Defenseman Rankings: Banger Leagues
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Rankings
Top 200 | C | LW | RW | D | G
Here are the top defensemen ranked in descending order based on their value in 10 or 12 team "Banger Leagues". A typical banger league consists of goals, assists, plus/minus, penalty minutes, power-play points, shots on goal, hits and blocked shots for skaters.
Rank | Player | Team |
---|---|---|
1 | Erik Karlsson | OTT |
2 | Brent Burns | SJ |
3 | P.K. Subban | NAS |
4 | Kris Letang | PIT |
5 | Dustin Byfuglien | WPG |
Karlsson's floor is pretty much 15 goals and 65 points at this point. You can't say that about any other defensemen, and very few forwards for that matter. He should be a top-five pick.
After a four-year stretch where injury and medical issues never allowed him to play 70 games, Letang got back on track last season, tallying 67 points in 71 games. The injury history is always a concern, but his upside makes him worthy of a late first or early second-round pick.
Rank | Player | Team |
---|---|---|
6 | Roman Josi | NAS |
7 | Mark Giordano | CGY |
8 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | ARI |
9 | Shayne Gostisbehere | PHI |
10 | John Carlson | WAS |
11 | Shea Weber | MTL |
12 | Victor Hedman | TB |
13 | Drew Doughty | LA |
14 | Rasmus Ristolainen | BUF |
15 | Justin Faulk | CAR |
16 | John Klingberg | DAL |
17 | Kevin Shattenkirk | STL |
18 | Seth Jones | CLB |
19 | Dougie Hamilton | CGY |
20 | Tyson Barrie | COL |
Doughty is arguably the best defenseman in the entire league, and he's often drafted too early because of it. He was exceptional last year, but the five previous seasons were nothing out of the ordinary offensively.
Expect a breakout year from Jones. He received a much larger role once being dealt to Columbus, playing nearly five more minutes per game. A full season logging plenty of ice time could lead to 50 points, 100 hits and 150 blocks.
Rank | Player | Team |
---|---|---|
21 | T.J. Brodie | CGY |
22 | Aaron Ekblad | FLA |
23 | Ryan Suter | MIN |
24 | Duncan Keith | CHI |
25 | Jake Muzzin | LA |
26 | Torey Krug | BOS |
27 | Brent Seabrook | CHI |
28 | Ryan McDonagh | NYR |
29 | Alex Pietrangelo | STL |
30 | Morgan Rielly | TOR |
31 | Sami Vatanen | ANA |
32 | Dion Phaneuf | OTT |
33 | Erik Johnson | COL |
34 | Alex Goligoski | ARI |
35 | Marc-Edouard Vlasic | SJ |
36 | Hampus Lindholm | ANA |
37 | Matt Niskanen | WAS |
38 | Alec Martinez | LA |
39 | Colton Parayko | STL |
40 | Radko Gudas | PHI |
41 | Keith Yandle | FLA |
42 | Zdeno Chara | BOS |
43 | Mattias Ekholm | NAS |
44 | Adam Larsson | EDM |
45 | Andrei Markov | MTL |
46 | Michael Stone | ARI |
47 | Francois Beauchemin | COL |
48 | Dan Girardi | NYR |
49 | Johnny Boychuk | NYI |
50 | Jacob Trouba | WPG |
51 | Ryan Ellis | NAS |
52 | Matt Dumba | MIN |
53 | Connor Murphy | ARI |
54 | Roman Polak | TOR |
55 | Anton Stralman | TB |
56 | Andrej Sekera | EDM |
57 | Tyler Myers | WPG |
58 | Cody Ceci | OTT |
59 | Travis Hamonic | NYI |
60 | Dmitry Orlov | WAS |
While he will contribute nearly nothing offensively, Gudas is great to have has your final D-man. He will be among the league leaders in PIMs, hits and blocks every season.
While he still provides value in the blocked shot category, don't expect another 34-point season from Beauchemin. Of his 26 assists, 20 were secondary assists, so expect regression to come.
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