Top 120 Keeper League Defensemen – September 2023
Dobber
2023-09-03
Here are the top 120 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – September 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. These rankings reflect upcoming free agency.
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.
This month – Not much has changed. Just UFA signings of note that changed the projections for the coming year.
| Def Rk | Player | Team | Rating | Sep | Aug | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 162.6 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 2 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 141.1 | 34 | 34 | 0 |
| 3 | Erik Karlsson | SJS | 133.7 | 38 | 38 | 0 |
| 4 | Adam Fox | NYR | 131.4 | 39 | 39 | 0 |
| 5 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 129.5 | 41 | 41 | 0 |
| 6 | Roman Josi | NSH | 120.1 | 50 | 50 | 0 |
| 7 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 111.9 | 62 | 62 | 0 |
| 8 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 111.2 | 64 | 64 | 0 |
| 9 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 105.2 | 73 | 73 | 0 |
| 10 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 98.1 | 78 | 78 | 0 |
| 11 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 96.8 | 79 | 79 | 0 |
| 12 | Brandon Montour | FLA | 94.5 | 81 | 81 | 0 |
| 13 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 91.4 | 88 | 88 | 0 |
| 14 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 86.0 | 97 | 97 | 0 |
| 15 | Devon Toews | COL | 78.8 | 111 | 111 | 0 |
| 16 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 77.8 | 113 | 113 | 0 |
| 17 | Moritz Seider | DET | 76.8 | 115 | 115 | 0 |
| 18 | John Carlson | WAS | 76.0 | 117 | 117 | 0 |
| 19 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 74.1 | 124 | 124 | 0 |
| 20 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 74.1 | 125 | 125 | 0 |
| 21 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 71.5 | 127 | 127 | 0 |
| 22 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 67.6 | 138 | 137 | -1 |
| 23 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 66.0 | 143 | 142 | -1 |
| 24 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 63.8 | 153 | 152 | -1 |
| 25 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 63.1 | 154 | 153 | -1 |
| 26 | Tony DeAngelo | CAR | 62.7 | 156 | 155 | -1 |
| 27 | Jakob Chychrun | OTT | 57.3 | 169 | 168 | -1 |
| 28 | Brent Burns | CAR | 54.6 | 179 | 178 | -1 |
| 29 | Calen Addison | MIN | 54.0 | 182 | 181 | -1 |
| 30 | Seth Jones | CHI | 53.0 | 185 | 184 | -1 |
| 31 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 52.7 | 186 | 185 | -1 |
| 32 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 47.6 | 199 | 198 | -1 |
| 33 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 45.5 | 204 | 203 | -1 |
| 34 | Luke Hughes | NJD | 45.5 | 205 | 204 | -1 |
| 35 | Kris Letang | PIT | 44.8 | 207 | 206 | -1 |
| 36 | John Klingberg | TOR | 43.8 | 211 | 210 | -1 |
| 37 | Bowen Byram | COL | 41.8 | 216 | 215 | -1 |
| 38 | Owen Power | BUF | 39.0 | 223 | 222 | -1 |
| 39 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 38.2 | 226 | 226 | 0 |
| 40 | Rasmus Sandin | WAS | 37.8 | 229 | 229 | 0 |
| 41 | K’Andre Miller | NYR | 36.2 | 235 | 235 | 0 |
| 42 | Jamie Drysdale | ANA | 34.4 | 241 | 241 | 0 |
| 43 | Damon Severson | CBJ | 34.2 | 244 | 244 | 0 |
| 44 | Samuel Girard | COL | 33.8 | 245 | 245 | 0 |
| 45 | Shayne Gostisbehere | DET | 33.5 | 246 | 246 | 0 |
| 46 | Ty Smith | PIT | 33.0 | 247 | 247 | 0 |
| 47 | Sean Durzi | ARI | 32.8 | 250 | 250 | 0 |
| 48 | Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | 32.2 | 251 | 251 | 0 |
| 49 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 31.5 | 256 | 256 | 0 |
| 50 | Noah Hanifin | CGY | 31.4 | 257 | 257 | 0 |
| 51 | Juuso Valimaki | ARI | 31.3 | 258 | 258 | 0 |
| 52 | Brandt Clarke | LAK | 31.1 | 259 | 259 | 0 |
| 53 | Kevin Korchinski | CHI | 29.8 | 265 | 265 | 0 |
| 54 | Cam Fowler | ANA | 29.8 | 266 | 266 | 0 |
| 55 | Tyson Barrie | NSH | 29.0 | 271 | 271 | 0 |
| 56 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 27.6 | 277 | 277 | 0 |
| 57 | Justin Faulk | STL | 26.4 | 288 | 288 | 0 |
| 58 | Adam Boqvist | CBJ | 26.2 | 273 | 273 | 0 |
| 59 | Hampus Lindholm | BOS | 26.2 | 293 | 293 | 0 |
| 60 | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | 26.0 | 294 | 294 | 0 |
| 61 | David Jiricek | CBJ | 25.2 | 298 | 298 | 0 |
| 62 | Ivan Provorov | CBJ | 24.0 | 270 | 270 | 0 |
| 63 | Lane Hutson | MON | 22.5 | 317 | 317 | 0 |
| 64 | Denton Mateychuk | CBJ | 21.3 | 322 | 322 | 0 |
| 65 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 21.2 | 323 | 323 | 0 |
The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)
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 | CGY | Jackson Lacombe | ANA | |
| Thomas Harley | DAL | Victor Soderstrom | ARI | |
| Josh Mahura | FLA | Matt Dumba | ARI | |
| Justin Barron | MON | Ian Mitchell | BOS | |
| Dante Fabbro | NSH | Matt Grzelcyk | BOS | |
| Zac Jones | NYR | Mattias Samuelsson | BUF | |
| Braden Schneider | NYR | Scott Morrow | CAR | |
| Erik Gustafsson | NYR | Jake Bean | CBJ | |
| Justin Schultz | SEA | Nick Blankenburg | CBJ | |
| Henry Thrun | SJS | Corson Ceulemans | CBJ | |
| Timothy Liljegren | TOR | Philip Broberg | EDM | |
| Jack Rathbone | VAN | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | FLA | |
| Lukas Cormier | VGK | Jonas Brodin | MIN | |
| Nicolas Hague | VGK | Egor Zamula | PHI | |
| Ville Heinola | WPG | Nick Perbix | TBL |
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|---|---|---|
| TIM STUTZLE |
 OTT | |
| MAXIM TSYPLAKOV |
 NYI | |
| SEAN MONAHAN |
 CBJ | |
| JESPER BRATT |
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| TREVOR ZEGRAS |
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| |
Top Goalie Profile Views
BOS
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WPG
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| Frequency |
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| |
|---|---|---|
| 23.3 | ALEX KILLORN CUTTER GAUTHIER LEO CARLSSON | |
| 20.2 | TROY TERRY ISAC LUNDESTROM SAM COLANGELO | |
| 16.7 | TREVOR ZEGRAS FRANK VATRANO RYAN STROME | |
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