Top 120 Keeper League Defensemen – October 2025
Dobber
2025-10-04
Here are the top 120 defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – October edition!
But first, OUT NOW and UPDATED today: The 20th edition – Dobber’s Fantasy Hockey Guide! Buy it on its own here, or package it with the Prospects Report here.
As always, players between +/- 5.0 rating points should be considered equal and at that point become a matter of personal preference (upside, certainty, depth chart, injury risk, team, etc.)
Click any player name to be taken to his fantasy profile page over at Frozen Tools, customized for you to make the best evaluations of players to suit your league settings.
| Def. Rk | Player | Team | Rating | Oct | Sep | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | 180.9 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| 2 | Quinn Hughes | VAN | 159.4 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 3 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | 135.9 | 33 | 33 | 0 |
| 4 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | 128.1 | 39 | 41 | 2 |
| 5 | Adam Fox | NYR | 120.3 | 44 | 46 | 2 |
| 6 | Lane Hutson | MON | 109.4 | 60 | 61 | 1 |
| 7 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | 103.7 | 64 | 65 | 1 |
| 8 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | 101.4 | 67 | 68 | 1 |
| 9 | Noah Dobson | MON | 99.1 | 68 | 69 | 1 |
| 10 | Victor Hedman | TBL | 93.4 | 73 | 73 | 0 |
| 11 | Shea Theodore | VGK | 81.2 | 93 | 94 | 1 |
| 12 | Jake Sanderson | OTT | 81.0 | 96 | 97 | 1 |
| 13 | Moritz Seider | DET | 78.9 | 102 | 104 | 2 |
| 14 | Mikhail Sergachev | UTA | 76.7 | 104 | 106 | 2 |
| 15 | Thomas Harley | DAL | 76.0 | 107 | 109 | 2 |
| 16 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | 72.1 | 113 | 114 | 1 |
| 17 | Luke Hughes | NJD | 69.7 | 119 | 120 | 1 |
| 18 | Roman Josi | NSH | 61.6 | 134 | 135 | 1 |
| 19 | Jakob Chychrun | WAS | 60.5 | 138 | 139 | 1 |
| 20 | Erik Karlsson | PIT | 57.9 | 144 | 144 | 0 |
| 21 | Vince Dunn | SEA | 56.1 | 152 | 152 | 0 |
| 22 | Shayne Gostisbehere | CAR | 53.4 | 157 | 158 | 1 |
| 23 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | 52.8 | 159 | 159 | 0 |
| 24 | Brandt Clarke | LAK | 52.3 | 161 | 161 | 0 |
| 25 | Zayne Parekh | CGY | 51.6 | 164 | 163 | -1 |
| 26 | John Carlson | WAS | 50.3 | 169 | 169 | 0 |
| 27 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | 47.5 | 175 | 177 | 2 |
| 28 | Jackson Lacombe | ANA | 46.5 | 180 | 197 | 17 |
| 29 | Zeev Buium | MIN | 45.2 | 189 | 189 | 0 |
| 30 | Filip Hronek | VAN | 44.3 | 193 | 193 | 0 |
| 31 | Bowen Byram | BUF | 42.7 | 197 | 198 | 1 |
| 32 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | 42.4 | 198 | 199 | 1 |
| 33 | Noah Hanifin | VGK | 42.3 | 199 | 200 | 1 |
| 34 | Devon Toews | COL | 41.2 | 201 | 201 | 0 |
| 35 | Owen Power | BUF | 40.2 | 204 | 205 | 1 |
| 36 | Brandon Montour | SEA | 38.2 | 210 | 211 | 1 |
| 37 | Simon Nemec | NJD | 37.6 | 211 | 212 | 1 |
| 38 | Matthew Schaefer | NYI | 35.7 | 216 | 217 | 1 |
| 39 | Morgan Rielly | TOR | 35.0 | 220 | 222 | 2 |
| 40 | Artyom Levshunov | CHI | 34.8 | 221 | 219 | -2 |
| 41 | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | 34.8 | 224 | 231 | 7 |
| 42 | Axel Sandin Pellikka | DET | 33.8 | 227 | 227 | 0 |
| 43 | Mackenzie Weegar | CGY | 33.8 | 228 | 228 | 0 |
| 44 | Seth Jones | FLA | 33.7 | 230 | 230 | 0 |
| 45 | Cam Fowler | STL | 30.2 | 243 | 245 | 2 |
| 46 | Jamie Drysdale | PHI | 30.2 | 244 | 246 | 2 |
| 47 | Denton Mateychuk | CBJ | 29.9 | 245 | 247 | 2 |
| 48 | Sean Durzi | UTA | 29.7 | 246 | 248 | 2 |
| 49 | Brock Faber | MIN | 27.4 | 252 | 254 | 2 |
| 50 | Drew Doughty | LAK | 25.8 | 260 | 261 | 1 |
| 51 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA | 24.6 | 267 | 267 | 0 |
| 52 | Gustav Forsling | FLA | 24.4 | 268 | 269 | 1 |
| 53 | Rasmus Andersson | CGY | 23.3 | 275 | 275 | 0 |
| 54 | Neal Pionk | WPG | 22.7 | 280 | 279 | -1 |
| 55 | Simon Edvinsson | DET | 22.4 | 286 | 285 | -1 |
| 56 | Cole Hutson | WAS | 22.1 | 290 | 289 | -1 |
| 57 | Jake Walman | EDM | 22.1 | 291 | 290 | -1 |
| 58 | K’Andre Miller | CAR | 20.8 | 301 | 301 | 0 |
| 59 | Tony DeAngelo | NYI | 19.6 | 313 | 315 | 2 |
| 60 | Jordan Spence | OTT | 19.6 | 314 | 310 | -4 |
| 61 | Michael Kesselring | BUF | 18.4 | 329 | 329 | 0 |
| 62 | Ivan Provorov | CBJ | 18.1 | 332 | 332 | 0 |
| 63 | Mike Matheson | MON | 17.5 | 336 | 337 | 1 |
| 64 | Darnell Nurse | EDM | 17.3 | 342 | 341 | -1 |
| 65 | Travis Sanheim | PHI | 17.0 | 348 | 347 | -1 |
The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)
| Pavel Mintyukov | ANA | Olen Zellweger | ANA | |
| Mason Lohrei | BOS | Jaccob Slavin | CAR | |
| Sam Rinzel | CHI | Dante Fabbro | CBJ | |
| Kevin Korchinski | CHI | Nils Lundkvist | DAL | |
| Mattias Ekholm | EDM | Seamus Casey | NJD | |
| David Jiricek | MIN | Scott Morrow | NYR | |
| Kaiden Guhle | MON | Ryker Evans | SEA | |
| Tanner Molendyk | NSH | Luca Cagnoni | SJS | |
| Carter Yakemchuk | OTT | Sam Dickinson | SJS | |
| Philip Broberg | STL | Timothy Liljegren | SJS | |
| Logan Mailloux | STL | Colton Parayko | STL | |
| Darren Raddysh | TBL | Lukas Cormier | VGK | |
| Rasmus Sandin | WAS |
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
| Tristan Luneau | ANA | Hampus Lindholm | BOS | |
| Alex Vlasic | CHI | Radim Mrtka | BUF | |
| Samuel Girard | COL | Conor Timmins | BUF | |
| Mikey Anderson | LAK | Damon Severson | CBJ | |
| Alexandre Carrier | MON | Hunter Brzustewicz | CGY | |
| Brady Skjei | NSH | Erik Gustafsson | DET | |
| Justin Barron | NSH | Anton Silayev | NJD | |
| Alexander Romanov | NYI | Nicolas Hague | NSH | |
| Braden Schneider | NYR | Nick Perbix | NSH | |
| Emil Andrae | PHI | Vladislav Gavrikov | NYR | |
| Cam York | PHI | Shakir Mukhamadullin | SJS | |
| Owen Pickering | PIT | Henry Thrun | TOR | |
| Justin Faulk | STL | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | TOR | |
| J.J. Moser | TBL | Dmitri Simashev | UTA | |
| Elias Salomonsson | WPG | Maveric Lamoureux | UTA |
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 |
 FLA Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 22.5 | MATTHEW TKACHUK COLE REINHARDT LUKE KUNIN | |
| 20.7 | WILMER SKOOG EETU LUOSTARINEN VINNIE HINOSTROZA | |
| 19.5 | A.J. GREER NOLAN FOOTE JESPER BOQVIST | |
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