Matthews, Nylander among eight Maple Leafs featured in Daily Faceoff’s Top 300 players for fantasy hockey

Eight players on the Toronto Maple Leafs were featured in Daily Faceoff’s Top 300 NHL players for fantasy hockey ahead of the 2025-26 season.

DFO’s Matt Larkin conducted the ranking based on how valuable a player is for fantasy hockey in terms of their abilities to fill up a considerable percentage of the stat sheet beyond just goals and assists. It also took into account upside and status before the start of the campaign, which could fluctuate depending on where things stand for each player.

The highest-ranking Leaf was Auston Matthews, who landed at 10th overall due to him coming off a down season, injury concerns, and the uncertainty of his production in a post-Mitch Marner world. There is certainly a possibility he could end up being a solid bounce-back candidate among the elite NHL stars, but it is understandably unclear at this time how things will unfold for him next year.

William Nylander cracked the top 20 by finishing 19th overall, with him coming off two productive seasons and a potential candidate to fill the void left behind by Marner. Combined with his durability, Larkin argues that Nylander is among the safer picks in the early rounds of a fantasy draft for this upcoming season.

The next Leafs player featured is Matthew Knies, who landed at 59th in part due to his breakout season that included 29 goals and 182 hits. One area hurting his placement is the fact he only mustered up five power-play goals during the regular season, but getting more touches and confidence should do wonders in helping further his stock for next year and beyond.

After Knies is John Tavares, who was slotted at 80th overall after a 38-goal campaign in a contract year that earned him a four-year extension. There is some uncertainty with his offensive output due to him now being 35 and the prior campaign being partly aided by a high shooting percentage.

Rounding out the Leafs in the top 100 is Anthony Stolarz at 88th, the highest ranked goalie for the Leafs which makes sense given how well he fared last season. While his numbers from the past year are comparable to Connor Hellebuyck, his injury concern and the fact that he is one-half of a tandem rotation hurt his stock a bit.

The remaining Leafs in the top 300 were Joseph Woll (154th), Morgan Rielly (210th), and Matias Maccelli (243rd).  Beyond the top eight Leafs are a further three included as players on the bubble in Easton Cowan, Bobby McMann, and Max Domi.