Our fantasy hockey defenseman rankings project 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.
| RK | PLAYER | STOCK | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cale Makar, COL | ||
| 2 | John Carlson, WAS | ||
| 3 | Quinn Hughes, VAN | ||
| 4 | Victor Hedman, TB | ||
| 6 | Roman Josi, NAS | Preds decline could hurt his numbers | |
| 7 | Dougie Hamilton, CAR | ||
| 8 | Shea Theodore, VGK | ||
| 5 | Morgan Rielly, TOR | ||
| 9 | Tyson Barrie, EDM | UP | Finally clicking with his new team |
| 10 | Torey Krug, STL | ||
| 11 | Thomas Chabot, OTT | ||
| 12 | Drew Doughty, LA | UP | Not done as an elite producer |
| 13 | Alex Pietrangelo, VGK | Has to share OZ opportunities with Theodore | |
| 14 | Kris Letang, PIT | Still elite, but can't stay healthy | |
| 15 | John Klingberg, DAL | ||
| 16 | Miro Heiskanen, DAL | ||
| 17 | Brent Burns, SJ | ||
| 18 | Seth Jones, CBJ | ||
| 19 | Jeff Petry, MTL | UP | Quietly piling up points |
| 20 | Neal Pionk, NYR | UP | |
| 21 | Zach Werenski, CBJ | ||
| 22 | Erik Karlsson, SJ | Rank stabilizing and production improves | |
| 23 | Rasmus Dahlin, BUF | DOWN | Plenty of untapped upside here |
| 24 | Aaron Ekblad, FLA | ||
| 25 | Charlie McAvoy, BOS | UP | |
| 26 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson, AZ | ||
| 27 | Adam Fox, NYR | UP | Big opportunity with DeAngelo gone |
| 28 | Shea Weber, MTL | ||
| 29 | Keith Yandle, FLA | ||
| 30 | Ivan Provorov, PHI | ||
| 31 | Ryan Ellis, NAS | ||
| 32 | Mikhail Sergachev, TB | Still on the escalator up the list | |
| 33 | Ryan Pulock, NYI | ||
| 34 | Samuel Girard, COL | ||
| 35 | Ryan Suter, MIN | ||
| 36 | Rasmus Ristolainen, BUF | ||
| 37 | Matt Dumba, MIN | Welcome back to the list, PK. | |
| 38 | Mark Giordano, CGY | ||
| 39 | Jakob Chychrun, AZ | UP | Breakout season at last? |
| 40 | Darnell Nurse, EDM | UP | More offense here than we thought |
| 41 | Filip Hronek, DET | ||
| 42 | Mattias Ekholm, NAS | DOWN | |
| 43 | Jake Muzzin, TOR | ||
| 44 | Rasmus Andersson, CGY | ||
| 45 | Matt Grzelcyk, BOS | NEW | |
| 46 | Jared Spurgeon, MIN | ||
| 47 | Josh Morrissey, WPG | ||
| 48 | P.K. Subban, NJ | NEW | Welcome back to the list, PK. |
| 49 | Nick Leddy, NYI | NEW | |
| 50 | Adam Boqvist, CHI | NEW | |
| ON THE BUBBLE (NOT ORDERED/MAINTAINED) | |||
| Ty Smith, NJ | |||
| Evan Bouchard, EDM | |||
| Jaccob Slavin, CAR | |||
| Duncan Keith, CHI | |||
| Kevin Shattenkirk, ANH | |||
| Oscar Klefbom, EDM | |||
| Tony DeAngelo, NYR | |||
| Jacob Trouba, NYR | |||
| Colton Parayko, STL | |||
| Justin Faulk, STL | |||
| Erik Gustafsson, PHI | |||
| Bowen Byram, COL | |||
| Brandon Montour, BUF | |||
| Alex Edler, VAN | |||
| Noah Dobson, NYI | |||
| Justin Schultz, WAS | |||
| TJ Brodie, TOR | |||
| Vince Dunn, STL | |||
| Alex Goligoski, AZ | |||
| Shayne Gostisbehere, PHI | |||
| Will Butcher, NJ | |||
| Tyler Myers, VAN | |||
| Jake Gardiner, CAR | |||
| Cam Fowler, ANH | |||
| Matt Niskanen, PHI | |||
| Colin Miller, BUF | |||
| Ryan McDonagh, TB | |||
| Sami Vatanen, NJ | |||
| Hampus Lindholm, ANH | |||
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJ | |||
| Dmitry Orlov, WAS | |||
| Noah Hanifin, CGY | |||
| Brady Skjei, CAR | |||
| Mike Matheson, PIT | |||
| Alec Martinez, VGK | |||
| Nate Schmidt, VAN | |||
| Josh Manson, ANH | |||
| Esa Lindell, DAL | |||
| Damon Severson, NJ | |||
| Nikita Zaitsev, OTT | |||
| Brett Pesce, CAR |