The 2023–24 fantasy season is nearly complete, as most leagues will have finished their season tomorrow or will be entering the championship week on Monday. Just like we did last year, we’ll take a look back at the season that was and hand out some awards for the best and worst achievements in fantasy this season.
The awards we’ll cover are Forward MVP, Defence MVP, Goalie MVP, Rookie MVP, Biggest Bust, and lastly, Best Waiver Addition of the Year. It was a big year in fantasy once again, with 10 players currently on track to crack the 100-point mark and five likely to hit the 50-goal mark.
Let’s take a look at who made a major impact in the fantasy world in 2023–24.
Forward MVP – Nathan MacKinnon
Honorable mentions: Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid
Connor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov certainly made a strong run for the title, but Nathan MacKinnon‘ production across the board gives him a slight edge. For the first time since 2018-19 MacKinnon played over 75 games and he made it count. He’s currently sitting on a career-best 48 goals and 131 points in 76 games, which currently ranks second in the NHL behind only Nikita Kucherov.
The reason MacKinnon has the edge for this award is his category coverage across the board. He’s currently sitting fourth in the NHL for goals, third for assists, second for points, first for shots, and second for powerplay points. He also sprinkled in 52 hits and 66 blocks for good measure.
As the runners-up, I have Kucherov and McDavid for obvious reasons. These three were just head and shoulders above everyone else this year. Kucherov is currently pacing the league in points with 133 and powerplay points with 49, while McDavid overcame a slow start and has put up a historic 97 assists in 73 games so far. There really wasn’t an obvious pick here—and you could’ve easily given the award to any of them—given how tight the race at the top was this season.
Defenceman MVP – Cale Makar
Honorable mentions: Roman Josi, Quinn Hughes
Just like at forward this was an incredibly tight race with no obvious choice, however I gave the slight edge to Cale Makar. Makar racked up elite category coverage across the board and was the best defenceman in fantasy this season when healthy.
He currently sits second among defencemen for points with 83, second for goals with 19, first for points per game, first for powerplay points, first for shorthanded points, and third for shots. He even has 133 blocks. He quite literally does it all and is able to rack up fantasy points in so many different ways.
Roman Josi, meanwhile, had a tremendous season in his own right, sitting third for points among defencemen, fifth for powerplay points, and first for goals and shots while also adding 139 blocks. Lastly, Quinn Hughes leads all defencemen in points with 86 but ranks 10th for shots and has added just 25 hits and 49 blocks. He’s had an incredible season, but his lack of category coverage hurts.
Goaltender MVP – Connor Hellebuyck
Honorable Mentions: Thatcher Demko, Sergei Bobrovsky
Once again, this was an incredibly tight race, but for my money, Connor Hellebuyck was the best goalie in fantasy this season. He’s currently leading the NHL among starters in save percentage at .920 and is tied for first for GAA at 2.42. He’s also tied for third for shutouts with four and wins with 33. On top of it all, he’s saved 36 goals above expected this year, eight more than any other goaltender. No goalie was more valuable than Hellebuyck this season.
Following closely behind is Thatcher Demko. If he hadn’t gone down with an injury on March 9, he would’ve beat out Hellebuyck for the crown. Despite playing in just 49 games this season, Demko picked up 34 wins and five shutouts and ranks second in the league in both categories. His 34–13–2 record was by far the best of any goalie this year. Finally, Sergei Bobrovsky deserves some credit as well as he’s currently tied for second in the NHL for wins and shutouts and is tied for first in GAA.
Rookie MVP – Connor Bedard
Honorable Mentions: Brock Faber, Luke Hughes
Even with Connor Bedard missing a significant chunk of games, he still ran away with the rookie scoring title and was by far the most valuable rookie in fantasy. His 58 points are 15 better than the next-best rookie in Luke Hughes, despite playing in just 61 games so far this season. His 0.95 point per game rate, meanwhile, is the best pace by a rookie since Matt Barzal in 2017–18. Bedard leads all rookies in points, goals, assists, and shots. This was a lock since October.
In terms of honorable mentions, I’ve got a pair of impressive defencemen in Hughes and Brock Faber. Hughes currently ranks second among rookies for points with 43 and is also first for powerplay points, while Faber isn’t far behind with 41 points. Both are tied for second for assists by a rookie behind Bedard.
Biggest bust – Erik Karlsson
Dishonorable mentions: Tage Thompson, Pierre-Luc Dubois
A year after winning our award for best defenceman, Erik Karlsson takes home the award for the biggest bust in fantasy. After a 101-point season in 2022–23 and a move to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the offseason, Karlsson was expected to go nuclear playing with a star-studded forward group. Instead, his production fell off a cliff compared to last season.
Coming into the year, Karlsson was being taken as the third defenceman off the board in fantasy, but 76 games into the season, his 48 points currently rank 16th in the NHL among defencemen. He’s also posted just nine goals on the year after putting up 25 last year. Similarly, his powerplay production dropped from 27 last year to just 15 this season. Thoughts and prayers to whoever used a high pick on Karlsson this season.
Another player involved in a high-profile move in the offseason—Pierre-Luc Dubois—has been a huge disappointment. Despite being drafted at an ADP of 89, Dubois currently ranks 215th in Yahoo! leagues and has just 39 points on the year. For context, there are 141 forwards who have more points than him. Lastly, Tage Thompson was nearly going off the board as a first-round pick in drafts with an ADP of 14 after a breakout 94-point season last year but has struggled to live up to the hype with just 52 points in 65 games.
Best waiver addition – Gustav Nyquist
Honorable Mentions: Wyatt Johnston, Ryan O’Reilly
For this award, I only considered players drafted in less than five percent of Yahoo! leagues. There were plenty of great options here, but I landed on the above three.
Leading the way was Gustav Nyquist who went from going undrafted in pretty much every league to being a top 50 forward in fantasy. After just 27 points last season, Nyquist currently sits with 71 points in 76 games, easily surpassing his career high from all the way back in 2015. He currently ranks 36th in the NHL for points ahead of names like Tim Stutzle, Kevin Fiala, and Brad Marchand. Not bad for a waiver claim.
As the runners-up, I have Wyatt Johnston and Nyquist’s teammate Ryan O’Reilly. Johnston was drafted in just four percent of Yahoo! leagues but has posted 30 goals and 61 points in 76 games, along with 201 shots. O’Reilly, meanwhile, was drafted in three percent of leagues but has turned back the clock to the tune of 63 points, 25 powerplay points, and 169 shots.
Sights set on the real playoffs
With the fantasy playoffs winding down, it’s time to turn the attention to the NHL playoffs. Congratulations to all the fantasy managers who won their leagues or are heading to championship week, and good luck next year to those who didn’t! Thanks for tuning in to TWC’s fantasy hockey coverage this season!
