Last week, Yahoo! opened its NHL fantasy website, which gives many fantasy hockey general managers a great option to get a glimpse of how the fantasy general public feels about certain players. 

Maybe the best aspect of Yahoo fantasy is its mock drafts. This gives you a chance to see where players are ranked in basic Yahoo leagues (which composes of goals, assists, plus/minus, power-play points, shots and hits for forwards and defensemen, and wins, goals against average, save percentage and shutouts for netminders).

Some years, it’s an easy choice to see which players are ranked too low. When I wrote this column last year (Top 10 Players Ranked Too Low on Yahoo), I had Jack Hughes listed as my top choice. His average draft position was 93.6, and I wrote that “In eight months from now, Hughes will be that player that we all wondered why we didn't take him in the top two rounds … He's poised to become an elite player, but he's not being treated as one in fantasy drafts.”

Why was his average draft position so low? All too often, fantasy GMs will use the Yahoo rankings as a guide to their picks. Yahoo has three rankings: Average draft position, which won’t be available until enough drafts have taken place; their expert ranking; and one based on league settings using their projections.

However, if you’re willing to scour the rankings ahead of time, you can get a sense of which players might be ranked too low and too high. 

This is where mock drafts are key. Not only can you see what other fantasy general managers are thinking, but even if you join a mock draft with no other participants, you can use it to look through the rankings. It’s also good to get a familiarity with position eligibility to see if that changes your own personal rankings. Hughes, for example, has the dual eligibility of center and left wing, whereas Tage Thompson can only slot into the center spot.

Below are 10 players who are ranked too low in both Yahoo’s rank based on league settings and expert rank. 

10. Blake Wheeler

The only downside to Wheeler’s season this year will be his salary. At such a low salary of $800,000, any struggles could more easily lead to a demotion to the third line than if he was still being paid millions of dollars. Wheeler isn’t as proficient at hitting as he once was, but I’m wondering if a move to a new team will ramp up the physicality again, as it does to many players who want to prove something to coaches and new teammates. And while he did put up a 63-point pace last year, his lowest in almost a decade, Wheeler should be on a top line with either Mika Zibanejad or Artemi Panarin, so don’t count out a return to a mid-70s point pace. Regardless, he should be ranked higher than 156th by the expert ranking and 232nd by league settings.

9. Jamie Drysdale

I’ve written about Drysdale quite a bit over the past month (Top 10 Long-Term Players Who Didn't Make the Guide and Top 10 Potential Fourth-Year Breakouts for 2023-24). If I were doing an early draft, say, one that took place before the start of the preseason, I would move Drysdale up my list (883rd in the expert rank, 448 by league settings) with the hopes that he will be given the reins to the top power-play unit instead of Cam Fowler. Drysdale only played eight games a year ago thanks to a shoulder injury, but I’d definitely be snagging him over other defensemen such as Mikey Anderson, Dylan DeMelo, Will Borgen, Mattias Samuelsson, Connor Clifton and a host of others that are ranked ahead of Drysdale. 

8. Josh Norris

There’s an influx of great centers, but the winger positions see a bigger drop off in talent earlier, so it’s not surprising to see centers ranked lower. However, Norris’s stock shouldn’t be as low as 776th by the expert rank and 275th by league settings. He was limited to eight games last year, but Norris will be back in a top-six role this year. Two years ago, he had 55 points in 66 games, although that was alongside Brady Tkachuk on the top line. He’ll have to usurp Tim Stutzle to get back to that spot, so he’ll more likely get the second-line role. That still puts him at a higher position than his rankings suggest. 

7. Dawson Mercer

It’s always fun to “reach” on a player right before he has that big breakout season. Think of those who snagged Josh Morrissey a year ago. Mercer has the opportunity to be that guy this season. He is set for the top-six, and could be on the top line with Jack Hughes (that spot will go to either Mercer or Tyler Toffoli), although he could be relegated to the second power-play unit. The 21-year-old Mercer’s stock takes a bit of a hit when it comes to the hits category (which might explain why he’s ranked 128th in the expert rank and 160th by league settings), but he should see career highs in everything else.

6. Cole Caufield

Yahoo’s projections for Caufield seem to be too low (the expert rank has him at 227, while the league settings have him at 281), unless Yahoo expects him to spend a significant amount of time on the IR. Last season, Caufield had 26 goals in 46 games, which amounts to a 46-goal pace. He also averaged 3.4 shots per game. Yahoo is projecting Caufield to finish with 31 goals and 197 shots, which seems low considering what we know he can accomplish. They’re also projecting him for only 15 power-play points, which is only five more than the 10 he had a year ago. We know Caufield might struggle with hits and plus/minus, but should make up for it in the other categories. 

5. Stuart Skinner

Goalies are a fickle lot, so much so that many fantasy general managers will not entertain the thought of choosing a goalie in the first 100 or so picks. Look at some of the netminders ranked ahead of Skinner. Would you feel more comfortable with Tristan Jarry, Darcy Kuemper or Jeremy Swayman, who are all ahead of Skinner based on league settings? What about Frederik Andersen, Sergei Bobrovsky, Devon Levi, Marc-Andre Fleury or Pytor Kochetkov, all of whom are ranked higher on the experts list? Skinner has to fight off Jack Campbell for starts, but Skinner outperformed Campbell tremendously last year. You should expect Skinner to be the Oilers’ top netminder by the time fantasy playoffs rolls around and rack up plenty of victories.

4. Jonathan Huberdeau

Huberdeau was a disaster his first year in Calgary, dropping to 55 points from 115 the previous year. But much of his drop could be chalked up to coaching. His ice time was down 2:30 per contest, his linemate usage was messed up and he was shifted to right wing after spending most of his career playing on the left side. New coach Ryan Huska should fix all of those issues. Huberdeau is a player who had at least a 90-point pace and a minimum of 24 power-play points for four straight seasons before last year. He did not magically forget how to produce. Expect him to become at least close to an elite player again this season, and should easily outperform his expert rank of 158 and his league settings rank of 83.

3. Tyler Bertuzzi

If you rank the players by the expert list, you’ll find Bertuzzi all the way down at 480. If you sort it by rank based on league settings, he’s at 160. Both are too low. This is a player who, two years ago, had 30 goals and 62 points in 68 games. Last season, after struggling at the start of the campaign, he was dealt to Boston and put up 16 points in 21 regular season games, followed by 10 points in seven postseason contests. Now he’s in Toronto, where he seems poised to be locked in a top-six role, if not on the top line with Auston Matthews. It would not be shocking to see Bertuzzi reach the 70-point plateau for the first time, and he should also reach a career-high in plus-minus, which would his give his overall value a nice boost. 

2. Zach Werenski

Werenski seems like the man that everyone has forgotten about, as evidenced by his Yahoo ranking. He’s at 774th spot in the expert ranking, and 291st in the league settings ranking. After injuries limited him to 13 games last year, Werenski is expected to be back in the lineup at the start of this season. What can we expect? Well, he’s been the clear-cut preference for the top power-play unit ever since he joined the league in 2016-17. He had eight points in those 13 games last year, which was still a 50-point pace. He averages more than three shots per night and will play at least 24 minutes per contest. There’s also no immediate threat to his usage this year. If he can stay healthy (a big if), you can expect him to finish as a 50-point defenseman. 

1. Evan Bouchard

He still hasn’t signed with Edmonton, but you have to expect the two sides to get a deal done by the time the puck drops on opening night. Bouchard’s value should be sky-high, and there’s not a fantasy statistic he won’t contribute to. He could finish top five in points as a defenseman, he’ll rack up power-play points, a high plus/minus and could reach 200 shots. In Yahoo, he’s the 14th-ranked defenseman by the expert ranking (127th overall), and 16th by league settings (100th overall). With the way goal scoring has been increasing, Bouchard could reach the 70-point plateau.