Here are the top 120 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – July edition!
But first, in just over three (3!) weeks from now, the 19th annual Fantasy Hockey Guide will be released. That’s right, I’ve earned your trust for 19 years. You can pre-order your digital copy here, or for another $5 you can get the Fantasy Prospects Report along with it (Value $14.99) here.
As always, players within +/-5.0 rating of each other should be considered equal value, and at that point become a matter of team needs (immediate help vs wait time, rebuilding vs. going for it, etc.) or personal preference.
Click on any player name to be taken to his player section, which we customized to best suit fantasy hockey
| Def. Rk | Player | Team | Rating | July | June | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 186.5 | 16 | 16 | 0 |
| 2 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 170.1 | 19 | 19 | 0 |
| 3 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 146.8 | 29 | 29 | 0 |
| 4 | Roman Josi | NSH | 131.9 | 41 | 42 | 1 |
| 5 | Adam Fox | NYR | 131.3 | 42 | 41 | -1 |
| 6 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 124.2 | 45 | 47 | 2 |
| 7 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 119.0 | 52 | 52 | 0 |
| 8 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 113.3 | 57 | 56 | -1 |
| 9 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 104.0 | 73 | 71 | -2 |
| 10 | Erik Karlsson | PIT | 103.9 | 74 | 72 | -2 |
| 11 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 96.6 | 81 | 81 | 0 |
| 12 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 84.5 | 103 | 102 | -1 |
| 13 | Moritz Seider | DET | 83.6 | 106 | 105 | -1 |
| 14 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 83.5 | 107 | 106 | -1 |
| 15 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 81.7 | 111 | 109 | -2 |
| 16 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 76.8 | 119 | 114 | -5 |
| 17 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 72.9 | 126 | 123 | -3 |
| 18 | Mikhail Sergachev | UHC | 71.7 | 129 | 127 | -2 |
| 19 | Luke Hughes | NJD | 71.5 | 131 | 129 | -2 |
| 20 | Devon Toews | COL | 70.8 | 133 | 131 | -2 |
| 21 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 70.2 | 136 | 150 | 14 |
| 22 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 68.9 | 142 | 140 | -2 |
| 23 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 67.5 | 150 | 147 | -3 |
| 24 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 60.1 | 163 | 163 | 0 |
| 25 | Brandon Montour | SEA | 58.3 | 166 | 160 | -6 |
| 26 | John Carlson | WAS | 56.2 | 173 | 173 | 0 |
| 27 | Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | 54.2 | 179 | 177 | -2 |
| 28 | Noah Hanifin | VGK | 54.1 | 180 | 178 | -2 |
| 29 | Jakob Chychrun | WAS | 54.0 | 181 | 175 | -6 |
| 30 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 52.3 | 184 | 182 | -2 |
| 31 | Bowen Byram | BUF | 46.6 | 202 | 238 | 36 |
| 32 | Shayne Gostisbehere | CAR | 45.0 | 205 | 202 | -3 |
| 33 | Mike Matheson | MON | 44.7 | 207 | 208 | 1 |
| 34 | Kris Letang | PIT | 43.3 | 210 | 207 | -3 |
| 35 | Jake Sanderson | OTT | 41.7 | 215 | 212 | -3 |
| 36 | Thomas Harley | DAL | 40.6 | 218 | 215 | -3 |
| 37 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 39.3 | 221 | 219 | -2 |
| 38 | Brock Faber | MIN | 38.4 | 226 | 233 | 7 |
| 39 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 37.6 | 228 | 225 | -3 |
| 40 | Kevin Korchinski | CHI | 37.4 | 229 | 226 | -3 |
| 41 | Sean Durzi | UHC | 35.4 | 237 | 242 | 5 |
| 42 | Brandt Clarke | LAK | 35.4 | 238 | 235 | -3 |
| 43 | Zayne Parekh | CGY | 35.2 | 240 | NR | ##### |
| 44 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 34.5 | 243 | 232 | -11 |
| 45 | Jamie Drysdale | PHI | 33.4 | 249 | 245 | -4 |
| 46 | Artyom Levshunov | CHI | 33.1 | 251 | NR | ##### |
| 47 | David Jiricek | CBJ | 32.6 | 255 | 248 | -7 |
| 48 | Owen Power | BUF | 30.7 | 263 | 259 | -4 |
| 49 | Brady Skjei | NSH | 29.4 | 270 | 265 | -5 |
| 50 | Mackenzie Weegar | CGY | 29.1 | 273 | 270 | -3 |
| 51 | Seth Jones | CHI | 28.9 | 274 | 273 | -1 |
| 52 | Lane Hutson | MON | 27.8 | 280 | 280 | 0 |
| 53 | Samuel Girard | COL | 27.6 | 282 | 327 | 45 |
| 54 | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | 26.7 | 289 | 284 | -5 |
| 55 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 26.3 | 291 | 287 | -4 |
| 56 | Denton Mateychuk | CBJ | 25.7 | 296 | 295 | -1 |
| 57 | Travis Sanheim | PHI | 25.1 | 304 | 272 | -32 |
| 58 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 24.3 | 308 | 302 | -6 |
| 59 | Jordan Spence | LAK | 24.1 | 309 | 303 | -6 |
| 60 | Ivan Provorov | CBJ | 23.7 | 314 | 306 | -8 |
| 61 | Erik Brannstrom | COL | 22.2 | 326 | 350 | 24 |
| 62 | Olen Zellweger | ANA | 21.9 | 328 | 313 | -15 |
| 63 | Brent Burns | CAR | 21.2 | 338 | 322 | -16 |
| 64 | Scott Perunovich | STL | 21.0 | 339 | 323 | -16 |
| 65 | Rasmus Sandin | WAS | 20.1 | 348 | 335 | -13 |
The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)
| Cam Fowler | ANA | Simon Edvinsson | DET | |
| Hampus Lindholm | BOS | Dante Fabbro | NSH | |
| Jaccob Slavin | CAR | Alexander Romanov | NYI | |
| Ty Smith | CAR | Jacob Trouba | NYR | |
| Nils Lundkvist | DAL | Torey Krug | STL | |
| Mattias Ekholm | EDM | Pierre-Olivier Joseph | STL | |
| Kaiden Guhle | MON | Darren Raddysh | TBL | |
| K’Andre Miller | NYR | J.J. Moser | TBL | |
| Cam York | PHI | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | TOR | |
| Henry Thrun | SJS | Timothy Liljegren | TOR | |
| Justin Faulk | STL | Tyson Barrie | UFA | |
| Juuso Valimaki | UHC | Nicolas Hague | VGK | |
| Neal Pionk | WPG |
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
| Mason Lohrei | BOS | Jackson Lacombe | ANA | |
| Henri Jokiharju | BUF | Scott Morrow | CAR | |
| Damon Severson | CBJ | Alex Vlasic | CHI | |
| Hunter Brzustewicz | CGY | Matt Dumba | DAL | |
| Mikey Anderson | LAK | Erik Gustafsson | DET | |
| Vladislav Gavrikov | LAK | Axel Sandin Pellikka | DET | |
| Justin Barron | MON | Philip Broberg | EDM | |
| John Marino | NJD | Zeev Buium | MIN | |
| Zac Jones | NYR | Braden Schneider | NYR | |
| Emil Andrae | PHI | Egor Zamula | PHI | |
| Ryker Evans | SEA | Topi Niemela | TOR | |
| Nick Perbix | TBL | John Klingberg | UFA | |
| Oliver Kylington | UFA | Adam Boqvist | UFA | |
| Lukas Cormier | VGK | Michael Kesselring | UHC | |
| Ville Heinola | WPG | Dmitri Simashev | UHC |
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LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
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| |
|---|---|---|
| 20.2 | DAVID PASTRNAK ELIAS LINDHOLM MORGAN GEEKIE | |
| 14.6 | PAVEL ZACHA FABIAN LYSELL MARAT KHUSNUTDINOV | |
| 13.4 | CASEY MITTELSTADT VINNI LETTIERI COLE KOEPKE | |
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