Below you will find Fantrax’s consensus forward rankings for the 2026-27 fantasy hockey season. There’s broad agreement on the top six forwards entering the season, though our rankings differ slightly. Nathan MacKinnon (C, Colorado Avalanche) edged Connor McDavid (C, Edmonton Oilers), ever so slightly.
Macklin Celebrini (C, San Jose Sharks) has entered the elite ranks of fantasy first rounds, landing at number four on our list. One elite season has the hockey world buzzing that he’s the next one. One question that remains to be answered: Can Celebrini match the production of MacKinnon, McDavid, and Nikita Kucherov (RW, Tampa Bay Lightning)?
After Kirill Kaprizov (LW/RW, Minnesota Wild) at eight, variance starts to set in. Belief in whether Nick Suzuki can repeat his 101-point season, or if Austin Matthews can bounce back to 2023-24 form, impacted the results.
A player like Jack Hughes (C, New Jersey Devils) saw his ranking affected by his missing 20 or more games in five of his seven NHL seasons. Likewise, Connor Bedard (C, Chicago Black Hawks) and Logan Cooley’s (C, Utah Mammoth) saw their rankings affected by our differing beliefs in whether either will break out, and if so, how much.
Personally, I rank the multi-cat unicorns like Tom Wilson (RW, Washington Capitals) and Brady Tkachuk (LW, Florida Panthers) higher than most. Forwards that can put up points and bang are a rare breed. See Matthew Knies (LW, Toronto Maple Leafs) and Alex Laferriere (LW/RW, Los Angeles Kings) for later-round multi-cat options.
The 2026-27 NHL season will be here before you know it. Make this the season you add fantasy hockey to your Fantrax repertoire! Head on over to Fantrax.com to see Fantasy Hockey done right!
Meet the Rankers:
In order to conserve space, the table below uses the initials of the analysts. They are as follows:
BA = Brandon Altomonte – @Brandon_Alto
LD = Logan Doyle – @doylelb4
JD = Julien D’Alessandro
Fantasy Hockey Forward Rankings 2026-27
The defenseman rankings below are based on the following scoring categories: Goals, Assists, Power-Play Points, Shots, Hits, Blocks.
| Cons. Rnk | Player | Team | BA | LD | Julien |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nathan MacKinnon | COL | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Connor McDavid | EDM | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Nikita Kucherov | TB | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | Macklin Celebrini | SJ | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 5 | Leon Draisaitl | EDM | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | David Pastrnak | BOS | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | Kirill Kaprizov | MIN | 7 | 9 | 7 |
| 8 | Jason Robertson | DAL | 8 | 7 | 11 |
| 9 | Nick Suzuki | MTL | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| 10 | Auston Matthews | TOR | 10 | 12 | 8 |
| 11 | Martin Necas | COL | 15 | 11 | 12 |
| 12 | Jack Eichel | VGK | 11 | 15 | 13 |
| 13 | Brady Tkachuk | FLA | 13 | 13 | 19 |
| 14 | Matthew Tkachuk | FLA | 17 | 8 | 20 |
| 15 | Mikko Rantanen | DAL | 12 | 14 | 23 |
| 16 | Cole Caufield | MTL | 16 | 24 | 14 |
| 17 | Wyatt Johnston | DAL | 19 | 27 | 10 |
| 18 | Tage Thompson | BUF | 24 | 16 | 16 |
| 19 | Matt Boldy | MIN | 18 | 25 | 15 |
| 20 | Jack Hughes | NJ | 14 | 34 | 17 |
| 21 | William Nylander | TOR | 23 | 15 | 28 |
| 22 | Mitch Marner | VGK | 20 | 18 | 30 |
| 23 | Kyle Connor | WPG | 22 | 29 | 18 |
| 24 | Mark Scheifele | WPG | 28 | 23 | 21 |
| 25 | Jake Guentzel | TB | 21 | 31 | 22 |
| 26 | Tim Stutzle | OTT | 27 | 28 | 26 |
| 27 | Clayton Keller | UTA | 26 | 30 | 27 |
| 28 | Sidney Crosby | PIT | 33 | 32 | 24 |
| 29 | Connor Bedard | CHI | 42 | 16 | 35 |
| 30 | Artemi Panarin | LA | 32 | 28 | 38 |
| 31 | Juraj Slafkovsky | MTL | 40 | 17 | 41 |
| 32 | Aleksander Barkov Jr. | FLA | 34 | 41 | 25 |
| 33 | Filip Forsberg | NSH | 30 | 42 | 31 |
| 34 | Sam Reinhart | FLA | 29 | 38 | 36 |
| 35 | Cutter Gauthier | ANA | 31 | 40 | 33 |
| 36 | Dylan Guenther | UTA | 38 | 37 | 29 |
| 37 | Brandon Hagel | TB | 39 | 36 | 37 |
| 38 | Adrian Kempe | LA | 37 | 39 | 39 |
| 39 | Brayden Point | TB | 36 | 33 | 49 |
| 40 | Alex DeBrincat | DET | 41 | 46 | 32 |
| 41 | Sebastian Aho | CAR | 35 | 47 | 40 |
| 42 | Leo Carlsson | ANA | 25 | 71 | 34 |
| 43 | Jesper Bratt | NJ | 43 | 35 | 52 |
| 44 | Robert Thomas | STL | 50 | 44 | 44 |
| 45 | Drake Batherson | OTT | 47 | 50 | 43 |
| 46 | Andrei Svechnikov | CAR | 44 | 45 | 56 |
| 47 | Kirill Marchenko | CBJ | 58 | 43 | 45 |
| 48 | Tom Wilson | WSH | 51 | 26 | 69 |
| 49 | Mika Zibanejad | NYR | 49 | 57 | 42 |
| 50 | Dylan Larkin | DET | 55 | 49 | 46 |
| 51 | Zach Hyman | EDM | 54 | 48 | 50 |
| 52 | Lucas Raymond | DET | 48 | 59 | 47 |
| 53 | Adam Fantilli | CBJ | 45 | 51 | 66 |
| 54 | Pavel Dorofeyev | NYR | 56 | 56 | 51 |
| 55 | Mark Stone | VGK | 57 | 62 | 59 |
| 56 | John Tavares | TOR | 66 | 52 | 61 |
| 57 | Alex Tuch | WSH | 62 | 68 | 53 |
| 58 | Beckett Sennecke | ANA | 61 | 65 | 58 |
| 59 | Nico Hischier | NJ | 67 | 55 | 63 |
| 60 | Logan Cooley | UTA | 46 | 60 | 79 |
| 61 | Bo Horvat | NYI | 68 | 58 | 60 |
| 62 | Alex Ovechkin | WSH | 53 | 77 | 58 |
| 63 | Morgan Geekie | BOS | 69 | 67 | 54 |
| 64 | Travis Konecny | PHI | 64 | 53 | 74 |
| 65 | Steven Stamkos | NSH | 82 | 54 | 57 |
| 66 | J.T. Miller | NYR | 52 | 66 | 76 |
| 67 | Matthew Knies | TOR | 76 | 64 | 55 |
| 68 | Nikolaj Ehlers | CAR | 59 | 70 | 67 |
| 69 | Nick Schmaltz | UTA | 80 | 72 | 48 |
| 70 | Ivan Demidov | MTL | 74 | 61 | 65 |
| 71 | Dylan Holloway | STL | 63 | 73 | 70 |
| 72 | Dylan Cozens | OTT | 60 | 76 | 73 |
| 73 | Seth Jarvis | CAR | 65 | 88 | 64 |
| 74 | Will Smith | SJ | 75 | 77 | 65 |
| 75 | Mathew Barzal | NYI | 77 | 74 | 71 |
| 76 | Roope Hintz | DAL | 71 | 97 | 62 |
| 77 | Vincent Trocheck | UTA | 89 | 55 | 87 |
| 78 | Trevor Zegras | PHI | 100 | 69 | 68 |
| 79 | Brock Nelson | COL | 86 | 80 | 72 |
| 80 | Tomas Hertl | VGK | 78 | 79 | 84 |
| 81 | Bryan Rust | PIT | 84 | 87 | 75 |
| 82 | Gavin McKenna | TOR | 73 | 84 | 90 |
| 83 | Gabriel Vilardi | WPG | 95 | 82 | 78 |
| 84 | Porter Martone | PHI | 72 | 98 | 86 |
| 85 | Timo Meier | NJ | 81 | 100 | 77 |
| 86 | Evgeni Malkin | PIT | 91 | 86 | 91 |
| 87 | Rickard Rakell | PIT | 85 | 90 | 96 |
| 88 | Sam Bennett | FLA | 70 | NR | 80 |
| 89 | Quinton Byfield | LA | 88 | 91 | 97 |
| 90 | Alexis Lafreniere | NYR | NR | 63 | 88 |
| 91 | Elias Pettersson | VAN | 90 | 99 | 95 |
| 92 | Alex Laferriere | LA | 94 | 95 | 99 |
| 93 | Dylan Strome | WSH | 83 | 83 | NR |
| 94 | Joel Eriksson Ek | MIN | 84 | NR | 82 |
| 95 | Nazem Kadri | COL | NR | 78 | 89 |
| 96 | Jimmy Snuggerud | STL | 79 | NR | 93 |
| 97 | Brad Marchand | FLA | NR | 81 | 94 |
| 98 | Owen Tippett | PHI | 97 | 80 | NR |
| 99 | Josh Doan | BUF | NR | 85 | 100 |
| 100 | Ryan Leonard | WSH | 92 | 94 | NR |
Fantrax is one of the fastest-growing fantasy sites in the fantasy sports industry, and we’re not stopping anytime soon. We are the most customizable, easy-to-use, and feature-rich platform in the industry, offering the greatest fantasy experience for your dynasty, keeper, redraft, and best ball leagues. Fantasy sports doesn’t sleep, and neither does Fantrax, with seasons running 365 days a year. Take your fantasy leagues to the next level now at Fantrax.com!
