Your fantasy hockey team is the same as an NHL team. While you need your elite players to perform, it's your late-round draft picks that will win you the championship.

There are players you can draft in the later rounds that produce better than a third-round pick. Trading for a player because you have a hunch that he will finally break out and witness it happen. Nabbing someone off the waiver wire after a hot start in the hopes he can keep it up. All these will help lead to a successful season.

We've spent the last couple of weeks looking at disappointing players, but there were plenty of shocking players as well. Several players went undrafted in a majority of leagues but wound up in the top 10 in their positions.

Here are 10 of the top surprises of this past season.

10. Justin Faulk

Faulk may not seem like an obvious pick for this list, but hear me out. He doesn't produce like he once did, but he's a better all-around player for fantasy purposes. This season, he finished as the 15th-ranked defenseman in Yahoo leagues, despite being the 44th defenseman selected on average. Drafted in only six per cent of Yahoo leagues, he was rostered in 65 per cent by the end of the season. He finished with an 82-game pace of 37 points, the fourth-highest of his career. His plus-11 was a career-high. His 35 PIM comes out to 0.63 PIM per game, tied for the highest of his career. He averaged 2.27 hits per game, easily the highest mark he's ever reached. His 1.55 blocked shots per game were also a career high. Faulk has quietly become a 35-point player who is a threat for 175 shots, 200 hits and 150 blocked shots.

9. Mike Reilly

Every once in a while, a player comes out of nowhere as a complete surprise before going back to his usual production the following year. Reilly could be this year's version of that player. Although he had zero goals, his 27 assists were enough for a 40-point pace over 82 games. Averaging 1.8 shots per game to go along with 70 hits and 43 blocked shots were enough to make him fantasy relevant, although his four power-play points were less than half what he had a year ago. It will be interesting to see what role he has next year. An unrestricted free agent, will someone be willing to give him the opportunity as a top-four defenseman, or will he be a depth option who is often a healthy scratch like he was in every season before this year?

8. Joe Pavelski

Written off last offseason, Pavelski managed to get back to his regular production. From 2013-14 to 2018-19, he averaged an 82-game pace of 35 goals and 72 points. His first year in Dallas was awful, as he put up a 38-point pace. Pavelski proved last year was an anomaly, and his 25 goals and 51 points in 56 games equalled an 82-game pace of 37 goals and 75 points. His ice time was back up to 19 minutes a game and his shot per game rate was back up to 2.5. He's back to being the old Pavelski.

7. Jason Robertson

While Kirill Kaprizov was a pre-season candidate for the Calder trophy, not as many people expected Robertson to also contend. He didn't appear on some betting lines until the start of April and was excluded from many pre-season Calder lists. Robertson was one of the best rookies this past season with 17 goals and 45 points in 51 games. Pro-rated to 82 games, that's 27 goals and 72 points. I think one of the things that hurt his Calder contention was that Dallas had quite a few postponed games at the start of the season, so Robertson was always playing catchup in the Calder points race.

6. Jakob Chychrun

Truthfully, it wouldn’t be surprising if Chychrun is a top-five fantasy defenseman next season. He’s pretty much a player that can contribute in every category. His 18 goals led the league for dmen, while his 41 points put him in the top 10. He was one of only three defensemen to have at least 30 points and 40 PIM. His 176 shots were second. He had 14 power-play points, which was impressive considering he wasn’t the top guy on the PP all season. He’s also good for a hit per game and may challenge for 100 blocked shots next season.

5. Mike Smith

Smith was drafted in only two per cent of Yahoo leagues. Thomas Greiss, Casey DeSmith, Carter Hutton and Malcolm Subban were drafted in more leagues than Smith. His low draft percentage meant Smith was one of the players most plucked off the waiver wire, rostered in 79 per cent of Yahoo leagues by the end of the season. After an awful postseason a year ago, most fantasy general managers had given up on the 39-year-old, but Smith put up an excellent season, finishing with a 21-6-2 record to go along with three shutouts, 2.31 GAA and a .923 SV%. His number of wins could have been higher, but Mikko Koskinen started 12 of the Oilers' first 13 games.

4. Kevin Lankinen

Since goaltenders are the hardest position to figure out for fantasy hockey, you could truthfully come up with a top 10 list of all the surprising netminders each season. Lankinen's value largely depends on your league settings, but he was good to great in many leagues. If your league doesn't count losses, his 17 wins were higher than Robin Lehner, Frederik Andersen, Tuukka Rask and Carey Price. His 1,095 saves were third-highest, trailing only Connor Hellebuyck and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Lankinen was drafted in two per cent of Yahoo leagues, so any type of value was a shocker.

3. Mackenzie Weegar

Although Aaron Ekblad was Weegar's most frequent linemate, it wasn't until the former went down with a season-ending injury that the latter shone. Compare the before and after numbers:

Before Ekblad's injury: 35 games, 19 points, plus-12, 37 PIM, 60 shots, 79 hit, 43 blocked shots, zero power-play points, four seconds power-play time per night

After Ekblad's injury: 19 games, 17 points, plus-17, 8 PIM, 41 shots, 39 hits, 40 blocked shots, three power-play points, 1:01 power-play time per night

While he was having an okay campaign before, his overall numbers are skewed thanks to his end-of-the-season heroics. Enjoy what you just saw, but don't expect a repeat of an 82-game pace of 55 points next year.

2. Alex Nedeljkovic

What a wild ride it was for Nedeljkovic. A couple of years ago, he was the Canes goalie of the future. Last summer, everyone was talking about how Daniil Tarasov was the best Carolina prospect netminder. Nedeljkovic was waived before the season started and went unclaimed. It wasn’t until Petr Mrazek and James Reimer were injured that Ned was finally given his opportunity. He finished with a 15-5-3 record with three shutouts, a 1.90 GAA and a .932 SV%. Despite playing only 23 games, Ned still finished as a top 10 netminder in Yahoo pools, despite being drafted in almost zero of them. A true zero to hero.

1. Carter Verhaeghe

Whoever says they predicted Verhaeghe to have this type of season is a liar. The 25-year-old was only taken in the deepest of fantasy leagues, especially after last season when he had 13 points in 52 games with the Lightning while averaging 9:22 per night. While Verhaeghe was excellent in the AHL over the years, the Panthers brass must have seen something in him. They put him on a line with Aleksander Barkov and sat back to watch the magic happen. Verhaeghe finished the season with 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games.