Top 50 Keeper League Defensemen – May 2023
Dobber
2023-05-07
Here are the top 50 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – May edition!
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Click any player name to be taken to his fantasy stats profile section and get everything you need in order to evaluate the player.
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As always, players ranked within +/-5.0 rating points of each other should be considered equal value, and at that point become a matter of your keeper team’s needs (immediate help vs long-term upside) or personal preference.
| Def Rk | Player | Team | Rating | May | Apr | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 174.3 | 16 | 19 | 3 |
| 2 | Erik Karlsson | SJS | 142.0 | 35 | 17 | -18 |
| 3 | Adam Fox | NYR | 138.0 | 36 | 33 | -3 |
| 4 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 137.6 | 37 | 31 | -6 |
| 5 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 124.7 | 43 | 40 | -3 |
| 6 | Roman Josi | NSH | 118.5 | 55 | 48 | -7 |
| 7 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 113.8 | 63 | 50 | -13 |
| 8 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 111.0 | 65 | 56 | -9 |
| 9 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 109.9 | 66 | 62 | -4 |
| 10 | Brandon Montour | FLA | 101.9 | 81 | 68 | -13 |
| 11 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 93.6 | 91 | 94 | 3 |
| 12 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 93.2 | 93 | 128 | 35 |
| 13 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 91.6 | 96 | 101 | 5 |
| 14 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 91.2 | 98 | 122 | 24 |
| 15 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 89.9 | 101 | 112 | 11 |
| 16 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 88.5 | 104 | 111 | 7 |
| 17 | Moritz Seider | DET | 88.2 | 106 | 133 | 27 |
| 18 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 84.4 | 111 | 103 | -8 |
| 19 | Devon Toews | COL | 81.4 | 118 | 115 | -3 |
| 20 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 81.1 | 119 | 91 | -28 |
| 21 | John Carlson | WAS | 80.8 | 120 | 164 | 44 |
| 22 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 77.6 | 128 | 151 | 23 |
| 23 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 69.2 | 144 | 202 | 58 |
| 24 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 68.3 | 147 | 155 | 8 |
| 25 | Jakob Chychrun | OTT | 66.8 | 151 | 156 | 5 |
| 26 | Tony DeAngelo | PHI | 65.2 | 155 | 136 | -19 |
| 27 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 61.6 | 169 | 134 | -35 |
| 28 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 55.5 | 182 | 165 | -17 |
| 29 | Brent Burns | CAR | 52.1 | 187 | 145 | -42 |
| 30 | Bowen Byram | COL | 51.9 | 189 | 203 | 14 |
| 31 | Kris Letang | PIT | 49.9 | 194 | 204 | 10 |
| 32 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 49.4 | 195 | 194 | -1 |
| 33 | Calen Addison | MIN | 45.9 | 206 | 208 | 2 |
| 34 | Shayne Gostisbehere | CAR | 44.4 | 213 | 191 | -22 |
| 35 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 43.9 | 214 | 174 | -40 |
| 36 | Samuel Girard | COL | 42.1 | 217 | 218 | 1 |
| 37 | Hampus Lindholm | BOS | 41.5 | 219 | 189 | -30 |
| 38 | Sean Durzi | LAK | 39.0 | 227 | 223 | -4 |
| 39 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 37.6 | 233 | 205 | -28 |
| 40 | Tyson Barrie | NSH | 37.0 | 235 | 152 | -83 |
| 41 | Noah Hanifin | CGY | 36.7 | 238 | 254 | 16 |
| 42 | Owen Power | BUF | 36.4 | 239 | 248 | 9 |
| 43 | Seth Jones | CHI | 36.0 | 242 | 235 | -7 |
| 44 | Juuso Valimaki | ARI | 34.9 | 247 | 294 | 47 |
| 45 | K’Andre Miller | NYR | 34.1 | 254 | 215 | -39 |
| 46 | Ivan Provorov | PHI | 31.8 | 259 | 266 | 7 |
| 47 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 31.8 | 260 | 226 | -34 |
| 48 | Adam Boqvist | CBJ | 31.0 | 266 | 276 | 10 |
| 49 | Jamie Drysdale | ANA | 30.5 | 269 | 255 | -14 |
| 50 | John Klingberg | MIN | 29.5 | 272 | 292 | 20 |
| 51 | Justin Faulk | STL | 28.6 | 275 | 232 | -43 |
| 52 | Neal Pionk | WPG | 27.9 | 279 | 293 | 14 |
| 53 | Rasmus Sandin | WAS | 27.7 | 281 | 316 | 35 |
| 54 | Jacob Trouba | NYR | 27.7 | 282 | 325 | 43 |
| 55 | Damon Severson | NJD | 26.7 | 287 | 336 | 49 |
| 56 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 25.6 | 294 | 352 | 58 |
| 57 | Ty Smith | PIT | 24.9 | 302 | 312 | 10 |
| 58 | David Jiricek | CBJ | 22.0 | 318 | 289 | -29 |
| 59 | Scott Perunovich | STL | 21.6 | 320 | 318 | -2 |
| 60 | Cam York | PHI | 19.7 | 333 | 440 | 107 |
| 61 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 19.5 | 334 | 307 | -27 |
| 62 | Cam Fowler | ANA | 19.2 | 338 | 291 | -47 |
| 63 | Pierre-Olivier Joseph | PIT | 18.1 | 344 | 403 | 59 |
| 64 | Nils Lundkvist | DAL | 17.7 | 351 | 369 | 18 |
| 65 | Kaiden Guhle | MON | 17.5 | 354 | 370 | 16 |
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 | Victor Soderstrom | ARI | |
| Janis Moser | ARI | Matt Grzelcyk | BOS | |
| Dmitry Orlov | BOS | Henri Jokiharju | BUF | |
| Brady Skjei | CAR | Jacob Bryson | BUF | |
| Mackenzie Weegar | CGY | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | |
| Mattias Ekholm | EDM | Jared Spurgeon | MIN | |
| Vladislav Gavrikov | LAK | Brandt Clarke | LAK | |
| Jordan Spence | LAK | Luke Hughes | NJD | |
| Mike Matheson | MON | Ryan Graves | NJD | |
| Jake Sanderson | OTT | Dante Fabbro | NSH | |
| Erik Brannstrom | OTT | Alexander Romanov | NYI | |
| Torey Krug | STL | Jack Rathbone | VAN | |
| Erik Gustafsson | TOR |
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
| Brett Pesce | CAR | Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | |
| Jake Bean | CBJ | Scott Morrow | CAR | |
| Josh Mahura | FLA | Nick Blankenburg | CBJ | |
| Sean Walker | LAK | Denton Mateychuk | CBJ | |
| Matt Roy | LAK | Ian Mitchell | CHI | |
| Robin Salo | NYI | Thomas Harley | DAL | |
| Ryan Pulock | NYI | Simon Edvinsson | DET | |
| Zac Jones | NYR | Philip Broberg | EDM | |
| Braden Schneider | NYR | Mattias Norlinder | MON | |
| Travis Sanheim | PHI | Justin Barron | MON | |
| Nicolas Hague | VGK | Yegor Zamula | PHI | |
| Justin Schultz | SEA | Colton Parayko | STL | |
| Timothy Liljegren | TOR | Nick Perbix | TBL | |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | VAN | Travis Dermott | VAN | |
| Ville Heinola | WPG |
Related Posts
Starting Goalies
Top Skater Views
| Players | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| RYAN LEONARD |
 WSH | |
| NAZEM KADRI |
 COL | |
| OWEN TIPPETT |
 PHI | |
| ROOPE HINTZ |
 DAL | |
| ALEX LAFERRIERE |
 L.A
| |
Top Goalie Profile Views
| Players | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| JAKUB DOBES |
 MTL | |
| JET GREAVES |
 CBJ | |
| KAREL VEJMELKA |
 UTA | |
| LINUS ULLMARK |
 OTT | |
| JESPER WALLSTEDT |
 MIN
| |
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
MIN Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 20.7 | MATS ZUCCARELLO KIRILL KAPRIZOV RYAN HARTMAN | |
| 19.9 | MICHAEL MCCARRON MARCUS JOHANSSON MATT BOLDY | |
| 12.9 | DANILA YUROV YAKOV TRENIN VLADIMIR TARASENKO | |
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