Top 120 Keeper League Defensemen – January 2023
Dobber
2023-01-06
Here are the Top 120 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – January edition!
DROPPING JANUARY 13 – Dobber’s 15th annual Midseason Fantasy Hockey Guide!
Get your fantasy team back on track for the second half with projections, line combos, trade block analysis, prospects on the cusp of a call-up, undrafted NCAA free agents of interest, Euro free agents on the radar, advanced stats analysis (and what it means) – and more! Pre-order it here
As always, players ranked between +/- 5.0 ratings points should be considered equal value and at that point become a matter of your team needs and/or personal preference. Click on any player name to be taken to his customized fantasy player page, which includes game logs that matter to YOU, as well as recent and historical line combos, his “best linemates” for this year, expected goals, salary information and so much more… Check them out!
| Def Rk | Player | Team | Rating | Jan | Dec | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 175.4 | 14 | 15 | 1 |
| 2 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 142.4 | 28 | 58 | 30 |
| 3 | Adam Fox | NYR | 135.9 | 36 | 31 | -5 |
| 4 | Roman Josi | NSH | 124.8 | 43 | 37 | -6 |
| 5 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 120.3 | 51 | 48 | -3 |
| 6 | Erik Karlsson | SJS | 110.3 | 59 | 95 | 36 |
| 7 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 102.1 | 74 | 103 | 29 |
| 8 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 90.0 | 91 | 67 | -24 |
| 9 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 89.4 | 92 | 94 | 2 |
| 10 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 87.4 | 94 | 114 | 20 |
| 11 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 86.1 | 96 | 97 | 1 |
| 12 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 85.2 | 98 | 104 | 6 |
| 13 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 82.1 | 104 | 100 | -4 |
| 14 | John Carlson | WAS | 81.6 | 105 | 88 | -17 |
| 15 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 77.8 | 112 | 128 | 16 |
| 16 | Devon Toews | COL | 77.4 | 113 | 115 | 2 |
| 17 | Filip Hronek | DET | 75.9 | 115 | 118 | 3 |
| 18 | Tony DeAngelo | PHI | 72.9 | 118 | 134 | 16 |
| 19 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 72.5 | 120 | 122 | 2 |
| 20 | Tyson Barrie | EDM | 69.2 | 130 | 169 | 39 |
| 21 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 66.8 | 133 | 168 | 35 |
| 22 | Jakob Chychrun | ARI | 64.4 | 141 | 226 | 85 |
| 23 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 63.9 | 144 | 143 | -1 |
| 24 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 63.3 | 145 | 145 | 0 |
| 25 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 62.7 | 146 | 165 | 19 |
| 26 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 61.4 | 150 | 155 | 5 |
| 27 | Moritz Seider | DET | 60.3 | 152 | 126 | -26 |
| 28 | Brandon Montour | FLA | 59.8 | 155 | 206 | 51 |
| 29 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 59.7 | 156 | 160 | 4 |
| 30 | Brent Burns | CAR | 53.5 | 172 | 192 | 20 |
| 31 | Shayne Gostisbehere | ARI | 49.7 | 185 | 208 | 23 |
| 32 | Torey Krug | STL | 45.8 | 200 | 179 | -21 |
| 33 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 44.4 | 204 | 198 | -6 |
| 34 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 43.4 | 205 | 197 | -8 |
| 35 | Calen Addison | MIN | 41.9 | 208 | 221 | 13 |
| 36 | Seth Jones | CHI | 41.3 | 209 | 201 | -8 |
| 37 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 41.2 | 210 | 214 | 4 |
| 38 | Justin Faulk | STL | 38.3 | 216 | 204 | -12 |
| 39 | Hampus Lindholm | BOS | 36.2 | 222 | 259 | 37 |
| 40 | Noah Hanifin | CGY | 35.3 | 225 | 215 | -10 |
| 41 | Bowen Byram | COL | 33.7 | 232 | 219 | -13 |
| 42 | Kris Letang | PIT | 33.6 | 233 | 266 | 33 |
| 43 | Sean Durzi | LAK | 33.4 | 235 | 257 | 22 |
| 44 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 31.0 | 249 | 247 | -2 |
| 45 | Erik Gustafsson | WAS | 29.3 | 257 | 468 | 211 |
| 46 | Neal Pionk | WPG | 29.1 | 258 | 244 | -14 |
| 47 | Ivan Provorov | PHI | 27.7 | 265 | 217 | -48 |
| 48 | Samuel Girard | COL | 26.3 | 276 | 272 | -4 |
| 49 | Jamie Drysdale | ANA | 26.1 | 277 | 289 | 12 |
| 50 | Adam Boqvist | CBJ | 25.2 | 280 | 287 | 7 |
| 51 | Scott Perunovich | STL | 22.3 | 297 | 310 | 13 |
| 52 | John Klingberg | ANA | 22.2 | 298 | 234 | -64 |
| 53 | Rasmus Sandin | TOR | 21.5 | 305 | 337 | 32 |
| 54 | Janis Moser | ARI | 19.9 | 316 | 271 | -45 |
| 55 | Owen Power | BUF | 19.6 | 319 | 277 | -42 |
| 56 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 19.5 | 320 | 319 | -1 |
| 57 | Jacob Trouba | NYR | 19.5 | 321 | 320 | -1 |
| 58 | Ty Smith | PIT | 19.1 | 328 | 328 | 0 |
| 59 | Justin Schultz | SEA | 17.5 | 346 | 345 | -1 |
| 60 | Jared Spurgeon | MIN | 17.4 | 349 | 347 | -2 |
| 61 | Cam Fowler | ANA | 16.4 | 358 | 329 | -29 |
| 62 | Ryan Pulock | NYI | 16.2 | 363 | 344 | -19 |
| 63 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 16.1 | 367 | 364 | -3 |
| 64 | Nils Lundkvist | DAL | 15.3 | 377 | 377 | 0 |
| 65 | Kaiden Guhle | MON | 15.2 | 378 | 378 | 0 |
The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)
| K’Andre Miller | NYR | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | VAN | |
| Olen Zellweger | ANA | Juuso Valimaki | ARI | |
| Brady Skjei | CAR | Victor Soderstrom | ARI | |
| Oliver Kylington | CGY | Jake Bean | CBJ | |
| Mackenzie Weegar | CGY | Brandt Clarke | LAK | |
| Jordan Spence | LAK | Matt Dumba | MIN | |
| Mike Matheson | MON | Alexander Romanov | NYI | |
| Damon Severson | NJD | Cam York | PHI | |
| Dante Fabbro | NSH | Jeff Petry | PIT | |
| Jake Sanderson | OTT | Ryan Merkley | SJS | |
| Erik Brannstrom | OTT | Colton Parayko | STL | |
| Travis Sanheim | PHI | Jack Rathbone | VAN | |
| Pierre-Olivier Joseph | PIT |
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
| Nicolas Hague | VGK | Matt Grzelcyk | BOS | |
| Henri Jokiharju | BUF | Scott Morrow | CAR | |
| Jacob Bryson | BUF | Nick Blankenburg | CBJ | |
| Brett Pesce | CAR | Vladislav Gavrikov | CBJ | |
| David Jiricek | CBJ | Ian Mitchell | CHI | |
| Esa Lindell | DAL | Thomas Harley | DAL | |
| Sean Walker | LAK | Simon Edvinsson | DET | |
| Luke Hughes | NJD | Jonas Brodin | MIN | |
| Mattias Ekholm | NSH | Mattias Norlinder | MON | |
| Robin Salo | NYI | Justin Barron | MON | |
| Zac Jones | NYR | Ryan Graves | NJD | |
| Braden Schneider | NYR | Yegor Zamula | PHI | |
| Erik Cernak | TBL | Matt Benning | SJS | |
| Cal Foote | TBL | Conor Timmins | TOR | |
| Timothy Liljegren | TOR | Dmitry Orlov | WAS |
Related Posts
UPCOMING GAMES
PIT
WPG
ANA
BUFStarting Goalies
Top Skater Views
DAL
CBJ
S.J
COLTop Goalie Profile Views
CGY
CAR
DET
UTA
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
 ARI Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 25.8 | NICK SCHMALTZ ALEXANDER KERFOOT CLAYTON KELLER | |
| 17.5 | DYLAN GUENTHER LAWSON CROUSE LOGAN COOLEY | |
| 17.2 | AKU RATY JACK MCBAIN MATIAS MACCELLI | |
DobberHockey Podcasts
Keeping Karlsson Short Shifts – Regicide
Jeremy and Shams are here to break down all the new injuries and update timelines as well. After all the injury news they close out the show covering all the cold Kings players giving actionable fantasy advice on each one. Lastly, they close out the show the latest hot Russian forward for Columbus that is only 1% rostered on Yahoo right now.
Keeping Karlsson: Marchment Madness
Elan and Brian look at who comes out on top the Avalanche return to health, opine on the likelihood of complementary top six players in Toronto, Los Angeles and Edmonton remaining relevant, and consider giving up on underachievers in Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia.
Fantasy Hockey Life: Corey Sznajder
Corey Sznajder of allthreezones.com joins the show to talk about how he tracks microstats and identifies a couple of players they might help them assess. Have a listen! Our show is part of the Dobber Podcast Network and sponsored by Fantrax.com. Email [email protected] and ask to join our free discord. Join our Patreon at Patreon.com/fantasyhockeylife […]
Keeping Karlsson: Matchup Maximizer Week 7
Jeremy subs in to look at the schedule for the upcoming week of NHL action and recommends some players with good schedules that you should consider streaming in to win your head to head matchups.
Keeping Karlsson Short Shifts – Permission To Cut
Jeremy and Shams cover the usual headlines and injuries but get your permission slips out as the second half of the show they cover a litany of suggested players from the Patreon community to give their input on whether it’s ok to cut that big name player off your fantasy team.