As I did right around now last season, it's time to focus on overrated players via a poll. The big question though is what qualifies a player as overrated? First off, this is overrated purely in terms of fantasy. You could look back and see the average draft position of players for 2023-24 leagues and pick the ones who most failed to live up to their spot. But there's also other factors, like those who might be overhyped but not living up to expectations, or ones whose name value quite far outpaces their actual value. In the end, perhaps the best measurement as to whether – and, if so, to what extent – a player is overrated is simply if you hear their name and the first thing that comes to mind is "oh yeah, that guy – he sure is overrated."

With all that in mind, and whatever the bases you decide to use to determine how overrated a player is, I've assembled a list of 20 players – in alphabetical order – I feel are the most overrated; and your task is to pick the five who are most overrated as compared to the other 15. Don't vote for them if they were once very overrated but are less so now, or are in danger of being overrated soon but as of right now either aren't or aren't enough to be one of the five most overrated.

To be "fair" I picked only skaters who've played 200+ games and goalies who've appeared in at least 100 NHL contests. When assessing players, use points only as a barometer, meaning if a guy is a multi-cat asset that is not of consequence. For goalies, base it W, GAA and SV%. The link to cast your votes appears at the end of the column. Also, I didn't include Alex Ovechkin, Johnny Gaudreau, or Jonathan Huberdeau, since I felt they'd get too high a percentage of the votes. This way, the outcome is hopefully more up in the air.

Aleksander Barkov

It used to be that owning Barkov meant missed games yet top tier production. But his scoring prowess seems to be waning. His SOG rate is on pace to drop for the third straight season, and yet his SH% is also down, which is an unsettling combination. And he's below a 90-point pace, which most likely thought was his floor. At 28 he should have more gas in the tank, especially due to so many missed games; but he might've peaked early, and is now coasting off past glory.

Sidney Crosby

Yes, Crosby is a first ballot Hall of Famer and certainly among the best players of this generation. But at 36, he's on pace for his lowest scoring rate…..ever! This despite being on pace for his best SOG rate in a decade and normal SH%. Even more concerning is that his scoring waned with the now departed Jake Guentzel beside him. How will he fare post-Guentzel? Although no one considers Crosby to be as great as he once was, he likely is still rated too high.

Rasmus Dahlin

It's strange to see someone who's only 23 on the list, but Dahlin's stock rose considerably after he posted 73 points in 78 games for 2022-23. Suddenly he was in the same conversation as the likes of Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, and Adam Fox. Fast forward to now though and Dahlin has seen his scoring dry up despite, like Crosby, a normal SH% and taking more SOG than ever. He might have been a boat that was lifted by the rising tide that existed in Buffalo last season.

Alex DeBrincat

After scoring at a 76- to 88-point pace in three of his last four seasons for the Hawks, DeBrincat failed to ignite first with the Sens last season and now with the Wings. His SOG rate is down, as is his PP scoring. It seems he's not as good as he was pegged to be.

Jack Eichel

The thinking was if someone could score 78 points in 68 games for a dreadful Sabres team, like Eichel did when he was only 23 years old, then surely once fully healthy again and on a new squad he'd rise to even greater heights. Well that has yet to happen, and Eichel seems instead to be roughly a point per game player, resulting a name value that outpaces his actual value, or so it seems.

Alexandar Georgiev

When Marc-Andre Fleury was backstopping the high-flying Penguins teams in his prime, he piled on the wins but he also had pretty decent peripherals. Not so for Georgiev, who this season has a negative GSSA and under a 50% Quality Start rate. Make no mistake – the wins are still there and will continue to accumulate; but unless your league counts just wins and saves, he's hurting you in other areas.

Roope Hintz

Welcome to the NHL's human sine wave, as Hintz' production goes up, then down. But the concern is his SOG rate is down and so too is his PP time. Many felt he was the next Sebastian Aho, if not better; but it might just be Hintz has been lifted by Jason Robertson (spoiler alert: more on him below) and is not deserving of the fantasy love he gets.

Patrik Laine

After bouncing back from a 43-point scoring pace in 2020-21 with a point per game output in 2021-22 and a still solid 76 point rate last season, Laine's 2023-24 has been an unmitigated disaster. The question is whether he's still highly rated enough to be seen as a disappointment. I'd say yes, given what we saw from him previously and the fact he's not even turning 26 until next month.

Elias Lindholm

Always a solid player, Lindholm rose to point per game numbers in 2021-22 as part of what was arguably the best line in hockey with Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. Since then, he's been on a steady decline, and this season has struggled mightily. Was he ever really held in very high regard for points only? Tough to say.

Evgeni Malkin

A year older than Crosby, Malkin has chugged along as basically a point per game player for the past several seasons, so it's fair to say his perceived value has been adjusted downward since his heyday. But this season he looks like a shell of even that version of himself, despite not getting hurt like he usually does. Was this expected, and therefore his value had already been adjusted even further downward; or is it fair to say he's still overrated?

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

After posting 104 points last season, a staggering 53 of which came on the man advantage, those who'd held onto RNH all these years felt they'd hit pay dirt. Those in one year leagues elevated him to a new plateau. Although he's not dipped all the way back to his usual territory, it looks like his membership to the century points club might have been revoked after a year. Here too though it boils down to what extent his perceived value did indeed rise after last season.

Jake Oettinger

Although Otter still is only 25, which is the age when most goalies only begin to hit their stride, this is his fourth season in the NHL, and, thus far, easily his worst. His GSAA is negative and he has under a 50% Quality Start percentage, plus more than half as many Really Bad Starts as Quality Stats. Is he still a great goalie coming into his own, or might he have peaked early?

Jason Robertson

After scoring at a 109-point rate last season, amazingly Robertson might not even end 2023-24 at the point per game level. His ice time, which wasn't very high to begin with, is down, and all the lost seconds are on the PP. The result has been a PPPt per game rate under one in three games after last season being nearly one in two. On top of that his SOG rate overall is down a full shot, which is definitely a big deal. Is he disinterested? Did defenses figure him out? Did his value rise enough such that now he's indeed a huge disappointment?

Juuse Saros

On pace for his worst season as an NHLer, Saros still has a positive GSAA and over a 50% Quality Start percentage. But his peripherals are pretty lousy. Given how strong his play was the past three campaigns he likely does qualify as overrated as of right now.

Mark Scheifele

Prior to last season, Scheifele had put together an impressive streak of six campaigns where he averaged point per game or better scoring. But he never really was elite, even though many saw him as being in that echelon. Now perhaps on the verge of dipping below a point per game again this season, and having just turned 31, it's likely his best days are behind him even though his status among poolies likely remains high….too high even.

Moritz Seider

Let me preface this by saying I believe Seider's lack of production is not entirely his fault. The issue is the Wings have Shayne Gostisbehere, who's gobbling up all the prime PP time, and Seider is left to shoulder all the tough minutes, with the result being an offensive zone starting percentage that's under 40%, which is really, really low. But his IPP is quite tiny, which is entirely on him. I do feel he will rise to his full potential some day; but for now, it's difficult not to make a case against him being quite a bit overrated.

John Tavares

It had always been safe to draft Tavares, knowing you weren't going to get huge numbers but at least be in point per game territory. This season though he's nowhere near that mark, and likely it is due to the emergence of William Nylander, who is scoring on the PP the way Tavares had done for so many years. Still Tavares isn't that old and his SH% is very low, so this might be a blip in the radar. If you don't think that though, then he's arguably quite overrated.

Devon Toews

Although his fall from scoring grace has been nothing compared to someone like Aaron Ekblad (who almost made the list), Toews likely had higher expectations, due to his team and being the defensive partner of Cale Makar. Toews just isn't scoring like he did in 2021-22, and while I think some never quite bought into him being the real deal, enough did as to put him in the conversation for most overrated.

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Still not even 30, Vas is playing atrociously this season. But signs of concern were appearing the past couple of seasons too, as his GAA rose each of the last two, while his SV% fell; and both trends are set to continue. I realize expectations were somewhat tempered this season due to him missing the first two months, but no way could anyone have foreseen the meltdown he seems to be having.

Mika Zibanejad

Although still strong on the PP, Zibs looks like he's already lost a step, as he's on pace for a seven season low in SOG rate and his IPPs have been awful. Still, his secondary assist rate is far too low to be sustainable, although his 5×5 team shooting percentage is also headed down for the third straight campaign. Zibs has significant perceived value, and he's definitely falling short; but is it enough to be among the top five most disappointing members of this list?

************

As I often say when it comes to polls dealing with negatives, if you own several of these players on your team, you have my sympathies. Don't let that color your vote though, as the task is to pick the five of these 20 who are comparatively most overrated, using the criteria I discussed above. Click here to cast your votes.

************

Questions for Mailbag Column

My monthly mailbag column runs next week and I have room to answer more questions. To get yours to me, you can either private message “rizzeedizzee” via the DobberHockey Forums or, instead, send an email to [email protected] with “Roos Mailbag” as the subject line.