Here are the top defensemen to own in your points-only keeper leagues – September edition!

Curated directly from the overall Top 300 skaters list (posted Thursday here), these defensemen are valuable based on their ability to either reach at least 35 points in the year ahead, have ‘some’ odds of doing so, or could potentially do so down the road (factoring in wait time for this). As always, players ranked within +/- 5.0 rating points of each other should be considered equal value and become a matter of your team’s need or your personal preference.

Click on any name to be taken to his customized fantasy profile page – complete with game logs that YOU want to see, advanced stats (if you want to go there), compare-a-player tools, contract info, ‘buy/sell’ recommendations, a list of all the links to where we mentioned/discussed him in an article and tons more.

Def Rk	Player	Team	Rating	Sept	Aug	Change
1	John Carlson	WAS	127.3	25	25	0
2	Cale Makar	COL	105.3	48	51	-3
3	Morgan Rielly	TOR	103.0	53	62	-9
4	Victor Hedman	TBL	99.8	55	55	0
5	Roman Josi	NSH	96.0	60	63	-3
6	Dougie Hamilton	CAR	92.8	67	67	0
7	Quinn Hughes	VAN	92.1	71	70	1
8	Erik Karlsson	SJS	87.6	76	76	0
9	Torey Krug	BOS	81.0	84	85	-1
10	Alex Pietrangelo	STL	76.7	94	93	1
11	Rasmus Dahlin	BUF	75.0	97	96	1
12	Shea Theodore	VGK	74.5	100	164	-64
13	Tony DeAngelo	NYR	73.8	101	100	1
14	Zach Werenski	CBJ	70.7	109	117	-8
15	Thomas Chabot	OTT	69.8	113	112	1
16	Tyson Barrie	TOR	69.5	114	103	11
17	Brent Burns	SJS	68.6	117	116	1
18	Seth Jones	CBJ	66.3	121	121	0
19	Miro Heiskanen	DAL	65.4	125	137	-12
20	Kris Letang	PIT	60.0	137	135	2
21	John Klingberg	DAL	58.3	139	138	1
22	Drew Doughty	LAK	50.0	158	158	0
23	Ivan Provorov	PHI	46.7	170	169	1
24	Oliver Ekman-Larsson	ARI	44.7	174	147	27
25	Keith Yandle	FLA	42.7	177	154	23
26	Ryan Pulock	NYI	42.4	180	187	-7
27	Filip Hronek	DET	42.1	182	181	1
28	Erik Gustafsson	CGY	42.1	183	171	12
29	Aaron Ekblad	FLA	41.3	188	186	2
30	Matt Dumba	MIN	38.6	197	197	0
31	Josh Morrissey	WPG	37.6	201	191	10
32	Adam Fox	NYR	37.0	205	214	-9
33	Ryan Ellis	NSH	35.5	208	206	2
34	Mikhail Sergachev	TBL	34.2	215	212	3
35	Samuel Girard	COL	33.6	219	219	0
36	Neal Pionk	WPG	33.0	222	237	-15
37	Jacob Trouba	NYR	32.9	223	223	0
38	Ryan Suter	MIN	32.2	227	209	18
39	Shea Weber	MON	31.7	228	226	2
40	Charlie McAvoy	BOS	30.0	233	232	1
41	Mark Giordano	CGY	28.8	236	243	-7
42	Jaccob Slavin	CAR	28.5	240	241	-1
43	Rasmus Ristolainen	BUF	28.5	241	242	-1
44	Darnell Nurse	EDM	27.5	245	244	1
45	Mattias Ekholm	NSH	27.1	247	246	1
46	Adam Boqvist	CHI	24.8	259	258	1
47	Vince Dunn	STL	23.9	267	267	0
48	Shayne Gostisbehere	PHI	23.2	270	261	9
49	Brandon Montour	BUF	22.6	279	279	0
50	Oscar Klefbom	EDM	21.9	284	284	0
51	Travis Sanheim	PHI	21.8	286	286	0
52	Damon Severson	NJD	20.8	302	299	3
53	Jakob Chychrun	ARI	20.6	306	304	2
54	Evan Bouchard	EDM	20.4	309	307	2
55	Jeff Petry	MON	19.4	317	316	1
56	Will Butcher	NJD	18.9	322	320	2
57	Kevin Shattenkirk	TBL	18.5	325	313	12
58	Mike Matheson	FLA	18.4	326	323	3
59	Colton Parayko	STL	17.6	334	332	2
60	Nate Schmidt	VGK	17.3	341	338	3
61	Ryan Graves	COL	17.0	345	343	2
62	Rasmus Andersson	CGY	16.3	353	351	2
63	Cam Fowler	ANA	15.8	363	361	2
64	P.K. Subban	NJD	15.4	367	383	-16
65	Sami Vatanen	CAR	15.4	368	366	2
66	Ryan McDonagh	TBL	15.3	369	388	-19
67	Devon Toews	NYI	15.0	374	412	-38
68	Jared Spurgeon	MIN	14.8	381	378	3
69	Matt Grzelcyk	BOS	14.5	387	385	2
70	Ethan Bear	EDM	14.4	388	403	-15
71	Travis Dermott	TOR	13.6	399	398	1
72	Alexander Romanov	MON	13.4	402	401	1
73	Henri Jokiharju	BUF	13.2	405	404	1
74	Hampus Lindholm	ANA	12.7	409	408	1
75	Bowen Byram	COL	12.6	412	411	1
76	Noah Hanifin	CGY	12.1	415	416	-1
77	Esa Lindell	DAL	12.1	417	418	-1
78	Justin Faulk	STL	12.1	418	419	-1
79	Erik Brannstrom	OTT	11.9	419	420	-1
80	Juuso Valimaki	CGY	11.2	424	424	0
81	Oliver Kylington	CGY	10.9	427	427	0
82	Dennis Cholowski	DET	10.7	430	429	1
83	Ty Smith	NJD	10.6	431	431	0
84	Pierre-Olivier Joseph	PIT	10.5	432	432	0
85	Scott Perunovich	STL	10.2	434	433	1
86	John Marino	PIT	10.2	436	435	1
87	Nick Leddy	NYI	10.0	440	440	0
88	Philippe Myers	PHI	10.0	441	441	0
89	Marcus Pettersson	PIT	9.9	442	469	-27
90	Kale Clague	LAK	9.2	448	450	-2
91	Sami Niku	WPG	8.8	452	453	-1
92	Rasmus Sandin	TOR	8.8	453	454	-1
93	Brady Skjei	CAR	8.8	454	455	-1
94	Sean Walker	LAK	8.6	456	456	0
95	Timothy Liljegren	TOR	8.2	461	460	1
96	Ian Mitchell	CHI	8.2	462	461	1
97	Dante Fabbro	NSH	8.2	464	463	1
98	TJ Brodie	CGY	7.8	468	467	1
99	Alex Goligoski	ARI	7.6	473	473	0
100	Noah Dobson	NYI	7.6	474	474	0
101	Mikko Lehtonen	TOR	7.0	480	480	0
102	Conor Timmins	COL	7.0	481	481	0
103	Josh Mahura	ANA	6.9	485	485	0
104	Victor Mete	MON	6.8	487	487	0
105	Dustin Byfuglien	UFA	6.6	488	426	62
106	Olli Juolevi	VAN	6.6	489	488	1
107	Jake Gardiner	CAR	6.6	490	489	1
108	Caleb Jones	EDM	6.6	491	490	1
109	Brennan Menell	MIN	6.4	494	493	1
110	Jake Bean	CAR	6.4	495	494	1