Top 120 Keeper League Defensemen – January 2024
Dobber
2024-01-03
Here are the Top 120 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – January edition!
Happy New Year!
Out January 12 – pre-order now! The 17th annual Midseason Fantasy Hockey Guide (order it here).
As always, players with a rating within +/-5.0 of each other should be considered equal value, and at that point become a matter of your team’s need (rebuild vs. immediate, certain vs. risk, etc.) and/or personal bias.
Click on any player name to be taken to his customized fantasy profile page.
| Def Rk | Player | Team | Rating | Jan | Dec | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 206.0 | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| 2 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 176.4 | 18 | 20 | 2 |
| 3 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 132.7 | 40 | 36 | -4 |
| 4 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 131.8 | 41 | 42 | 1 |
| 5 | Adam Fox | NYR | 131.4 | 42 | 35 | -7 |
| 6 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 114.5 | 50 | 101 | 51 |
| 7 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 111.9 | 52 | 55 | 3 |
| 8 | Roman Josi | NSH | 110.4 | 58 | 59 | 1 |
| 9 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 109.6 | 59 | 61 | 2 |
| 10 | Erik Karlsson | PIT | 99.7 | 75 | 45 | -30 |
| 11 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 94.7 | 79 | 83 | 4 |
| 12 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 91.3 | 84 | 112 | 28 |
| 13 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 85.9 | 95 | 75 | -20 |
| 14 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 83.2 | 99 | 92 | -7 |
| 15 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 82.3 | 104 | 97 | -7 |
| 16 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 80.9 | 106 | 119 | 13 |
| 17 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 79.5 | 110 | 95 | -15 |
| 18 | Moritz Seider | DET | 77.9 | 113 | 98 | -15 |
| 19 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 75.1 | 120 | 105 | -15 |
| 20 | Jakob Chychrun | OTT | 74.6 | 121 | 144 | 23 |
| 21 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 74.3 | 122 | 135 | 13 |
| 22 | Devon Toews | COL | 72.1 | 125 | 125 | 0 |
| 23 | Brandon Montour | FLA | 69.7 | 134 | 129 | -5 |
| 24 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 63.1 | 145 | 153 | 8 |
| 25 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 60.7 | 149 | 159 | 10 |
| 26 | John Carlson | WAS | 60.0 | 150 | 137 | -13 |
| 27 | Luke Hughes | NJD | 55.9 | 154 | 169 | 15 |
| 28 | Shayne Gostisbehere | DET | 55.0 | 155 | 162 | 7 |
| 29 | Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | 51.6 | 161 | 180 | 19 |
| 30 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 46.6 | 175 | 178 | 3 |
| 31 | Kris Letang | PIT | 46.2 | 178 | 212 | 34 |
| 32 | Tony DeAngelo | CAR | 43.6 | 189 | 171 | -18 |
| 33 | Sean Durzi | ARI | 43.3 | 190 | 227 | 37 |
| 34 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 42.2 | 192 | 183 | -9 |
| 35 | Jake Sanderson | OTT | 39.7 | 204 | 189 | -15 |
| 36 | Mike Matheson | MON | 39.1 | 207 | 219 | 12 |
| 37 | Bowen Byram | COL | 38.3 | 213 | 205 | -8 |
| 38 | Jamie Drysdale | ANA | 35.6 | 230 | 233 | 3 |
| 39 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 35.3 | 231 | 329 | 98 |
| 40 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 35.1 | 232 | 221 | -11 |
| 41 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 34.1 | 234 | 234 | 0 |
| 42 | Ivan Provorov | CBJ | 33.9 | 235 | 249 | 14 |
| 43 | Brent Burns | CAR | 33.9 | 236 | 237 | 1 |
| 44 | Seth Jones | CHI | 33.6 | 239 | 202 | -37 |
| 45 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 31.8 | 245 | 240 | -5 |
| 46 | Brady Skjei | CAR | 31.7 | 246 | 267 | 21 |
| 47 | Brandt Clarke | LAK | 31.1 | 249 | 250 | 1 |
| 48 | David Jiricek | CBJ | 30.2 | 254 | 257 | 3 |
| 49 | Calen Addison | SJS | 30.0 | 255 | 209 | -46 |
| 50 | Travis Sanheim | PHI | 30.0 | 256 | 326 | 70 |
| 51 | Kevin Korchinski | CHI | 29.8 | 257 | 253 | -4 |
| 52 | K’Andre Miller | NYR | 28.9 | 260 | 268 | 8 |
| 53 | Owen Power | BUF | 28.0 | 268 | 215 | -53 |
| 54 | Erik Gustafsson | NYR | 26.8 | 271 | 264 | -7 |
| 55 | Mackenzie Weegar | CGY | 26.4 | 273 | 387 | 114 |
| 56 | Noah Hanifin | CGY | 26.3 | 274 | 248 | -26 |
| 57 | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | 26.0 | 277 | 290 | 13 |
| 58 | Denton Mateychuk | CBJ | 24.3 | 286 | 301 | 15 |
| 59 | Cam Fowler | ANA | 22.9 | 296 | 265 | -31 |
| 60 | Lane Hutson | MON | 22.5 | 300 | 317 | 17 |
| 61 | Samuel Girard | COL | 22.0 | 307 | 321 | 14 |
| 62 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 21.5 | 312 | 325 | 13 |
| 63 | Justin Faulk | STL | 21.2 | 313 | 327 | 14 |
| 64 | Scott Perunovich | STL | 20.9 | 317 | 334 | 17 |
| 65 | Rasmus Sandin | WAS | 20.1 | 324 | 274 | -50 |
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
| Adam Boqvist | CBJ | Jackson Lacombe | ANA | |
| Jake Bean | CBJ | Victor Soderstrom | ARI | |
| Simon Edvinsson | DET | Michael Kesselring | ARI | |
| Josh Mahura | FLA | Dmitri Simashev | ARI | |
| Justin Barron | MON | Scott Morrow | CAR | |
| Dante Fabbro | NSH | Dmitry Orlov | CAR | |
| Zac Jones | NYR | Corson Ceulemans | CBJ | |
| Braden Schneider | NYR | Nick Blankenburg | CBJ | |
| Emil Andrae | PHI | Axel Sandin Pellikka | DET | |
| Ryker Evans | SEA | Philip Broberg | EDM | |
| Henry Thrun | SJS | Egor Zamula | PHI | |
| Timothy Liljegren | TOR | Helge Grans | PHI | |
| Lukas Cormier | VGK | Nick Perbix | TBL | |
| Nicolas Hague | VGK | Conor Timmins | TOR | |
| Ville Heinola | WPG | Ethan Bear | WAS |
Related Posts
UPCOMING GAMES
CAR
FLAStarting Goalies
Top Skater Views
TORTop Goalie Profile Views
MTL
T.B
S.J
NSH
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
 DAL Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 19.2 | TYLER SEGUIN MATT DUCHENE JAMIE BENN | |
| 16.2 | MIKKO RANTANEN ROOPE HINTZ MIKAEL GRANLUND | |
| 13.1 | SAM STEEL MASON MARCHMENT EVGENII DADONOV | |
DobberHockey Podcasts
Fantasy Hockey Life: Seattle Kraken with RJ Eskanos
RJ Eskanos of Emerald City Hockey is here to report on the Seattle Kraken. Jesse and Victor interview RJ about returning pros Jared McCann, Chandler Stephenson, Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, Kaapo Kakko, Shane Wright, Matty Beniers, Andre Burakovsky, Eeli Tolvanen, Jani Nyman, Vince Dunn, Brandon Montour, Ryker Evans, Joey Daccord, and Philipp Grubauer. In Cat’s […]
Keeping Karlsson: KK Leagues Report – 2025 Champs!
Derrick talks to the big winners of the various Keeping Karlsson leagues from this past season. He’s first joined by the new KKUPFL Ultimate Champion Ian and the reigning fast-track winner Alec. Then Derrick is joined by the year 1 KK Dynasty League champions Ian (different Ian), Saqib, and Brett, aka the “Good ol’ Ottawa Boys”.
Fantasy Hockey Life: Anaheim Ducks with Derek Lee
Derek Lee of the Hockey News is here to report on the Anaheim Ducks. Jesse and Victor interview him about returning pros Troy Terry, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras, Frank Vatrano, Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Sam Colangelo, Jackson LaCombe, Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba, Lukas Dostal, and John Gibson. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat […]
Fantasy Hockey Life: Fluto Shinzawa Boston Bruins Preview
Fluto Shinzawa of the New York Times joins the show to break down the Boston Bruins. Jesse and Victor ask him about David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt, Matthew Poitras, Fraser Minten, Charlie McAvoy, Mason Lohrei, Hampus Lindholm, Jeremy Swayman, and Joonas Korpisalo. Cat’s instincts covers prospect goalies Brandon Bussi and […]
Keeping Karlsson: First Round Fly-Bys
Elan and Brian fly by each of the eight NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs quarter-final series, highlighting stand-out performances and storylines of the first round so far.