Top 120 Keeper League Defensemen – December 2023
Dobber
2023-12-03
Here are the top 120 rearguards to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – December edition!
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Those looking for November’s Top 100 Keeper League Goaltenders, they were posted on Goalie Post last week. Visit Goalie Post now and take a look. Better yet, get the free APP!
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 | Dec | Nov | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 206.0 | 10 | 20 | 10 |
| 2 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 170.4 | 20 | 41 | 21 |
| 3 | Adam Fox | NYR | 138.4 | 35 | 39 | 4 |
| 4 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 136.9 | 36 | 34 | -2 |
| 5 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 127.6 | 42 | 73 | 31 |
| 6 | Erik Karlsson | PIT | 123.6 | 45 | 38 | -7 |
| 7 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 111.9 | 55 | 61 | 6 |
| 8 | Roman Josi | NSH | 110.4 | 59 | 50 | -9 |
| 9 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 109.6 | 61 | 97 | 36 |
| 10 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 99.4 | 75 | 78 | 3 |
| 11 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 94.7 | 83 | 62 | -21 |
| 12 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 91.4 | 92 | 88 | -4 |
| 13 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 90.4 | 95 | 114 | 19 |
| 14 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 89.2 | 97 | 198 | 101 |
| 15 | Moritz Seider | DET | 88.6 | 98 | 115 | 17 |
| 16 | Noah Dobson | NYI | 86.7 | 101 | 127 | 26 |
| 17 | Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | 84.5 | 105 | 79 | -26 |
| 18 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 81.8 | 112 | 144 | 32 |
| 19 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 78.2 | 119 | 124 | 5 |
| 20 | Devon Toews | COL | 74.8 | 125 | 111 | -14 |
| 21 | Brandon Montour | FLA | 73.6 | 129 | 84 | -45 |
| 22 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 71.6 | 135 | 139 | 4 |
| 23 | John Carlson | WAS | 71.0 | 137 | 119 | -18 |
| 24 | Jakob Chychrun | OTT | 67.9 | 144 | 172 | 28 |
| 25 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 63.1 | 153 | 155 | 2 |
| 26 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 59.5 | 159 | 123 | -36 |
| 27 | Shayne Gostisbehere | DET | 57.7 | 162 | 244 | 82 |
| 28 | Luke Hughes | NJD | 55.9 | 169 | 206 | 37 |
| 29 | Tony DeAngelo | CAR | 55.1 | 171 | 159 | -12 |
| 30 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 53.5 | 178 | 154 | -24 |
| 31 | Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | 51.6 | 180 | 249 | 69 |
| 32 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 48.7 | 183 | 185 | 2 |
| 33 | Jake Sanderson | OTT | 46.4 | 189 | 337 | 148 |
| 34 | Seth Jones | CHI | 43.7 | 203 | 184 | -19 |
| 35 | Bowen Byram | COL | 41.8 | 206 | 216 | 10 |
| 36 | Calen Addison | SJS | 41.1 | 210 | 183 | -27 |
| 37 | Kris Letang | PIT | 40.9 | 213 | 204 | -9 |
| 38 | Owen Power | BUF | 40.3 | 216 | 226 | 10 |
| 39 | Mike Matheson | MON | 39.1 | 220 | 360 | 140 |
| 40 | Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | 39.0 | 222 | 205 | -17 |
| 41 | Sean Durzi | ARI | 38.0 | 228 | 248 | 20 |
| 42 | Jamie Drysdale | ANA | 35.6 | 234 | 241 | 7 |
| 43 | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | 35.4 | 235 | 279 | 44 |
| 44 | Brent Burns | CAR | 35.0 | 238 | 180 | -58 |
| 45 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 34.3 | 241 | 230 | -11 |
| 46 | Noah Hanifin | CGY | 31.4 | 249 | 257 | 8 |
| 47 | Ivan Provorov | CBJ | 31.4 | 250 | 308 | 58 |
| 48 | Brandt Clarke | LAK | 31.1 | 251 | 260 | 9 |
| 49 | Kevin Korchinski | CHI | 30.8 | 254 | 269 | 15 |
| 50 | David Jiricek | CBJ | 30.2 | 258 | 267 | 9 |
| 51 | Erik Gustafsson | NYR | 29.4 | 265 | 469 | 204 |
| 52 | Cam Fowler | ANA | 29.4 | 266 | 263 | -3 |
| 53 | Brady Skjei | CAR | 29.1 | 268 | 396 | 128 |
| 54 | K’Andre Miller | NYR | 28.9 | 269 | 235 | -34 |
| 55 | Juuso Valimaki | ARI | 28.7 | 271 | 259 | -12 |
| 56 | Rasmus Sandin | WAS | 27.8 | 275 | 232 | -43 |
| 57 | Adam Boqvist | CBJ | 26.7 | 282 | 288 | 6 |
| 58 | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | 26.0 | 291 | 296 | 5 |
| 59 | Tyson Barrie | NSH | 25.2 | 298 | 273 | -25 |
| 60 | Denton Mateychuk | CBJ | 24.3 | 302 | 306 | 4 |
| 61 | Jordan Spence | LAK | 23.6 | 312 | 413 | 101 |
| 62 | Lane Hutson | MON | 22.5 | 318 | 318 | 0 |
| 63 | Samuel Girard | COL | 22.0 | 322 | 246 | -76 |
| 64 | John Klingberg | TOR | 21.6 | 325 | 210 | -115 |
| 65 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 21.5 | 326 | 256 | -70 |
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 | J.J. Moser | ARI | |
| Mackenzie Weegar | CGY | Hampus Lindholm | BOS | |
| Nils Lundkvist | DAL | Henri Jokiharju | BUF | |
| Mattias Ekholm | EDM | Damon Severson | CBJ | |
| Kaiden Guhle | MON | Simon Edvinsson | DET | |
| Simon Nemec | NJD | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | FLA | |
| Jacob Trouba | NYR | Mikey Anderson | LAK | |
| Travis Sanheim | PHI | Vladislav Gavrikov | LAK | |
| Cam York | PHI | John Marino | NJD | |
| Ty Smith | PIT | Alexander Romanov | NYI | |
| Justin Faulk | STL | Erik Brannstrom | OTT | |
| Scott Perunovich | STL | Pierre-Olivier Joseph | PIT | |
| Neal Pionk | WPG |
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
| Thomas Harley | DAL | Jackson Lacombe | ANA | |
| Justin Barron | MON | Dmitri Simashev | ARI | |
| Dante Fabbro | NSH | Ian Mitchell | BOS | |
| Alexandre Carrier | NSH | Scott Morrow | CAR | |
| Zac Jones | NYR | Dmitry Orlov | CAR | |
| Braden Schneider | NYR | Jake Bean | CBJ | |
| Emil Andrae | PHI | Axel Sandin Pellikka | DET | |
| Ryker Evans | SEA | Philip Broberg | EDM | |
| Justin Schultz | SEA | Jonas Brodin | MIN | |
| Henry Thrun | SJS | Jared Spurgeon | MIN | |
| Torey Krug | STL | Carson Lambos | MIN | |
| Timothy Liljegren | TOR | Brock Faber | MIN | |
| Lukas Cormier | VGK | Egor Zamula | PHI | |
| Nicolas Hague | VGK | Nick Perbix | TBL | |
| Ville Heinola | WPG | Conor Timmins | TOR |
Related Posts
Starting Goalies
Top Skater Views
| Players | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| RYAN LEONARD |
 WSH | |
| NAZEM KADRI |
 COL | |
| OWEN TIPPETT |
 PHI | |
| ROOPE HINTZ |
 DAL | |
| JOSH DOAN |
 BUF
| |
Top Goalie Profile Views
| Players | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| JAKUB DOBES |
 MTL | |
| JET GREAVES |
 CBJ | |
| KAREL VEJMELKA |
 UTA | |
| LINUS ULLMARK |
 OTT | |
| JESPER WALLSTEDT |
 MIN
| |
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
 NSH Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 22.3 | STEVEN STAMKOS RYAN O'REILLY COLE O'HARA | |
| 19.9 | MATTHEW WOOD FILIP FORSBERG LUKE EVANGELISTA | |
| 16.6 | OZZY WIESBLATT REID SCHAEFER TYSON JOST | |
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