It was reported by Elliotte Friedman that the Anaheim Ducks and winger Chris Kreider have reached an agreement for him to be put on waivers and have his contract terminated. In effect, this would make Kreider a free agent and hopefully give the Ducks the cap space necessary to sign Cutter Gauthier.

We will have to see where Kreider lands, but this helps clear up Anaheim's power play situation a bit. Troy Terry won't return until well into the season, so the potential PP forwards are down to Gauthier, Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke, and Mikael Granlund. There is the potential for someone like Alex Killorn or Frank Vatrano to make an appearance, but until Terry returns it seems likely those four names are the four options for the top PP unit. It is good news for both Gauthier and Sennecke.

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In Tuesday's Ramblings, I discussed some forwards my personal projections have as good fantasy value targets based on ADP data from Fantrax. Today, we'll keep looking for deep targets but instead focus on defencemen. For a cutoff, we'll consider only defencemen whose ADP falls outside the top 60 blue liners, which would mean they aren't rostered in most 12-team leagues.

As a reminder, my projections are based on players skating 84 games, and they are based on the replacement level value for their position. 'Replacement level' is determined to be roughly the value of each stat of the 60^th overall fantasy defenceman last season, or the top of the waiver pile in a 12-team league.

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Be sure to grab a copy of Dobber's 2026-27 Fantasy Hockey Guide, which is available now in the Dobber Shop! It has team-by-team outlooks, a customizable draft list including projections, a breakdown of the new schedule, players to target for peripheral stats, sleeper picks in each conference, and a whole lot more. It is also updated until the start of the regular season to reflect new signings, trades, injuries, or anything else. Support what we do year-round and get a headstart on your league mates by ordering the 2026-27 Fantasy Guide in the Dobber Shop!

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The stats used are goals, assists, shots, blocks, hits, and power-play points. Data for the projections comes from Evolving Hockey, Natural Stat Trick, All Three Zones, and Frozen Tools.

In the following graphs, the red lines represent the cut-off mark needed for a player to qualify by their fantasy value and by their Fantrax ADP. The yellow dots are the defencemen who qualify, and the blue dots are those that don't. While we are using ADP data for comparison purposes, we will use 'Fantrax Rank' to determine where each defenceman ranks among all blue liners by their ADP. So, Cale Makar would have a Fantrax Rank of 1, Zach Werenski has a Fantrax Rank of 2, and so on.

Neal Pionk (Winnipeg Jets)

My Rank: 31

Fantrax ADP: 63

Last season, Pionk played just 51 games. If we pro-rate what he did on a per-game basis to a 75-game season, he lands inside the top 35 blue liners. If he plays 80 games, he lands inside the top 30. That kind of production is what leads to him being at the top of our list for overall fantasy value among deeper targets:

A huge reason for Pionk's value isn't just that he can contribute across the board, it's that his hit volume has stayed fairly consistent; his rate of hits per 60 minutes last season was down less than 8% from the prior two seasons. Comparatively, the league rate of hits from defencemen has dropped more than double the rate of Pionk. Being able to produce so many hits when the rest of the league is falling helps Pionk's value tremendously, and that he can provide 30 points, 140 shots, and triple-digit blocks rounds out his profile well.  

Jake McCabe (Toronto Maple Leafs)

My Rank: 41

Fantrax Rank: 82

In this kind of format last year, McCabe finished as the 51^st overall defenceman, landing higher than names like Morgan Rielly, Travis Sanheim, K'Andre Miller, Bowen Byram, and Colton Parayko. Knowing that, it makes sense that he projects well this season, and presents one of the better multi-cat draft values:

The curious thing is that when I looked at his projection, it really wasn't all that different from last season: Roughly the same number of points, about 15 fewer blocks, about 20 more hits, but with a modest shot-on-goal increase. That last part worries me – the assumption is the Leafs will improve offensively and that improvement will raise McCabe's shot volume – but even if he just posts the same SOG rate as last season, he's still a fringe top 50 defenceman and a very good draft option.

A big note is the block volume. With block rates dropping across the league, McCabe setting a career-high mark of 190 blocks last season was a huge part of his value. My projections assume that number will drop about 10%, but if it drops closer to 20%, then McCabe drops outside the top 60 blue liners. The nice part is that with his ADP, fantasy mangers won't have to pay a top 60 price, so the juice is worth the squeeze here.

Connor Clifton (Boston Bruins)

My Rank: 50

Fantrax Rank: 121

Out of the gate, the problem with Clifton is his role. As stated earlier, my projections assume 84 games for all players. The Bruins have seven defencemen signed to NHL contracts, and none can be sent to the minors without waivers. Clifton is likely battling Henri Jokiharju for the sixth spot on the blue line, and they will likely flip that position throughout the season.

With that said, Clifton's 84-game outlook is extremely promising:

We have seen what Clifton can do when he plays a full season – from 2022 through 2025, he skated between 73-79 games each season and averaged 118 blocks and 207 hits per season. If he were to play 84 games, my projections have him for about 131 blocks and nearly double the hits. Even if he posts just 20 points, that is a tremendous amount of peripheral volume.

Because of his uncertain role, Clifton is probably not someone I draft in normal 12-team leagues. As good as the peripherals are, it's kind of useless rostering a player who could often be a healthy scratch. However, in deeper fantasy formats where there are a few defencemen on the bench, he is someone to target to help fill out those banger categories.

Kaiden Guhle (Montreal Canadiens)

My Rank: 54

Fantrax Rank: 88

If we have to worry about Clifton staying in the Bruins' lineup, we have to have the same worry for Guhle, only his reason is health rather than scratches. He has missed over one-third of his career NHL games due to injury, so it's just impossible to rely on him to play 70+ games, and the Dobber Fantasy Guide has him slated to play 57 games.

With that said, if Guhle were to play a full season, he would be one of the better draft values among all defencemen:

Guhle lost a lot of ice time last season – nearly 1:45 per game – and with David Reinbacher incoming, there is a chance he loses even more. The concerns about Guhle's fantasy value are numerous, which makes me nervous about drafting him.

If Guhle can manage a full season and still play 19-20 minutes a game, he can very well be a 25-point defenceman who gives 150+ blocks and 150+ hits. Those kinds of guys aren't numerous. In my mind, though, there might be too many red flags to draft him as anything more than a bench option in a 14- or 16-team league.  

Matt Roy (Washington Capitals)

My Rank: 61

Fantrax Rank: 127

There is a lot of excitement around Cole Hutson playing a full season with the Caps, and there should be. He looks like a great talent and he's a player I have with very good fantasy value himself.

The question is how much ice time Hutson earns. Last year, former Caps blue liner John Carlson skated 22:52 per game before being traded. Can Hutson step in and replace those minutes immediately? If he can, he'll be an exceptional fantasy value, but it is a lot to ask of any rookie 20-year-old defenceman. My projections assume Hutson is around 20 minutes a game, which still makes him a good value, but leaves some ice time to fill, especially with the injury to Rasmus Sandin. All of that makes Roy a good draft option:

Roy having such a low Fantrax rank provides a bit of wiggle-room. If I drop Roy's projected ice time by 5%, taking him from a projected 20:48 per game to about 19:48, then he falls to from my 61^st defenceman to my 85^th defenceman. In other words, still a good fantasy value, and a target for deeper multi-cat leagues.

Adam Larsson (Seattle Kraken)

My Rank: 62

Fantrax Rank: 121

Where defencemen saw their block volume decline in 2025-26, Larsson's increased, and put up his highest rate of blocks per 60 minutes in an 82-game season since 2017-18. Even his hit rate had a small rebound after a few years of decline. All that helps, and it's what makes him a very good fantasy value in multi-cat formats:

If there is a concern for Larsson, it's his age. He turns 34 years old in November and has now played over 1000 NHL games. He is at an age where his play can fall off very fast, and there are play-driving rates that show this decline has already started; he did lose about a minute per game of ice time after the Olympic break. He will still be leaned on as a top four defenceman, but improvements from Ryker Evans might hurt Larsson's role, and in turn his fantasy value. The good news is that at such a cheap ADP, Larsson can be easily replaced if his ice time gets slashed.

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Those positive draft options are all players who derive their fantasy value from hits and/or blocks. To offer a bit of variety, I want to quickly touch on a couple players who derive their value from point production and present at least some draft value.

Sean Durzi (New York Rangers)

My Rank: 68

Fantrax Rank: 72

Injuries have been a problem for Durzi recently, missing 22 games last year and 52 games the year before. A move to the Rangers might be a downgrade in team offence, but Durzi lost a lot of ice time in Utah last season, skating 20:26 per game in his first 30 appearances and cratering to 18:05 per game in his next 30 appearances. A second-pair, second PP role in New York should see a modest TOI increase, and a healthy year means a return to the 30-point plateau.

Damon Severson (Columbus Blue Jackets)

My Rank: 75

Fantrax Rank: 124

The excitement on Columbus' blue line revolves around Werenski and young Denton Mateychuk. We shouldn't overlook the fact that Severson had a three-year high in points per game in 2025-26, and with the way Rick Bowness hands out ice time, Severson's role as the #3 defenceman means well over 20 minutes per game. Severson is projected to bring positive fantasy value in goals, assists, and shots, and can help fill out those categories in deeper fantasy formats.