Here are the top defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – July edition!

But first, coming in three weeks (July 29), the 20th edition – Dobber’s Fantasy Hockey Guide! Buy it on its own here, or package it with the recently released Prospects Report here.

For this month, I have updated the teams, but didn’t really fiddle with the projections – these are really just adjustments based on roster strength. I also added 2025 drafted prospects. Next month will have the projections updated.

As always, players between +/- 5.0 rating points should be considered equal and at that point become a matter of personal preference (upside, certainty, injury risk, etc.)

Click any player name to be taken to his Frozen Tools fantasy hockey profile page where we bring you line combos, analytics, NHL Edge stats, contract details, etc.

Def Rk	Player	Team	Rating	July	June	Change
1	Cale Makar	COL	190.3	12	11	-1
2	Quinn Hughes	VAN	156.6	27	27	0
3	Rasmus Dahlin	BUF	136.4	35	35	0
4	Adam Fox	NYR	120.6	44	43	-1
5	Evan Bouchard	EDM	115.0	55	55	0
6	Lane Hutson	MON	108.4	62	66	4
7	Josh Morrissey	WPG	102.8	69	68	-1
8	Zach Werenski	CBJ	102.3	70	69	-1
9	Victor Hedman	TBL	92.9	87	87	0
10	Miro Heiskanen	DAL	90.3	94	91	-3
11	Shea Theodore	VGK	87.9	96	97	1
12	Noah Dobson	MON	85.6	100	101	1
13	Mikhail Sergachev	UTA	79.6	107	106	-1
14	Jake Sanderson	OTT	73.3	118	118	0
15	Moritz Seider	DET	71.6	122	126	4
16	Jakob Chychrun	WAS	71.4	124	122	-2
17	Luke Hughes	NJD	69.0	127	133	6
18	Erik Karlsson	PIT	66.8	134	131	-3
19	Roman Josi	NSH	64.2	142	119	-23
20	Vince Dunn	SEA	64.0	143	139	-4
21	Thomas Harley	DAL	58.2	156	153	-3
22	Charlie McAvoy	BOS	56.7	160	162	2
23	Filip Hronek	VAN	56.4	161	155	-6
24	Shayne Gostisbehere	CAR	54.7	166	163	-3
25	John Carlson	WAS	51.5	173	173	0
26	Dougie Hamilton	NJD	50.9	175	164	-11
27	Thomas Chabot	OTT	49.0	179	168	-11
28	Seth Jones	FLA	47.8	182	180	-2
29	Brandt Clarke	LAK	46.4	190	187	-3
30	Bowen Byram	BUF	44.9	192	190	-2
31	Brandon Montour	SEA	44.5	194	188	-6
32	Simon Nemec	NJD	43.4	197	197	0
33	Devon Toews	COL	42.3	204	192	-12
34	Owen Power	BUF	42.0	205	205	0
35	Noah Hanifin	VGK	42.0	206	212	6
36	Aaron Ekblad	FLA	41.0	211	236	25
37	Jackson Lacombe	ANA	39.0	215	216	1
38	Zeev Buium	MIN	38.4	217	218	1
39	Artyom Levshunov	CHI	35.7	224	224	0
40	Cam Fowler	STL	35.3	227	215	-12
41	Zayne Parekh	CGY	35.2	228	225	-3
42	Sean Durzi	UTA	35.1	229	226	-3
43	Matthew Schaefer	NYI	34.6	231	NEW	#####
44	Pavel Mintyukov	ANA	33.8	235	230	-5
45	Jamie Drysdale	PHI	33.4	237	231	-6
46	Alexander Nikishin	CAR	31.7	243	240	-3
47	Jake Walman	EDM	31.5	245	242	-3
48	Mackenzie Weegar	CGY	29.3	250	248	-2
49	Kevin Korchinski	CHI	27.8	258	257	-1
50	David Jiricek	MIN	27.6	260	259	-1
51	Rasmus Andersson	CGY	26.7	263	264	1
52	Morgan Rielly	TOR	26.3	268	232	-36
53	Denton Mateychuk	CBJ	25.7	273	272	-1
54	K’Andre Miller	CAR	25.6	275	274	-1
55	Brock Faber	MIN	24.8	281	277	-4
56	Gustav Forsling	FLA	22.0	296	294	-2
57	Simon Edvinsson	DET	21.6	297	308	11
58	Drew Doughty	LAK	21.5	298	296	-2
59	Jordan Spence	OTT	20.4	308	319	11
60	Cole Hutson	WAS	20.1	313	309	-4
61	Neal Pionk	WPG	19.6	319	298	-21
62	Darnell Nurse	EDM	18.7	325	321	-4
63	Jaccob Slavin	CAR	18.6	328	324	-4
64	Ivan Provorov	CBJ	18.5	331	338	7
65	Mike Matheson	MON	17.6	340	353	13

The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)

Rasmus Sandin	WAS	Lukas Cormier	VGK
Ryker Evans	SEA	Cam York	PHI
Samuel Girard	COL	Tanner Molendyk	NSH
Mason Lohrei	BOS	Timothy Liljegren	SJS
Kaiden Guhle	MON	Alexander Romanov	NYI
Olen Zellweger	ANA	Logan Mailloux	STL
Tony DeAngelo	NYI	Michael Kesselring	BUF
Scott Morrow	NYR	Dante Fabbro	CBJ
Travis Sanheim	PHI	Axel Sandin Pellikka	DET
Darren Raddysh	TBL	Seamus Casey	NJD
Mattias Ekholm	EDM	Carter Yakemchuk	OTT
Nils Lundkvist	DAL	Luca Cagnoni	SJS
Philip Broberg	STL

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

Emil Andrae	PHI	Owen Pickering	PIT
Sam Dickinson	SJS	Oliver Kylington	UFA
J.J. Moser	TBL	Calen Addison	NJD
Braden Schneider	NYR	Justin Faulk	STL
Alex Vlasic	CHI	Egor Zamula	PHI
Matt Grzelcyk	UFA	Nick Perbix	NSH
Brady Skjei	NSH	Dmitri Simashev	UTA
Zac Jones	BUF	Anton Silayev	NJD
Alexandre Carrier	MON	Vladislav Gavrikov	NYR
Damon Severson	CBJ	Hunter Brzustewicz	CGY
Oliver Ekman-Larsson	TOR	Conor Timmins	BUF
Colton Parayko	STL	Erik Gustafsson	DET
Sam Rinzel	CHI	Scott Perunovich	UTA
Pierre-Olivier Joseph	VAN	Tristan Luneau	ANA
Justin Barron	NSH	Jared Spurgeon	MIN