the top unit was still very effective last season, he scored 26 power-play points as a part of an 18-goal, 67-point season. The Oilers’ top-6 is the best in the league and will score a ton. Nugent-Hopkins likely won’t reach 100 points again but isn’t expected to go through droughts like the start and end of last season.
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin scored 50 goals at 36 years old in 2021-22 and then 42 goals in 73 games in 2022-23. Despite just 31 goals last season, I’m one of the believers that he isn’t yet finished. Ovechkin is chasing the goal record and the Washington Capitals got better this offseason in all areas. The team will score more goals and if he didn’t go through a slump at the beginning of the season scoring just six goals in the first 33 games, there would be less of a conversation here.
Ovechkin closed out the final 46 games with 25 goals. That’s a 45-goal pace and he is just 42 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record. Whether his offense pops again, the 39-year-old will make lots of hits and still shoots a ton. He will be valuable in fantasy and you may be able to grab him later than expected.
Roope Hintz, Dallas Stars
Roope Hintz had a pretty solid season for the Dallas Stars in 2023-24, but it wasn’t at the level he can play at. He scored 37 goals in each of the previous two seasons but was held to just 30 last season. In 2022-23, he put up 37 goals in 73 games as well. He went from 75 points in 73 games down to 65 points. While his linemate Joe Pavelski retired, Wyatt Johnston is expected to join the top line. This will provide a big boost to the offense as he may be the real offensive star of the team. Hintz has very good two-way abilities, but the top line of Dallas is set for big things in 2024-25.
Timo Meier, New Jersey Devils
Timo Meier had two very good seasons between 2021 and 2023. For the majority of two seasons, he put up great numbers for the San Jose Sharks and then was traded to the New Jersey Devils. He closed out the 2022-23 season fairly strongly with nine goals and 14 points in 21 games, but just couldn’t play to the level that was expected of him last season.
The power forward scored 28 goals and 52 points in 69 games. This was also only because he scored 13 goals and 20 points in 15 games in March. As that was later in the season, it provides fantasy owners with hope that he can score like that more often than not moving forward. Like Ovechkin, Meier also shoots and hits a lot as well, so his value is higher regardless.
Related: Second-Year Fantasy Hockey Breakouts: Goalies
These star forwards will be ranked more based on last season than the level they can all reach this season. The best way to form a strong team is to take some chances. If you believe any of these players will outperform last season, take that chance.