Top 100 Keeper League Defensemen – October 2020
Dobber
2020-10-05
Here are the Top 120 defensemen to own in your points-only keeper leagues – October edition!
Only minor changes this past month, based on play over the last two rounds of the playoffs. I also made tweaks based on UFA status (I went ahead and put in each UFA, even though they technically don’t turn UFA until October 9).
The Fantasy Prospects Report (get it here) now has the profiles updated, new profiles added, plus the 2020 Mock Draft from Cam Robinson. The Fantasy Guide will have a partial release on October 16 and full release scheduled for October 30. You can order both in the Keeper League Fantasy Pack here, or (new) sign up for a subscription here! Thank you for supporting the websites during this difficult time. And please turn off your ad blocker and whitelist us – we have no popups or flashy ads.
Be sure to come back during Free Agent Frenzy on Friday, where we break down each signing from a fantasy hockey standpoint. Just like we have each year for the last 15 years!
This month I’m trying something different. Because players further down the list are so close to each other, I’ve just thrown them together into groups. It beats trying to explain how the 90th ranked guy is pretty much the same for value as the 66th ranked guy. As a bonus, this means 120 defensemen appear in the rankings. Let me know if you like the new format. Click on any player name below to be taken to his fantasy hockey player profile page, with all the stats you need to make an assessment for your fantasy leagues…
| Def. Rk | Player | Team | Rating | Oct | Sep | Change |
| 1 | John Carlson | WAS | 127.3 | 25 | 25 | 0 |
| 2 | Cale Makar | COL | 105.3 | 48 | 48 | 0 |
| 3 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 103.0 | 53 | 53 | 0 |
| 4 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 99.8 | 55 | 55 | 0 |
| 5 | Roman Josi | NSH | 96.0 | 60 | 60 | 0 |
| 6 | Dougie Hamilton | CAR | 92.8 | 67 | 67 | 0 |
| 7 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 92.1 | 71 | 71 | 0 |
| 8 | Erik Karlsson | SJS | 87.6 | 76 | 76 | 0 |
| 9 | Torey Krug | UFA | 77.4 | 93 | 84 | 9 |
| 10 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 75.0 | 96 | 97 | -1 |
| 11 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 74.5 | 98 | 100 | -2 |
| 12 | Tony DeAngelo | NYR | 73.8 | 99 | 101 | -2 |
| 13 | Alex Pietrangelo | UFA | 73.1 | 101 | 94 | 7 |
| 14 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 70.7 | 109 | 109 | 0 |
| 15 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 69.8 | 113 | 113 | 0 |
| 16 | Brent Burns | SJS | 68.6 | 116 | 117 | -1 |
| 17 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 66.9 | 119 | 125 | -6 |
| 18 | Seth Jones | CBJ | 66.3 | 121 | 121 | 0 |
| 19 | Tyson Barrie | UFA | 65.9 | 124 | 114 | 10 |
| 20 | Kris Letang | PIT | 60.0 | 138 | 137 | 1 |
| 21 | John Klingberg | DAL | 59.7 | 139 | 139 | 0 |
| 22 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 50.0 | 158 | 158 | 0 |
| 23 | Ivan Provorov | PHI | 46.7 | 170 | 170 | 0 |
| 24 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | ARI | 44.7 | 174 | 174 | 0 |
| 25 | Keith Yandle | FLA | 42.7 | 177 | 177 | 0 |
| 26 | Ryan Pulock | NYI | 42.4 | 180 | 180 | 0 |
| 27 | Filip Hronek | DET | 42.1 | 182 | 182 | 0 |
| 28 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 41.3 | 187 | 188 | -1 |
| 29 | Erik Gustafsson | UFA | 39.1 | 195 | 183 | 12 |
| 30 | Matt Dumba | MIN | 38.6 | 197 | 197 | 0 |
| 31 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 37.6 | 201 | 201 | 0 |
| 32 | Adam Fox | NYR | 37.0 | 205 | 205 | 0 |
| 33 | Ryan Ellis | NSH | 35.5 | 210 | 208 | 2 |
| 34 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 34.2 | 216 | 215 | 1 |
| 35 | Samuel Girard | COL | 33.6 | 220 | 219 | 1 |
| 36 | Neal Pionk | WPG | 33.0 | 223 | 222 | 1 |
| 37 | Jacob Trouba | NYR | 32.9 | 224 | 223 | 1 |
| 38 | Ryan Suter | MIN | 32.2 | 227 | 227 | 0 |
| 39 | Shea Weber | MON | 31.7 | 228 | 228 | 0 |
| 40 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 30.0 | 233 | 233 | 0 |
| 41 | Mark Giordano | CGY | 28.8 | 236 | 236 | 0 |
| 42 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 28.5 | 240 | 240 | 0 |
| 43 | Rasmus Ristolainen | BUF | 28.5 | 241 | 241 | 0 |
| 44 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 27.5 | 245 | 245 | 0 |
| 45 | Mattias Ekholm | NSH | 27.1 | 247 | 247 | 0 |
| 46 | Adam Boqvist | CHI | 24.8 | 259 | 259 | 0 |
| 47 | Vince Dunn | STL | 23.9 | 267 | 267 | 0 |
| 48 | Shayne Gostisbehere | PHI | 23.2 | 269 | 270 | -1 |
| 49 | Brandon Montour | BUF | 22.6 | 278 | 279 | -1 |
| 50 | Oscar Klefbom | EDM | 21.9 | 283 | 284 | -1 |
| 51 | Travis Sanheim | PHI | 21.8 | 285 | 286 | -1 |
| 52 | Damon Severson | NJD | 20.8 | 301 | 302 | -1 |
| 53 | Jakob Chychrun | ARI | 20.6 | 305 | 306 | -1 |
| 54 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 20.4 | 308 | 309 | -1 |
| 55 | Jeff Petry | MON | 19.4 | 317 | 317 | 0 |
| 56 | Mike Matheson | PIT | 19.3 | 320 | 326 | -6 |
| 57 | Will Butcher | NJD | 18.9 | 324 | 322 | 2 |
| 58 | Colton Parayko | STL | 17.6 | 333 | 334 | -1 |
| 59 | Nate Schmidt | VGK | 17.3 | 340 | 341 | -1 |
| 60 | Ryan Graves | COL | 17.0 | 344 | 345 | -1 |
| 61 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 16.3 | 352 | 353 | -1 |
| 62 | Cam Fowler | ANA | 15.8 | 362 | 363 | -1 |
| 63 | P.K. Subban | NJD | 15.4 | 366 | 367 | -1 |
| 64 | Sami Vatanen | UFA | 15.4 | 367 | 368 | -1 |
| 65 | Ryan McDonagh | TBL | 15.3 | 368 | 369 | -1 |
The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal). Their value to you would depend on if you are rebuilding, just need a guy coming off the bench once in a while during hot spurts, or need immediate help with a lower ceiling, with different tolerances of risk…
| Devon Toews | NYI | Erik Brannstrom | OTT | |
| Kevin Shattenkirk | UFA | Dmitry Orlov | WAS | |
| Jared Spurgeon | MIN | Juuso Valimaki | CGY | |
| Matt Grzelcyk | BOS | Jake Muzzin | TOR | |
| Ethan Bear | EDM | Oliver Kylington | CGY | |
| Travis Dermott | TOR | Dennis Cholowski | DET | |
| Esa Lindell | DAL | Ty Smith | NJD | |
| Alexander Romanov | MON | Pierre-Olivier Joseph | PIT | |
| Henri Jokiharju | BUF | Scott Perunovich | STL | |
| Hampus Lindholm | ANA | John Marino | PIT | |
| Bowen Byram | COL | Nick Leddy | NYI | |
| Noah Hanifin | CGY | Philippe Myers | PHI | |
| Justin Faulk | 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
| Marcus Pettersson | PIT | Josh Mahura | ANA | |
| Kale Clague | LAK | Victor Mete | MON | |
| Sami Niku | WPG | Olli Juolevi | VAN | |
| Rasmus Sandin | TOR | Jake Gardiner | CAR | |
| Brady Skjei | CAR | Caleb Jones | EDM | |
| Sean Walker | LAK | Alexander Alexeyev | WAS | |
| Timothy Liljegren | TOR | Jake Bean | CAR | |
| Ian Mitchell | CHI | TJ Brodie | UFA | |
| Dante Fabbro | NSH | Nicolas Hague | VGK | |
| Erik Cernak | TBL | Christian Djoos | ANA | |
| Alex Goligoski | ARI | Matt Roy | LAK | |
| Noah Dobson | NYI | Ryan Merkley | SJS | |
| Alexander Edler | VAN | Alec Martinez | VGK | |
| Mikko Lehtonen | TOR | Justin Schultz | UFA | |
| Conor Timmins | COL | Vladislav Gavrikov | CBJ |
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| 25.7 | MAXIM TSYPLAKOV KYLE PALMIERI BROCK NELSON | |
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| 17.4 | SIMON HOLMSTROM PIERRE ENGVALL CASEY CIZIKAS | |
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