Any time the calendar flips over to a new year, it’s always fun to look back at some of the best fantasy performances from the previous year.

Maybe the craziest thing about 2023 is that there weren’t many awesome fantasy performances compared to 2022. There wasn’t a Tage Thompson-type game, where he scored four goals in a period. There was no seven-point night, like what Nick Schmaltz had in 2022. There was no 52-save shutout, similar to Casey Desmith during the fantasy playoffs of 2022.

In 2022, there were six games of at least six points. Last year, there were two. In 2022, there were two five-goal games. In 2023, zero.

To determine the best fantasy performances, we’re going to look at production across numerous fantasy categories, not just points. Mitch Marner, for example, had a five-assist night against Buffalo last February, but had only one power-play point and zero shots. That game did not make this list.

Goalies are in the same boat as you can’t just look at the number of saves and whether the goalie picked up the victory. Is a 53-save win by Andrei Vasilevskiy where he gave up four goals a better fantasy game than a 13-save shutout by Alexander Georgiev? Or is it better than a 35-save, one-goal-against game by Karel Vejmelka? Depending on your league categories, the Vasilevskiy game may be the third option of the three, even though it’s an extraordinary number of saves.

Before we move on to the list, a few honorable mentions:

Connor Hellebuyck: 50 saves in a win on February 20, the only goalie with fewer than two goals against and at least 50 saves in a victory.

Evgeni Malkin: Two assists, one power-play point, plus-one, three shots, 28 PIM against the Flyers on April 3.

Auston Matthews: Two goals on 15 shots on March 25.

Jeff Petry: Two assists, three shots, plus-one, 11 hits and two blocked shots on March 9

Here are the top 10 fantasy games of 2023.

10. Kris Letang

Not only is Letang producing the same as Erik Karlsson, but he’s also doing marginally better this season than last year, on pace for 54 points (up from a 53-point pace last year). That number got a big boost last week, when in a game against the Islanders, he set a new record for assists in a period with five, and finished with six assists. He also had a plus-six, two PIM, one shot and two blocked shots. He would have been higher on this list had he picked up something in another category (he also had zero power-play points and zero hits in that game), but his six points were still tied for the most in a game in 2023.

9. Andrew Peeke

In a league that counts hits and blocked shots, Peeke is one of those must-haves in a deeper league, and a streamer in shallower leagues when you need a boost in those two categories. Early in 2023, he provided a lot of great games: six hits and two blocked shots in one contest, then two hits and six blocked shots in the next game. He had a game with nine hits, and a couple with seven blocked shots. His game on February 11 against the Leafs was the one where he combined both into the ultimate peripheral game when he finished with eight hits and eight blocked shots.

8. Evander Kane

Kane started this season great, but a cold December (three points in 10 games) has fantasy general managers wondering what to do with him. However, he finished November with one of his best games of 2023. His one goal and one assist against Anaheim aren’t as plentiful as many others on this list, but this game had a little something for everyone: Two PIM, one power-play point, one blocked shot, four shots and 10 hits. Only 10 players managed to reach 10 hits in a game in 2023, and Kane’s was the best of the group.

7. Alex Lyon

Twice in the first half of 2023, Lyon was the main guy in Florida (for various reasons), starting at least six straight games. He faced at least 40 shots five times in 2023, but he gave up too many goals in most of those games. One of his 40-save games came when he faced 49 shots and gave up seven goals in an overtime loss. However, his April 6 match against Ottawa was an exceptional game. He faced 58 shots, giving up only two goals and picking up the victory in a 7-2 win.

6. Artemi Panarin

I will always maintain that Panarin is the most underrated elite player in the league. He’s put up a minimum of a 105-point pace in four of the last five years, and the one year he didn’t, he still put up 92 points. That’s pretty good for a down year. For the calendar year of 2023, he had 101 points in 80 games. His best of those 80 games came against the Hurricanes on February 11, when he posted four goals and an assist. He also produced in other fantasy stats, finishing with a plus-four, two PIM, five shots and a power-play point.

5. David Pastrnak

Pastrnak’s three hat tricks in 2023 were tied for the most in the league (along with Auston Matthews and Frank Vatrano), and he had a couple of games that could have made it on this list. He had a three-goal, four-point, 10-shot performance on April 9 against the Flyers that was a strong contender. He was also a plus-three and had one hit in that game, but none of his points were with the man advantage. There were 29 games last year where a player had at least 10 shots, and this was the only one with a hat trick and four points. His January 8 game against the Ducks was slightly better even though he had fewer shots. In that game, he also had three goals and an assist to go along with eight shots, and finished with a plus-four, two PIM, one power-play goal and a hit.

4. Connor Ingram

Ingram had numerous games last year when he faced at least 40 shots, but the best game for him of 2023 happened on February 15 against Tampa Bay. The Lightning erupted for 47 shots against Ingram, but didn’t score a single goal as Arizona won the game 1-0 in a shootout. Ingram is one of only six netminders to make at least 47 saves in a shutout in the past five years. The Lightning peppered Ingram early, taking 20 shots in the first period and 17 in the second. Every Tampa player aside from Pat Maroon took a shot. Ingram followed up that win by coming on in relief the next game, stopping all 23 shots he faced in 49 minutes before losing in a shootout.

3. Nathan MacKinnon

The Avs forward had his 19-game point streak snapped on Friday, but did pick up points in 69 of 85 games in 2023. His stat line against the Senators on December 21 was the best of the group. He posted four goals and an assist for five points, his only five-point game of the year. He also had an amazing nine shots on goal. Three of his five points, including two of the goals, came with the man advantage. He finished with a plus-one and won nine faceoffs.

2. Nikita Kucherov

The front-runner for the Hart trophy this season, Kucherov put on a clinic in a game against Carolina on November 24 when he potted two goals and four assists. The six points are tied for the most by any player in the 2023 calendar year, but what makes Kucherov’s game more impressive is his peripheral statistics. He finished as a plus-four and had three shots, one power-play goal and four power-play points. The four power-play points are the most in a game this season. The only other players to have a four-power-play-point game in 2023 were Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Kevin Fiala. 

1. Juuse Saros

The best fantasy game of the year came less than a week into the start of 2023. On January 5, Saros faced 67 shots, saving 64 in a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes (as a side note, this is the third time on this list that Carolina has been the victim of a great fantasy game). Not only are those 64 saves the highest in a game in 2023, but it bests the next closest by eight saves. That game is the only one in 2023 where a goalie faced more than 60 shots. To put it into more context, in 65 other games in 2023, Saros has faced a minimum of 40 shots on only three other occasions, with the highest reaching 45. The 64 saves are the most in a game since Ron Tugnutt made 70 saves back in a game against Boston in 1991, and is only the fourth time in NHL history a netminder has made that many saves in a contest. Saros wound up with more saves in that one game than most goalies finished with that week.