Top 120 Keeper League Defensemen – August, 2021
Dobber
2021-08-03
Here are the top 120 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – August edition!
The free agents have signed and the 2021 draftees are in. Adjustments have been made, but these are all via eyeballing it. As I put together the Fantasy Guide, I go over each and every player with a fine-tooth comb. An “audit”, if you will. So the September rankings will be the most accurate of the year (as with every year).
First an announcement. DobberHockey’s 16th annual Fantasy Hockey Guide is coming out, ready for download on August 14. Pre-order it here!
As always, players within +/-5.0 rating points of each other should be considered equal and at that point become a matter of team need or personal bias. Click any name to be taken to his customized fantasy hockey player profile.
| Def Rk | Player | Team | Rating | Aug | Jul | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 114.8 | 34 | 34 | 0 |
| 2 | Adam Fox | NYR | 114.1 | 35 | 41 | -6 |
| 3 | John Carlson | WAS | 110.9 | 39 | 37 | 2 |
| 4 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 107.3 | 45 | 43 | 2 |
| 5 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 97.8 | 52 | 59 | -7 |
| 6 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 96.1 | 59 | 65 | -6 |
| 7 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 95.4 | 61 | 63 | -2 |
| 8 | Roman Josi | NSH | 94.3 | 67 | 62 | 5 |
| 9 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 90.3 | 74 | 70 | 4 |
| 10 | Tyson Barrie | EDM | 89.7 | 76 | 79 | -3 |
| 11 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 78.6 | 92 | 92 | 0 |
| 12 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 74.8 | 99 | 101 | -2 |
| 13 | Torey Krug | STL | 67.8 | 114 | 114 | 0 |
| 14 | John Klingberg | DAL | 66.7 | 116 | 117 | -1 |
| 15 | Seth Jones | CHI | 65.3 | 120 | 130 | -10 |
| 16 | Kris Letang | PIT | 64.8 | 121 | 107 | 14 |
| 17 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 63.2 | 124 | 125 | -1 |
| 18 | Samuel Girard | COL | 59.2 | 134 | 134 | 0 |
| 19 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 58.9 | 135 | 135 | 0 |
| 20 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 57.4 | 141 | 141 | 0 |
| 21 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 54.7 | 149 | 150 | -1 |
| 22 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 53.4 | 155 | 153 | 2 |
| 23 | Ivan Provorov | PHI | 49.0 | 170 | 170 | 0 |
| 24 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 48.3 | 172 | 168 | 4 |
| 25 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 46.4 | 178 | 177 | 1 |
| 26 | Jakob Chychrun | ARI | 45.9 | 180 | 182 | -2 |
| 27 | Erik Karlsson | SJS | 45.2 | 182 | 204 | -22 |
| 28 | Filip Hronek | DET | 42.9 | 187 | 188 | -1 |
| 29 | Ty Smith | NJD | 41.0 | 192 | 199 | -7 |
| 30 | Neal Pionk | WPG | 40.2 | 194 | 195 | -1 |
| 31 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 40.1 | 196 | 197 | -1 |
| 32 | Adam Boqvist | CBJ | 36.5 | 212 | 229 | -17 |
| 33 | Brent Burns | SJS | 35.8 | 217 | 196 | 21 |
| 34 | Tony DeAngelo | CAR | 34.7 | 221 | 255 | -34 |
| 35 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 34.0 | 224 | 220 | 4 |
| 36 | Jeff Petry | MON | 33.2 | 227 | 218 | 9 |
| 37 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | VAN | 33.1 | 229 | 230 | -1 |
| 38 | Ryan Ellis | PHI | 32.5 | 234 | 228 | 6 |
| 39 | Devon Toews | COL | 31.5 | 237 | 235 | 2 |
| 40 | Jamie Drysdale | ANA | 28.3 | 251 | 262 | -11 |
| 41 | Matt Dumba | MIN | 26.8 | 260 | 256 | 4 |
| 42 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 25.9 | 268 | 264 | 4 |
| 43 | Mattias Ekholm | NSH | 23.9 | 283 | 276 | 7 |
| 44 | Mackenzie Weegar | FLA | 23.8 | 285 | 272 | 13 |
| 45 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 23.4 | 290 | 295 | -5 |
| 46 | Ryan Pulock | NYI | 22.7 | 298 | 285 | 13 |
| 47 | Jacob Trouba | NYR | 22.6 | 300 | 290 | 10 |
| 48 | Damon Severson | NJD | 20.5 | 311 | 304 | 7 |
| 49 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 20.2 | 314 | 293 | 21 |
| 50 | Matt Grzelcyk | BOS | 19.7 | 322 | 312 | 10 |
| 51 | Keith Yandle | PHI | 18.5 | 341 | 291 | 50 |
| 52 | Shayne Gostisbehere | ARI | 18.4 | 344 | 313 | 31 |
| 53 | Rasmus Ristolainen | PHI | 18.3 | 346 | 308 | 38 |
| 54 | Bowen Byram | COL | 17.9 | 353 | 357 | -4 |
| 55 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 17.9 | 356 | 343 | 13 |
| 56 | Travis Sanheim | PHI | 17.9 | 357 | 356 | 1 |
| 57 | Brandon Montour | FLA | 17.7 | 360 | 420 | -60 |
| 58 | Ryan Merkley | SJS | 17.4 | 364 | 361 | 3 |
| 59 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 15.7 | 387 | 398 | -11 |
| 60 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 15.4 | 393 | 382 | 11 |
| 61 | Jake Bean | CBJ | 15.4 | 394 | 396 | -2 |
| 62 | Mike Matheson | PIT | 15.1 | 400 | 432 | -32 |
| 63 | Colton Parayko | STL | 14.5 | 408 | 423 | -15 |
| 64 | Justin Schultz | WAS | 14.3 | 413 | 387 | 26 |
| 65 | Alexander Romanov | MON | 14.2 | 415 | 417 | -2 |
The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)
| Nils Lundkvist | NYR | Noah Hanifin | CGY | |
| Conor Timmins | ARI | Victor Soderstrom | ARI | |
| Will Butcher | BUF | Mike Reilly | BOS | |
| Ethan Bear | CAR | Brett Pesce | CAR | |
| Juuso Valimaki | CGY | Wyatt Kalynuk | CHI | |
| Nick Leddy | DET | Esa Lindell | DAL | |
| Jared Spurgeon | MIN | David Farrance | NSH | |
| Jonas Brodin | MIN | Pierre-Olivier Joseph | PIT | |
| P.K. Subban | NJD | Scott Perunovich | STL | |
| Dante Fabbro | NSH | Travis Dermott | TOR | |
| Erik Brannstrom | OTT | Erik Gustafsson | UFA | |
| Jake Muzzin | TOR | Nicolas Hague | VGK | |
| Alec Martinez | VGK |
Vets who can chip in, injury risks, prospects with varying degrees of upside and wait time, other defensemen with lower upside and expectations but can chip in at times
| Cam Fowler | ANA | Caleb Jones | CHI | |
| Josh Mahura | ANA | Jake Gardiner | CAR | |
| Hampus Lindholm | ANA | Jake McCabe | CHI | |
| Henri Jokiharju | BUF | Ryan Suter | DAL | |
| Kale Clague | LAK | Max Gildon | FLA | |
| Philippe Myers | NSH | Sean Walker | LAK | |
| Robin Salo | NYI | Luke Hughes | NJD | |
| K’Andre Miller | NYR | John Marino | PIT | |
| Cameron York | PHI | Justin Faulk | STL | |
| Marcus Pettersson | PIT | Timothy Liljegren | TOR | |
| Dennis Cholowski | SEA | Tyler Myers | VAN | |
| Mark Giordano | SEA | Jack Rathbone | VAN | |
| Ryan McDonagh | TBL | Dylan Coghlan | VGK | |
| Rasmus Sandin | TOR | Ville Heinola | WPG | |
| Nate Schmidt | WPG | Logan Stanley | WPG |
Related Posts
UPCOMING GAMES
| Nov 23 - 13:11 |
 PHI
| vs |
 CHI | |
| Nov 23 - 16:11 |
 CGY
| vs |
 MIN | |
| Nov 23 - 16:11 |
 L.A
| vs |
 SEA | |
| Nov 23 - 18:11 |
 FLA
| vs |
 COL | |
| Nov 23 - 19:11 |
 T.B
| vs |
 DAL | |
| Nov 23 - 19:11 |
 CBJ
| vs |
 CAR | |
| Nov 23 - 19:11 |
 OTT
| vs |
 VAN | |
| Nov 23 - 19:11 |
 WSH
| vs |
 N.J | |
| Nov 23 - 19:11 |
 MTL
| vs |
 VGK | |
| Nov 23 - 19:11 |
 DET
| vs |
 BOS | |
| Nov 23 - 19:11 |
 NSH
| vs |
 WPG | |
| Nov 23 - 19:11 |
 PIT
| vs |
 UTA | |
| Nov 23 - 19:11 |
 NYI
| vs |
 STL | |
| Nov 23 - 20:11 |
 S.J
| vs |
 BUF | |
| Nov 23 - 22:11 |
 EDM
| vs |
 NYR
| |
Starting Goalies
Top Skater Views
Top Goalie Profile Views
ANA
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
COL Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 23.4 | NATHAN MACKINNON ARTTURI LEHKONEN JONATHAN DROUIN | |
| 19.6 | MIKKO RANTANEN VALERI NICHUSHKIN CASEY MITTELSTADT | |
| 11.1 | MILES WOOD NIKOLAI KOVALENKO PARKER KELLY | |
DobberHockey Podcasts
Keeping Karlsson Short Shifts – Regicide
Jeremy and Shams are here to break down all the new injuries and update timelines as well. After all the injury news they close out the show covering all the cold Kings players giving actionable fantasy advice on each one. Lastly, they close out the show the latest hot Russian forward for Columbus that is only 1% rostered on Yahoo right now.
Keeping Karlsson: Marchment Madness
Elan and Brian look at who comes out on top the Avalanche return to health, opine on the likelihood of complementary top six players in Toronto, Los Angeles and Edmonton remaining relevant, and consider giving up on underachievers in Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia.
Fantasy Hockey Life: Corey Sznajder
Corey Sznajder of allthreezones.com joins the show to talk about how he tracks microstats and identifies a couple of players they might help them assess. Have a listen! Our show is part of the Dobber Podcast Network and sponsored by Fantrax.com. Email [email protected] and ask to join our free discord. Join our Patreon at Patreon.com/fantasyhockeylife […]
Keeping Karlsson: Matchup Maximizer Week 7
Jeremy subs in to look at the schedule for the upcoming week of NHL action and recommends some players with good schedules that you should consider streaming in to win your head to head matchups.
Keeping Karlsson Short Shifts – Permission To Cut
Jeremy and Shams cover the usual headlines and injuries but get your permission slips out as the second half of the show they cover a litany of suggested players from the Patreon community to give their input on whether it’s ok to cut that big name player off your fantasy team.