It's time for my annual poll on overrated players. What is it exactly that makes one overrated, both in general and more so relative to other players? Average draft position is an objective barometer, as is actual versus predicted performance. But there is room to consider subjective factors such as name value versus true value, either in the form of a player who is still rated highly due to early hype but has largely disappointed, or a veteran who has seen his fantasy value drop yet is still seemingly rated higher than he should be.

Looking at these factors, plus others you feel are relevant, your task is to determine which five of the 20 skaters I selected as choices are most overrated. It is relative, meaning all might rightfully be considered overrated, but you'll pick the five you feel are the most overrated as of right now and versus the rest. That also brings up a key point, which is some of the 20 may have been very overrated in the past, but are less so now, while others seem like they may be on the verge of being very overrated yet at present they aren't quite overrated enough to be among the five most overrated. In short, you're voting based on right now – not what the past was or what the future may hold. Remember, this is entirely about being overrated in fantasy; so if a player has real life or other intangible value, that is not relevant for purposes of this poll.

To be "fair" I picked only skaters who've played 200+ games, and you should use points only as a barometer, meaning if a guy is a multi-cat asset that also is not of consequence. The link to cast your votes appears at the end of the column. Lastly, I didn't include Auston Matthews or Elias Pettersson, because I can't see how both wouldn't have been in everyone's top five. As a result, this would then be for the third place on the podium, and to round out the top seven. 

Aleksander Barkov

Is it wrong to have a player on the list who hasn't taken the ice for a single second all season? Maybe; however, Barkov was already on a downward trend in terms of scoring, making it so he had morphed from a super elite player you tolerated missing 10-15+ games per season because of how great he was, to a much better in real life hockey player who shows no signs of missing fewer games, nor, unfortunately, of rebounding in terms of his scoring.

Brock Boeser

Perhaps his rating has dropped enough for him to no longer be as overrated; but I'd say still not by enough. After all, many point to him having a great season, then two down ones, then a great one, and he's on a second down one, giving hope of a 2026-27 rebound. Whether or not that happens, he's been awful this season despite overall and PP TOIs higher than since 2020-21.

Jesper Bratt

After he produced at a 90-point rate in 2025-26, Bratt was seen as having arrived, and valued accordingly. Although his metrics suggest his scoring is unsustainably low, it doesn't change the fact he probably was rated too highly after last season anyway.

Kevin Fiala

For years, Fiala was the player you wanted to acquire after the new year, given his pattern of playing far better in the second half. But he seemed to put all the pieces of the puzzle together with Minnesota in 2021-22 and then replicated that success in his first season with LA. His fantasy value increased in turn, but since then it's been all downhill, including this season, where, even before he got hurt in the Olympics, he was on pace for under 60 points despite his highest TOIs, overall and on the PP, of his career.  But has his value dropped enough? Not yet, or so it seems.

Adam Fox

Yes, he's been hurt this season, and the Rangers as a team have not done him any favors in terms of their offense. But playing for a lousy team didn't stop Quinn Hughes from thriving while a Canuck, and it wasn't long ago that Fox was put in the same echelon as Hughes and Cale Makar. Fox still doesn't shoot enough  to be considered in the upper echelon for leagues with peripheral stats, and his PP scoring is not what it once was. Has his rating dipped enough to reflect this though? Seemingly no.

Nico Hischier

After a point per game 2022-23, many considered Hischier, who also was a first overall pick back in the day, to be on track to become the next Patrice Bergeron, a two-way center who also puts up points. The issue is, many still feel the same, this despite Hischier's scoring rate having downticked the two seasons after 2022-23, and him being on pace for a major drop this season despite his TOIs being better than ever.

Luke Hughes

Admittedly he's barely above the 200-career game minimum, and we've yet to see what he can do without Dougie Hamilton entirely out of the picture. But let's not forget that New Jersey has given Hughes chances to take the ball and run with it both when Hamilton was hurt and even when he was healthy, and Hughes has not seized upon the opportunities. He is shooting more and getting more ice time, but his scoring is sluggish. Perhaps Luke will be to the Hughes' what Marc was to the Staal's, namely a distant third in fantasy value?

Zach Hyman

How can he be overrated when he's bounced back from a 49-point scoring pace to 73? The mere fact he faltered so badly last season, and is under a point per game despite being stapled to Connor McDavid, shows he is the personification of a passenger, and not at all deserving of being valued like others who are producing at a similar rate.

Seth Jones

This is Jones' 13th season. Guess how many have seen him produce above a 50+ point rate? Try one, and that was in 2017-18. Despite getting put in a situation to succeed when he arrived in Florida, he has not thrived at all. Yet still, I feel many think he has it in him to go nuts, when that now seems highly unlikely.

Kirill Kaprizov

Not only has Kaprizov disappointed this season, but if we factor out the 27 points he had in his first 14 games of 2024-25, he's actually had a 90-95 point scoring rate for collectively over a full season's worth of games. Even the arrival of Quinn Hughes didn't spark Kaprizov, who's had largely identical scoring and SOG rates each quarter for 2025-26. Yet in he's still seemingly held in as high regard as the most elite forwards, perhaps no longer deservedly so.

Dylan Larkin

After three seasons at point per game production, Larkin's scoring pace dropped last season and again for 2025-26 even as the Red Wings have improved. Maybe he was only as productive as he was because there were no other options, and now that he has more surrounding talent he's unable to thrive? Whatever the explanation, he seems to be still valued by most as a reliable point per game producer, when that no longer seems deserved.

Timo Meier

Another player whose value, which was already lower in points only, has dropped but arguably not enough, as he is still seemingly held in high regard, given how well he did on some very bad Sharks teams, plus all the talent around him. But is he even a 60 point player anymore? Or a 50 point player? If not, then he is for sure still overrated.

J.T. Miller

Like Meier, the 'bread and butter" for Miller is multicat. Although he has looked mediocre at best since coming to New York, many still fixate on his 103 points in 2024-25 and think he can rise again. Whether or not he does, given what's happened in the interim his value should have gone down arguably more than it has, making him overrated in my book.

Artemi Panarin

Did New York fail Panarin, or vice versa? Once a lock for 100+ points, with a realistic chance at considerably more, now even 100 seems out of reach. Yet with his trade to LA, it sounds like many are ready for him to rise again, when, at his age and on that team, it's iffy.

Owen Power

No question he's rated considerably lower than when he entered the NHL as the first overall pick in 2021. But given how poorly he's played, I'd argue he doesn't deserve a rating at all, as he's no longer a rosterable defenseman in all but the deepest leagues. Yet he remains owned in most, signifying that he still has plenty of GMs with faith he'll connect the dots.

Morgan Rielly

On track to finish at a point per every other game for the second straight season, Rielly still is held is higher fantasy regard than he should be, probably due to his successes, and those of his team, in the not too distant past. That sure sounds like someone who's overrated

Sam Reinhart

His scoring and SOG rates keep shrinking, yet fantasy GMs still think quite highly of Reinhart, as exemplified by him being the 23rd player selected in Yahoo drafts for 2025-26. Make no mistake – he's a very good player, but definitely not what many still expect him to be.

Dylan Strome

Not only did Strome top the point per game mark last season, but it was a continuation of four seasons in a row of increasing scoring rate. This season though he's taken a step back to the level where he was in 2022-23 and 2023-24, with that, plus his outburst last season coinciding with nearly unfathomable offensive zone starting percentage of 77.6%, suggesting he should not be valued at anything close to what he did last season. But many still think he has it in him.

Devon Toews

After scoring paces of 81 and 70 in consecutive seasons, Toews was seen as a player who, due to being tethered to Cale Makar, would find a way to fall into points. What followed though was a dip into the 40s for the next two seasons, and this season he's barely hit the scoresheet, and this despite still flanking Makar. Even though he's struggling so mightily, I'm certain he'll be drafted next season due to GMs not wanting to miss out on the chance that Toews regains his Makar-induced scoring touch, even though that looks very, very unlikely to occur.

Carter Verhaeghe

Arguably underrated for too long, by the time Verhaeghe had finally made believers out of everyone, he proceeded to tally only 53 points last season, and this season is only at a 60 point pace.  He's had a chance to shine given the injuries to key Florida forwards, yet clearly has not. Despite this, I'm sure that once "the band is back together" next season, many will bank on Verhaeghe returning to his prior level of scoring, which to me sounds like he has indeed done a 180 and gone from underrated to overrated.

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Those are the 20 skaters I believe are most overrated as of now. Perhaps you'd have included others I didn't and/or not include some I did. Either way, your task is to vote for the five who are the most overrated among the 20, meaning on a relative basis. Click here to cast your votes.

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Questions for Mailbag Column

My monthly mailbag column has room to answer several more questions. To get yours to me, either private message “rizzeedizzee” via the DobberHockey Forums or, instead, send an email to [email protected] with “Roos Mailbag” as the subject line.