This week sees rookie camps start across the league, and though the vast majority of participants will not have fantasy hockey relevance this year (or ever), there are key names that are going to be important for fantasy managers this season. Without getting too deep down the list, let's get into some rookies that fantasy managers need to keep an eye on between rookie camp and the main camp itself.

For this, I'll skip the obvious names that are already getting drafted around, or inside, the top-200 picks in the preseason. That includes Ivan Demidov, Zayne Parekh, Zeev Buium, Sam Rinzel, and Yaroslav Askarov. We will also jump some more familiar names like Artyom Levshunov and David Jiricek.

Positions for each player are the positions given by Fantrax.

For prospect rankings, Dobber posted his top-200 prospect forwards and top-50 prospect defencemen in late August.

Michael Misa (C – San Jose Sharks)

The second overall pick from this year's draft looks primed to make a jump in his first year. He has to earn it, of course, but it's notable that over the last 20 years in the Ontario Hockey League, Misa's closest comparable by points per game across their respective age-16 and age-17 seasons is Steven Stamkos:

The big question for me is: when Misa makes the Sharks roster out of camp, where will he slot in? Macklin Celebrini is the team's unquestioned top centre and Alex Wennberg looks primed for second-line duties. Does the team move Will Smith to centre full time? If they do, Misa would be the fourth-line centre, or move to the wing. If they have Smith on the wing, then Misa is probably the team's third-line centre. At that point, we're talking about guys like Philipp Kurashev, Collin Graf, and Adam Gaudette as potential line mates.  

For what it's worth, the 2025-26 Dobber Hockey Fantasy Guide – available now in the Dobber Shop – has Misa with a nine-game tryout, but he did sign his ELC on Wednesday, so I imagine that will change. If he sticks with the roster, they use him as a pseudo-second-line centre in tandem with Wennberg, and he can get line mates like Smith and Jeff Skinner, Misa can have a 20-goal, 20-assist rookie campaign. But those are a lot of bridges to cross.

Ryan Leonard (RW – Washington Capitals)

Unlike Misa, Leonard looks to have a roster spot locked up as the Capitals let some veterans walk in free agency and didn't make a lot of changes. With 29 hits in 17 games between the regular season and playoff in the spring, Leonard has the multi-cat appeal that is very valuable to see in a rookie; he doesn't need 25 goals and 50 points to be relevant in multi-cat fantasy leagues.

The big issue for Leonard is whether he gets meaningful power-play time. In his nine-game stint in the regular seasons, he earned under 11% of the team's PPTOI, per Frozen Tools. Even if he takes Andrew Mangiapane's spot now that Mangiapane is in Edmonton, he earned under 20% of the PPTOI in that stretch. If the Caps decide to stick with a heavily-used top PP unit, Leonard is probably stuck with third-line, second PP duties, and that means 13-14 minutes a game. He can still push for 20 goals, 40 points, and 160 hits, but given his role, that is his upside, not a baseline.

Jimmy Snuggerud (RW – St. Louis Blues)

Perhaps the rookie with the most production upside that isn't getting a lot of preseason hype is Snuggerud. When I graded St. Louis' offseason, it was mentioned that he was the sixth St. Louis forward by share of even-strength ice time and first by PPTOI share in the playoffs. There was no Dylan Holloway in the lineup, but it still seems likely Snuggerud gets a top-6 role next to either Robert Thomas or Brayden Schenn (my guess is they try things with Thomas first) and top PP time. That is valuable.

Between the regular and postseason, Snuggerud posted 15.27 shot attempts per 60 minutes, which was fourth among Blues forwards:

In his 14 NHL games, he skated 16:16 per game. If he takes 15.3 shot attempts per 60 minutes, lands 45% of them on net, and skates that level of TOI, he can manage close to 160 shots. That puts a 20-goal season well within range, and he had 13 hits in 14 games, too. This is a guy who is staring down a 20-goal, 50-point, 160-shot, 60-hit, 40-block season. Not bad for multi-cat leagues.

Isaac Howard (LW – Edmonton Oilers)

Evander Kane is gone, Zach Hyman may be out for the first month of the season, and the only forward brought in this summer that could be a threat for Howard is Mangiapane. As it stands, the Oilers have Mangiapane, Vasily Podkolzin, and Howard as their likely top-3 left wingers (though it depends how they use Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, too). In short, Howard could very well see himself line up on the top line with Connor McDavid, at least to start.

That is both good and bad. If he's next to McDavid, obviously there's an opportunity to have a productive year. The problem is that is asking a rookie NHLer to keep up with, and think along with, the best offensive player in the league. It is a very high bar to clear, so it wouldn't be surprising to see Howard get some time next to McDavid, but then slide down the lineup into a third line role.

Just think of all the wingers Edmonton had that could never stick next to McDavid full time: Kane, Jeff Skinner, Warren Foegele, Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto, James Neal, Tyler Ennis, to name a few. The guys that had lengthy stays on the top line are forechecking/digger types like Zach Hyman, Zack Kassian, and Pat Maroon. Howard isn't that kind of player, so I have a lot of concern that he gets a handful of games next to McDavid before being moved to the third line.  

Gabe Perreault (RW – New York Rangers)

The Rangers have been looking for a consistent top-6 scoring right winger ever since the Pavel Buchnevich trade. The best they've managed is to move Alexis Lafreniere to the right side and play him across from Artemi Panarin. It still left a giant hole next to Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad for years.

That is what makes Perreault an intriguing option. It looks as if Zibanejad is set to line up as a right winger next to J.T. Miller and Kreider is now in Anaheim. With Zibanejad and Panarin taking two top-6 winger spots, there are two spots left for Lafrenière, Will Cuylle, and Perreault. One of them will get the short end of the stick, and there's a new coach in town. None of them are guaranteed anything.

Perreault does face a similar problem to Ryan Leonard, though. Even if he manages a second-line role, he will not get a top PP role, and the team will almost certainly have a heavily-used top PP unit. He will be no higher than the team's #6 forward at even strength and have secondary PPTOI. That is just not a lot of ice time to post an impact production season for fantasy purposes.

Ville Koivunen (LW – Pittsburgh Penguins)

Koivunen might be the Jimmy Snuggerud of the Eastern Conference in that he's not getting a lot of hype right now but could very well be in line for top-6/top PP duties right out of the gate. In his eight-game tryout at the end of the 2024-25 regular season, he skated on Pittsburgh's top PP unit, had 43% of his 5-on-5 ice time next to Sidney Crosby, and 31% next to Evgeni Malkin (per Evolving Hockey). That was with Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell in the lineup, too. Now, it was a 'let's see what he can do' tryout with the Penguins out of the playoff race, but he got a bigger role than Rutger McGroarty.

Koivunen is a guy who has shown offensive talent. Elite Prospects has him with the best points/game mark for any 20-year-old in the Finnish men's league in the last 20 years at 0.95. Here are some notable names and what they did in their age-20 season in that league:

Among AHL rookies last year (min. 40 games), Koivunen finished fifth by points per game. At two different steps of his development, in two different pro leagues, he produced very well, and was then given a prime role in his brief NHL stint. For a guy whose Fantrax ADP is outside the top-400, do not sleep on Koivunen having a very productive rookie season. Just beware of his peripherals – he is a better option in points-only formats than in multi-cat leagues.

Matthew Schaefer (D – New York Islanders)

Despite Schaefer being the top pick in the draft this past June, we have to consider two things:

1. To start, and at the least, if Schaefer makes the Islanders roster out of camp, he'll be playing behind Alex Romanov, Ryan Pulock, Tony DeAngelo, and Adam Pelech. He is also unlikely to take the top PP duties from DeAngelo.
2. The Islanders were 28^th in goals per minute last year. Even if they improve to just below average rather than one of the worst in the NHL, how much is a 4/5 defenceman with secondary PP time on a below-average offensive team worth?

Schaefer is a tremendous prospect, but he seems destined for a three-man bottom-pair rotation with Scott Mayfield and Adam Boqvist.

Carter Yakemchuk (D – Ottawa Senators)

Though Yakemchuk isn't the same level of prospect as Schaefer, he's facing a similar problem in that even if he breaks camp with Ottawa he is, at best, playing behind Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, and Artem Zub at even strength, and will not get power-play priority ahead of either Chabot or Sanderson. So, if Yakemchuk can break camp with the Senators, he's staring down a bottom-pair role with minimal power play time. That means about 15 minutes a game.

That is if Yakemchuk even breaks camp with the team. On top of the three guys named, they have Nick Jensen, they traded for Jordan Spence, Nikolas Matinpalo was a regular in the second half of the season, and Tyler Kleven played a full season with the team. That is seven defencemen, and Yakemchuk makes eight. There is a lot for him to overcome not to just be a guy who plays 70 NHL games this year but also gets a big enough role to be meaningful in the vast majority of fantasy formats. He really needs to force the hand of the coaching staff in the preseason.