Top 120 Keeper League Defensemen – May 2025
Dobber
2025-05-06
Here are the top 120 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – May edition!
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As always, players rated between +/-5.0 rating points should be considered equal value and at that point become a matter of team need or personal bias. This month I rough-out the list based on projections (off the top of my head) for 2025-26 and beyond. Among other things, that pretty much means the players who were injured this season will get an injection of fantasy value, as well as some young players taking another step.
| Def Rk | Player | Team | Rating | May | Apr | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 192.3 | 11 | 6 | -5 |
| 2 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 156.6 | 27 | 24 | -3 |
| 3 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 136.4 | 35 | 40 | 5 |
| 4 | Adam Fox | NYR | 122.3 | 43 | 49 | 6 |
| 5 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 115.0 | 55 | 39 | -16 |
| 6 | Lane Hutson | MON | 106.5 | 66 | 61 | -5 |
| 7 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 104.5 | 69 | 70 | 1 |
| 8 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 103.8 | 70 | 41 | -29 |
| 9 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 92.9 | 89 | 72 | -17 |
| 10 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 90.3 | 93 | 125 | 32 |
| 11 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 86.0 | 97 | 83 | -14 |
| 12 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 83.8 | 101 | 118 | 17 |
| 13 | Mikhail Sergachev | UTA | 79.6 | 106 | 105 | -1 |
| 14 | Jake Sanderson | OTT | 73.3 | 120 | 109 | -11 |
| 15 | Roman Josi | NSH | 73.3 | 121 | 142 | 21 |
| 16 | Jakob Chychrun | WAS | 71.4 | 125 | 117 | -8 |
| 17 | Moritz Seider | DET | 70.2 | 128 | 126 | -2 |
| 18 | Erik Karlsson | PIT | 69.4 | 132 | 85 | -47 |
| 19 | Luke Hughes | NJD | 69.0 | 134 | 130 | -4 |
| 20 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 65.0 | 140 | 153 | 13 |
| 21 | Thomas Harley | DAL | 58.2 | 154 | 145 | -9 |
| 22 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 57.8 | 156 | 203 | 47 |
| 23 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 55.7 | 164 | 195 | 31 |
| 24 | Shayne Gostisbehere | CAR | 55.6 | 165 | 147 | -18 |
| 25 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 55.4 | 166 | 127 | -39 |
| 26 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 54.0 | 171 | 156 | -15 |
| 27 | John Carlson | WAS | 51.5 | 175 | 151 | -24 |
| 28 | Seth Jones | FLA | 47.8 | 181 | 197 | 16 |
| 29 | Brandt Clarke | LAK | 46.4 | 188 | 187 | -1 |
| 30 | Brandon Montour | SEA | 45.5 | 189 | 164 | -25 |
| 31 | Bowen Byram | BUF | 44.9 | 191 | 177 | -14 |
| 32 | Devon Toews | COL | 44.4 | 193 | 155 | -38 |
| 33 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 43.4 | 198 | 198 | 0 |
| 34 | Owen Power | BUF | 42.0 | 206 | 189 | -17 |
| 35 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 41.0 | 209 | 173 | -36 |
| 36 | Noah Hanifin | VGK | 40.1 | 213 | 208 | -5 |
| 37 | Cam Fowler | STL | 39.3 | 215 | 253 | 38 |
| 38 | Jackson Lacombe | ANA | 39.0 | 216 | 190 | -26 |
| 39 | Zeev Buium | MIN | 38.4 | 218 | 275 | 57 |
| 40 | Artyom Levshunov | CHI | 35.7 | 224 | 214 | -10 |
| 41 | Zayne Parekh | CGY | 35.2 | 225 | 202 | -23 |
| 42 | Sean Durzi | UTA | 35.1 | 226 | 317 | 91 |
| 43 | Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | 33.8 | 231 | 247 | 16 |
| 44 | Jamie Drysdale | PHI | 33.4 | 233 | 229 | -4 |
| 45 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 33.2 | 234 | 218 | -16 |
| 46 | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | 31.7 | 240 | 240 | 0 |
| 47 | Jake Walman | EDM | 31.5 | 242 | 220 | -22 |
| 48 | Mackenzie Weegar | CGY | 29.3 | 249 | 223 | -26 |
| 49 | Kevin Korchinski | CHI | 27.8 | 258 | 260 | 2 |
| 50 | David Jiricek | MIN | 27.6 | 260 | 249 | -11 |
| 51 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 26.7 | 265 | 287 | 22 |
| 52 | Denton Mateychuk | CBJ | 25.7 | 273 | 257 | -16 |
| 53 | K’Andre Miller | NYR | 25.6 | 274 | 327 | 53 |
| 54 | Brock Faber | MIN | 24.8 | 276 | 314 | 38 |
| 55 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 22.0 | 295 | 325 | 30 |
| 56 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 21.9 | 297 | 369 | 72 |
| 57 | Neal Pionk | WPG | 21.3 | 298 | 250 | -48 |
| 58 | Simon Edvinsson | DET | 20.2 | 309 | 342 | 33 |
| 59 | Ivan Provorov | CBJ | 19.9 | 311 | 265 | -46 |
| 60 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 18.7 | 320 | 337 | 17 |
| 61 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 18.6 | 322 | 408 | 86 |
| 62 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 18.5 | 323 | 285 | -38 |
| 63 | Samuel Girard | COL | 18.3 | 326 | 303 | -23 |
| 64 | Ryker Evans | SEA | 17.7 | 330 | 419 | 89 |
| 65 | Rasmus Sandin | WAS | 17.0 | 340 | 331 | -9 |
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 | Dante Fabbro | CBJ | |
| Mason Lohrei | BOS | Axel Sandin Pellikka | DET | |
| Scott Morrow | CAR | Logan Mailloux | MON | |
| Nils Lundkvist | DAL | Seamus Casey | NJD | |
| Mattias Ekholm | EDM | Tanner Molendyk | NSH | |
| Jordan Spence | LAK | Alexander Romanov | NYI | |
| Mike Matheson | MON | Braden Schneider | NYR | |
| Kaiden Guhle | MON | Zac Jones | NYR | |
| Tony DeAngelo | NYI | Carter Yakemchuk | OTT | |
| Travis Sanheim | PHI | Cam York | PHI | |
| Philip Broberg | STL | Timothy Liljegren | SJS | |
| Darren Raddysh | TBL | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | TOR | |
| Lukas Cormier | VGK |
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
| Oliver Kylington | ANA | Tristan Luneau | ANA | |
| Damon Severson | CBJ | Dmitry Orlov | CAR | |
| Alex Vlasic | CHI | Hunter Brzustewicz | CGY | |
| Alexandre Carrier | MON | Lian Bichsel | DAL | |
| Brady Skjei | NSH | Mikey Anderson | LAK | |
| Justin Barron | NSH | Brett Pesce | NJD | |
| Emil Andrae | PHI | Anton Silayev | NJD | |
| Matt Grzelcyk | PIT | Helge Grans | PHI | |
| Owen Pickering | PIT | Henry Thrun | SJS | |
| Luca Cagnoni | SJS | Justin Faulk | STL | |
| Sam Dickinson | SJS | Torey Krug | STL | |
| Colton Parayko | STL | Jake McCabe | TOR | |
| J.J. Moser | TBL | Juuso Valimaki | UTA | |
| Nick Perbix | TBL | Dmitri Simashev | UTA | |
| Michael Kesselring | UTA | Ville Heinola | WPG |
Related Posts
UPCOMING GAMES
TOR
FLA
VGK
EDMStarting Goalies
Top Skater Views
DAL
MINTop Goalie Profile Views
WPG
CBJ
CAR
WSH
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
 CHI Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2 | ILYA MIKHEYEV RYAN DONATO CONNOR BEDARD | |
| 21.0 | JOE VELENO LANDON SLAGGERT LUKAS REICHEL | |
| 21.0 | TEUVO TERAVAINEN FRANK NAZAR TYLER BERTUZZI | |
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