Top 50 Keeper League Defensemen – May 2023
Dobber
2023-05-07
Here are the top 50 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – May edition!
Available for Pre-Order: All of next season’s offerings are in the shop! The 17th annual Fantasy Prospects Report will be out on June 1 (order it here), or pre-order one of our packages (Keeper League Pack here, and Ultimate Fantasy Pack here). Or simply subscribe!
Click any player name to be taken to his fantasy stats profile section and get everything you need in order to evaluate the player.
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As always, players ranked within +/-5.0 rating points of each other should be considered equal value, and at that point become a matter of your keeper team’s needs (immediate help vs long-term upside) or personal preference.
| Def Rk | Player | Team | Rating | May | Apr | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 174.3 | 16 | 19 | 3 |
| 2 | Erik Karlsson | SJS | 142.0 | 35 | 17 | -18 |
| 3 | Adam Fox | NYR | 138.0 | 36 | 33 | -3 |
| 4 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 137.6 | 37 | 31 | -6 |
| 5 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 124.7 | 43 | 40 | -3 |
| 6 | Roman Josi | NSH | 118.5 | 55 | 48 | -7 |
| 7 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 113.8 | 63 | 50 | -13 |
| 8 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 111.0 | 65 | 56 | -9 |
| 9 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 109.9 | 66 | 62 | -4 |
| 10 | Brandon Montour | FLA | 101.9 | 81 | 68 | -13 |
| 11 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 93.6 | 91 | 94 | 3 |
| 12 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 93.2 | 93 | 128 | 35 |
| 13 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 91.6 | 96 | 101 | 5 |
| 14 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 91.2 | 98 | 122 | 24 |
| 15 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 89.9 | 101 | 112 | 11 |
| 16 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 88.5 | 104 | 111 | 7 |
| 17 | Moritz Seider | DET | 88.2 | 106 | 133 | 27 |
| 18 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 84.4 | 111 | 103 | -8 |
| 19 | Devon Toews | COL | 81.4 | 118 | 115 | -3 |
| 20 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 81.1 | 119 | 91 | -28 |
| 21 | John Carlson | WAS | 80.8 | 120 | 164 | 44 |
| 22 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 77.6 | 128 | 151 | 23 |
| 23 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 69.2 | 144 | 202 | 58 |
| 24 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 68.3 | 147 | 155 | 8 |
| 25 | Jakob Chychrun | OTT | 66.8 | 151 | 156 | 5 |
| 26 | Tony DeAngelo | PHI | 65.2 | 155 | 136 | -19 |
| 27 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 61.6 | 169 | 134 | -35 |
| 28 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 55.5 | 182 | 165 | -17 |
| 29 | Brent Burns | CAR | 52.1 | 187 | 145 | -42 |
| 30 | Bowen Byram | COL | 51.9 | 189 | 203 | 14 |
| 31 | Kris Letang | PIT | 49.9 | 194 | 204 | 10 |
| 32 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 49.4 | 195 | 194 | -1 |
| 33 | Calen Addison | MIN | 45.9 | 206 | 208 | 2 |
| 34 | Shayne Gostisbehere | CAR | 44.4 | 213 | 191 | -22 |
| 35 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 43.9 | 214 | 174 | -40 |
| 36 | Samuel Girard | COL | 42.1 | 217 | 218 | 1 |
| 37 | Hampus Lindholm | BOS | 41.5 | 219 | 189 | -30 |
| 38 | Sean Durzi | LAK | 39.0 | 227 | 223 | -4 |
| 39 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 37.6 | 233 | 205 | -28 |
| 40 | Tyson Barrie | NSH | 37.0 | 235 | 152 | -83 |
| 41 | Noah Hanifin | CGY | 36.7 | 238 | 254 | 16 |
| 42 | Owen Power | BUF | 36.4 | 239 | 248 | 9 |
| 43 | Seth Jones | CHI | 36.0 | 242 | 235 | -7 |
| 44 | Juuso Valimaki | ARI | 34.9 | 247 | 294 | 47 |
| 45 | K’Andre Miller | NYR | 34.1 | 254 | 215 | -39 |
| 46 | Ivan Provorov | PHI | 31.8 | 259 | 266 | 7 |
| 47 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 31.8 | 260 | 226 | -34 |
| 48 | Adam Boqvist | CBJ | 31.0 | 266 | 276 | 10 |
| 49 | Jamie Drysdale | ANA | 30.5 | 269 | 255 | -14 |
| 50 | John Klingberg | MIN | 29.5 | 272 | 292 | 20 |
| 51 | Justin Faulk | STL | 28.6 | 275 | 232 | -43 |
| 52 | Neal Pionk | WPG | 27.9 | 279 | 293 | 14 |
| 53 | Rasmus Sandin | WAS | 27.7 | 281 | 316 | 35 |
| 54 | Jacob Trouba | NYR | 27.7 | 282 | 325 | 43 |
| 55 | Damon Severson | NJD | 26.7 | 287 | 336 | 49 |
| 56 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 25.6 | 294 | 352 | 58 |
| 57 | Ty Smith | PIT | 24.9 | 302 | 312 | 10 |
| 58 | David Jiricek | CBJ | 22.0 | 318 | 289 | -29 |
| 59 | Scott Perunovich | STL | 21.6 | 320 | 318 | -2 |
| 60 | Cam York | PHI | 19.7 | 333 | 440 | 107 |
| 61 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 19.5 | 334 | 307 | -27 |
| 62 | Cam Fowler | ANA | 19.2 | 338 | 291 | -47 |
| 63 | Pierre-Olivier Joseph | PIT | 18.1 | 344 | 403 | 59 |
| 64 | Nils Lundkvist | DAL | 17.7 | 351 | 369 | 18 |
| 65 | Kaiden Guhle | MON | 17.5 | 354 | 370 | 16 |
The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)
| Olen Zellweger | ANA | Victor Soderstrom | ARI | |
| Janis Moser | ARI | Matt Grzelcyk | BOS | |
| Dmitry Orlov | BOS | Henri Jokiharju | BUF | |
| Brady Skjei | CAR | Jacob Bryson | BUF | |
| Mackenzie Weegar | CGY | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | |
| Mattias Ekholm | EDM | Jared Spurgeon | MIN | |
| Vladislav Gavrikov | LAK | Brandt Clarke | LAK | |
| Jordan Spence | LAK | Luke Hughes | NJD | |
| Mike Matheson | MON | Ryan Graves | NJD | |
| Jake Sanderson | OTT | Dante Fabbro | NSH | |
| Erik Brannstrom | OTT | Alexander Romanov | NYI | |
| Torey Krug | STL | Jack Rathbone | VAN | |
| Erik Gustafsson | TOR |
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
| Brett Pesce | CAR | Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | |
| Jake Bean | CBJ | Scott Morrow | CAR | |
| Josh Mahura | FLA | Nick Blankenburg | CBJ | |
| Sean Walker | LAK | Denton Mateychuk | CBJ | |
| Matt Roy | LAK | Ian Mitchell | CHI | |
| Robin Salo | NYI | Thomas Harley | DAL | |
| Ryan Pulock | NYI | Simon Edvinsson | DET | |
| Zac Jones | NYR | Philip Broberg | EDM | |
| Braden Schneider | NYR | Mattias Norlinder | MON | |
| Travis Sanheim | PHI | Justin Barron | MON | |
| Nicolas Hague | VGK | Yegor Zamula | PHI | |
| Justin Schultz | SEA | Colton Parayko | STL | |
| Timothy Liljegren | TOR | Nick Perbix | TBL | |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | VAN | Travis Dermott | VAN | |
| Ville Heinola | WPG |
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LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
 ARI Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 25.8 | NICK SCHMALTZ ALEXANDER KERFOOT CLAYTON KELLER | |
| 17.5 | DYLAN GUENTHER LAWSON CROUSE LOGAN COOLEY | |
| 17.2 | AKU RATY JACK MCBAIN MATIAS MACCELLI | |
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