Top 120 Keeper League Defensemen
Dobber
2023-04-11
Here are the Top 120 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – April edition!
Available Now, for the 17th year – Dobber’s Interactive Playoff Draft List. Pick it up here! This will be updated until the postseason begins.
Dobber’s Note: In hindsight, I needed to go through my template based on next season and ahead, putting 2022-23 behind us. But I had already completed the work when I realized this. So the rankings reflect the player’s value for the final two weeks (and now just few days) of this season, as if it would help teams going for it this year when it is probably too late. My mistake. What is the impact of this? Well, Erik Karlsson takes over top spot – his 34-point lead over Cale Makar makes him too valuable for this season. And if he can get 100 points now, he can certainly do it again next year.
The May rankings will reflect next season and onward. This season’s inflated (or deflated) numbers for some players will be adjusted.
As always, players ranked between +/-5.0 rating points should be considered equal value (when considering needs for this season, too).
Click any player name to be taken to his fantasy hockey profile page.
| Def. Rk | Player | Team | Rating | Apr | Mar | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erik Karlsson | SJS | 162.0 | 17 | 29 | 12 |
| 2 | Cale Makar | COL | 157.4 | 19 | 20 | 1 |
| 3 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 137.6 | 31 | 23 | -8 |
| 4 | Adam Fox | NYR | 135.2 | 33 | 34 | 1 |
| 5 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 126.0 | 40 | 44 | 4 |
| 6 | Roman Josi | NSH | 119.4 | 48 | 43 | -5 |
| 7 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 118.1 | 50 | 47 | -3 |
| 8 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 113.8 | 56 | 62 | 6 |
| 9 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 107.0 | 62 | 89 | 27 |
| 10 | Brandon Montour | FLA | 104.3 | 68 | 106 | 38 |
| 11 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 84.0 | 91 | 173 | 82 |
| 12 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 82.6 | 94 | 108 | 14 |
| 13 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 77.5 | 101 | 87 | -14 |
| 14 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 77.1 | 103 | 94 | -9 |
| 15 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 74.6 | 111 | 110 | -1 |
| 16 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 73.9 | 112 | 95 | -17 |
| 17 | Devon Toews | COL | 70.7 | 115 | 117 | 2 |
| 18 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 68.9 | 122 | 107 | -15 |
| 19 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 66.7 | 128 | 155 | 27 |
| 20 | Moritz Seider | DET | 64.3 | 133 | 136 | 3 |
| 21 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 64.3 | 134 | 137 | 3 |
| 22 | Tony DeAngelo | PHI | 63.7 | 136 | 119 | -17 |
| 23 | Brent Burns | CAR | 60.2 | 145 | 146 | 1 |
| 24 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 55.2 | 151 | 154 | 3 |
| 25 | Tyson Barrie | NSH | 54.8 | 152 | 149 | -3 |
| 26 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 54.1 | 155 | 151 | -4 |
| 27 | Jakob Chychrun | OTT | 53.9 | 156 | 153 | -3 |
| 28 | John Carlson | WAS | 51.9 | 164 | 157 | -7 |
| 29 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 51.9 | 165 | 167 | 2 |
| 30 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 50.5 | 174 | 200 | 26 |
| 31 | Hampus Lindholm | BOS | 46.2 | 189 | 192 | 3 |
| 32 | Shayne Gostisbehere | CAR | 44.4 | 191 | 191 | 0 |
| 33 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 42.8 | 194 | 198 | 4 |
| 34 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 40.2 | 202 | 206 | 4 |
| 35 | Bowen Byram | COL | 39.6 | 203 | 216 | 13 |
| 36 | Kris Letang | PIT | 39.5 | 204 | 197 | -7 |
| 37 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 38.4 | 205 | 163 | -42 |
| 38 | Calen Addison | MIN | 36.4 | 208 | 184 | -24 |
| 39 | K’Andre Miller | NYR | 34.1 | 215 | 231 | 16 |
| 40 | Samuel Girard | COL | 33.3 | 218 | 239 | 21 |
| 41 | Sean Durzi | LAK | 32.6 | 223 | 219 | -4 |
| 42 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 31.8 | 226 | 213 | -13 |
| 43 | Justin Faulk | STL | 31.2 | 232 | 262 | 30 |
| 44 | Seth Jones | CHI | 30.5 | 235 | 199 | -36 |
| 45 | Erik Gustafsson | TOR | 28.0 | 247 | 222 | -25 |
| 46 | Owen Power | BUF | 27.8 | 248 | 258 | 10 |
| 47 | Noah Hanifin | CGY | 26.4 | 254 | 251 | -3 |
| 48 | Jamie Drysdale | ANA | 26.1 | 255 | 263 | 8 |
| 49 | Ivan Provorov | PHI | 25.0 | 266 | 252 | -14 |
| 50 | Adam Boqvist | CBJ | 24.2 | 276 | 286 | 10 |
| 51 | Dmitry Orlov | BOS | 23.2 | 281 | 303 | 22 |
| 52 | David Jiricek | CBJ | 22.0 | 289 | 477 | 188 |
| 53 | Cam Fowler | ANA | 21.9 | 291 | 301 | 10 |
| 54 | John Klingberg | MIN | 21.9 | 292 | 320 | 28 |
| 55 | Neal Pionk | WPG | 21.7 | 293 | 287 | -6 |
| 56 | Juuso Valimaki | ARI | 21.3 | 294 | 364 | 70 |
| 57 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 19.5 | 307 | 317 | 10 |
| 58 | Ty Smith | PIT | 19.1 | 312 | 322 | 10 |
| 59 | Brady Skjei | CAR | 19.0 | 313 | 368 | 55 |
| 60 | Rasmus Sandin | WAS | 19.0 | 316 | 309 | -7 |
| 61 | Scott Perunovich | STL | 18.9 | 318 | 324 | 6 |
| 62 | Jacob Trouba | NYR | 18.2 | 325 | 330 | 5 |
| 63 | Damon Severson | NJD | 17.0 | 336 | 365 | 29 |
| 64 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 16.1 | 352 | 352 | 0 |
| 65 | Olen Zellweger | ANA | 15.5 | 359 | 359 | 0 |
The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)
| Nils Lundkvist | DAL | Matt Grzelcyk | BOS | |
| Mattias Ekholm | EDM | Brandt Clarke | LAK | |
| Jordan Spence | LAK | Cam York | PHI | |
| Vladislav Gavrikov | LAK | Dante Fabbro | NSH | |
| Kaiden Guhle | MON | Jack Rathbone | VAN | |
| Mike Matheson | MON | Jacob Bryson | BUF | |
| Luke Hughes | NJD | Jake Bean | CBJ | |
| Alexander Romanov | NYI | Janis Moser | ARI | |
| Erik Brannstrom | OTT | Jared Spurgeon | MIN | |
| Jake Sanderson | OTT | Mackenzie Weegar | CGY | |
| Pierre-Olivier Joseph | PIT | Matt Dumba | MIN | |
| Justin Schultz | SEA | Victor Soderstrom | ARI | |
| Torey Krug | STL |
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
| Robin Salo | NYI | Alexandre Carrier | NSH | |
| Brett Pesce | CAR | Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | |
| Alexander Nikishin | CAR | Scott Morrow | CAR | |
| Ryan Merkley | COL | Nick Blankenburg | CBJ | |
| Josh Mahura | FLA | Ian Mitchell | CHI | |
| Ryan Graves | NJD | Thomas Harley | DAL | |
| Ryan Pulock | NYI | Esa Lindell | DAL | |
| Zac Jones | NYR | Simon Edvinsson | DET | |
| Braden Schneider | NYR | Philip Broberg | EDM | |
| Travis Sanheim | PHI | Mattias Norlinder | MON | |
| Yegor Zamula | PHI | Justin Barron | MON | |
| Timothy Liljegren | TOR | Colton Parayko | STL | |
| Ethan Bear | VAN | Erik Cernak | TBL | |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | VAN | Nick Perbix | TBL | |
| Nicolas Hague | VGK | Ville Heinola | WPG |
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LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
 DAL Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 22.9 | SAM STEEL EVGENII DADONOV OSKAR BACK | |
| 21.8 | JASON ROBERTSON WYATT JOHNSTON ROOPE HINTZ | |
| 19.9 | TYLER SEGUIN MASON MARCHMENT MATT DUCHENE | |
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