I was thrilled at the response to last month's poll where I asked you to vote for the five most overrated skaters in fantasy. This month, not surprisingly, it's a 180, as we shift our focus to those who are most underrated in fantasy. It was much more difficult to choose 20 skaters who I believe are truly underrated in fantasy because in this day and age once a skater shows any sort of promise he doesn't stay underrated for long.

It might be best to think of underrated players more as those not valued highly enough in fantasy. Or to put it another way, the 20 choices are, in my view, deserving of being regarded even more favorably in fantasy than they are as of now. And "as of now" is key, since if a player was once too underrated but no longer is, or may become too underrated in the future but isn't just yet, they likely would not be deserving of your vote versus the other choices. That also raises another point, which is voting is relative, meaning you should vote for the five who are most underrated as compared to the rest. Lastly, just like last month's poll, we're looking at points only, so things like multicat value, or leadership and "real world" attributes, don't matter.

Here are the 20 skaters in alphabetical order. A link to cast your votes (remember, you're voting for five) will appear at the end of the column. If some names look familiar, it's because they also happened to be included in the recent list of the Top 10 Fantasy Pick-Ups of the 2025-26 season.

Matt Boldy

Kirill Kaprizov, and now Quinn Hughes, get the most fantasy love in Minnesota; but Boldy just posted a quite impressive 85 points in 76 games. What makes his production so remarkable is it occurred despite him playing almost entirely apart from Kaprizov at ES, having gone from 0:23 seconds of PK duty per game to 1:43, and being saddled with an OZ% of only 47.7%. Make no mistake – he is a fantasy darling; but I'd argue less so than is deserved.

Rasmus Dahlin

This season marked the third in the last four Dahlin had a scoring pace of 0.9+ points per game, and the only other defensemen who've also done so are Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar. I'm not here to say Dahlin is their equal in terms of scoring, but the gap between them, in the minds of poolies, seems wider than it should be, which surprises me since Dahlin has produced this well and is a former first overall pick. With the Sabres finally a playoff team, maybe Dahlin will get the fantasy recognition he deserves, although for now I'd say he is indeed underrated.

Alex DeBrincat

I realize that we're talking about points only; however, amazingly DeBrincat and Kyle Connor are the only players with 39+ goals in each of the past two seasons. DeBrincat still might have even higher production in him due to his high SOG volume but his PPPt pace being down. Given all this, he seems quite underrated, especially compared to Connor.

Brock Faber

Oh how the pendulum can swing, as Faber was arguably overrated after a rookie campaign that saw pretty much everything possible go right for him. After he failed to post 30 points last season, his rating plummeted. This season he's surpassed the 50-point mark, yet is he rated anywhere near what he should be, let alone how he was as a rookie? To me, the answer is no, especially with Quinn Hughes now on the team. I feel like because of how many poolies Faber "burned" last season he's just not getting the credit he's due, making him indeed underrated.

Filip Forsberg

After he rebounded from a 69 point pace to post 94 points in 2023-24, folks might have set the bar too high, as it seems like he's viewed as a disappointment despite yet again this season posting nearly point per game numbers. I'm not here to say Forsberg is entirely disregarded, but due to age and/or being even better in the past, plus being known more for multicat, to me he's not viewed as favorably as he should be.

Morgan Geekie

Is he a passenger, doing as well as he is due to playing alongside David Pastrnak? Well guess what – at 5×5 Geekie played 572 minutes with Pasta, during which 29 goals were scored, and 527 minutes without Pasta, during with 20 goals were scored. So yes, he did better when lined up with Pasta, but not as glaringly as many might've figured. Given that data, and Geekie being able to post such solid numbers for a second season and after getting paid, suggests to me he's still somehow underrated.

Darren Raddysh

This one is all about skepticism and folks feeling they've been teased by come from nowhere players before, like Eric Gustafsson or, going back further, Dick Tarnstrom. Let's remember that Raddysh is 30 years old, was undrafted, and has played over 300 AHL games. He also did slow as the season wore on, although that might have been due to how many games he played versus his previous career high. Still, even if it is rightful for there to be some trepidation about him being able to perform anywhere near this level going forward, I feel like there's more than deserved, making Raddysh somehow still underrated.

Bryan Rust

When you're a Band-Aid boy, like Rust unquestionably is, sometimes it leads to you being not rated as highly as deserved. Rust just paced at 74+ points for the third straight season, with the only other RWs who've also done so being Nikita Kucherov, Mikko Rantanen, Mitch Marner, and David Pastrnak. That's it – just those four. I'm not here to argue Rust belongs in the same echelon as them; but he seems to be aging like fine wine, yet not getting the fantasy recognition he deserves.

Mark Scheifele

What's funny is I think that by producing as well as he is this season, he's being seen as more of a fluke than he might be. Or to put it another way, everyone is convinced he's doing so far and away better than he should, that they're not rating him highly enough. But in reality, Scheifele had seen his scoring rise for two prior seasons, and has amazing chemistry with Kyle Connor, one of the best wingers in points only. Nothing about Scheifele's style of play suggests he can't still be very good to great for several more seasons. Now all that needs to happen is for him to get the accolades he deserves, instead of too much skepticism.

Beckett Sennecke

With the attention being paid to young superstars in the marking like Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard, Matthew Schaefer, Ivan Demidov, and teammate Leo Carlsson, lost in the shuffle is Sennecke, who only turned 20 in January and had a superb rookie season. He did as well as he did despite not being a PP1 fixture. I feel he's getting far less than he deserves, making him a very rare example of an underrated rookie despite him having posted 60 points.

Juraj Slafkovsky

A Montreal player underrated? Is that even possible? It is if you're talking about a former first overall pick who, until this season, had been seen as a major disappointment. Yet now as Slaf is igniting, it feels like fewer folks are true believers than they should be. But he's even doing better than it seems, having started the season with a mere nine points in his first 20 games. He's now a legitimate point per game player, but still not seen as that by enough poolies.

Mark Stone

Even though he slowed in Q4, Stone's production for the season as a whole was amazing. But even more so than Rust, he's looked unkindly upon due to being a lock to get hurt and miss at least a dozen games each season. When Stone does play, he's a top tier guy. Plus, most every league has IR spots, so owning Stone is still worthwhile. Yet since he's been hurt so many times, I think we've reached the point where he'll never be seen as having the value he has.

Nick Suzuki

What can you say about a player who's produced at a higher scoring rate every season of his career? In fact, he might've just put up the most overlooked 100+ point season of recent memory, finishing sixth overall in NHL scoring. Probably he isn't as highly regarded because he's not a sniper, and due to the Habs' lack of recent playoff success. For now, there's no question he is somehow still vastly underrated.

Troy Terry

When many might have felt Terry would produce worse with the influx of free agents and young up and comers on Anaheim, he actually thrived. Even after doing so, is he perceived as being a nearly point per game guy? Seemingly no, perhaps owing to him being so lousy in multicat. But again, this poll is only about points, and Terry piled those on in 2025-26, making him for certain an underrated player.

Tage Thompson

Much like Forsberg had a monster season, then dipped, too few people have gotten fully back aboard the Thompson train, which returned to point per game territory. There seems to be room for him to continue to improve, with PP scoring well below what it was in his monster season. For now though, that season seems to be the standard by which he's judged, leading to him being underrated.

Gabe Vilardi

Overshadowed by linemates Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, Vilardi is likely seen by some as a passenger, carried by much better talents. But guess what – even if he's not their equal, he still is putting up points. Despite that though, it strikes me that many rank him beneath others who have a far lower floor.

Zach Werenski

Perhaps because he took as long as he did to get as great as he is and his band-aid boy status, Werenski might not be on the Mount Rushmore of current fantasy defensemen, when for sure he should be. If he'd missed no games and hit 90 points, which was just above his scoring rate, maybe that might've finally led to him being given proper accolades, but because he didn't, many think he's still not in that highest echelon of d-men, making him underrated.

Pavel Zacha

In his tenth season, but still only 29-year-old, Zacha seems to have finally connected the dots. But skeptics point to him doing this so late in his career and with a sky-high SH%, plus the fact he's teased us before, and yet to put together two solid seasons. Still, he was better than a point per game player over the entire second half, and although I admit there's room for doubts, no question he should be more highly rated now than he actually is.

Trevor Zegras

After a superb first two seasons, Zegras was written off by many in fantasy when he failed to do anywhere near as well thereafter. He was battling injuries then, and needed a change of scenery. Now that both of those issues have been solved he's back to being as great as he was early on. Yet his bandwagon still has plenty of open seating, too much I'd say.

Mika Zibanejad

Because the team underperformed, and Zibs was coming off two subpar seasons, I feel like not enough poolies are taking his nearly point per game numbers for 2025-26 seriously. They should be, as it's almost as if Zibs realized someone needed to step up given the departure of Artemi Panarin, and he's done so. Nothing about his style suggests he can't keep this up, so the only question is what it will take for him to be rated as highly as he once again deserves.

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Those are the 20 most underrated players in fantasy as of right now, as least from where I sit. Your task is to vote for the five who are most comparatively underrated, meaning you need to assess all 20 and decide which five are the most underrated versus the rest. They can still be very highly rated, just not highly enough, and as compared to the rest. And remember, this is based on points only and as of right now. Click here to cast your votes.

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Questions for Mailbag Column

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