Every year I like to think about the most important players of the Fantasy Hockey season. The best way to do that is to name year-end All-Star rosters with standout performers from each of the four major positions. Sometimes there are lessons to be learned. Other times, it's about good stories. Here's who I thought stood out the most in 2024-25.

First Team All-Fantasy

Goalie – Connor Hellebuyck – WPG – Yahoo! ADP 24.1

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2024-25 Fantasy Hockey MVP. No one was featured on more winning rosters than Hellebuyck in either H2H or Rotisserie formats. If you drafted Hellebuyck, you drafted him somewhere in the mid-second to early-third round and got easily the #1 goalie, if not the #1 overall player in Fantasy Hockey this season. That's great value. Hellebuyck led the league in Wins (47), and Shutouts (8), finishing fourth in Saves (1539), and was first among starters in GAA (2.00) and second among starters in Save Percentage (0.925).

One could quibble with the slight bit of wobble from Hellebuyck during the first round of the Fantasy Hockey playoffs. That cost a few teams. Still, he led a lot of teams to landslide regular season success and gave you a one-in-four chance of winning it all if you drafted him. Hard to complain about that. Often times you don't see the Vezina Trophy winner deliver a repeat performance, let alone crank it up another level. Instead, as Alex MacLean once told me, you drafted the high-end goalie for his high floor. That you got Hellebuyck's ceiling is just gravy. You made him the first or second goalie off the board and he rewarded your conviction. All that's left to wonder is how high this drives Hellebuyck's ADP next season, where he’ll push to be a first rounder.

Defense – Zach Werenski – CBJ – Yahoo! ADP 114.8

Unlike in goal, we have a few candidates to consider on defense. Judging by Yahoo!'s MVPs feature, Rasmus Dahlin was the defenseman featured on the most winning teams in H2H and Rotisserie leagues. Judging purely off of final stats Cale Makar was the Hellebuyck of defensemen. He was unilaterally the first defenseman off the board and delivered, finishing with the best across-the-board stats.

But how much pure value did you get out of either of those two? They were expected to be awesome, were picked high and delivered. We like that. Werenski on the other hand, was perhaps the best value pick in Fantasy Hockey this year with an ADP outside the top 100 and a final ranking inside the top 20 in virtually any setup. That's value we cannot ignore and secures Werenski's spot on First Team All-Fantasy.

The tale of the tape for Werenski: second in defenseman points (82), second in defenseman goals (23), fourth in defenseman assists (59), eighth in defenseman PPP (25), first in defenseman SOG (298) by a wide margin. He delivered over 100 blocked shots and wasn't a negative in plus-minus despite the dire expectations and goaltending of the Blue Jackets. He only had 19 hits, but it didn't matter because of how valuable he was elsewhere.

One of the biggest reasons Werenski was such a great value: injuries. And he avoided those this year playing 81 games, his first season hitting 80+ since 2018-19. Knock on wood that this starts a run of good health for him. We love reliable health around these parts.

Wing – Alexander Ovechkin – WSH – Yahoo! ADP 54.0

The best story in hockey this season was Ovechkin's chase Wayne Gretzky's All-Time goal scoring record, and it delivered. Any time you can hitch your Fantasy Hockey season to a story that transcends Fantasy Hockey, and sports in general you've hit the big time. The fact that you took Ovechkin somewhere in the fourth to sixth round and got near first-round value is nice. The fact that the man broke his leg mid-season but returned like he never missed a beat is mesmerizing. The fact that he stole the zeitgeist and just happened to be delivering a history making performance in the midst of the Fantasy Hockey playoffs is so perfect it sounds made up.

During the standard Yahoo! Fantasy Hockey playoffs Ovechkin delivered 8 goals (tied for third in the league) and 14 points (tied for sixth) and was his typical SOG and hit monster. On the season only Leon Draisaitl scored more goals per game.

Looking at Yahoo!'s MVPs feature, it doesn't seem like too many people who had Ovechkin this season actually won their league. Certainly, there were more productive seasons, and better value seasons, but no one was more fun to have on your Fantasy Team than Ovechkin. Somehow, in Year 20 he still delivered. We've been spoiled by this man's hockey splendor for two decades and this season was a cherry on top. Sometimes, it's nice when you can have fun in Fantasy Hockey even if you aren't winning. Ovechkin's season was hands down the most fun in a long time.

Center – Robert Thomas – STL – Yahoo! ADP 114.0

The easiest position to fill in Fantasy Hockey is also the position most difficult to stand out in. What do you care about most here? Pure production? Most value? Most clutch? I've settled on the guy who provided the most value and was most clutch in Thomas.

Since the Four Nations Faceoff no one scored more points than Thomas' 40. During the standard Yahoo! Fantasy Hockey playoffs no one scored more points than Thomas' 20. His second half tear was beautiful music. No, Thomas doesn't do peripheral categories. He doesn't even really do anything but assists, but he delivered assists like a metronome at the most important time of the season, and he did it as a player you took outside the top 100.

If there's a caveat here it's that Thomas wasn't exactly a value play in the first half. Between injury, inconsistency and a lack of peripherals Thomas tested many Fantasy Managers' patience. In shallow leagues you may have dropped him. In deeper leagues you may have traded him. Those who stuck it out or pounced were rewarded with a league-tilting second half.

Second Team All-Fantasy

Goalie – Darcy Kuemper – LAK – Yahoo! ADP 110.7

In retrospect it seems all too easy. Goalie with solid track record but some injury woes bounces back after a trade to the league's best defensive team. But if it were really that easy Kuemper wouldn't have been picked so late. Those of you with the vision to see the potential or the daring to take the swing were rewarded with arguably the second-best Fantasy Goalie.

Kuemper finished the season second among starters in GAA (2.02), tied for third among starters in Save Percentage (0.921), tied for sixth in Wins (31), and tied for fourth in shutouts (5). He didn't see enough starts to grade high in Saves, but that's our only quibble. A tremendous value and overall season. Kuemper reminds us that there is value to be found at the goalie position if you wait and hit it right.

Defense – Cale Makar – COL – Yahoo! ADP 9.0

We teased it in the First Team section, but Makar was picked first among defensemen and finished first by virtually any measure. We love that. Makar has been the first defenseman off the board for years and he delivered with a healthy and productive season to match finishing first among defensemen in Goals (30), Assists (62), Points (92), PPP (35) and second among defensemen in SOG (246).

That type of performance was top 10 regardless of position. That you got it out of a defenseman was a huge advantage and a big payoff for your first-round investment. After back-to-back 90-point seasons and some old reliable forwards struggling with injuries we might see Makar going top five next season.

Wing – Nikita Kucherov – TBL – Yahoo! ADP 4.8

Kucherov was the Makar of wingers. He was picked first at his position and delivered leading the league in Assists (84 tied with MacKinnon) and Points (121) for the second consecutive season. He also led the league in PPP (46). Surely Fantasy Managers were concerned about how Kucherov might fare without Steven Stamkos to feed. It turns out, Kucherov was the driver here and succeeded without Stamkos. In fact, the Lightning struggled to find a fourth forward to fill Stamkos' spot on the power play all season and it still didn't matter.

Best of all for Fantasy Managers, Kucherov delivered in the Fantasy Playoffs finishing second to Thomas in points (19) during the standard Yahoo! Fantasy Playoffs. He was also second to Thomas in points (39) since the Four Nations Faceoff. You took him high, and he delivered, especially when it mattered most. Fantastic!

Center – Nick Suzuki – MTL – Yahoo! ADP 114.2

We once again look to value and clutch performance at Fantasy Hockey's deepest position and only Robert Thomas provided more value and clutch play than Suzuki did this season. Another guy you were able to draft outside the top 100 and received top 20 value from.

Suzuki ultimately finished 13^th in Points (89) but it was how he finished that really gets high marks. After the Four Nations faceoff he was fourth in Points (37) and during the standard Yahoo! Fantasy Playoffs he was tied for fourth in Points (14).

The way he levelled up from being a reliable ~70-point guy with decent peripherals to one of the top scorers down the stretch will ensure he ceases to be a high value pick. Expect to reach for Suzuki next season but expect him to be worth it. He has still never missed a game. We love that reliability.

Third Team All-Fantasy

Goalie – Andrei Vasilevskiy – TBL – Yahoo! ADP 34.9

There was a time when Vasilevskiy held the goalie belt as the undisputed #1. And even if he didn't always have the best fantasy seasons you picked him high because of his reliability and the reliability of the Lightning. Worn down by injuries, long playoff runs and attrition we'd lost our faith in Vasilevskiy. He bounced back with a vengeance.

Finally healthy, and with Ryan McDonagh back as a shutdown presence, Vasilevskiy delivered a vintage performance. On average he was the fifth goalie off the board but finished second in Wins (38), Saves (1580), tied for second in Shutouts (6), fourth among starters in GAA (2.18) and tied for fourth among starters in Save Percentage (0.921).

If not for the sheer value of Kuemper or outright dominance of Hellebuyck, Vasilevskiy would be back on top of the goaltending throne.

Defense – Lane Hutson – MTL – Yahoo! ADP 170.3

Hutson went from being a late-round flyer or even undrafted to one of the highest scoring defensemen in the league. He's not a multi-cat guy, but the sheer scoring is impossible not to celebrate here. Hutson finished tied for sixth in defensemen Points (66), tied for second in defensemen Assists (60), and tied for fifth in defensemen PPP (26). He was especially prolific down the stretch finishing second in defensemen Points (12) during the standard Yahoo! Fantasy Playoffs and third in defensemen Points (25) since the Four Nations Faceoff.

We've seen prolific pop-up seasons from undersized defensemen like this before. Think Shayne Gostisbehere, Justin Schultz, Erik Gustafsson, Adam Fox, Tyson Barrie, Torey Krug, Mark Streit. Some of those have had staying power. Others have not. One gets the feeling that Hutson's going to be a top producer for a long time.

Wing – Brandon Hagel – TBL – Yahoo! ADP 104.4

After looking to the best story and best performance to fill out the First and Second Team Wingers we look to the best pure value for the Third Team All-Fantasy Wing. No one represented better value than Hagel on the wing this season. He went from a pick outside the top 100 to finishing somewhere between the top 10 and top 30 performers depending on your scoring system. On pure scoring Hagel finished tied with Clayton Keller for 11^th with 90 (yes 90!) Points. He may be the most surprising 90-point scorer since Jonathan Cheechoo's Joe Thornton fueled 05/06 season.

If you want to quibble with Hagel's fantasy performance, he doesn't do a ton in some of the banger categories and just doesn't deliver on the power play. In fact, he's the only 90-point scorer in the cap era with less than 20 PPP and he somehow managed only 11 with zero power-play goals. How one can skate so many minutes on the power play with Nikita Kucherov and not score a goal is beyond me, but in a sense, it makes Hagel's season even more impressive. He also delivered in a bunch of other peripheral categories like ranking tied for eighth in plus-minus (plus-33) and tied for second in SHP (7).

Bottom line, if you drafted Hagel, you landed a 90-point scorer outside the top 100, which is a rare occurrence. Let's all revel in how just how shocking this was.

Center – Nathan MacKinnon – COL – Yahoo! ADP 2.4

How is MacKinnon merely on Third Team All-Fantasy after finishing second in scoring (116 points)? MacKinnon was merely good scoring 29 points in 22 games after the Four Nations Faceoff and just 12 points in 10 games during the standard Yahoo! Fantasy Playoffs. You picked MacKinnon top three, often #2 and expected him to tilt the season for you. For the most part he delivered, but you wanted more from him down the stretch. Still a monster season worth celebrating, especially in a year when so many top picks were outright injured for the stretch run. With that in mind let's mention a few other MacKinnon stats. He finished the season tied for first in Assists (84), second in PPP (38) and first in SOG (320). He was exceptional and you're taking him top three again.

The 2024-25 All-Fantasy Teams

First Team	Second Team	Third Team	Honorable Mentions
Connor Hellebuyck	Darcy Kuemper	Andrei Vasilevskiy	Filip Gustavsson, Logan Thompson
Zach Werenski	Cale Makar	Lane Hutson	Rasmus Dahlin, MacKenzie Weegar
Alexander Ovechkin	Nikita Kucherov	Brandon Hagel	Tage Thompson, Martin Necas
Robert Thomas	Nick Suzuki	Nathan MacKinnon	Leon Draisaitl, Sidney Crosby

Who would make your squad? Comment your All-Fantasy Teams below!