Top 50 Fantasy Prospect Defensemen – February 2017

Dobber

2017-02-11

The Top 50 prospect defensemen to own in your points-only keeper league

This ranking is for full keeper formats, points-only. It weighs upside with wait time and certainty, as well as the team's depth chart (and the politics therein), plus a small factor for immediate help (if he's in the league now, he's helping). Keep in mind that +/- 5.0 ratings points should be treated as an equal player, as it all depends on your needs and personal tastes (i.e. willing to wait years for a stud, or needing help sooner so would prefer a lower ceiling, etc.).

Click here to see the Top 200 prospect forwards…

Click on any player name to be taken to his fantasy scouting report and current stats and outlook.

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Feb 10	Prospect	Team	age	type	Jan 10	Dec 10
1	Shea Theodore	ANA	d	63.6	1	3
2	Mike Matheson	FLA	d	62.3	2	5
3	Nikita Zaitsev	TOR	d	60.9	3	6
4	Julius Honka	DAL	d	60.4	4	7
5	Mikhail Sergachev	MON	d	60.3	5	8
6	Ryan Pulock	NYI	d	59.5	6	9
7	Anthony DeAngelo	ARI	d	59.1	7	10
8	Thomas Chabot	OTT	d	58.6	8	12
9	Connor Carrick	TOR	d	57.2	9	11
10	Gustav Forsling	CHI	d	56.9	10	20
11	Esa Lindell	DAL	d	56.4	21	23
12	Jakob Chychrun	ARI	d	56.3	12	21
13	Madison Bowey	WAS	d	56.3	13	15
14	Joshua Morrissey	WPG	d	56.2	11	14
15	Ryan Graves	NYR	d	55.8	14	24
16	Brandon Montour	ANA	d	54.4	15	17
17	Travis Sanheim	PHI	d	53.8	17	19
18	Olli Juolevi	VAN	d	53.7	18	16
19	Colin Miller	BOS	d	53.1	19	22
20	Derrick Pouliot	PIT	d	51.7	20	13
21	Slater Koekkoek	TBL	d	50.6	22	26
22	Troy Stecher	VAN	d	49.9	26	84
23	Jordan Subban	VAN	d	49.1	24	28
24	Jacob Larsson	ANA	d	48.7	25	29
25	Jake Walman	STL	d	48.3	27	31
26	Brandon Carlo	BOS	d	48.2	32	34
27	Ville Pokka	CHI	d	48.2	28	32
28	Mike Reilly	MIN	d	47.7	23	27
29	Jordan Schmaltz	STL	d	47.7	30	33
30	Charlie McAvoy	BOS	d	47.5	31	36
31	Noah Juulsen	MON	d	47.3	29	25
32	Jakub Zboril	BOS	d	47.1	33	35
33	Joe Morrow	BOS	d	46.8	34	37
34	Haydn Fleury	CAR	d	46.5	35	38
35	Jeremy Roy	SJS	d	45.9	36	39
36	Rasmus Andersson	CGY	d	45.7	37	40
37	Jake Bean	CAR	d	45.7	38	30
38	Dennis Cholowski	DET	d	45.6	39	41
39	Ryan Sproul	DET	d	45.3	40	46
40	Oliver Kylington	CGY	d	45.2	41	42
41	Ethan Bear	EDM	d	44.6	42	43
42	Vince Dunn	STL	d	44.4	89	91
43	Will Butcher	COL	d	44.3	44	45
44	Chris Bigras	COL	d	44.0	45	48
45	Lucas Johansen	WAS	d	43.9	46	49
46	Roland McKeown	CAR	d	43.9	47	50
47	Parker Wotherspoon	NYI	d	43.8	48	51
48	Michal Kempny	CHI	d	43.5	49	56
49	Brendan Guhle	BUF	d	43.4	50	53
50	Adam Pelech	NYI	d	43.3	51	54

Chris Huffine 2017-02-12 at 14:06Log in to Reply

Where does Adam Fox rank right now? Putting up over a ppg as a freshman, although mostly assists
- Dobber 2017-02-12 at 19:06Log in to Reply
  
  He ranks 103rd and I figure is four years away
MarkRM16 2017-02-12 at 18:39Log in to Reply

Has Provorov played too many games to make the list?
- Dobber 2017-02-12 at 19:02Log in to Reply
  
  It’s not about too many games, I just need to decide if he’ll ever be sent back down. Provorov won’t be sent back down.
bossman 2017-02-16 at 14:11Log in to Reply

What do you think about Devon Toews, where would he rank on the list? Fastest skater at the AHL All-star skill competition which I know doesn’t mean much… but is having a great season in Bridgeport.
- Dobber 2017-02-16 at 22:45Log in to Reply
  
  Toews is 58th. He has a couple of guys to leapfrog in that system
R McGinnis 2017-02-16 at 22:38Log in to Reply

Troy Stecher …5th in rookie scoring on D…..in 50 games…with a gawdawful group of forwards….1st unit PP for the last three months…on a 30+ point pace (as a rookie)………………….tied with no hoper Subban.

Glad we sorted that out from the last ranking.
- Dobber 2017-02-16 at 22:44Log in to Reply
  
  5th out of 5 rookie D? Did he get a participation ribbon?
  - R McGinnis 2017-02-17 at 02:54Log in to Reply
    
    What? 5th out of all of the rookie D in the NHL. Outscoring luminaries such as Theodore and Montour (in PPG). Your list has 50 and a bunch that graduated from prospects to full time NHL players. He’s 5th. Subban is…..in the AHL. He’s significantly worse than Stecher now….and projected to be so in the future. Your ranking is kind of incoherent.
    
    Does upside matter more than near term potential? If absolute ceiling matters more, then great…you think Subban’s 1% shot at 50 pts is more valuable than Stecher’s 50% shot at 40. If that is the case…please explain why McAvoy and Bean are so far down your list. Surely you can see that their ceiling vastly exceeds Subban’s.
    
    If near term potential matters more (playing in the NHL within a year) then maybe the guy that outperformed Subban on the same team and now holds the top PP spot in that organization and that has 17 pts in 49 games would be….conservatively….50 spots ahead of Subban???
    - Dobber 2017-02-17 at 07:58Log in to Reply
      
      I’m sorry man. I just don’t have any use for Stecher in my league settings. I understand that other league settings, including yours, he has a lot of value and easily buries Subban in value. But in mine, which values points and counts the four best defensemen for points on 15 teams and with rosters of 39 players, he doesn’t hold a lot. Subban holds about the same – which is also not a lot. I can only rate for one league-type. It doesn’t mean the credibility of that league-type (and rankings for that league-type) should be undermined. It’s just different.
36crazyfists 2017-02-23 at 13:46Log in to Reply

Where would you rank Samuel Girard? What’s the knock on him? Size?
- Dobber 2017-02-23 at 13:58Log in to Reply
  
  He’s ranked 55th and the knock on him is Nashville’s track record with defensemen. As in – the wait is at least four years. Each year you can expect him to move up 10 spots, until in four years he’s a Top 10 defenseman on this list.
  - 36crazyfists 2017-02-23 at 16:30Log in to Reply
    
    Thanks for the answer…makes total sense
    Another question…do you think DeAngelo has the potential an annual 50 + PT d-man? I know there are some questions regarding his maturity, but everywhere he plays he seems to put up points…Were you surprised to see Yzerman give up on him so easily?

UPCOMING GAMES

Dec 27 - 19:12	DET	vs	TOR
Dec 27 - 19:12	BUF	vs	CHI
Dec 27 - 19:12	CBJ	vs	BOS
Dec 27 - 19:12	N.J	vs	CAR
Dec 27 - 20:12	DAL	vs	MIN
Dec 27 - 20:12	STL	vs	NSH
Dec 27 - 21:12	UTA	vs	COL
Dec 27 - 22:12	S.J	vs	VGK