Fantasy Hockey Draft Debate: MacKinnon Still the Top Pick for 2026-27

Fantasy hockey managers gearing up for 2026-27 drafts face a rare problem: an unusually clean top tier at pick one.

According to ESPN's fantasy hockey breakdown, Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon remains the clear top choice. He led the league in shots for a third straight year, piled up 74 assists and 30 power-play points, and averaged 3.2 fantasy points per game in ESPN's standard scoring format, matching only Connor McDavid. MacKinnon scored 53 goals last season, and the recommendation is straightforward: draft him first and hope for something close to that total again.

Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov sits right behind him. Fresh off his second Hart Trophy, Kucherov led all regular skaters with 1.71 points per game in 2025-26, finishing with 44 goals and 86 assists across 76 games. He's missed just 11 games total over four seasons, and he's entering a contract year as the salary cap climbs, an added incentive the article flags. Still, the source ranks him second, right behind MacKinnon, as the top fantasy pick.

San Jose's Macklin Celebrini rounds out the conversation as the ceiling pick. After scoring 45 goals and adding 70 assists in his second NHL season, the Ted Lindsay Award finalist is expected to keep climbing, with the article noting his 300-plus shot potential and strong two-way numbers, including 53 blocked shots last season. There's some shooting-percentage regression risk built into his profile, but his upside keeps him in the same breath as the two veterans ahead of him.

McDavid, unsurprisingly, remains the measuring stick every other name on this list gets compared against.