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
CAR
NYI
BOSStarting Goalies
Top Skater Views
MTL
T.B
COLTop Goalie Profile Views
VAN
EDM
VGK
WPG
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
 TOR Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 22.0 | NICHOLAS ROBERTSON PONTUS HOLMBERG NOAH GREGOR | |
| 18.5 | AUSTON MATTHEWS MITCH MARNER TYLER BERTUZZI | |
| 18.1 | RYAN REAVES DAVID KAMPF CONNOR DEWAR | |
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