We are running through all 32 teams, three fantasy players at a time, two new teams every weekday until all 32 are done. Today it is Montreal and Ottawa.
Add up each team's top three on our board and Montreal ranks 7th of 32 and Ottawa 20th. Montreal's top two go back to back at 18th and 19th overall, and one of them projects for more goals than any other skater we have. Two of the six players here are defencemen, and both are here for the same two reasons: they collect assists and they block shots.
Fantasy points below are Yahoo-style scoring from our 2026-27 projections. The band after each is that player's floor and ceiling, not a guarantee.
Nick Suzuki, Montreal
Suzuki is 18th overall and he has played all 82 games in five straight seasons. We have him at 100.0% availability, which he shares with Lane Hutson below, and his points have gone up every year: 61, 66, 77, 89, 101.
We project 36 goals and 103 points on 182 shots, with 36 power play points on a 73.1% share. The 36 power play points are the most in this article by three.
The 103 is two points past a career year, not a new level, and the assists carry it: 67 of the 103. He has never taken more than 186 shots in a season and we do not project him to start now.
His band is 737 to 861, and that 737 floor is the highest in this article. He is 27, he is the captain, and he is signed at $7.88M through 2030.
Cole Caufield, Montreal
Caufield is 19th overall, one spot behind his centre, and we project him for 50 goals. That is the most of any skater on our board. Leon Draisaitl is next at 49, then Macklin Celebrini and David Pastrnak at 48.
He is coming off 51 goals on 258 shots, and we project 50 on 257. The volume assumption is almost exactly last season repeated.
What moves is everything around it. His shooting percentage across five seasons reads 12.2, 16.5, 8.9, 15.4, 19.8. The 19.8 was a career high and the 8.9 came in the season he took 314 shots, which is the most he has ever taken. His band is 713 to 852, 139 points wide.
His 87.3% availability is the lowest here. He has played 82, 82 and 81 in the last three seasons, but missed 51 games across the two before that.
Lane Hutson, Montreal
Hutson is 65th overall and, at 22, the youngest player in this article. The assists are why he is here.
We project 70 assists. Only two defencemen on our board project for more, Quinn Hughes at 84 and Evan Bouchard at 71, and both turn 26 before this season is a month old. We also project 135 blocks and 80 points, sixth among defencemen, on a 68.2% power play share.
Two full NHL seasons, 66 points then 78, is the entire record underneath that. The first won him the Calder and the second put him 6th in Norris voting, so the audience is well past Montreal by now. We keep the projection cautious anyway, because 166 regular season games is a short book to work from. That is what the band is doing: 549 to 787, 238 points wide, wider than anyone in this article except Jake Sanderson.
The contract says what Montreal thinks. He is signed at $8.85M through 2034.
Tim Stützle, Ottawa
Stützle is 31st overall and Ottawa's clear first. We project 34 goals, 60 assists and 94 points on 185 shots, with 33 power play points on a 65.0% share and 125 hits.
Those 125 hits are the most in this article, and they are rarer than they look. Thirty-three forwards sit inside the top 40 overall on our board and only three of them project for 100 hits or more: Brady Tkachuk, Porter Martone and Stützle. In a category league that is a scorer who also fills a physical column.
His five seasons read 58, 90, 70, 79, 83 points. The 90 came on 228 shots at 17.1%, the 70 came the year he shot 9.4%, and last season was 83 on 194 shots. We project 94, which sits above every season except the 90.
His band is 623 to 847, 224 points wide. He is signed at $8.35M through 2031.
Jake Sanderson, Ottawa
Sanderson is 41st overall and the second defenceman in this article. We project 14 goals, 53 assists and 67 points, 148 blocks, and 31 power play points on a 62.4% share.
The blocks are the case, if your league counts them. His 148 is the most in this article by 13, and in a format that rewards blocks a defenceman can win you a week without the puck ever going in for him.
His scoring has climbed the whole way: 32, 38, 57, then 54 in 67 games last season, which is a better rate than the 57. His shooting percentage has gone 3.0, 6.3, 5.6, 9.5, so the goals are arriving as the shots do.
His band is 590 to 844, 254 points wide, the widest in this article. He is 24, signed at $8.05M through 2032, and an alternate captain.
Drake Batherson, Ottawa
Batherson is 97th overall and the safest projection in this article. His band is 544 to 628, 84 points wide, less than a third of Sanderson's.
His points by season read 44, 62, 66, 68, 71. Four straight years of climbing by a handful, and we project 70, which sits inside that run rather than above it. We also project 29 goals, 187 shots and 123 hits.
One thing under it. Last season's 33 goals came on 167 shots, which is 19.8%, and his four seasons before that read 15.5, 8.8, 14.3, 13.5. Our projection of 29 goals on 187 shots puts him back near 15.5%, so the goals come down and the volume goes up.
He is 28, signed at $4.97M, and a free agent after this season.
What we would actually do
Montreal first, and the order depends on your league. In a points league take Suzuki, because 103 points with 100.0% availability and the highest floor here is the least eventful way to spend a second-round pick. In a goals league take Caufield, because nobody on our board projects for more of them.
Hutson is the interesting one. A defenceman who projects 70 assists and 135 blocks is worth a real pick in almost any format, and at 22 with a 238-point band he is the player in this article most likely to make the projection look too cautious.
Ottawa is Stützle and then a decision. He is the pick if you need a forward who scores and hits. If you already have forwards, Sanderson does more for a roster than Batherson does, because 148 blocks and 53 assists fill columns most teams are short in.
Batherson is the one to draft if you want to know what you are getting. Five years of the same player, the tightest band on the page, and a walk year to concentrate the mind.
Floor, ceiling and availability on all 406 skaters and 80 goalies, sortable.
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