It was another star-studded fantasy hockey campaign for NHL rookies, culminating with Lane Hutson, Dustin Wolf and Macklin Celebrini all being in the hunt for the Calder Trophy, given to the league’s top rookie.
Nearly all the rookies on the list below will have some level of fantasy appeal during the 2025-26 season, but it’s important to manage expectations with the youngsters as they move into their second seasons. Let’s take a look at who we should be keeping an eye on.
Lane Hutson: Calder Trophy favorite and early fantasy draft pick
A 5-foot-9 defenseman, Hutson (21 years old) quickly extinguished any size concerns by playing all 82 regular-season games and posting 66 points — 26 on the power play — while averaging 22:44 of ice time. The Boston University product appears to be a lock for the Calder Trophy. While the 2022 second-round pick needs to polish his defensive game before he becomes a team’s true No. 1 defenseman, Hutson will continue to log enough minutes, especially on the No. 1 power play, to justify his selection in the first few rounds of fantasy drafts in the 2025-26 season.
Dustin Wolf: Emerging NHL starter with fantasy potential
Wolf played a handful of NHL games before the 2024-25 season, and his starting opportunity arrived this season when the Flames traded Jacob Markstrom to the Devils last summer. The 24-year-old is in the Calder conversation after recording a .910 save percentage, a 2.64 GAA and a 29-16-8 record. Wolf’s performance tapered off in the second half, as he earned a .918 save percentage through the first 26 games compared to a .900 mark over the final 27 games while not seeing a significant rise in expected GA/60, per Natural Stat Trick. Wolf has the summer to learn from his experiences and should be considered a solid starter again next season, but he’s not ready for a Connor Hellebuyck/Andrei Vasilevskiy workload yet. We should project 50-55 starts.
Macklin Celebrini: Rising star with point-per-game potential
Celebrini would likely win the Calder Trophy if not for Hutson, his college teammate, dominating (at two years older) for the Canadiens. The former registered 25 goals and 38 assists across 70 games on the league-worst Sharks, but his minus-31 rating was a drag on his overall fantasy output. For reference, Connor Bedard produced 22 goals, 39 assists and a minus-44 rating through 68 games as a rookie.
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Bedard’s per-game production dropped off in his second season, and Celebrini will look to avoid such…