It's time for one of the more enjoyable polls I run, which asks you to determine who are the most overrated skaters in fantasy. Of course, "overrated" can mean different things to different people, so let me go over the criteria on which you should base your votes.

First and foremost, this is overrated in terms of fantasy, not real life. If a player is majorly disappointing in fantasy, that isn't negated if he happens to be a great asset to his NHL team. Also, base your votes on points only scoring. Average draft position can be weighed of course too, as can percentage owned. This is overrated as of right this moment, not projecting into the future or looking back at the past. Lastly, if in doubt, just go with your gut and pick those who, as compared to the others, strike you are the most overrated.

The 20 voting choices are listed below in alphabetical order. Your task is to pick the five who are the most overrated of the bunch, meaning it is a relative judgment. I only included skaters since I felt it wouldn't be right to have an "apples to oranges" mix of goalies and skaters. Also, to not have age factor in as much as it might, I included only players who've appeared in 200+ games, but also no one age 35 or older. Hopefully I included everyone who is "deserving;" but my guess is I inadvertently omitted a few, and in fact I deliberately did not include Elias Pettersson since I felt he'd be such an overwhelming choice that I wanted to keep things more interesting. Still, have fun with this, but also do consider the results, since they might give you a window into a player's perceived value in trade or who to retain (or not) for next season.

Sebastian Aho

No one can doubt that Aho is supremely talented and a huge asset to his team. However, for a player as high profile as him, and as coveted on draft days, last season marked the first where he had a scoring pace over 84, and he's back down to his usual point per game scoring pace this season. His numbers are a lot like what Mark Scheifele produced; but ask yourselves if Aho is rated far more highly now than Scheifele was in his peak, and I'm sure the answer is a resounding yes.

Mathew Barzal

No question he was stifled for many years given the system the Islanders played and him not having much talent around him. Yet after climbing back to the point per game mark in 2023-24, he's sputtered this season. Yes, he's been injured, as has Noah Dobson; however, it strikes me that many remain convinced Barzal has it in him to be a major scorer, when more and more it seems like that might not happen, and no longer can it be blamed on adverse circumstances.

Matty Beniers

Yes, he's barely above 200 games played and his 18:34 TOI per game would be fourth highest for any Kraken player since the team's inception, meaning he isn’t necessarily being throttled. But after posting nine points in a ten-game cameo, followed by 50 as a rookie, Beniers has disappointed, and now sits barely above the point-per-every-other-game mark. Arguably the only question now is if he remains overrated enough to get your votes instead of others on this list.

Brock Boeser

Without looking, what's Boeser's career best scoring rate? Believe it or not, merely 74 points. Yet he seems to still be a player who many expect to have it in him to do better. It hasn't happened yet, and it is looking less and less likely with each passing season that it will. But has his reputation already slid, or does it remain high enough to garner your votes?

Kevin Fiala

For many years Fiala was arguably underrated, thanks to him starting seasons notoriously slow but then igniting for only the second half, with the result being solid but unspectacular scoring in all. Yet after point per game seasons in his last campaign with the Wild and his first with LA, expectations rose, only to see him fall short last season and now on pace for his worst output since he left Nashville. 

Dougie Hamilton

Pop quiz – how many seasons has Hamilton finished with more than 44 total points scored? The answer is two, and one of the two saw him produce just 50 points in 82 games. How is that possible given how highly he's regarded? It turns out that Hamilton's best outputs have come in seasons where he's played nowhere near 82 games. It is also interesting to look back and see that both for Carolina and New Jersey, he had his best output in his second season, but from there it went downhill. I believe Hamilton is blessed with significant talent; I'm just not sure he deserves to be held in as high regard as he still is, when he is seemingly no longer a consistently top tier d-man.

Miro Heiskanen

I've said countless times in my columns that Dallas forwards are hurt by ice time being spread so evenly among them. But Dallas has had no qualms about playing Heiskanen into the ground. Still though, after he dazzled at age 23 with 73 points it's been downhill from there. While of course he is still plenty young enough to right his ship, he still seems to be considered elite when I'm not sure that label remains deserved.

Zach Hyman

His point-per-game breakout in 2022-23 seemed to go a long way toward legitimizing Hyman's reputation as a winger to be coveted in fantasy. Last season, despite potting 52 goals, he failed to reach the point per game mark, and ended with just 12 points in his final 17 games. This season he's scoring at a markedly lower rate. One thing many forget is Hyman played a full season for the Oliers in 2021-22 and finished with 54 points, so this might be the real Hyman, not the player who ignited for a season and a half and is, for now, still seemingly enjoying a reputation as a player of that caliber.

Alexis Lafreniere

I realize that he's no longer as overrated as he once was; however, after he showed signs of connecting the dots last season many got right back on his bandwagon. But here's the reality of the situation – since Laffy entered the league, his per-game scoring rate among those who've played 200+ cumulative games puts him behind, among others, Brandon Saad, Trevor Moore, Yanni Gourde, Andrew Copp and Andrew Mangiapane. 

Patrik Laine

Yes, 2023-24 was essentially a lost season for Laine. But even playing for CBJ he previously posted 108 points in 111 games, not to mention his early career impressiveness. Now he is not even taking the ice for a quarter of each game for a Montreal team that is far from deep when it comes to forwards. He is still only 27, making it viable to see him return to form; but I cannot see how he is viewed as even a high risk, high reward player, when the path toward reward seems less and less realistic by the game.

Auston Matthews

Remember, this is points only, so Matthews' goal scoring prowess is not beneficial if he doesn't add assists on top of it. Although he remains an elite player, this is someone many felt was in the conversation of the best of the best playing today. But if he finishes another season with a scoring pace below 100, I can't see how he'd not be fairly labeled as quite overrated.

Charlie McAvoy

Given all the powerhouse Bruins teams McAvoy played on, you'd think his career best scoring rate would be more than 62. Despite being a "the guy" d-man, he is not scoring anywhere near what he should, given how highly regarded he remains. Case in point is he ranks 14th in PP TOI dating back to 2021-22, yet his PPPt total ranks him only 22nd. The only question is if his very poor play this season already has caused his reputation to drop such that it's no longer high enough to get your votes.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

After seemingly having settled into being a 60- to 70-point guy overshadowed big time by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, RNH went and scored 104 points at age 29, crushing his prior career best total by 35 points. The question though is how many were truly sold this was a new normal for him? After all, he tallied double the number of PPPts in that season alone than he had in his two best seasons.

Morgan Rielly

In fairness to Rielly, I get the sense that he's unconcerned about personal numbers. Still though, he remains coveted every draft day, this despite the fact he's nearly never put together two top tier seasons in a row, instead thriving for one season only to come back to earth the following campaign. Now 31 though, and barely above a point-per-every-other-game pace, I think it is fair to say Rielly has entered overrated territory.

Mikhail Sergachev

After exploding in 2022-23 and pushing future HOFer Victor Hedman off PP1, Sergachev had a let-down season, but then had the red carpet rolled out for him in Utah. The results though have been………..just okay. He's not performing poorly; but he bears little resemblance to the player he was in that fateful 2022-23 season. Is it fair to say he's overrated, as perhaps there were enough doubters to make that not be the case?

Andrei Svechnikov

After making a major scoring splash at age 19, while also putting up impressive multicat totals, poolies were drooling over what was in store for Svech, and those lucky enough to own him in their leagues were giddy. But since then…….nothing much has happened. It was always "he's only XX years old, just wait until next season." Well, he's 24 now, and on his way to a career worst scoring rate since his breakout.

Vincent Trocheck

The thing about Trocheck is just when you think he's lost it, he rises again. Cases in point are that he's followed each of his three 75+ point pace seasons with two that were worse, even quite worse, only to bounce back in that third season. By doing so, it has kept his reputation high, but arguably too high. 

Alex Tuch

Now nearly 29, Tuch is two seasons removed from his 88-point pace in 2022-23. He too seems to be still thought of as capable of repeating that success, despite the fact he's never had a 70+ point pace in any other campaign. More and more, that great season looks like an outlier, yet thus far it doesn't seem to be viewed that way by poolies.

Trevor Zegras

Like Beniers and Lafreniere, I pondered not including Zegras since it is quite possible that their perceptions have been lowered enough to no longer be highly overrated. That being said, many look to the fact that Zegras was a 20+ goal and 60+ point scorer in each of his first two full seasons, plus has since battled injuries, to suggest he's still the real deal. Whether or not that turns out to be the case, the question is whether – and, if so, to what extent – he is overrated at this moment.

Mika Zibanejad

Having twice scored at a 90+ point pace, Zibs seems to be always coveted on draft day. Like Trocheck, he follows his great seasons with steps down, although this time around the step in the second season is much bigger, plus he's now almost 32 years old. As such, it seems like Zibs should be held in less high regard than he still is.

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As I said above, I'm sure I missed some players you think belonged on the list. Be that as is may, your task is to vote on which of the five who did make the list and are most overrated in fantasy as of right now and relative to the others on the list. Click here to cast your votes.

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Questions for Mailbag Column

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