Top 60 Fantasy Hockey Defensemen - October 16, 2018

Our first in-season look at the top 60 defensemen in fantasy hockey. With the NHL schedule barely underway, it's important to not overreact to any player's hot or cold start. That said, there are already some surprising situations worth keeping an eye on.

Surging up the rankings are Morgan Rielly and Thomas Chabot, while Kevin Shattenkirk, Shea Theodore and Oliver Ekman-Larsson are among the biggest disappointments so far. Even the best defensemen go through droughts, so it's important not to make any rash decisions until a larger sample size is available.

Our fantasy hockey defenseman rankings are for the next 2 to 3 seasons, and consider each player's track record, upside, age, team and injury history. Because fantasy league categories vary widely, these rankings focus on point production.

RANK	PLAYER	NOTES	PVS.	CHG.	AGE
TIER 1
1	Erik Karlsson, SJ	Still finding chemistry with his new squad.	1	0	28.4
2	Victor Hedman, TB		2	0	27.8
3	Brent Burns, SJ		3	0	33.6
TIER 2
4	John Klingberg, DAL		4	0	26.1
5	Shayne Gostisbehere, PHI		5	0	25.5
6	P.K. Subban, NAS		6	0	29.4
7	John Carlson, WAS	Got his payday. Still putting in the work.	7	0	28.7
8	Roman Josi, NAS		8	0	28.3
9	Tyson Barrie, COL		9	0	27.2
10	Morgan Rielly, TOR	Loving life on the Leafs' deadly PP1.	14	4	24.6

TIER 3
11	Drew Doughty, LA		10	-1	28.8
12	Alex Pietrangelo, STL		11	-1	28.7
13	Torey Krug, BOS	Back late October at the earliest.	12	-1	27.5
14	Seth Jones, CBJ	Out until early November.	15	1	24.0
15	Kris Letang, PIT	Has the talent to finish top 5 in d-men scoring.	19	4	31.5
16	Dustin Byfuglien, WPG		13	-3	33.5
17	Dougie Hamilton, CAR	Slow start and is on the 2nd pp unit.	16	-1	25.3
18	Zach Werenski, CBJ	Will be expected to step up in Jones' absence.	17	-1	21.2
19	Keith Yandle, FLA		21	2	32.1
20	Matt Dumba, MIN		20	0	24.2
21	Ryan Suter, MIN		23	2	33.7
22	Oliver Ekman-Larsson, AZ	Whole team has had scoring troubles.	18	-4	27.2
23	Rasmus Ristolainen, BUF		22	-1	23.9
24	Ivan Provorov, PHI		24	0	21.7
25	Charlie McAvoy, BOS	Could thrive with Krug on the shelf.	27	2	20.8
TIER 4
26	Ryan Ellis, NAS		30	4	27.8
27	Rasmus Dahlin, BUF		28	1	18.5
28	Mark Giordano, CGY		32	4	35.0
29	Aaron Ekblad, FLA		29	0	22.7
30	Jake Gardiner, TOR	Stuck on the 2nd PP unit.	26	-4	28.3
31	Kevin Shattenkirk, NYR	In the coach's doghouse. Not a great start.	25	-6	29.7
32	Oscar Klefbom, EDM		34	2	25.2
33	Shea Weber, MTL	Skating again, but won't be back for a while.	35	2	33.1
34	Jake Muzzin, LA		36	2	29.6
35	Justin Faulk, CAR		38	3	26.5
36	Mikhail Sergachev, TB		31	-5	20.3
37	Nick Leddy, NYI		37	0	27.5
38	Ryan Pulock, NYI	Potential to outscore Leddy this season.	39	1	24.0
39	Colton Parayko, STL		40	1	25.4
40	Brandon Montour, ANH		41	1	24.5
41	Thomas Chabot, OTT	Taking full advantage of expanded role.	48	7	21.7
42	Shea Theodore, VGK	Vegas, Theodore off to a sluggish start.	33	-9	23.2
43	Will Butcher, NJ		42	-1	23.7
44	Duncan Keith, CHI		43	-1	35.2

TIER 5
45	Jared Spurgeon, MIN		44	-1	28.9
46	Dmitry Orlov, WAS		45	-1	27.2
47	Jacob Trouba, WPG		49	2	24.6
48	Colin Miller, VGK	May challenge for time on top Vegas PP.	52	4	25.9
49	Sami Vatanen, NJ		47	-2	27.3
50	Cam Fowler, ANH		46	-4	26.8
51	Jeff Petry, MTL		55	4	30.8
52	Mattias Ekholm, NAS		54	2	28.4
53	TJ Brodie, CGY		50	-3	28.3
54	Justin Schultz, PIT	Out for at least 4 months.	51	-3	28.3
55	Matt Niskanen, WAS		53	-2	31.8
56	Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJ		57	1	31.5
57	Mike Green, DET		56	-1	33.0
58	Alex Goligoski, AZ		58	0	33.2
59	Alex Edler, VAN		-	-	32.5
60	Jacob Slavin, CAR		59	-1	24.4

On the bubble (no particular order):

Tyler Myers, WPG

Noah Hanifin, CAR

Miro Heiskanen, DAL

Ryan McDonagh, TB

Brent Seabrook, CHI

Alec Martinez, LA

Samuel Girard, COL

Nate Schmidt, VGK

Josh Manson, ANH

Maxime Lajoie, OTT

Hampus Lindholm, ANH

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