Makar's $20.4M AAV, Hellebuyck's trade request and seven new fantasy boards: NHL digest, Aug. 24-31
Seven new NHL.com fantasy boards, Cale Makar's record extension and Connor Hellebuyck's public trade request reshape the draft and goalie watchlist before preseason.
The Aug. 24-31 window contains zero regular-season games, so there are no new scores, weekly skater or goalie leaders, or wild-card points to report. The 2026-27 preseason begins Sept. 19 and the regular season opens Sept. 29. The useful change this week is a seven-team fantasy-board update, plus Cale Makar's record extension and Connor Hellebuyck making his trade request public. 1
For fantasy managers, the distinction matters: a projection describes a full season, while a training-camp line, power-play unit or goalie workload decides whether the projection is usable at draft time.
Seven new draft boards
NHL.com's 32 in 32 series published the seven fantasy pages between Aug. 25 and Aug. 31. The ranks below are NHL.com preseason fantasy ranks, and the projections are full-season estimates rather than game-week results.
| Team and date | Highest-ranked player and projection | Secondary target | What still changes the read |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis, Aug. 25 | Robert Thomas, No. 56, 80 points | Dylan Holloway: 70; Jimmy Snuggerud: 64 | Thomas, Holloway and Snuggerud showed late-season chemistry. Joel Hofer's 24-win projection becomes more useful if he wins a clear starter's workload. 2 |
| Tampa Bay, Aug. 26 | Nikita Kucherov, No. 3, 125 points | Andrei Vasilevskiy: 39 wins; Brayden Point: 85 points | Kucherov and Vasilevskiy are established anchors. Point's value depends on a healthier season after 63 games and 50 points last year. 3 |
| Toronto, Aug. 27 | William Nylander, No. 44, 88 points | Auston Matthews: 86; Darren Raddysh: 66 | Raddysh led NHL defensemen with 10 power-play goals last season. Gavin McKenna's No. 81 rank rests on a possible top-six and first-power-play role as an 18-year-old rookie. 4 |
| Utah, Aug. 28 | Clayton Keller, No. 43, 87 points | Dylan Guenther: 83; Logan Cooley: 80 | Keller, Guenther and Cooley project as a strong top power-play group. Cooley's 80-point ceiling carries a 54-game injury sample from last season. Karel Vejmelka's 34-win projection depends on another heavy workload. 5 |
| Vancouver, Aug. 29 | Elias Pettersson, No. 137, 59 points | Brock Boeser: 54; Marco Rossi: 54 | Pettersson has bounce-back potential after a 51-point season and a career-low 11.4 shooting percentage. Rossi finished Vancouver's final 25 games with 20 points, mostly beside Boeser and on the first power play. 6 |
| Vegas, Aug. 30 | Jack Eichel, No. 22, 96 points | Mitch Marner: 89; Mark Stone: 74 | Eichel has produced consecutive 90-point seasons. Stone has 30-goal potential when healthy, while Shea Theodore could return to the top power-play quarterback role after Pavel Dorofeyev's departure. 7 |
| Washington, Aug. 31 | Logan Thompson, No. 26, 35 wins | Jakob Chychrun: 63 points; Alex Ovechkin: 63 | Thompson made 58 starts last season and finished tied for fourth in wins with 31. Ovechkin's shot volume remains the foundation of his value, while Washington's new top-six configuration gives Ryan Leonard a 55-point breakout projection. 8 |
The board has two clear tiers. Tampa Bay gives managers the strongest combination of proven production and projected volume: Kucherov is ranked third overall with a 125-point estimate, Vasilevskiy is projected for 39 wins, and Point is priced as a bounce-back candidate at 85 points. Toronto and Utah follow with high-end scoring depth, while Vegas combines Eichel's 96-point ceiling with Marner's 89-point projection.
The lower-ranked names are more dependent on format and deployment. Vancouver's Pettersson sits at No. 137 despite category coverage across points, blocks, hits and power-play assists. St. Louis' Hofer is the kind of late goalie target who becomes useful if the workload becomes clear. Washington's Thompson already has the workload evidence; the question is whether managers want to pay a top-three-round price for a goalie projected to make 35 starts-level wins.
Breakout and value targets
NHL.com's league-wide sleeper list puts Joel Hofer first, Egor Chinakhov fifth, Philip Broberg 12th and Marco Rossi ninth. The list is a draft aid, while the team pages supply the reasons behind several of those names. 9
Gavin McKenna, Toronto: Toronto projects McKenna for 63 points and ranks him No. 81 overall. The No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft could play beside Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, or with John Tavares and Nylander, and could reach the first power-play unit. The range of possible assignments makes McKenna a high-upside pick whose price should follow camp usage. 4
Marco Rossi, Vancouver: Rossi is projected for 54 points, but the more useful signal is his 20 points in Vancouver's final 25 games last season. The Canucks used Rossi mostly with Boeser and on the first power play during that closing run. A repeat of that deployment would matter more than his No. 212 preseason rank. 6
Philip Broberg, St. Louis: Broberg set career highs with 34 points and 23:21 per game in 81 games last season. St. Louis projects him for 45 points, with a larger ceiling if he holds the first power-play quarterback job for the full season. 2
Joel Hofer, St. Louis: Hofer finished last season with 24 wins, a 2.61 goals-against average and six shutouts in 46 games. The Blues project 24 wins again. His fantasy value is therefore tied to a specific decision: whether St. Louis turns last year's stronger performance into a clear starter's share. 2
Contracts that change the context
Cale Makar signed an eight-year, $163.2 million contract with Colorado on Aug. 29. The deal begins next season, carries a $20.4 million annual average value and is the richest contract in NHL history. Makar had 79 points in 75 games last season and enters the year as a two-time Norris Trophy winner. For fantasy managers, the contract itself changes no 2026-27 projection; the relevant signal is that Colorado has committed its long-term offensive engine to the defense position. 10
Connor Hellebuyck made his trade request from Winnipeg public on Aug. 27. He said he privately requested a move several months earlier and wanted a resolution before training camp opens Sept. 16. Hellebuyck went 23-23-11 with a 2.86 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage in 57 games last season; Winnipeg finished 35-35-12, eight points behind Los Angeles for the Western Conference's second wild card. 11
The fantasy question is workload and team context. Hellebuyck remains a volume goalie with a seven-year contract carrying an $8.5 million annual average value, but his destination and Winnipeg's opening-night plan are unresolved. Stuart Skinner is already under contract in Winnipeg, while top prospect Domenic DiVincentiis has yet to play in the NHL. A trade would redistribute starts and team quality; a stay would keep the Jets' goalie plan unsettled until camp. 11
Playoff picture
The 2026-27 playoff race has not produced a standings update yet. The regular season starts Sept. 29, and the first preseason games arrive Sept. 19. The current wild-card implication is therefore a set of opening-month questions rather than a points-table shift. 1
Winnipeg's goalie decision is the largest unresolved variable from this week's news. Washington, Utah, Tampa Bay and Toronto enter camp with clearer high-end fantasy anchors, while Vancouver, St. Louis and Vegas carry more role-dependent value in the middle and late rounds. Those distinctions will matter when preseason line combinations and goalie rotations replace projections with actual usage.
Watchlist for the next update
- Draft anchors: Kucherov at 125 projected points, Eichel at 96, Nylander at 88, Keller at 87, Matthews at 86 and Vasilevskiy at 39 projected wins. These names combine high projections with established production or workload evidence. 3457
- Late-round upside: Hofer, Rossi, Broberg and McKenna. Each has a documented production or role path, and each needs a camp check before managers pay for the full projection. 246
- Goalie decisions: Thompson and Vasilevskiy have strong workload evidence; Hofer, Vejmelka, Hart and Hellebuyck carry different levels of role or team-context uncertainty. 357811
- Camp checkpoints: Toronto's first power-play unit, Vancouver's Rossi usage, St. Louis' Hofer workload, Vegas' Theodore deployment and Winnipeg's Hellebuyck resolution. Those confirmations will turn the current board into actionable opening-week prices.
The next issue should have preseason lineups and goalie rotations to test these projections. Until then, the draft board is a set of informed estimates, and the most valuable information is the role attached to each estimate.
Fuentes de referencia
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