2023 Fantasy Hockey Defensemen Rankings

Defensemen typically get forgotten about by many fantasy hockey players, and that’s because they don’t normally put up the flashy points like goals and points at as high of a rate as forwards ranked around them. It makes most people want to draft the forward. But there is more to fantasy than just the offense. With that in mind, we’re here to hash out our consensus defensemen rankings for 2023-24 fantasy hockey.

There aren’t as many defensemen on each team, so that means there are fewer options and fewer defensemen on your fantasy hockey team. While some defensemen can do it all, they will go in the first couple of rounds and they’re hard to miss. These players have an impact on the power play, defensively, and play over 24 minutes a night. Speaking of the power play, defensemen are also limited here as there are typically four forwards on the top unit.

The deeper you go in the draft, the less offensively-capable defensemen you’ll find. These players are normally taken. If there’s a D-man that plays on the top power-play unit, he’s probably worth drafting. You don’t want to forget about defensemen. For every 2-3 forwards selected, make sure you draft a defensemen. It’ll get away from you and when you realize you desperately need defensemen, that’s when the other who forgot will as well.

Having a balanced team is the best approach. There will be players at every position to pick up off the waiver wire each week that might stick or might not. There will be defenders who are worth grabbing, but that’s the case for everyone. There are fewer options on defense and it’s good to have a balanced and strong group to kick things off with. Have an elite defenseman or two, roster some top-four defensemen, and also keep a hard hitter around. The biggest thing, is don’t let too many defensemen slip away. They are key to the success of your fantasy hockey team. Now, the rankings.

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Meet the Rankers

Brandon Altomonte = BA
Michael DeRosa = MD
Logan Doyle = LD
Rob Couch = RC

Defensemen Rankings for 2023-24 Fantasy Hockey

After you get done here make sure to check out our Goalie Rankings for the coming season of fantasy hockey

Cons. Rnk	Player	Team	BA	MD	LD	RC
1	Cale Makar	COL	1	1	1	1
2	Rasmus Dahlin	BUF	3	3	2	2
3	Adam Fox	NYR	2	2	4	3
4	Erik Karlsson	PIT	4	4	5	4
5	Quinn Hughes	VAN	8	6	3	7
6	Miro Heiskanen	DAL	6	5	8	6
7	Dougie Hamilton	NJ	9	7	6	5
8	Roman Josi	NSH	5	8	7	8
9	Charlie McAvoy	BOS	10	9	12	9
10	Mikhail Sergachev	TB	11	10	9	10
11	Brent Burns	CAR	13	16	11	14
12	Josh Morrissey	WPG	17	13	13	12
13	Vince Dunn	SEA	18	12	16	11
14	Evan Bouchard	EDM	7	18	20	17
15	Moritz Seider	DET	14	19	10	19
16	Victor Hedman	TB	12	15	21	16
17	Alex Pietrangelo	VGK	15	17	14	18
18	Devon Toews	COL	16	14	25	15
19	Brandon Montour	FLA	23	11	27	13
20	Morgan Rielly	TOR	21	20	19	21
21	Shea Theodore	VGK	20	22	24	23
22	Noah Dobson	NYI	23	26	18	24
23	Drew Doughty	LA	19	29	15	30
24	Darnell Nurse	EDM	24	21	30	20
25	John Carlson	WSH	22	30	17	28
26	Rasmus Andersson	CGY	25	23	29	22
27	Thomas Chabot	OTT	24	25	28	25
28	Zach Werenski	CBJ	26	28	22	27
29	Kris Letang	PIT	27	27	26	29
30	Hampus Lindholm	BOS	31	24	37	26
31	Jakob Chychrun	OTT	28	33	23	41
32	Aaron Ekblad	FLA	29	32	35	33
33	Seth Jones	CHI	37	34	32	31
34	Bowen Byram	COL	33	37	33	34
35	Owen Power	BUF	35	31	46	32
36	Tyson Barrie	NSH	40	40	38	40
37	Jacob Trouba	NYR	34	43	40	42
38	Gustav Forsling	FLA	38	42	39	43
39	Michael Matheson	MTL	44	41	42	35
40	MacKenzie Weegar	CGY	32	38	57	39
41	Noah Hanifin	CGY	46	35	50	37
42	Justin Faulk	STL	30	48	44	48
43	Dmitry Orlov	CAR	47	36	59	36
44	Luke Hughes	NJ	43	51	34	51
45	Mattias Ekholm	EDM	45	39	58	38
46	John Klingberg	TOR	36	56	48	55
47	Jared Spurgeon	MIN	41	46	62	46
48	Torey Krug	STL	52	45	51	47
49	Tony DeAngelo	CAR	39	50	55	52
50	Filip Hronek	VAN	50	49	48	49
51	K'Andre Miller	NYR	49	58	32	58
52	Samuel Girard	COL	54	44	60	45
53	Shayne Gostisbehere	DET	42	61	52	56
54	Damon Severson	CBJ	55	52	56	50
55	Juuso Valimaki	ARI	56	63	36	60
56	Cam Fowler	ANA	66	47	61	44
57	Adam Larsson	SEA	48	66	41	64
58	Sean Durzi	ARI	60	55	54	53
59	Neal Pionk	WPG	61	59	46	57
60	Jake Sanderson	OTT	53	57	43	78
61	Brady Skjei	CAR	57	53	73	54
62	Rasmus Sandin	WSH	51	68	49	70
63	Jaccob Slavin	CAR	58	54	69	59
64	Cam York	PHI	59	64	64	65
65	Ivan Provorov	CBJ	67	60	71	61
66	Jeff Petry	DET	63	62	80	62
67	Calen Addison	MIN	65	74	53	81
68	Colton Parayko	STL	64	67	76	67
69	Ryan Graves	PIT	70	72	68	75
70	Brett Pesce	CAR	81	70	74	72
71	Ryan Pulock	NYI	62	77	83	83
72	J.J. Moser	ARI	71	NR	66	63
73	Jamie Drysdale	ANA	75	88	65	85
74	Matt Dumba	ARI	68	69	NR	71
75	Erik Gustafsson	NYR	69	79	93	79
76	Radko Gudas	ANA	82	82	88	68
77	Justin Schultz	SEA	80	65	NR	66
78	Oliver Kylington	CGY	NR	73	63	76
79	Esa Lindell	DAL	77	83	78	86
80	Vladislav Gavrikov	LA	98	71	82	73
81	Brandt Clarke	LA	86	86	79	77
82	Matt Roy	LA	74	96	77	92
83	Kevin Shattenkirk	BOS	96	92	67	88
84	Adam Boqvist	CBJ	NR	75	72	87
85	Kaiden Guhle	MTL	NR	85	81	69
86	Travis Sanheim	PHI	NR	80	90	80
87	Nikita Zadorov	CGY	73	91	NR	90
88	Oliver Ekman-Larsson	FLA	88	81	NR	89
89	Matt Grzelcyk	BOS	90	76	NR	94
90	Ryan Lindgren	NYR	NR	78	75	NR
91	Adam Pelech	NYI	84	84	NR	96
92	Nils Lundkvist	DAL	87	NR	70	NR
93	Pierre-Olivier Joseph	PIT	NR	87	NR	74
94	Luke Schenn	NSH	NR	93	NR	84
95	Brayden McNabb	VGK	83	NR	NR	98
96	Thomas Harley	DAL	72	NR	NR	NR
97	Timothy Liljegren	TOR	97	NR	85	NR
98	Connor Clifton	BUF	99	97	96	NR
99	Ryan McDonagh	NSH	121	89	NR	82
100	Alec Martinez	VGK	NR	90	NR	93

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