The best of the best in the current forward class have cleanly set themselves apart from the rest, but the difference between elite and great, then great and good, gets blurrier the further down you go. To help you better sort through your options up front, I've separated forwards into tiers. What you'll find below is meant to be representative of each forward's expected value for 2026-27 assuming standard fantasy categories. There's nuance within each tier, and I'll go into that while evaluating each tier below:
Tier 1 – Cream of the Crop
Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon
McDavid, Kucherov and MacKinnon finished first, second and third in regular-season points last year, and no other player was particularly close. On top of that, each of them surpassed the 40-goal mark. Of course, they're not just at the top of the list for having amazing 2025-26 campaigns. Combining the past five regular seasons, they rank in the top three for league scoring, with McDavid leading the pack at an eye-popping 646 points in 387 outings. These three also represent the three most recent Hart Trophy winners among forwards (goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is the only other player to win the Hart in the past four years). They're all also still in their prime, with only Kucherov creeping towards the end of it after turning 33 in June. Getting any of these three on your team would be an amazing starting point.
Tier 2 – Plenty of Hart
Macklin Celebrini, David Pastrnak, Leon Draisaitl
For each member of this trio, there is only the smallest reason to exclude them from Tier 1. Draisaitl was limited to 65 regular-season outings in 2025-26, which brought an end to his run of four straight campaigns with at least 40 goals and 100 points. Pastrnak hit the century mark for the fourth straight campaign, but his goal scoring dipped to 29, which marked the first time he finished below 40 since 2018-19 and 30 since 2015-16, excluding the shortened 2020-21 campaign. Meanwhile, Celebrini broke out with 45 goals and 115 points in 82 outings last season, but for as much promise as he has, he's still not quite as established as McDavid, Kucherov and MacKinnon. Nevertheless, if anyone in Tier 2 ended up winning the Hart, no one would be shocked. The risk in Tier 2 is slightly higher, but the offensive upside is comparable to Tier 1.
Tier 3A – The Elite
Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Martin Necas, Jason Robertson, Kirill Kaprizov, Mikko Rantanen, Jake Guentzel, Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther
If you end up having to wait until late in the first round for your opening pick, then you'll probably miss out on everyone from Tiers 1 and 2. Fortunately, there's a lot to love in Tier 3. You could even potentially snatch both of Winnipeg's Connor and Scheifele, or at least two-thirds of Montreal's Suzuki, Caufield and Slafkovsky. I think Montreal's top line is going to be phenomenal this year, in no small part because I anticipate Slafkovsky to continue to elevate his game, so investing in part or all of that trio would be a high priority of mine. Necas is another strong option. He's coming off a 38-goal, 100-point 2025-26 regular season and is a strong bet to put up a similar return this year as long as he remains paired with MacKinnon. If I had to pick someone I'm less enthused about, it's Keller. He's ranged from 26-37 goals as well as 76-90 points in each of the past four regular seasons, and that high-end consistency is worthy of respect. However, his highs aren't quite as high as others in this Tier, and at the age of 28, that's unlikely to change. If you want a safe bet, he's good, but I'd take him after the other options on this Tier have been exhausted.
Tier 3B – Elite…when healthy
Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, Connor Bedard, Sidney Crosby, Mark Stone, Aleksander Barkov, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk, Brad Marchand
Let's take a moment to appreciate that four members of the Panthers are in this tier. No one is going to argue with the potential of Florida, but those who are measuring the Panthers against what they look like at 100 percent might be falling into a trap, because history suggests they won't have many occasions where their core is completely healthy. Barkov missed all of 2025-26, of course, but he also hasn't reached the 75-game mark in any regular season since 2018-19. Brady Tkachuk has missed 32 regular-season outings over the past two years, and his older brother Matthew has fared far worse, missing 81 regular-season games over the same span. Then there's Marchand, who was limited to 52 outings last year and is hard to rely on to stay healthy at the age of 38. Getting up there in age is the same reason Crosby is here. Although he was limited to 68 regular-season appearances in 2025-26, he has otherwise been fairly healthy in recent years. Even still, he's 39 years old now, so it might be too much to hope for an almost completely uninterrupted campaign.
Tier 4 – Almost Amazing
Wyatt Johnston, Matt Boldy, Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond, Artemi Panarin, Tim Stutzle, Tage Thompson, Sebastian Aho, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Mika Zibanejad, Filip Forsberg, Brandon Hagel, Jesper Bratt, Robert Thomas, Tom Wilson
There is nothing wrong with the forwards in this tier. Far from it. All of them can reach or exceed a point per game and would look great on any team's top line. However, at this point, you're not looking at anyone who is entering the season with a great shot at capturing the Hart or leading the league in goals or points. Panarin is a great example of that. At his height, he would belong at least one Tier above this group, but at the age of 34 (35 on Oct. 30), he's more of a forward you can bank on for about 30 goals and 80 points. If Panarin is the norm for this tier, Thompson and Johnston are arguably the two most undervalued. Johnston finished the 2025-26 regular season with 45 goals and 86 points and is still just 23 years old, so it's not unreasonable to believe 2026-27 will be even better. However, his 21.8 shooting percentage was a major jump for him and a potential warning sign, which is why I didn't list him among the elites. Meanwhile, Thompson has reached the 40-goal mark in three of the past four campaigns, but his point total isn't quite elite. He also tends not to get many power-play goals -- he finished below double-digits in each of the past three years -- which is a bit of a knock on him from a fantasy perspective compared to other high-end goal scorers. Also note that Wilson is an outlier here for a different reason. He won't match anyone else in this tier in terms of points, but his mix of physicality and skill is highly desirable, especially in leagues that use PIM as a category.
Tier 5A – Great with upside
Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke, Matthew Knies, Trevor Zegras, Matvei Michkov, Seth Jarvis, Ivan Demidov, Adam Fantilli, Will Smith, William Eklund, Dylan Holloway, Jimmy Snuggerud, Logan Cooley
I didn't feel quite comfortable enough to put any of these young players in Tier 4, but they certainly have enough upside to get there if everything goes their way. Take Anaheim's top three forwards of Gauthier, Carlsson and Sennecke as an example. That trio was a meaningful step below Montreal's top three last year, but with Gauthier being the youngest of the three at 22, there is a chance Anaheim ends up with what the Canadiens have today in the not-too-distant future. Speaking of the Canadiens, their embarrassment of riches continues with Demidov. He had 19 goals and 62 points as a rookie during the 2025-26 regular season while averaging an okay 15:30 of ice time. It's reasonable to believe his playing time will increase along with his offense this year. A jump in scoring is plausible across the board with this group, but keep in mind that what you're gaining in upside, you're paying for with increased risk.
Tier 5B – Great Veterans
Kirill Marchenko, Adrian Kempe, Mathew Barzal, Drake Batherson, Nikolaj Ehlers, Andrei Svechnikov, Morgan Geekie, Gabriel Vilardi, Travis Konecny, Dylan Larkin, Alex Tuch, Nico Hischier, Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Strome, Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck, Brayden Point, Roope Hintz
None of these forwards are a great bet to sustain a point-per-game pace, but some of them might flirt with that under a best-case scenario, and most of them should end up with at least 70-ish points. However, there is a lot of variance in this tier from a risk perspective. A year or two ago, Point would have likely been part of that Tier 4 group, but he's coming off a tough campaign in which he had 18 goals and 50 points in 63 regular-season games. Still, he had 42-51 goals and 82-95 points in each regular season from 2022-23 through 2024-25, so there's some interesting buy-low potential here. If you want someone safer, Kempe fills that role. He's missed just 13 regular-season outings over the past nine campaigns, so you can't ask for much better in terms of health, and he's recorded at least 28 goals and 73 points in each of the past three years. It's also worth highlighting Marchenko, who only turned 26 in July, and was consequently borderline between putting him in Tier 5A with the upside group and 5B with the veterans. Either way, Marchenko is looking like a strong pickup after recording 27 goals and 67 points in 76 regular-season appearances last year.
Tier 5C – Great…but how much is left in the tank?
Ryan O'Reilly, John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Mats Zuccarello, Nazem Kadri, Matt Duchene
When it comes to forwards within the Tier 5 family, I'd leave these until the end because they're the highest risk. Tavares is a good example of why. He's coming off a strong campaign in which he scored 31 goals and 71 points in 82 regular-season outings, which marked the third time in four years he's hit the 30-goal mark and the fourth time in five that he's reached the 70-point milestone. However, he's going into his age-36 campaign, so at this point, a drop-off wouldn't be shocking. Stamkos is perhaps the most interesting player on this list: He's coming off a resurgent regular season in which he had 42 goals and 66 points, but Stamkos is also 36, so it remains to be seen if that was his last big hurrah.
Tier 6 – Simply Solid
Patrick Kane, Elias Pettersson, Pavel Dorofeyev, Brock Nelson, Pavel Zacha, Bryan Rust, Ivan Barbashev, Dylan Cozens, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett, Tomas Hertl, Charlie Coyle, Troy Terry, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Luke Evangelista, Josh Doan, Jack Quinn, Viktor Arvidsson, Aliaksei Protas, Zach Hyman, Matty Beniers, Rickard Rakell, Collin Graf, Jordan Kyrou, Frank Nazar
It feels weird listing Kane on a tier this low, but you'd also have to go back to 2021-22 for the last time he reached the 60-point mark, albeit in part due to injuries. Of course, Kane will also turn 38 years old in November, so the fact that he isn't putting up the numbers he used to isn't a big deal. But what about Pettersson? There was a time when he seemed to be someone who would settle into Tier 3 or even better, but he's averaged just 57 points per 82 games over the past two regular seasons. Maybe he's a good buy-low candidate. Hyman might be too. He didn't look impressive in 2024-25, and injuries held him back in 2025-26, but as long as he continues to get opportunities alongside McDavid, the chances of Hyman hitting 40 goals remain. Perhaps Hyman or Pettersson or someone else in their tier will end up being one of 2026-27's pleasant surprises, but most will probably end up in the range of 50-60 points.
Tier 7 – Rounding Out Your Roster
Alexis Lafreniere, Jackson Blake, Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi, Jordan Eberle, Alexander Wennberg, Ryan McLeod, Anthony Cirelli, Owen Tippett, Joel Eriksson Ek, Christian Dvorak, Chris Kreider, Quinton Byfield, Tyler Toffoli, Valeri Nichushkin, Chandler Stephenson, Claude Giroux, Brock Boeser, Pavel Buchnevich, Artturi Lehkonen, Taylor Hall, Elias Lindholm, JJ Peterka, Noah Cates, Shane Pinto
As the category title suggests, at this point you're just trying to fill out the rest of your roster. There are still some players with upside here. Lafreniere had 24 goals and 57 points in 82 regular-season outings last year. That matched his career high in terms of point total, which isn't great compared to what was initially expected of the 2020 first overall pick. Still, he's not too old (25 on Oct. 11), so maybe he'll find another level to his game. Meanwhile, Mantha did really well in 2025-26 compared to other forwards in this tier, finishing the regular season with 33 goals and 64 points in 81 outings. That was a significant jump for the 31-year-old (32 on Sept. 16), so some regression is anticipated, but there's always a chance he'll be able to maintain his recent success. Finally, you might also want to take Blake before most others in this group. His upside isn't amazing, but he's still just going into his age-23 campaign after posting a solid 22 goals and 53 points in 81 regular-season appearances last year.
Bonus – The Rookies
Gavin McKenna, Ivar Stenberg, Roman Kantserov, Porter Martone, James Hagens, Anton Frondell, Konsta Helenius, Ilya Protas, Tij Iginla, Victor Eklund
Drafting a player with no NHL experience is always going to be a risk, but there is a good chance you'd be happy if you took McKenna with the belief that he can provide you with about 60 points in 2026-27. The 18-year-old is already comfortable playing against those older than him after scoring 15 goals and 51 points in 35 freshman appearances with Penn State University last year. He's also likely to get an opportunity to start his career in a top-six capacity, potentially alongside Matthews. Stenberg, who was taken second overall, just after McKenna, in the 2026 draft, is a strong choice too. Like McKenna, Stenberg has experience competing against his elders after scoring 11 goals and 33 points in 43 regular-season outings with Frolunda of the Swedish league in 2025-26. If there's one thing holding Stenberg back, it's that San Jose is already loaded with young, skilled forwards, so there's a higher chance that he begins his NHL journey in a limited capacity. Looking beyond the 2026 draft class, Martone is well positioned to compete for the Calder. He's imposing at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, plays with an edge, and he's coming off a fantastic 2025-26 campaign in which he had 25 goals, 50 points and 78 PIM in 35 appearances with Michigan State University, followed by another four goals, 10 points, six PIM and 16 hits in nine regular-season appearances with the Flyers. McKenna, Stenberg and Martone are your best bets to draft if you're in a standard 12-team league, but every member of this group is at very least worth keeping an eye on.
