Awards: Most valuable picks, players and standouts from the 2025-26 season

This season had everything you want from fantasy hockey: unexpected breakout stars, waiver-wire gems that saved leagues, and the kind of lines and goalies that make you wonder if your draft strategy actually mattered. Some names you expected showed up, some surprised the heck out of everyone, and some made you seriously question why you ever drafted them. Here's a look at who earned hardware in 2025-26, and who left fantasy managers shaking their heads.

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Fantasy Art Ross Trophy

Finalists: Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov

(Likely) Winner: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche

MacKinnon holds a modest lead, though a wrinkle remains: the Avalanche might rest him if the playoff picture or Presidents Trophy is locked up before the season ends. MacKinnon won this award for the most total fantasy points in 2023-24 with a whopping 294.9, but he won't get too close to that mark this season. Connor McDavid's 2022-23 still stands as the 15-year mark with 320.1 fantasy points. A strong finish and little to no rest for MacKinnon could see him finish as high as sixth on the list of top fantasy seasons for skaters since 2009-10, a mark currently held by David Pastrnak's 2022-23 campaign with 258.8. MacKinnon's 2025-26 is currently ranked ninth on that list.

Fantasy Hart Trophy

Finalists: Darren Raddysh, Scott Wedgewood, Leo Carlsson

Winner: Darren Raddysh, D, Tampa Bay Lightning

Not only did a 30-year-old Raddysh burst onto the scene as a solid injury replacement for Victor Hedman, he exceeded thresholds previously set by the iconic Lightning defender. Raddysh set the franchise record for goals by a defenseman this past weekend and is going to come close to 30 power-play points on the season. When you are talking Hart trophy for MVP in a fantasy sense, it's all about return on investment, and Raddysh was rostered in only 7.0% of leagues back in October, making him essentially free.

Fantasy Calder Trophy

Finalists: Matthew Schaefer, Beckett Sennecke, Jakub Dobes

Winner: Matthew Schaefer, D, New York Islanders

The difficulty here was cutting off the nominees at just three. We won't beat around the bush, as Schaefer takes the fantasy Calder without breaking a sweat. Sennecke has some separation on the rest, too. But after that, we have to compare apples to oranges for the third nomination. Ivan Demidov has the next highest fantasy points total, but Jimmy Snuggerud has a better per-game mark. Dobes and Jesper Wallstedt have fewer overall fantasy points, but their contributions as goaltenders get extra credit.

In the end, Dobes was more valuable for longer stretches than the others to sneak in as the third finalist. But let's take a minute to appreciate Schaefer. Since he is on defense, you could make a case for him as the bar-none best fantasy building block at the moment. His numbers at 18 years of age are unreal and the Isles' power play didn't help pad his stats as much as it could in the future.

Fantasy Norris Trophy

Finalists: Evan Bouchard, Cale Makar, Moritz Seider

Winner: Evan Bouchard, D, Edmonton Oilers

It's going to be Makar's current upper-body injury that unseats him from two consecutive seasons as the fantasy points leader among defenders. We usually bake a bit of expectation into this award, like when Weegar won in 2023-24, finishing third in fantasy points behind Makar and Josi. But in this 2025-26 campaign, all the top defenders were expected to be exactly that, so Bouchard takes it down.

Fantasy Vezina Trophy

Finalists: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Scott Wedgewood, Ilya Sorokin

Winner: Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay Lightning

You could make a case for both Vasilevskiy and Wedgewood as the winner, and your preference might be based on the type of fantasy league you play in. Wedgewood hasn't had as much crease time, but has made more out of his time share thanks to the winning ways of the Avalanche, which is arguably better for season-long rotisserie formats. But when it comes to head-to-head, Vasilevskiy stands out as the clear winner by showing up more. Since he finished third in total fantasy points for goaltenders in 2017-18, he's had six top three finishes across those nine seasons and this will be his third as the top goalie.

Shockingly, there is an outside chance Vasilevskiy finishes with the lowest fantasy total for the leading goaltender as far back as my detailed records go (2009-10) with the exception of the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. And yes, that includes the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign when Vasilevskiy led all goaltenders with 182.8 fantasy points -- a mark of which he is still almost 20 points shy with only three games remaining.

Fantasy Masterton Trophy

Finalists: John Gibson, Mika Zibanejad, Noah Dobson

Winner: John Gibson, G, Detroit Red Wings

The fantasy trophy is different than its NHL equivalent, as we are looking for fantasy rebounds from down seasons. Zibanejad and Dobson both had resurgent campaigns, but Gibson was a game-changer for many teams. It was made all the more dramatic by a slow start that had Cam Talbot looking like the better pick for more than a month. But Gibson is battling to finish among the top 10 fantasy goaltenders, which followed years of irrelevance on a weak Ducks team.

Fantasy '2012 Draft' Trophy

Finalists: Sam Montembeault, Matvei Michkov, Alex Ovechkin

Winner: Matvei Michkov, RW, Philadelphia Flyers

Picking this year's bust wasn't easy as injuries, slumps, and high expectations all made the list messy. Usually we give out a free pass for prolonged injuries and try to focus on players who were healthy and didn't deliver for fantasy. But there are so many injury-riddled top picks this season that strung us along, we have to at least mention them. From Anthony Stolarz and Adin Hill in the crease, to Neal Pionk and Devon Toews on the blue line, and Jonathan Huberdeau and Anze Kopitar up front, there were a lot of let downs that missed enough time to also be annoying on that front. It was a struggle for fantasy managers in medium-to-deep formats to hold onto these players or just drop them.

We'll note that Ovechkin isn't really a fair nominee, but he reset the bar so high with 2.6 fantasy points per game his record-setting run last season, we can't help but be a little disappointed in a healthy season with 1.8 FPPG. And Montembeault is more about the hindsight results. The Canadiens are going to finish near the top of the standings and Montembeault was their 1A coming into the season. He's going to finish with negative fantasy points.

But the winner has to be Michkov after his rookie showing of 131.8 fantasy points and 1.6 FPPG. He slipped back to an irrelevant 1.2 FPPG this season, reminding us why the phrase sophomore slump exists.

Fantasy Ruler Trophy

Finalists: Avalanche, Winnipeg Jets and Boston Bruins

Winner: Nathan MacKinnon (59.8), Martin Necas (55.5), Artturi Lehkonen (58.1), F, Colorado Avalanche

This award tracks five-on-five fantasy points for forwards only when all three are on the ice together. The idea is that we only consider fantasy points accrued by the forwards on the line and -- and this is the key -- only count them when all three players are on.

It's a tight pack at the top, and any of the three lines could win by the end of the season, though the trio from Winnipeg are at a disadvantage.

The Jets trio of Mark Scheifele, Gabriel Vilardi and Kyle Connor rank second, but also haven't been on the same line in recent games, with Alex Iafallo up in place of Vilardi. This trio has a huge advantage in minutes and took home this award last season, but unless they are reunited, they will probably finish third.

The Bruins second line of Pavel Zacha, Viktor Arvidsson and Casey Mittelstadt is a nice surprise in the race. The heavy lifting for fantasy is being done by Zacha and Arvidsson, as Mittelstadt's 1.2 FPPG isn't even on the radar.

At the top is the combination of MacKinnon, Necas and Lehkonen, with a balanced fantasy contribution from all three when together. They spent chunks of the season apart, but are back together of late.

Fantasy Pocket Hold 'Em Trophy

Finalists: Seattle Kraken, Oilers and Red Wings

Winner: Adam Larsson (91.5), Vince Dunn (64.7), F, Kraken

This is the same award as above, except for blueliners. Again, this is only fantasy points accrued by the players themselves and only when both are on the ice and only when it's five-on-five.

The race is tight, with Simon Edvinsson and Seider only slightly edging out Dobson and Mike Matheson, as well as Joel Edmundson and Brandt Clarke for third nomination. There are enough games left any of this group could push into second place past the Oilers pairing of Mattias Ekholm and Bouchard.

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But in a surprise win -- and a showcase of just how important special teams are to fantasy, since neither of these players are must-roster assets -- its Larsson and Dunn taking the victory on the back of Larsson's shot blocking.

Fantasy Orpik Trophy

Finalists: Jake McCabe, MacKenzie Weegar and Noah Dobson

(Likely) Winner: Jake McCabe, D, Toronto Maple Leafs

Winner: This race is far from settled. After Monday's games, McCabe had 101.4 fantasy points from only hits and blocked shots, while Weegar was at 97.6 and Dobson at 97.2. Martin Fehervary, Seider, Darnell Nurse and Ben Chiarot are all in spitting distance, too. Weegar's game in hand might push him over the top, a fitting finish for last season's finalist. But McCabe just needs to keep up his current pace to maintain his lead. It was an impressive season overall for physical play, with only one player (Chiarot) among the top 10 for hits/blocks fantasy points on pace to finish with fewer than 1.6 fantasy points per game, meaning they were all borderline roster-worthy, which isn't always the case.

There are also some new, young additions to the list that should be fantasy staples for years to come. Mattias Samuelsson, Brandt Clarke, Braden Schneider and Simon Edvinsson all finished in the top 20, though Schneider and Edvinsson need to add some offense to be fantasy targets.

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. 3)

Leo Carlsson, C, Anaheim Ducks (64.5%)
Beckett Sennecke, RW, Anaheim Ducks (57.5%)
Tyler Bertuzzi, LW, Chicago Blackhawks (63.7%)
Darren Raddysh, D, Tampa Bay Lightning (85.0%)
Mattias Samuelsson, D, Buffalo Sabres (82.6%)
Scott Wedgewood, G, Colorado Avalanche (83.4%)

Second-team All-Stars (increase in rostership since Oct. 3)

Pavel Zacha, C/LW, Boston Bruins (42.1%)
Mark Stone, RW, Vegas Golden Knights (49.4%)
Morgan Geekie, C/LW/RW, Boston Bruins (50.3%)
Justin Faulk, D, Detroit Red Wings (65.2%)
Matthew Schaefer, D, New York Islanders (61.5%)
Jesper Wallstedt, G, Minnesota Wild (60.3%)

'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.

Ryan Hartman, C, Minnesota Wild
Shane Pinto, C/RW, Ottawa Senators
Ivan Barbashev, LW, Vegas Golden Knights
Martin Fehervary, D, Washington Capitals
Sean Walker, D, Carolina Hurricanes
Jet Greaves, G, Columbus Blue Jackets

The all-duds team (decrease in rostership since Oct. 3)

Manually excluding players with extended injury issues, these are the most dropped players since the start of the season.

Kent Johnson, C/LW, Columbus Blue Jackets (-31.8%)
Frank Vatrano, LW/RW, Anaheim Ducks (-34.4%)
Matvei Michkov, RW, Philadelphia Flyers (-34.4%)
Neal Pionk, D, Winnipeg Jets (-37.3%)
Devon Toews, D, Colorado Avalanche (-35.1%)
Anthony Stolarz, G, Toronto Maple Leafs (-52.4%)