There are plenty of fantasy hockey articles telling you who the best players are, who the best sleepers are and who could break out this season, this isn’t one of them.
When we talk about league winners, we’re looking for something a little different.
We’re looking for players who have the potential to dramatically outperform their draft position and give your fantasy roster the kind of production that can change the entire complexion of your season. Some of these players could take another step into superstardom. Others could explode because their role, linemates or opportunity have changed.
There isn’t a No. 1 or No. 15 here. We simply want to identify 15 players we’re willing to plant a flag on before the season begins.
Some will work out. Some won’t. That’s fantasy hockey.
But if even a few of these players make the jump we’re expecting, they could be the players we look back on in April and say, that’s where the league was won.
Wyatt Johnston — C/RW — Dallas Stars
Johnston is already a star, so calling him a breakout candidate almost feels strange. But that’s exactly why he’s so intriguing as a potential league winner. The 23-year-old is coming off an 82-point season and enters 2026-27 with a projection of 96 points from NHL.com. The Stars could also become the first team since the 2022-23 Oilers to have three 100-point forwards, with Johnston joining Jason Robertson and Mikko Rantanen as legitimate candidates.
The Add List Take: Johnston doesn’t need to suddenly become a 100-point player to help you win. If he takes another step and becomes a consistent 90-plus-point fantasy producer, the combination of his age, positional flexibility and upside could make him one of the most valuable players on a fantasy roster.
Quinton Byfield — C — Los Angeles Kings
Byfield is one of the clearest examples of opportunity meeting talent. He established career highs with 24 goals and 180 shots last season and will begin this season as Los Angeles’ No. 1 center following Anze Kopitar’s retirement. Even more encouraging, he produced 19 points in 24 games after the Kings acquired Artemi Panarin. NHL.com has identified him as a full-fledged breakout candidate with 30-goal potential.
The Add List Take: This is exactly the type of player we’re looking for. Byfield has already shown he can produce at the NHL level, but his role could be dramatically different this season. If the Panarin-Kempe-Byfield combination clicks, we could be looking at a player who finishes the season far ahead of where fantasy managers drafted him.
Jimmy Snuggerud — F — St. Louis Blues
Snuggerud’s rookie season may have been a preview of what’s coming. He finished with 51 points in 70 games, but his second half was the real story. From Dec. 27 through the end of the regular season, he led all NHL rookies with 16 goals, 24 assists and 40 points in 44 games. He also finished with 169 shots and nine power-play points.
The Add List Take: Snuggerud doesn’t need a massive statistical leap to become a league winner. He simply needs to carry his second-half production into a full season. At his current draft range, a 65-70-point season could represent a massive return on investment.
Leo Carlsson — C — Anaheim Ducks
Carlsson is one of the players on this list where the ceiling gets really interesting. He’s already established himself as a dangerous NHL scorer, but there’s still plenty of room for his offensive game to develop. NHL.com projects him for 82 points this season, while its bold prediction goes considerably further, suggesting Carlsson could reach 100 points.
The Add List Take: We’re not necessarily betting on 100 points. We’re betting on the possibility that Carlsson finally puts together the type of season that makes fantasy managers realize he’s no longer a promising young player, he’s a fantasy star.
Adam Fantilli — C — Columbus Blue Jackets
Fantilli has already shown flashes of the player Columbus believed it was drafting with the third overall pick in 2023. After scoring 31 goals in 2024-25, he followed that with 59 points last season. NHL.com currently projects him for 68 points, but his age and offensive role leave plenty of room for another jump.
The Add List Take: Fantilli is one of those players where the breakout could come quickly. If his scoring efficiency improves while his role continues to grow, a 70-plus-point season isn’t difficult to envision. He’s a player we’re willing to take before the production fully catches up with the talent.
Will Smith — C — San Jose Sharks
Smith is already moving into the territory where the word “breakout” doesn’t quite capture what could happen next. He scored 59 points in 69 games last season, including 24 goals and 17 power-play points, while developing strong chemistry with Macklin Celebrini. NHL.com currently projects him for 75 points and identifies him as its No. 1 breakout candidate.
The Add List Take: Smith is one of our favorite league-winner candidates because we can see the path. He’s young, he’s already producing and he’s playing with another potential superstar. If San Jose’s young core takes another step, Smith could push toward 80 points.
Ivan Demidov — F — Montreal Canadiens
Demidov is one of the more exciting players on this list because there’s still so much unknown about his NHL ceiling. The talent is obvious, and Montreal has every reason to give him a major offensive role. NHL.com projects him for 70 points in 2026-27.
The Add List Take: Demidov is exactly the type of player who can make a fantasy manager look very smart. If his NHL adaptation continues quickly and he becomes a major power-play contributor, his ceiling is considerably higher than his current projection.
Cutter Gauthier — LW — Anaheim Ducks
Gauthier is coming off a 41-goal sophomore season, and the underlying numbers suggest his scoring wasn’t a fluke. Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin points out that Gauthier ranked first among NHL players in five-on-five shot attempts per 60 minutes across his first two seasons and second in shots on goal per 60. NHL.com projects him for 80 points.
The Add List Take: This is one of the players on the list where we’re looking for an offensive explosion rather than simply a breakout. If Gauthier’s shot volume stays where it was and his finishing continues to improve, 40-plus goals again isn’t unreasonable, and there’s room for the assist total to climb.
Logan Cooley — C — Utah Mammoth
Cooley has quietly become one of the more interesting young centers in fantasy hockey. NHL.com projects him for 80 points this season, putting him in the same general offensive neighborhood as several players being drafted considerably earlier.
The Add List Take: Cooley is the kind of player I want on a league-winning list because his upside hasn’t completely been priced into his fantasy value yet. If he makes the expected development jump, he could become a player fantasy managers wish they had targeted before the breakout happened.
Logan Stankoven — C — Carolina Hurricanes
Stankoven’s regular-season numbers — 21 goals and 44 points — don’t immediately scream league winner. His finish and playoff performance tell a different story. He scored seven goals over Carolina’s final eight regular-season games before exploding for 11 goals during the 2026 playoffs. He has also solidified himself as Carolina’s No. 2 center.
The Add List Take: Stankoven is one of the players I’m particularly interested in because the breakout may already be happening. If he carries that late-season scoring pace into a full 82-game schedule, we’re talking about a very different fantasy player than the one who entered last season.
Jackson Blake — RW — Carolina Hurricanes
Blake finished his second NHL season with 53 points, including 22 goals and 174 shots, before producing 20 points in 19 playoff games. He also formed part of Carolina’s highly productive second line with Stankoven and Taylor Hall during the postseason.
The Add List Take: Blake has the combination we’re chasing: established NHL production, strong shot volume and evidence that his game can translate to the playoffs. If that second-line chemistry continues and his role expands, another significant jump is very possible.
Bowen Byram — D — Chicago Blackhawks
Byram may have one of the clearest opportunity-driven cases on the entire list. He moves to Chicago as the Blackhawks’ clear No. 1 defenseman and is expected to see top power-play usage. He set career highs last season with 42 points, 11 goals, seven power-play points and 109 shots. NHL.com believes he could challenge 15 goals and 50 points.
The Add List Take: This is exactly what we want from a potential league-winning defenseman. Byram isn’t being asked to suddenly become a different player, he’s simply being given a much larger platform. If he approaches 50 points while adding strong peripheral production, he could become a major advantage from the blue line.
Drake Batherson — RW — Ottawa Senators
Batherson isn’t a traditional breakout candidate either. He’s already established himself as a productive NHL winger, and NHL.com projects him for 77 points this season. The bigger question is whether he can turn that established production into a career year.
The Add List Take: Batherson is our “don’t forget about the veteran” league winner. He’s young enough to still have another offensive gear, and if Ottawa’s new-look lineup creates more scoring opportunities, he could push into territory where his fantasy value becomes considerably greater than his draft cost.
Cole Hutson — D — Washington Capitals
Hutson is the wild card on this list. He’s entering his first full NHL season after producing 10 points in just 14 games last year. The offensive instincts are obvious, and Washington gives him an intriguing environment to develop into a major puck-moving defenseman.
The Add List Take: If Hutson earns significant power-play responsibility and his offensive game translates over a full season, he has the potential to become one of those rookie defensemen who completely changes fantasy rankings by April. That’s exactly the kind of ceiling we’re looking for here.
Jesper Wallstedt — G — Minnesota Wild
Wallstedt might have the highest potential to change a fantasy roster from the goaltending position. He had 18 wins, a 2.61 GAA, a .916 save percentage and four shutouts in 35 games last season. With Filip Gustavsson expected to miss the start of the season, Wallstedt could have an opportunity to take on an even larger workload. NHL.com has him as its No. 2 breakout candidate and says he has top-10 goalie upside.
The Add List Take: Goaltending is where one breakout can have an enormous fantasy impact. If Wallstedt turns last season’s performance into a larger workload, he could go from promising young goalie to one of the most valuable fantasy netminders in the league.
What Makes a League Winner?
We’re not saying all 15 of these players will explode. We’re saying they have the ingredients that can produce a massive return on investment. That’s what we’re looking for when building a championship fantasy roster.
A league winner can come in several different forms. It can be a young player who finally gets a first-line opportunity. It can be a sophomore who turns 50 points into 75. It can be a defenseman who suddenly takes over the top power-play unit. Or it can be a goalie who unexpectedly grabs the majority of his team’s starts. The common denominator is ceiling versus draft cost.
NHL.com’s current projections have Johnston at 96 points, Carlsson at 82, Gauthier and Cooley at 80, Batherson at 77 and Will Smith at 75. Those numbers aren’t ceilings, NHL.com specifically describes them as safe estimates, which is exactly why we shouldn’t treat projections as the final word.
When you’re putting together your fantasy roster, it’s easy to focus on what a player did last season. But championships are often won by identifying what a player is about to become. That’s the bet we’re making with these 15 players. We’re not expecting all of them to become superstars and we’re not even expecting all of them to hit their ceilings. We’re looking for the handful who make that jump, because when you find the player who goes from 50 points to 80, 60 to 90, or 30 games of promising production to a full-season fantasy breakout, you’ve found something far more valuable than a safe pick. You’ve found a player who can change your team.
And that’s what we’re looking for when we talk about league winners.
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