It's time to pass out the fantasy hardware to the hard-working players of the NHL that made this 2023-24 season so much fun to draft, trade and set our lineups in our fantasy hockey leagues.
Fantasy hardware
Fantasy Art Ross Trophy
Finalists: Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Nikita Kucherov
(Likely) Winner: Nathan MacKinnon, C, Colorado Avalanche
We still have another week and change to play out, but MacKinnon has a commanding enough lead that it's probably safe to call it. Heading into Tuesday's action, he has 280.8 fantasy points, leading Matthews by 13.9 points and Kucherov by 27.2 points. Interestingly, no goalies came close to even being in the mix this season, which is part of a broader trend discussed in this space a couple weeks ago. As it stands, Connor Hellebuyck will be the top tender and he currently sits 20th overall in fantasy points.
Fantasy Hart Trophy
Finalists: Sam Reinhart (62.9 average draft position), Artemi Panarin (89.7 ADP), Sergei Bobrovsky (166.0 ADP)
Winner: Sam Reinhart, F, Florida Panthers
While Reinhart had a pending-UFA season for the ages and Panarin reclaimed his mojo as the top Rangers threat, Bobrovsky had a massive return to form that parlayed out of his sensational playoff performance last season. If you drafted him late and crossed your fingers that his 2023 playoff performance carried over, you were duly rewarded.
Brock Faber nets goal for Wild
Fantasy Calder Trophy
Finalists: Connor Bedard, Brock Faber, Pyotr Kochetkov
Winner: Brock Faber, D, Minnesota Wild
This is an easy decision. While Bedard is exactly as billed as a future fantasy superstar, Faber's emergence as the dominant presence on the Wild blue line in his rookie campaign is arguably more impressive -- and it resulted in more fantasy points. Heading into action Tuesday, Faber has 146.9 fantasy points to Bedard's 128.3. Yes, Bedard missed a bunch of time, but Faber's performance exceeded any per-game advantage Bedard might hold. Kochetkov was an easy third nominee, but wasn't consistent enough to come close to the trophy.
Fantasy Norris Trophy
Finalists: Cale Makar, Roman Josi, MacKenzie Weegar
Winner: MacKenzie Weegar, D, Calgary Flames
This race is too tight to hand out the hardware based on fantasy points alone, as any of the three could finish on top depending on the final few games. But if we mix some expectations into the recipe for the decision, it's Weegar walking away. His ADP of 172.6 shows just how little the fantasy realm collectively expected from him in his second season with the Flames. And it was a fair expectation, as his first season was pretty terrible for fantasy, and the blue line in Calgary was very crowded.
Connor Hellebuyck robs Rangers with save
Fantasy Vezina Trophy
Finalists: Connor Hellebuyck, Thatcher Demko, Sergei Bobrovsky
Winner: Connor Hellebuyck, G, Winnipeg Jets
Three crease-share stars finished atop the fantasy points pile this season, so this decision does come down simply to who earned more fantasy points. Hellebuyck has a strong enough lead to call it, but it would have been a lot closer between him and Demko if the Canucks backstop hadn't hurt himself for the past three weeks.
Fantasy Masterton Trophy
Finalists: Filip Forsberg, MacKenzie Weeger, Ryan O'Reilly
Winner: Filip Forsberg, W, Nashville Predators
The fantasy Masterton is somewhat reflected of the IRL trophy in that it represents a comeback from a pure fantasy perspective. Forsberg has had an amazing turnaround to his fantasy trends. While he did miss 32 games in the 2022-23 season, he managed only 101.8 fantasy points with 2.04 FPPG. He currently sits on 213.3 fantasy points and 2.73 FPPG.
Fantasy 2012 Draft Trophy
Finalists: Tage Thompson (14.4 ADP), Erik Karlsson (23.5 ADP), Pierre-Luc Dubois (59.8 ADP)
Winner: Pierre-Luc Dubois, C, Los Angeles Kings
This award is named for the 2012 draft in which we saw Nail Yakupov, Ryan Murray and Alex Galchenyuk as the top-three picks and it's a dubious honor to receive as it signals draft bust. And this dubious honor can easily go to Dubois. Thompson and Karlsson were massive disappointments versus the high-end investment you needed for them in drafts, but they were still mostly useable in your lineup all season. Dubois, until recently, wasn't startable in almost any fantasy league regardless of depth. He has come on a little at the end, but it's not enough to make up for the months of minimal value.
Fantasy Ruler Trophy
Finalists: Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, Colorado Avalanche
Winner: Filip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly, Gustav Nyquist, F, Nashville Predators
Like rulers, drawing up a solid line is just what good NHL teams do. I went way overboard on determining this year's winner of the award. This isn't subjective this season, this is data. Using play-by-play data, I calculated how many fantasy points were earned by the three members of a line anytime all three were on the ice together -- and only when all three were on the ice. So, this isn't even just strength and this isn't just goals, this is total fantasy points the players earned while playing with each other only.
For example, Forsberg, O'Reilly and Nyquist, the winners here, have 496.7 combined individual fantasy points this season as of the morning of April 5. Of those fantasy points, they have collected 334.5 while all on the ice together (121 from goals, 110.5 from assists, 46.7 from shots, 11.8 from hits and 44.5 from blocked shots). The rest of their fantasy points have come when at least one of them were on the bench.
Because we are counting all strengths, this was a close race. The seldom-used trio at five on five of Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point finished second thanks to the Bolts power play, with a total of 323.3 fantasy points together. Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz, who spend every waking moment together on the ice, finished third with 321.25 fantasy points together (of their 454.5 individual totals).
Some other top trios included: Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl (309.15); Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Jonathan Drouin (304.1); Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky (264.1); Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy (250.25); and Mason Marchment, Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin (243.5).
Fantasy Orpik Trophy
Finalists: Moritz Seider, MacKenzie Weegar and Brayden McNabb
Winner: Moritz Seider, D, Detroit Red Wings
Named after a player that almost had 300 hits and 200 blocked shots in a season, this award goes to the player with the most fantasy points generated from these physical plays alone. Seider has the edge heading into the final stretch, but this is a very close race that could also be won by Colton Parayko, Matt Roy, Nick Seeler or Jacob Trouba. In fact, Trouba, last year's winner, would almost certainly have taken the crown again if he hadn't missed 13 games.
Fantasy all-stars
The all-star teams below are mostly driven by how much a player's value changed from September to now. I like to include them to showcase some of the players that don't get as many fantasy headlines or may not even be considered by some fantasy managers -- but they have generated enough fantasy value this season to have been on your team. And should maybe get some consideration for next season.
First team all-stars
Nick Bjugstad, C, Arizona Coyotes (current rank, 164; September rank, 465)
Philipp Kurashev, LW, Chicago Blackhawks (current rank, 193; September rank, 480)
Blake Coleman, RW, Calgary Flames (current rank, 80; September rank, 406)
Artem Zub, D, Ottawa Senators (current rank, 230; September rank, 454)
Alec Martinez, D, Vegas Golden Knights (current rank, 188; September rank, 366)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G, Buffalo Sabres (current rank, 159; September rank, not ranked)
Second team all-stars
Ryan O'Reilly, C, Nashville Predators (current rank, 74; September rank, 421)
Bryan Rust, RW, Pittsburgh Penguins (current rank, 138; September rank, 354)
Jake Neighbours, LW, St. Louis Blues (current rank, 145; September rank, 446)
Ilya Lyubushkin, D, Toronto Maple Leafs (current rank, 216; September rank, 434)
Mario Ferraro, D, San Jose Sharks (current rank, 109; September rank, 315)
Joey Daccord, G, Seattle Kraken (current rank, 188; September rank, not ranked)
"Where's the love?" all-stars
This team of fantasy all-stars is still available in at least one-third of ESPN leagues.
Charlie Coyle, C, Boston Bruins (current rank, 88; 39.8% available)
Gustav Nyquist, RW, Nashville Predators (current rank, 93; 52.5% available)
Trevor Moore, LW, Los Angeles Kings (current rank, 81; 33.5% available)
Matt Roy, D, Los Angeles Kings (current rank, 67; 33.6% available)
Thomas Harley, D, Dallas Stars (current rank, 82; 36.2% available)
Jordan Binnington, G, St. Louis Blues (current rank, 117; 40.2% available)
The all-duds team
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, C, Edmonton Oilers (current rank, 268; September rank, 48)
Alex DeBrincat, LW, Detroit Red Wings (current rank, 107; September rank, 62)
Elias Lindholm, RW, Vancouver Canucks (current rank, 314; September rank, 63)
Erik Karlsson, D, Pittsburgh Penguins (current rank, 119; September rank, 20)
Adam Larsson, D, Seattle Kraken (current rank, 161; September rank, 71)
Ilya Sorokin, G, New York Islanders (current rank, 229; September rank, 10)