loading . . . Frozen Tools Forensics: Fantasy MVP Defensemen Including Makar, Schaefer, Raddysh, Malinski, and More This is week three of our MVP series. Today we will be covering defense. As a reminder, here is a quick intro to the work from Week 1:
'Most Valuable' is a tricky term that is going to be completely dependent on the league specific context. For the purposes of this article, we will use standard Yahoo point scoring to calculate fantasy points for each player, including goals, assists, power-play points, shots, blocks and (unfortunately) plus/minus. Obviously, this means there might be some general deviations to your league, based on your settings, but it is at least a good starting point. To grab all this data I am exporting the Multi-Category and Big Board Reports for the full season, and doing a bit of rearranging so I can have only the pertinent fields.
To read the prior entries of the MVP series, just click here.
The table below contains the top fantasy producers for the 25-26 season. We start with basic player information on the left (name, position, team) then get into some season stats (games played and Yahoo fantasy points per game). The fantasy points column is using points per game to attempt to account for players who had big changes in value because they missed time.
There is really nothing surprising about this list. These were very likely the top three D off the board on most drafts, and here they are at the end of the season putting up the most fantasy points per game. As with other positions, though, in addition to fantasy points I have also pulled average draft position data (ADP). These ADPs are based on preseason drafts, so they don't take into account leagues and drafts that started part way through the season. The idea here is that if we compare the draft position to the end of year fantasy points for all players we can get an equation that lets us say, "on average a player with X draft position would be expected to get Y fantasy points". Once we have that we can compare that expected number to the player's actual number and see who performed the best based on their draft position. The ADP data below is compiled from Yahoo drafts for the 2025-26 season.
Our next table contains the players who provided the most value once we account for where they were drafted. I have included their ADP data, their total fantasy points and the difference from the expected number given their draft position.
There were certainly hopes that Matthew Schaefer would be good, but no one can claim to have foreseen the season that Schaefer put together as an 18-year-old: Over 24 minutes a night, almost 70 percent of the team's power-play, almost three shots per game, over 10 percent shooting percentage, 23 goals, 18 power-play points, and a 59-point pace overall. For a player who was barely drafted as a late-round swing, it paid off in spades. If it wasn't for one player we will get to later, Schaefer would clearly have been the most talked about defensive story of the 2025-26 season.
Brandt Clarke seems in some ways to be the anti-Schaefer. There has certainly been a lot of hype around him, but he has rarely been given the kind of rope that Schaefer had, and his production has been underwhelming because of it. Still, Clarke has increased his role each season, finally almost reaching 20 minutes a night, and 50 percent of the team's power-play. He matched that with a career high 40-point pace. Additionally, he contributed pretty reasonable shot and block rates so there is definitely room for optimism here for the future.
Rasmus Andersson returned to nearly a 50-point pace usurping some of the power-play time from what should have been Mackenzie Weegar's job. Andersson was eventually traded before the deadline so he lost that power-play role, but was still reasonably productive adding a good number of blocks as well.
On the flip side we have several players who underperformed their draft position significantly.
Zeev Buium was supposed to be the answer to Minnesota's power play conundrum. It had been a long time since the Wild had a strong power-play QB and managers were really hoping that Buium would be able to step into that role and run with it; that really just did not happen. He certainly had the opportunity for stretches but just couldn't seem to do anything with it. Ultimately, he was traded in the package that returned Quinn Hughes so Minnesota fans can at least appreciate that. He played 45 games in Vancouver but managed only 11 points. He played about 20 minutes a night, which is a good start, but needs more power-play time, and certainly a better surrounding cast. It was certainly not the season managers were hoping for.
On the flip side of Rasmus Andersson we have MacKenzie Weegar. Weegar's job was definitely in jeopardy with the potential arrival of Zayne Parekh, but I am not sure managers had 'lose the job to Andersson' on their bingo cards. Weegar ultimately ended with only six power-play points and a 28-point pace, his worst since 2018-19. In addition, he also saw sizable drops in his shot, hit, and block rates leading to a pretty dramatic loss in value. His eventual trade didn't do much for his value or increase his access to power-play time. Overall, it was really just a down year for Weegar.
Drew Doughty is a bit surprising on this list. Not because he had a good season ā he had the lowest point pace of his career in fact ā just that he was drafted high enough for this drop to be that noticeable. Doughty has been trending down since 2021-22, not just in point pace, but in shot, hit, and block rates as well. He also had Brandt Clarke waiting in the wings to take over some of his minutes. He has been essentially hovering around replacement level in leagues for a couple of seasons, so maybe managers were just hoping for a bit more of that, but they certainly did not get it.
Finally, I will wrap the column with a couple of players who provided the most value but generally weren't drafted.
And here is the name that has to rival Matthew Schaefer for the most impressive D story of the 2025-26 season. Darren Raddysh came completely out of nowhere in his age-29 season to put up a 79-point pace and take over the top power play in Tampa; his previous career-high point pace was 42. He also jumped to almost 23 minutes a night and almost three shots per game. He only actually has three seasons where he played more than 17 games, and they are the most recent three. The 2025-26 campaign was clearly the first time he had gotten anywhere close to this opportunity, and he certainly did something with it. There is a bit of a question as to why it took so long for him to get it, and whether he can manage to repeat the performance, particularly since he is a free agent this summer.
š¢ advertisement:
Mattias Samuelsson has never been known for scoring and yet somehow he put up 13 goals in 2025-26 despite managing only seven in his prior 212 games. All in all, he managed a 43-point pace. Add to that an increased shot rate with and solid hits and blocks totals, and Samuelsson was reasonably relevant for most of the season.
It is a similar story for Sam Malinski. He had been doing ok in the peripheral categories but put up a surprising amount of offence for a guy who wasn't getting any power-play time and averaged less than 18 minutes a night. And then Cale Makar went out right in the middle of fantasy playoffs and Malinski put up eight points in five games, probably winning matchups for managers.
That is all for this week.
Do your part to support organizations working to make hockey for everyone.
Professional Women's Hockey League
Hockey is For Everyone
Black Girl Hockey Club
Athletes for Hope http://dlvr.it/TSYYLV
