As many of you likely figured when reading last month's poll to choose the five most overrated players in fantasy, this month we'd look at the other side of the coin, namely those who are the most underrated. Right at the outset I'll say landing on 20 players was no easy task, and I think that is a testament to the fact players who do well, if anything, tend to be valued perhaps more than they should. In other words, hype exists, and it's rampant.

Still, the 20 players listed below are ones I feel are not viewed favorably enough given what they currently bring to the table in fantasy. Your task is to pick the five who you believe are the most underrated relative to the others in fantasy. How should you decide on the five? Pretty much the ones whose name value in fantasy lags the farthest behind their actual value in fantasy. For skaters, look at them in a points-only context, while for goalies W, GAA, SV% and SO.

This is underrated as of right now. Past results and future possibilities do not matter, nor does "real world" value. This is just about fantasy, and the present. Even if a player was once arguably overrated, he could now be underrated. Remember, this is all relative, meaning it's quite possible a player who is more highly rated than many of the rest of the choices should nevertheless earn your vote because he's still somehow not highly rated enough.

Here are the 20 players in alphabetical order. A link to cast your votes (remember, you're voting for five) will appear at the end of the column.

Jake Allen

Yes, he's 32 years old and when given the chance play regularly with Montreal and St. Louis, he faltered. But those Montreal teams were bad, and with the Devils he has four shutouts in 27 games, and is within the top ten in GSAA. All goalies who have as many or more shutouts have played at least 14 more games. Yet for him having accomplished all this, I feel no one is talking about him like they should be. 

Jesper Bratt

It used to be like clockwork – Bratt would come storming out of the gate, but then cool, to finish at or just below the point per game mark. Many likely thought the extended absence of Jack Hughes would make things all the worse for Bratt. Instead he's humming along, still above a point per game every quarter, and with by far his best PP output, yet a PP IPP barely above 70%, meaning it's sustainable. I feel like he's still seen by most as a point per game at best player, when this might indeed be his new normal.

Jakob Chychrun

It used to be that Chychrun was a player you drafted, then hoped that somehow he didn't get hurt. But he always did. Well guess what – he's been healthy the past two seasons and the result is more collective goals than any rearguard except for Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, and Rasmus Dahlin. I realize his new contract is huge, but that is Washington placing real world value on him. He can be – and I'd say is – still undervalued in fantasy.

Kyle Connor

There are currently just six players in the entire NHL with more points than Connor. Just six! Yes, he did pop off once previously, then came back to earth. But his metrics check out and Winnipeg is firing on all cylinders. Now all that's left is for him to get the credit he deserves.

Ryan Donato

A journeyman NHLer, Donato has a chance to double his prior best scoring rate. Lest everyone think this is a by-product of playing with Connor Bedard, the reality is only a fifth of Donato's points have come with Bedard also on the ice. I would not blame folks for thinking this is just Donato upping his effort due to being an impending UFA; but for the time being, he seems to deserve more respect for what he's done, notwithstanding his poor prior outputs.

Pierre-Luc Dubois

Remember above where I said players can go from overrated to underrated? Well PLD is living proof, as after not managing even a point per every other game last season, it was thought he might be out of the NHL before long. Instead, he's gelled with Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas, and he's not a passenger either, as his secondary assist rate is low for a center, which is good since his team 5×5 SH is sky-high. Still, I think not enough people have allowed PLD back into their good graces, when he seemingly has done more than enough to justify it. 

Matt Duchene

Once viewed as a guy who only gave it his all when playing for a new deal, he's reinvented himself as a middle-sixer who seemingly can gel with anyone the Stars chose to put beside him. Is he a point per game guy like he has been most of this season? Not with his SH% and ice time; but he's better than most likely perceive him to be.

Nikolaj Ehlers

Always regarded as having great talent, the Jets never gave Ehlers a true chance to shine, as somehow this is the first season in his entire career where he's taken the ice for even 50% of Winnipeg's PP minutes! He's done well there, and overall, despite still not even seeing 16:00 in ice time, such that his per 60 scoring rate is within the top ten among all NHLers. Maybe when he joins another team as a UFA this offseason he'll no longer be underrated; but for now, I think the label still applies.

Brandon Hagel

Third in the entire NHL in ES points this season, after finishing 8th in 2023-24, and a member of Team Canada for the 4 Nations Faceoff, Hagel was once considered a lucky passenger. But what he's doing now is occurring while no longer a mainstay on an ES line with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. He's legit, even if everyone still fails to see him as a true upper echelon scorer.

Dylan Holloway

Has there been a quieter emergence this season than Holloway's? Still not yet at his 200-game breakout threshold, nor on PP1, Holloway nevertheless is shooting and scoring, and is nearly a point per game player since the end of Q1. I'm sure his owners are fully aware of his success, but it's time all of fantasy awakens to it.

Jonathan Huberdeau

We might have to go back to Jonathan Cheechoo to find bigger collapse in fantasy than what Huberdeau underwent, going from 118 points in 80 games in 2021-22, to 11 fewer points in twice as many games over the next two seasons! But guess what – he's back at a 65-point pace and just under a point per game player since Q1. Think of your perceived rating of him right now, and ask yourself whether there five others on this list more underrated.

Quinn Hughes

Stunned to see him here? Well you might think he's great, but still pales in comparison to Cale Makar.  Yet it is Hughes, not Makar, who has the higher collective points per game rate since the start of last season. Add to that Hughes being discounted in multicat leagues, which likely has had a spillover effect when it comes to points only reputation, and I think a strong case can be made he's actually quite underrated.

Clayton Keller

Hey look – Utah is suddenly a decent offensive team, and there is Keller producing the best he has in his career. Go figure! Many felt Keller had this in him all along, and all that he lacked was a halfway decent supporting class, which he now finally has. And not only to do those around him still definitely have room to improve, as does his team as a while, but he still could shoot more and see his per game TOI rise. So why isn't he valued anywhere near the 90+ point pace player he is now?

Darcy Kuemper

A superb goalie for Arizona for several seasons, Kuemper had seen his GAA rise and SV% fall two seasons in a row, culminating in a truly dismal 3.31 and .890 last season for the Caps. But lo and behold he's thriving for the Kings, with only Andrei Vasilevsky and Connor Hellebuyck having a higher SV% and only Hellebuyck a lower GAA among 25+ start goalies. He's also sixth with nearly a 2/3 Quality Start rate, and only Hellebuyck and Charlie Lindgren have a lower Really Bad Start rate. But is Kuemper getting anywhere near the fantasy love he should? Not from where I sit.

Jake Sanderson

He's quite poor in the plus-minus category, and still struggles at times playing all those minutes. But he's also been above a point per game dating back over 25 contests. He still has room to shoot more, and even get more PP time. What's most amazing though is he's doing this well despite his team shooting an anemic 5.9% at 5×5 with him on the ice. If that was only a few points higher he could be among the top rearguards in scoring already. My hunch is come next season he will be. I realize he is well regarded as a likely star d-man in the future, but more people should realize that future appears to be now.

Dylan Strome

Yes, he has one of the highest offensive zone start percentages in the entire league, and gets to center Alex Ovechkin in all situations. But Strome's success looks to have been building, as he is on pace to see an increase in his scoring rate for the third straight season. He's faring better on the PP, and sporting superb IPPs. He looks to be the real deal; but is he getting the accolades he should be?

Nick Suzuki

Speaking of scoring pace gain streaks, Suzuki might end this season by seeing his rise yet again, as it has every single season of his career. Yes, you read that correctly……every….single….season in his entire NHL career! What's more is he's still succeeding now despite his ice time coming back to earth in a big way, showing that he can still produce without taking the ice for over 21:00 per game. As the Habs improve, it stands to reason Suzuki should as well. I realize it's not often that a player in a market like Montreal is considered underrated, but this might be a rare exception.

Shea Theodore

Indeed, he's a Band-Aid Boy in the truest sense of the term. But when he's on the ice he's all offense. And even with the addition of Noah Hanifin, plus Alex Pietrangelo still hanging around, Theodore is still the go to guy for blueline offense in Vegas. And that should only continue from here, as he's right in the midst of his prime. Although his perception admittedly should suffer due to his frequent injuries, I feel he's discounted too much on that basis.

MacKenzie Weegar

Deservedly highly regarded in multicat, it's time to realize Weegar is just great, period. He is a solid scorer who is only now getting a chance to run PP1 and doing quite well at it, with an over 70% PP IPP and 11 PPPts in just his last 24 games. He's thriving, and I feel like in points only it's going largely unnoticed.

Jason Zucker

Yes, he's gone cold since inking his extension to stay in Buffalo; however, in his defense he just recently returned from injury, before which he was thriving. And despite his time away and struggles on his return, he remains on PP1. Before you say that he's Jeff Skinner 2.0, the Sabres let Skinner walk, smartly it turned out, yet chose to extend Zucker, which likely means he will continue to factor into their plans. As such, it's likely time to think of him not as the player who failed to reach even a point per every other game in three of the last four seasons, but instead a key part of the Sabres for at least the near future.

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There you have it – the 20 players I feel are the most underrated in fantasy at this moment. You need to compare them and pick the five who, on a relative basis versus the rest, are the most underrated in fantasy (using points only for skaters, and W, GAA, SV%, SO for goalies) right at this moment. Click here to cast your votes.

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Questions for Mailbag Column

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