Fantasy hockey draft rankings tiers for 2025-26
Groups of forwards, defensemen, goalies by priority; season preview podcasts
© Jeff Vinnick/NHLI
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FORWARDS
Tier 1
Nathan MacKinnon, COL
Connor McDavid, EDM
Tier 2
Leon Draisaitl, EDM
Nikita Kucherov, TBL
Kirill Kaprizov, MIN
David Pastrnak, BOS
Mikko Rantanen, DAL
Jack Eichel, VGK
Auston Matthews, TOR
Kyle Connor, WPG
Brady Tkachuk, OTT
Tier 3
Sidney Crosby, PIT
Sam Reinhart, FLA
William Nylander, TOR
Jack Hughes, NJD
Mitch Marner, VGK
Brayden Point, TBL
Alex Ovechkin, WSH
Tier 4
Nick Suzuki, MTL
Artemi Panarin, NYR
Filip Forsberg, NSH
Jake Guentzel, TBL
Clayton Keller, UTA
Martin Necas, COL
Mark Scheifele, WPG
Tage Thompson, BUF
Tier 5
Macklin Celebrini, SJS
Matt Boldy, MIN
Jesper Bratt, NJD
Jason Robertson, DAL
J.T. Miller, NYR
Dylan Guenther, UTA
Brandon Hagel, TBL
Robert Thomas, F, STL
Tier 6
Cole Caufield, MTL
Tim Stutzle, OTT
Adrian Kempe, LAK
Tom Wilson, WSH
Lucas Raymond, DET
Seth Jarvis, CAR
John Tavares, TOR
Wyatt Johnston, DAL
Alex DeBrincat, DET
Sebastian Aho, CAR
Nico Hischier, NJD
Dylan Larkin, DET
Tier 7
Sam Bennett, FLA
Roope Hintz, DAL
Connor Bedard, CHI
Matvei Michkov, PHI
Dylan Holloway, STL
Matthew Knies, TOR
Kirill Marchenko, CBJ
Tomas Hertl, VGK
Pavel Dorofeyev, VGK
Gabriel Vilardi, WPG
Nikolaj Ehlers, CAR
Kevin Fiala, LAK
Tier 8
Valeri Nichushkin, COL
Nazem Kadri, CGY
Jordan Kyrou, STL
JJ Peterka, UTA
Dylan Strome, WSH
Carter Verhaeghe, FLA
Timo Meier, NJD
Gabriel Landeskog, COL
Drake Batherson, OTT
Vincent Trocheck, NYR
Zach Hyman, EDM (INJ.)
Tier 9
Sean Monahan, CBJ
Logan Cooley, UTA
Elias Pettersson, VAN
Adam Fantilli, CBJ
Ivan Demidov, MTL (rookie)
Bryan Rust, PIT
Juraj Slafkovsky, MTL
Travis Konecny, PHI
Joel Eriksson Ek, MIN
Matt Duchene, DAL
Tier 10
Matthew Tkachuk, FLA (INJ.)
Morgan Geekie, BOS
Brad Marchand, FLA
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, EDM
Mark Stone, VGK
Alex Tuch, BUF
Mikael Granlund, ANA
Patrick Kane, DET
Andrei Svechnikov, CAR
Tier 11
Will Smith, SJS
Cutter Gauthier, ANA
Quinton Byfield, LAK
Rickard Rakell, PIT
Frank Vatrano, ANA
Bo Horvat, NYI
Mika Zibanejad, NYR
Mathew Barzal, NYI
Brock Nelson, COL
Marco Rossi, MIN
Mason McTavish, ANA
Tier 12
Tyler Toffoli, SJS
William Eklund, SJS
Anze Kopitar, LAK
Pavel Buchnevich, STL
Jonathan Marchessault, NSH
Steven Stamkos, NSH
Ryan Donato, CHI
Anton Lundell, FLA
Dylan Cozens, OTT
Leo Carlsson, ANA
Michael Misa, SJS (rookie)
Artturi Lehkonen, COL
Cole Perfetti, WPG
Tier 13
Kiefer Sherwood, VAN
Boone Jenner, CBJ
Anders Lee, NYI
Will Cuylle, NYR
Zack Bolduc, MTL
Logan Stankoven, CAR
Jimmy Snuggerud, STL (rookie)
Josh Norris, BUF
Matt Coronato, CGY
Kent Johnson, CBJ
Ryan Leonard, WSH (rookie)
Brock Boeser, VAN
Frank Nazar, CHI
Tier 14
Pierre-Luc Dubois, WSH
Ivan Barbashev, VGK
Elias Lindholm, BOS
Nick Schmaltz, UTA
Patrik Laine, MTL
Evander Kane, VAN
Owen Tippett, PHI
Jake DeBrusk, VAN
Troy Terry, ANA
Andrei Kuzmenko, LAK
Tier 15
Trevor Zegras, PHI
Aliaksei Protas, WSH
Jackson Blake, CAR
Jonathan Huberdeau, CGY
Isaac Howard, EDM (rookie)
Ville Koivunen, PIT (rookie)
Gabe Perreault, NYR (rookie)
Maxim Shabanov, NYI (rookie)
Mackie Samoskevich, FLA
Matias Maccelli, TOR
Connor McMichael, WSH
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DEFENSEMEN
Tier 1
Cale Makar, COL
Tier 2
Quinn Hughes, VAN
Tier 3
Zach Werenski, CBJ
Victor Hedman, TBL
Evan Bouchard, EDM
Rasmus Dahlin, BUF
Moritz Seider, DET
Lane Hutson, MTL
Jake Sanderson, OTT
Thomas Harley, DAL
MacKenzie Weegar, CGY
Roman Josi, NSH
Tier 4
Adam Fox, NYR
Josh Morrissey, WPG
Jakob Chychrun, WSH
Dougie Hamilton, NJD
Shea Theodore, VGK
Jackson LaCombe, ANA
Mikhail Sergachev, UTA
Brandon Montour, SEA
Noah Dobson, MTL
Miro Heiskanen, DAL
Erik Karlsson, PIT
John Carlson, WSH
Shayne Gostisbehere, CAR
Tier 5
Neal Pionk, WPG
Seth Jones, FLA
Vince Dunn, SEA
Aaron Ekblad, FLA
Cam Fowler, STL
Luke Hughes, NJD
Charlie McAvoy, BOS
Colton Parayko, STL
Tier 6
Sam Rinzel, CHI (rookie)
Zeev Buium, MIN (rookie)
Zayne Parekh, CGY (rookie)
Matthew Schaefer, NYI (rookie)
Alexander Nikishin, CAR (rookie)
Tier 7
Drew Doughty, LAK
Mattias Ekholm, EDM
Noah Hanifin, VGK
Kris Letang, PIT
Morgan Rielly, TOR
Jake Walman, EDM
Devon Toews, COL
Thomas Chabot, OTT
Rasmus Andersson, CGY
Tier 8
Radko Gudas, ANA
Justin Faulk, STL
Tony DeAngelo, NYI
Alexander Romanov, NYI
Bowen Byram, BUF
Dmitry Orlov, SJS
Jacob Trouba, ANA
Brock Faber, MIN
Filip Hronek, VAN
Gustav Forsling, FLA
Lian Bichsel, DAL
Darnell Nurse, EDM
Jaccob Slavin, CAR
Luke Schenn, WPG
Chris Tanev, TOR
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GOALIES
Tier 1
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL
Tier 2
Jake Oettinger, DAL
Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA
Igor Shesterkin, NYR
Tier 3
Mackenzie Blackwood, COL (INJ.)
Logan Thompson, WSH
Filip Gustavsson, MIN
Darcy Kuemper, LAK
Ilya Sorokin, NYI
Tier 4
Anthony Stolarz, TOR
Adin Hill, VGK
Linus Ullmark, OTT
Jacob Markstrom, NJD
Dustin Wolf, CGY
Tier 5
Jordan Binnington, STL
Sam Montembeault, MTL
Frederik Andersen, CAR
Thatcher Demko, VAN
Pyotr Kochetkov, CAR
Lukas Dostal, ANA
Jeremy Swayman, BOS
Juuse Saros, NSH
Karel Vejmelka, UTA
Tier 6
Jet Greaves, CBJ
John Gibson, DET
Stuart Skinner, EDM
Joey Daccord, SEA
Joseph Woll, TOR
Tier 7
Yaroslav Askarov, SJS
Spencer Knight, CHI
Joel Hofer, STL
Scott Wedgewood, COL
Kevin Lankinen, VAN
Charlie Lindgren, WSH
Leevi Merilainen, OTT
