Oilers come out on top in 2024-25 hockey fantasy rankings

Fantasy hockey is a big deal to a lot of NHL fans, so anticipation and excitement will already be building as we count down towards the 2024-25 season. This anticipation and excitement of course extends to those who support the Edmonton Oilers.

In any event, there was plenty of intrigue late last week, when Daily Faceoff released their fantasy hockey top 300 player rankings for 2024-25. Written by Matt Larkin, it's clear he put in a lot of hard work and as such, deserves significant credit.

We appreciate that people can have different takes on how they approach fantasy hockey. In this respect, it's important to note that Larkin's rankings include factors such as putting a lot of importance on upside, along with fantasy value at times being different to real life.

One final aspect to consider, is that this is only the first edition of Larkin's rankings ahead of the 2024-25 regular season. As such, there will be modified editions to come, to coincide with training camp, preseason games, etc.

Oilers are top of the heap ... with some unexpected company

With that all said, the first edition makes for an excellent read if you're an Oilers fan. For a start, they have 12 players listed in the Daily Faceoff's top 300, which is tied for first among all NHL teams, somewhat surprisingly along with the Anaheim Ducks.

Turning to the actual players, it is of no surprise that Connor McDavid is ranked number one in the entire league. Since entering the NHL in 2015-16 he's been the best player in the game with 982 points, which is 141 ahead of second place. (We'll get to this more shortly.)

McDavid has won everything the game has to offer on an individual basis, including even the Conn Smythe Trophy this past season. (Yeah, let's move on quickly from this.) He's the one player who translates ideally from real world to fantasy land, because it's like watching someone who has come from another planet to teach the people of earth how to play hockey at a higher level.

The next Oiler featured on the list is Leon Draisaitl, at number three. He's the player we were alluding to just before, as having the second most points in the NHL since 2015-16, with 841.

Interestingly, Larkin views Draisaitl as a buy-low opportunity, due to dropping to 41 goals this past season after two consecutive campaigns of 50+. Pending how his contract extension negotiations proceed, he could have even more of an incentive to show exactly how good he is in 2024-25. (To be clear though, we expect him to have a new deal in place with the Oilers prior to the new season beginning.)

Ready to move up to top spot among blueliners

Next we come to Evan Bouchard at number 17, who is also the third-highest ranked blueliner on the list. Larkin asks if Bouchard will have another season along the lines of the career-high 82 points he put up in 2023-24?

Our feeling is 'hell yes, at the very least!', given the 24-year-old then took his game to another level in the playoffs, finishing second only to McDavid in points, with 32. In fact, as far as we're concerned, he is primed to overtake Cale Makar and Roman Josi as the top fantasy D-man in 2024-25.

After Bouchard we come to Zach Hyman, at number 33. We appreciate that there will be plenty of people who believe this ranking is a little low, for a player who finished third in the NHL this last season with a career-high 54, and then paced everyone during the playoffs with another 16.

However, Larkin makes the reasonable argument that Hyman has peaked at 32-years-old, and will likely take a step back in 2024-25. Regardless, we would contend he'll still be good for around nearly a point-per-game this time around.

An underwhelming ranking for the man between the pipes

Then you have to go all the way down to 72 to find the next Oilers, in the form of Stuart Skinner. He has 10 goalies ahead of him on the list, which seems a bit much for someone who backstopped his team to within just one win of hockey's Holy Grail.

Larkin's rationale comes from how inconsistent Skinner can be at times, which admittedly has been the case since he took over as the Oilers' main netminder. Still, we like his chances of being significantly better than the 11th-ranked fantasy goalie, after a season where he was tied-third in wins and quality starts, as well as fourth in overall starts.

Closing out the Oilers in the top 100 rankings, are Jeff Skinner at 79 and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 98. Skinner has averaged around 25 goals per season and should at least equal this given the Oilers' offensive fire power, while Nugent-Hopkins should give the team in the area of 70 total points.

The other Oilers in the overall top 300 include Viktor Arvidsson at 145, Darnell Nurse at 171, Evander Kane at 174, Mattias Ekholm at 186 and Matt Savoie at 291. Of these, Savoie undoubtedly stands out as a prime example of Larkin loving upside, despite the reality the winger has just one game and 3:55 of NHL experience to his name so far.

On a more general level, all 32 NHL teams were featued in Daily Faceoff's top 300 rankings. Following the Oilers and Ducks, six teams had 11 players included, while the San Jose Sharks were last (again!) with six players.

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