Fantasy Hockey Mock Draft 2025: Top Picks & Strategies

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. The key to success on draft day is adaptability. Your league mates are going to do unexpected things, and you need to be able to read and react to that. Our roster from the No. 3 position last season included hits such as Connor Hellebuyck (Rd. 3), Zach Werenski (Rd. 10) and Jake Sanderson (Rd. 12). Below is a rough idea of what a potential fantasy hockey roster could look like for the 2025-26 season using Yahoo's early average draft position. (Note: For the sake of this exercise, we were awarded the No. 6 overall selection in a 12-team league)

Center: Brayden Point (2nd Round, 19th overall)

Center: Mathew Barzal (12th Round, 139th overall)

Left Wing: Kirill Kaprizov (1st Round, 6th overall)

Left Wing: Matthew Knies (8th Round, 91st overall)

Right Wing: Kirill Marchenko (10th Round, 115th overall)

Right Wing: Dylan Guenther (11th Round, 126th overall)

Defense: Josh Morrissey (4th Round, 43rd overall)

Defense: Adam Fox (5th Round, 54th overall)

Defense: Moritz Seider (6th Round, 67th overall)

Defense: Charlie McAvoy (9th Round, 102nd overall)

Goalie: Igor Shesterkin (3rd Round, 30th overall)

Goalie: Jacob Markstrom (7th Round, 78th overall)

2025-26 Fantasy Hockey Mock Draft Strategy

Take advantage of last season's injuries: This is probably the easiest and most foolproof way to gain an advantage over the competition on draft day. Both Barzal and McAvoy missed a ton of time last season due to injury, and McAvoy, especially, would be a candidate to go a round or two higher had they simply made it through the 2045-25 campaign in one piece. Neither is dealing with anything that would be considered a long-term ailment, making both value plays at their current draft position.

Look for value with your second goalie pick: I'm a firm believer in doing whatever is possible to secure at least one stud goaltender in your draft. There simply aren't enough of them to go around, and having one on your roster is a huge advantage. From there, you can afford to wait it out and see whoever might plummet in your draft. I have no great attachment to Markstrom, but he's locked in as a No. 1 guy for a solid New Jersey team that will presumably have better health than a year ago.

Try to have the core of your defensive group in place by the middle rounds: Most of the fantasy value for rearguards comes as the result of power-play production. The guys that are projected to be amongst the top defensemen in scoring are almost always there at the end of the season. It's exceedingly rare to find a guy who isn't projected for a big power-play role early in the year to steal that spot over time. It's a simple case of supply and demand. There are more scoring forwards to go around than defenders. Most of these guys that will truly help your fantasy squad are gone by the middle rounds. Make sure you don't end up on the outside looking in when all is said and done.

Keep in mind players that are ticketed for a bigger role: Important players move on from one team to another every single season. Take Mitch Marner, for example. He left the Maple Leafs after the better part of a decade in Toronto and is off to Vegas. Well, Marner's 27 goals and 102 points, or at least a good chunk of them, are going to have to come from somewhere. Enter, Knies, who signed a six-year, $46.5 million extension in late June and is looking at a massively increased role. If he produces at the rate the Leafs expect, there's zero chance he'll be available in Round 8 of drafts next fall.

Take the worst-case scenario into consideration: Adrian Kempe is one of the best goal scorers in the NHL. He'll also be a pending unrestricted free agent next summer, and if things go as poorly from a team standpoint and the two parties can't agree on a contract, the Kings could look to trade him. He might end up in a less fantasy-friendly situation. Is it likely? No, but it's possible. Youngsters like Marchenko and Guenther are locked into massive roles on their teams and, at age 25 and 22, respectively, are going nowhere.  

Highlight the obvious bounce-back candidates before your draft: On the above team, Shesterkin and Fox fall into that category. Igor is just 29 years old and has been by far one of the best goaltenders in the league for the last several seasons. He's at no risk of an age-related decline, and the team should be better under the tutelage of Mike Sullivan and with the addition of Vladislav Gavrikov on defense. Fox's "down season" a year ago resulted in 61 points, including 18 with the man advantage, in 74 games. He's just 27 years old. If the discount on both is even a round because of last year's struggles, hop in aggressively. There are situations like this all around the NHL, but you must make note of them before your draft to take advantage.

Rostering players that can provide BOTH hits and scoring is a huge advantage: Back in the day, the players that led the NHL in hits typically brought no offense to the table. That's no longer the case. Guys like Seider (8 goals, 46 points, 212 hits) and Brady Tkachuk (29 goals, 55 points, 228 hits) cost a pretty penny on draft day, but both are multi-category contributors. The same goes for guys like Kiefer Sherwood (19 goals, 40 points, 462 hits), Mathieu Olivier (18 goals, 32 points, 306 hits), Will Cuylle (20 goals, 45 points, 301 hits), and Eeli Tolvanen (23 goals, 35 points, 237 hits). It may not seem like a huge deal on the surface, but I promise you those extra 15-20 goals and 25-35 points are going to make a difference when all is said and done.