Top 120 Keeper League Defensemen – August 2023
Dobber
2023-08-03
Here are the top 120 blueliners to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – August edition!
Out Now! The 18th annual Fantasy Hockey Guide (order it here), or order one of our packages (Keeper League Pack here, and Ultimate Fantasy Pack here). Or simply subscribe!
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Click any player name to be taken to his fantasy stats profile section and get everything you need in order to evaluate the player. These rankings reflect upcoming free agency.
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.
This month – the projections for this year (from the Fantasy Guide) are now in the formulas, as are the 3YP and upsides that were adjusted/audited for the Guide. This is why so many players have moved up/down. It is a keeper league ranking, but the coming/current season obviously plays a big part of a player’s value in these types of formats.
| Def. Rk | Player | Team | Rating | Aug | Jul | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 162.6 | 20 | 16 | -4 |
| 2 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 141.1 | 34 | 37 | 3 |
| 3 | Erik Karlsson | SJS | 133.7 | 38 | 36 | -2 |
| 4 | Adam Fox | NYR | 131.4 | 39 | 39 | 0 |
| 5 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 129.5 | 41 | 43 | 2 |
| 6 | Roman Josi | NSH | 120.1 | 50 | 56 | 6 |
| 7 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 111.9 | 62 | 65 | 3 |
| 8 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 111.2 | 64 | 67 | 3 |
| 9 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 105.2 | 73 | 88 | 15 |
| 10 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 98.1 | 78 | 93 | 15 |
| 11 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 96.8 | 79 | 63 | -16 |
| 12 | Brandon Montour | FLA | 94.5 | 81 | 97 | 16 |
| 13 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 91.4 | 88 | 112 | 24 |
| 14 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 86.0 | 97 | 99 | 2 |
| 15 | Devon Toews | COL | 78.8 | 111 | 126 | 15 |
| 16 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 77.8 | 113 | 94 | -19 |
| 17 | Moritz Seider | DET | 76.8 | 115 | 100 | -15 |
| 18 | John Carlson | WAS | 76.0 | 117 | 122 | 5 |
| 19 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 74.1 | 124 | 98 | -26 |
| 20 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 74.1 | 125 | 119 | -6 |
| 21 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 71.5 | 127 | 145 | 18 |
| 22 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 67.6 | 137 | 141 | 4 |
| 23 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 66.0 | 142 | 115 | -27 |
| 24 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 63.8 | 152 | 130 | -22 |
| 25 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 63.1 | 153 | 174 | 21 |
| 26 | Tony DeAngelo | CAR | 62.7 | 155 | 157 | 2 |
| 27 | Jakob Chychrun | OTT | 57.3 | 168 | 149 | -19 |
| 28 | Brent Burns | CAR | 54.6 | 178 | 194 | 16 |
| 29 | Calen Addison | MIN | 54.0 | 181 | 198 | 17 |
| 30 | Seth Jones | CHI | 53.0 | 184 | 233 | 49 |
| 31 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 52.7 | 185 | 183 | -2 |
| 32 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 47.6 | 198 | 242 | 44 |
| 33 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 45.5 | 203 | 218 | 15 |
| 34 | Luke Hughes | NJD | 45.5 | 204 | 265 | 61 |
| 35 | Kris Letang | PIT | 44.8 | 206 | 204 | -2 |
| 36 | John Klingberg | TOR | 43.8 | 210 | 271 | 61 |
| 37 | Bowen Byram | COL | 41.8 | 215 | 195 | -20 |
| 38 | Owen Power | BUF | 39.0 | 222 | 240 | 18 |
| 39 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 38.2 | 226 | 199 | -27 |
| 40 | Rasmus Sandin | WAS | 37.8 | 229 | 282 | 53 |
| 41 | K’Andre Miller | NYR | 36.2 | 235 | 278 | 43 |
| 42 | Jamie Drysdale | ANA | 34.4 | 241 | 248 | 7 |
| 43 | Damon Severson | CBJ | 34.2 | 244 | 309 | 65 |
| 44 | Samuel Girard | COL | 33.8 | 245 | 229 | -16 |
| 45 | Shayne Gostisbehere | DET | 33.5 | 246 | 230 | -16 |
| 46 | Ty Smith | PIT | 33.0 | 247 | 314 | 67 |
| 47 | Sean Durzi | ARI | 32.8 | 250 | 261 | 11 |
| 48 | Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | 32.2 | 251 | 428 | 177 |
| 49 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 31.5 | 256 | 273 | 17 |
| 50 | Noah Hanifin | CGY | 31.4 | 257 | 247 | -10 |
| 51 | Juuso Valimaki | ARI | 31.3 | 258 | 254 | -4 |
| 52 | Brandt Clarke | LAK | 31.1 | 259 | 276 | 17 |
| 53 | Kevin Korchinski | CHI | 29.8 | 265 | 280 | 15 |
| 54 | Cam Fowler | ANA | 29.8 | 266 | 345 | 79 |
| 55 | Ivan Provorov | CBJ | 29.0 | 270 | 279 | 9 |
| 56 | Tyson Barrie | NSH | 29.0 | 271 | 250 | -21 |
| 57 | Adam Boqvist | CBJ | 28.2 | 273 | 262 | -11 |
| 58 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 27.6 | 277 | 305 | 28 |
| 59 | Justin Faulk | STL | 26.4 | 288 | 287 | -1 |
| 60 | Hampus Lindholm | BOS | 26.2 | 293 | 235 | -58 |
| 61 | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | 26.0 | 294 | 299 | 5 |
| 62 | David Jiricek | CBJ | 25.2 | 298 | 304 | 6 |
| 63 | Lane Hutson | MON | 22.5 | 317 | 301 | -16 |
| 64 | Denton Mateychuk | CBJ | 21.3 | 322 | 336 | 14 |
| 65 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 21.2 | 323 | 337 | 14 |
The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)
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
| Jacob Bryson | BUF | Jackson Lacombe | ANA | |
| Oliver Kylington | CGY | Victor Soderstrom | ARI | |
| Thomas Harley | DAL | Ian Mitchell | BOS | |
| Josh Mahura | FLA | Matt Grzelcyk | BOS | |
| Justin Barron | MON | Scott Morrow | CAR | |
| Dante Fabbro | NSH | Jake Bean | CBJ | |
| Zac Jones | NYR | Nicolas Beaudin | CHI | |
| Erik Gustafsson | NYR | Philip Broberg | EDM | |
| Emil Andrae | PHI | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | FLA | |
| Justin Schultz | SEA | Jonas Brodin | MIN | |
| Henry Thrun | SJS | Braden Schneider | NYR | |
| Torey Krug | STL | Egor Zamula | PHI | |
| Timothy Liljegren | TOR | Nick Perbix | TBL | |
| Jack Rathbone | VAN | Nicolas Hague | VGK | |
| Lukas Cormier | VGK | Ville Heinola | WPG |
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| Players | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| TRAVIS KONECNY |
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| MARCO ROSSI |
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| NILS HOGLANDER |
 VAN | |
| JJ PETERKA |
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| AARON EKBLAD |
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| |
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TOR
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| Frequency |
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| |
|---|---|---|
| 20.1 | STEVEN STAMKOS BRAYDEN POINT NIKITA KUCHEROV | |
| 16.8 | BRANDON HAGEL ANTHONY DUCLAIR ANTHONY CIRELLI | |
| 14.6 | NICHOLAS PAUL MICHAEL EYSSIMONT MITCHELL CHAFFEE | |
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