Here are the top defensemen to own in your points-only dynasty leagues – September edition!

Celebrating the 24th – 24! – year of these monthly rankings. That’s right, this pre-dates DobberHockey, and goes back to my days with The Hockey News. Think about it – that works out to 264 sets of rankings! I was even putting out rankings during lockouts!

As reliable as it gets, you can count on updated dynasty rankings here each and every month. Because fantasy hockey values are ever shifting, and even in the summer there are changes even if we did them every week!

Not much has happened over the past month. A few tweaks, but not a lot of movement as we approach NHL training camps. Needless to say–the October version of these player rankings will see massive changes.

Before we get to it, though – my 21st annual Fantasy Hockey Guide is on sale now and fully updated! Analytics, line combos, injury notes, observations, advice and a draft list. Pick it up here. Pick up the Keeper League pack here (includes the Prospects Report). Or subscribe here, so you can grab them as soon as they’re released each year. My Top 50 Calder picks are now in!

As always, players ranked between +/-5.0 ratings points should be considered equal value and at that point become a matter of team needs or personal bias. (Note: I did not add the usual biggest risers/fallers charts because there weren’t enough players to really justify it)

Click any player name to be taken to his customized fantasy player profile page to see who his best linemates were, how often they played with them, his ice time trends and even compare him to other players with a quick click. BOOKMARK IT!

Def Rk	Player	Team	Rating	Sep	Aug	Change
1	Cale Makar	COL	178.2	15	15	0
2	Quinn Hughes	MIN	169.1	20	20	0
3	Evan Bouchard	EDM	165.5	22	22	0
4	Lane Hutson	MON	149.7	35	35	0
5	Rasmus Dahlin	BUF	141.4	40	40	0
6	Zach Werenski	CBJ	140.5	41	41	0
7	Adam Fox	NYR	109.9	64	64	0
8	Matthew Schaefer	NYI	96.0	78	78	0
9	Josh Morrissey	WPG	91.3	82	82	0
10	Mikhail Sergachev	UTA	90.4	84	84	0
11	Miro Heiskanen	DAL	87.0	88	88	0
12	Jake Sanderson	OTT	86.9	89	89	0
13	Shea Theodore	VGK	86.5	91	91	0
14	Moritz Seider	DET	81.0	102	102	0
15	John Carlson	TBL	78.5	105	105	0
16	Noah Dobson	MON	76.9	106	106	0
17	Darren Raddysh	TOR	74.9	113	113	0
18	Jakob Chychrun	WAS	74.1	116	116	0
19	Charlie McAvoy	BOS	71.8	121	121	0
20	Jackson Lacombe	ANA	71.7	123	123	0
21	Bowen Byram	CHI	70.5	128	127	-1
22	Cole Hutson	WAS	69.6	131	130	-1
23	Erik Karlsson	PIT	68.0	134	136	2
24	Luke Hughes	NJD	61.9	153	153	0
25	Shayne Gostisbehere	CAR	61.3	154	154	0
26	Thomas Harley	DAL	59.7	157	157	0
27	Simon Nemec	CGY	59.1	158	158	0
28	Brandt Clarke	LAK	58.2	160	161	1
29	Vince Dunn	SEA	55.5	164	165	1
30	Zayne Parekh	CGY	52.9	171	172	1
31	Filip Hronek	VAN	51.8	175	176	1
32	Roman Josi	NSH	50.4	178	179	1
33	Brock Faber	MIN	48.8	183	185	2
34	Victor Hedman	TBL	47.7	187	189	2
35	Artyom Levshunov	CHI	47.0	189	190	1
36	Jamie Drysdale	PHI	41.7	207	207	0
37	Axel Sandin-Pellikka	DET	41.0	213	213	0
38	Owen Power	BUF	40.0	216	215	-1
39	Alexander Nikishin	CAR	39.6	218	217	-1
40	Denton Mateychuk	CBJ	36.6	225	224	-1
41	Zeev Buium	VAN	34.7	232	231	-1
42	Rasmus Andersson	VGK	33.6	235	234	-1
43	Chase Reid	SEA	30.7	243	228	-15
44	Carter Yakemchuk	OTT	30.6	244	242	-2
45	Sam Dickinson	SJS	26.6	260	259	-1
46	Noah Hanifin	VGK	26.6	262	261	-1
47	Jackson Smith	CBJ	24.8	277	276	-1
48	K’Andre Miller	CAR	23.8	283	282	-1
49	Jordan Spence	OTT	22.4	291	290	-1
50	Dougie Hamilton	NJD	21.6	298	296	-2
51	Pavel Mintyukov	ANA	20.4	309	306	-3
52	Mike Matheson	MON	19.8	313	310	-3
53	Seth Jones	FLA	18.7	317	314	-3
54	Xavier Villeneuve	CHI	18.4	320	317	-3
55	Thomas Chabot	OTT	17.5	327	325	-2
56	Philip Broberg	STL	17.3	328	326	-2
57	Mattias Samuelsson	BUF	16.8	337	335	-2
58	Olen Zellweger	BUF	16.7	341	339	-2
59	Sam Malinski	COL	16.0	351	349	-2
60	Ryan Ufko	NSH	15.8	353	351	-2
61	Travis Sanheim	PHI	14.1	376	376	0
62	Sean Durzi	NYR	14.0	378	378	0
63	Logan Mailloux	STL	13.8	383	401	18
64	Carson Carels	CGY	12.6	396	394	-2
65	Simon Edvinsson	DET	12.2	403	402	-1

The Next Group (gap between 66 and 90 is same as gap between 17 and 20 – i.e. they are pretty equal)

Ivan Provorov	CBJ	Wyatt Kaiser	CHI
Devon Toews	COL	Tony DeAngelo	NYI
Jake Walman	EDM	Alexander Romanov	NYI
Kaiden Guhle	MON	Cam York	PHI
Seamus Casey	NJD	Tyson Jugnauth	SEA
Alberts Smits	NYR	Keaton Verhoeff	SJS
Scott Morrow	NYR	Darnell Nurse	SJS
Brandon Montour	SEA	Michael Kesselring	SJS
Ryker Evans	SEA	J.J. Moser	TBL
Emil Andrae	TOR	Charle-Edouard D’Astous	TBL
Mackenzie Weegar	UTA	Dmitri Simashev	UTA
Tom Willander	VAN	Elias Salomonsson	WPG
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	Radim Mrtka	BUF
Mason Lohrei	BOS	Nils Lundkvist	DAL
Hunter Brzustewicz	CGY	Justin Faulk	DET
Henry Mews	CGY	Adam Engstrom	MON
Sam Rinzel	CHI	Cameron Reid	NSH
Kevin Korchinski	CHI	Tanner Molendyk	NSH
Mattias Ekholm	EDM	Marshall Warren	NYI
Aaron Ekblad	FLA	David Jiricek	PHI
Gustav Forsling	FLA	Ty Nelson	SEA
Bryce Pickford	MON	Lukas Dragicevic	SEA
Thomas Bleyl	NSH	Leo Sahlin Wallenius	SJS
Kashawn Aitcheson	NYI	Adam Jiricek	STL
Eric Pohlkamp	SJS	Cam Fowler	STL
Luca Cagnoni	SJS	Morgan Rielly	TOR
Lukas Cormier	VGK	Alfons Freij	WPG