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Andy's top 60 defenseman fantasy hockey rankings for 2026 fantasy drafts. These NHL rankings are for Yahoo rotisserie (category) leagues and include Zach Werenski, Adam Fox, and more.
Hey RotoBallers! The wait is finally over! RotoBaller is set to provide you with league-winning fantasy hockey advice for the upcoming 2026-27 season.
Below, I give you my updated top-60 defenseman rankings designed for standard rotisserie Yahoo leagues. This format utilizes six skater categories (Goals, Assists, Power-Play Points, +/-, Shots on Goal, and Blocked Shots) and four goalie categories (Wins, Save Percentage, Goals Against Average, and Shutouts). In the rankings below, see where the sport's top blueliners land, such as Lane Hutson and Quinn Hughes, as well as mid-round sleepers like Shea Theodore, Victor Hedman, and Neil Pionk. These rankings will continue to be updated as we approach training camp.
Be sure to follow RotoBaller on X for all of our league-winning content and me @A_Smith_FS. Additionally, be sure to use discount code SMITH for 50% off any Premium Packages and gain access to our Team Sync platform with customized lineup tools, projections, and more based on your league settings. Also, check out our full updated top 250 rankings. Let's dive in!
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2026 Fantasy Hockey Draft Rankings: Top 60 Defensemen
| Rank | Player | Team | Position |
| 1 | Cale Makar | COL | D |
| 2 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | D |
| 3 | Quinn Hughes | MIN | D |
| 4 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | D |
| 5 | Lane Hutson | MTL | D |
| 6 | Matthew Schaefer | NYI | D |
| 7 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | D |
| 8 | Moritz Seider | DET | D |
| 9 | Jakob Chychrun | WSH | D |
| 10 | Darren Raddysh | TOR | D |
| 11 | Jake Sanderson | OTT | D |
| 12 | Adam Fox | NYR | D |
| 13 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | D |
| 14 | Brock Faber | MIN | D |
| 15 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | D |
| 16 | Roman Josi | NSH | D |
| 17 | Jackson Lacombe | ANA | D |
| 18 | Mikhail Sergachev | UTA | D |
| 19 | John Carlson | T.B | D |
| 20 | Erik Karlsson | PIT | D |
| 21 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | D |
| 22 | Brandt Clarke | L.A | D |
| 23 | Bowen Byram | CHI | D |
| 24 | Noah Dobson | MTL | D |
| 25 | Shayne Gostisbehere | CAR | D |
| 26 | Mackenzie Weegar | UTA | D |
| 27 | Thomas Harley | DAL | D |
| 28 | Victor Hedman | T.B | D |
| 29 | Dougie Hamilton | N.J | D |
| 30 | Shea Theodore | VGK | D |
| 31 | Seth Jones | FLA | D |
| 32 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | D |
| 33 | Rasmus Andersson | VGK | D |
| 34 | Philip Broberg | STL | D |
| 35 | Vince Dunn | SEA | D |
| 36 | Luke Hughes | N.J | D |
| 37 | Esa Lindell | DAL | D |
| 38 | Mattias Samuelsson | BUF | D |
| 39 | Filip Hronek | VAN | D |
| 40 | Darnell Nurse | S.J | D |
| 41 | Colton Parayko | STL | D |
| 42 | Jake McCabe | TOR | D |
| 43 | Jacob Trouba | S.J | D |
| 44 | Mattias Ekholm | EDM | D |
| 45 | Noah Hanifin | VGK | D |
| 46 | Simon Nemec | CGY | D |
| 47 | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | D |
| 48 | Sam Malinski | COL | D |
| 49 | Ivan Provorov | CBJ | D |
| 50 | Justin Faulk | DET | D |
| 51 | K'Andre Miller | CAR | D |
| 52 | Brayden McNabb | VGK | D |
| 53 | Cole Hutson | WSH | D |
| 54 | Sam Rinzel | CHI | D |
| 55 | Mike Matheson | MTL | D |
| 56 | Devon Toews | COL | D |
| 57 | Brandon Montour | SEA | D |
| 58 | Neal Pionk | WPG | D |
| 59 | Artyom Levshunov | CHI | D |
| 60 | Travis Sanheim | PHI | D |
2026 Fantasy Hockey Rankings: Draft Outlooks
Zach Werenski, D, Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski has put trade rumors behind him and is ready to commit his long-term future to the team. "I think everyone knows how much I love this city and how much it means to me and I would have no issues being here for an even longer time," Werenski said.
Next season, Werenski plans to be "even a better player, better leader, and a better person" for his teammates and the club. On June 30, Werenski vetoed a trade to the Dallas Stars. The 2026 Norris Trophy winner has two seasons left on a six-year, $57.5 million contract. His commitment to the Blue Jackets is encouraging news for fantasy managers.
Quinn Hughes, D, Minnesota Wild
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes could have his future sorted out soon. According to The Athletic's Michael Russo, Hughes and his representatives are scheduled to meet Wild general manager Bill Guerin this week to discuss a new contract.
Hughes will play out the final season of a six-year, $47.1 million contract in 2026-27. He will become an unrestricted free agent in 2027 if a new deal isn't reached. Last season, Hughes had a great run with the Wild after arriving from the Vancouver Canucks. He notched 53 points (five goals, 48 assists) in 48 games, adding 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in 11 postseason outings.
Simon Nemec, D, Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames defenseman Simon Nemec signed a five-year, $36.25 million contract with the team as a restricted free agent. Calgary acquired Nemec from the New Jersey Devils on June 23. Nemec, a former second-overall pick, notched a career-high 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in 68 games last season. His work included 101 SOG and 104 blocks.
While Nemec didn't stand out in New Jersey, he is expected to have a larger role with his new squad, which should boost his fantasy profile. He won't be 23 until February, so the Slovak native has plenty of time to grow as a player.
Top 250 Player Rankings
Be sure to also check out our full updated top-250 rankings below.
| Rank | Player | Team | Position |
| 1 | Connor McDavid | EDM | C |
| 2 | Nathan MacKinnon | COL | C |
| 3 | Nikita Kucherov | T.B | RW |
| 4 | Leon Draisaitl | EDM | C |
| 5 | Macklin Celebrini | S.J | C |
| 6 | Jason Robertson | DAL | LW |
| 7 | Kirill Kaprizov | MIN | LW |
| 8 | David Pastrnak | BOS | RW |
| 9 | Andrei Vasilevskiy | T.B | G |
| 10 | Cale Makar | COL | D |
| 11 | Nick Suzuki | MTL | C |
| 12 | Matt Boldy | MIN | LW |
| 13 | Martin Necas | COL | RW |
| 14 | Zach Werenski | CBJ | D |
| 15 | Jack Eichel | VGK | C |
| 16 | Cole Caufield | MTL | LW |
| 17 | Auston Matthews | TOR | C |
| 18 | Jack Hughes | N.J | C |
| 19 | Quinn Hughes | MIN | D |
| 20 | Kyle Connor | WPG | LW |
| 21 | Logan Thompson | WSH | G |
| 22 | Wyatt Johnston | DAL | C |
| 23 | Brady Tkachuk | FLA | LW |
| 24 | Evan Bouchard | EDM | D |
| 25 | Tage Thompson | BUF | C |
| 26 | Lane Hutson | MTL | D |
| 27 | Matthew Tkachuk | FLA | RW |
| 28 | Mitch Marner | VGK | RW |
| 29 | Jake Guentzel | T.B | LW |
| 30 | Mikko Rantanen | DAL | RW |
| 31 | Mark Scheifele | WPG | C |
| 32 | Connor Hellebuyck | WPG | G |
| 33 | Cutter Gauthier | ANA | RW |
| 34 | Dylan Guenther | UTA | RW |
| 35 | Matthew Schaefer | NYI | D |
| 36 | Rasmus Dahlin | BUF | D |
| 37 | Leo Carlsson | ANA | C |
| 38 | Brandon Hagel | T.B | LW |
| 39 | Clayton Keller | UTA | LW |
| 40 | Sam Reinhart | FLA | RW |
| 41 | William Nylander | TOR | RW |
| 42 | Jake Oettinger | DAL | G |
| 43 | Juraj Slafkovsky | MTL | RW |
| 44 | Alex DeBrincat | DET | LW |
| 45 | Adrian Kempe | L.A | RW |
| 46 | Igor Shesterkin | NYR | G |
| 47 | Sidney Crosby | PIT | C |
| 48 | Tim Stutzle | OTT | C |
| 49 | Ilya Sorokin | NYI | G |
| 50 | Kirill Marchenko | CBJ | LW |
| 51 | Filip Forsberg | NSH | LW |
| 52 | Artemi Panarin | L.A | LW |
| 53 | Aleksander Barkov | FLA | C |
| 54 | Moritz Seider | DET | D |
| 55 | Jakob Chychrun | WSH | D |
| 56 | Darren Raddysh | TOR | D |
| 57 | Connor Bedard | CHI | C |
| 58 | Jake Sanderson | OTT | D |
| 59 | Mika Zibanejad | NYR | C |
| 60 | Sebastian Aho | CAR | C |
| 61 | Jesper Bratt | N.J | LW |
| 62 | Dylan Larkin | DET | C |
| 63 | Adam Fantilli | CBJ | C |
| 64 | Lucas Raymond | DET | RW |
| 65 | Brayden Point | T.B | C |
| 66 | Porter Martone | PHI | RW |
| 67 | Scott Wedgewood | COL | G |
| 68 | Pavel Dorofeyev | NYR | RW |
| 69 | Robert Thomas | STL | C |
| 70 | Nikolaj Ehlers | CAR | LW |
| 71 | Nick Schmaltz | UTA | C |
| 72 | Nico Hischier | N.J | C |
| 73 | Jeremy Swayman | BOS | G |
| 74 | Dylan Holloway | STL | LW |
| 75 | Adam Fox | NYR | D |
| 76 | Will Smith | S.J | RW |
| 77 | John Tavares | TOR | C |
| 78 | Drake Batherson | OTT | RW |
| 79 | Mark Stone | VGK | RW |
| 80 | Alex Tuch | WSH | RW |
| 81 | Beckett Sennecke | ANA | RW |
| 82 | Bo Horvat | NYI | C |
| 83 | Jakub Dobes | MTL | G |
| 84 | Tom Wilson | WSH | RW |
| 85 | Logan Cooley | UTA | C |
| 86 | Jimmy Snuggerud | STL | RW |
| 87 | Miro Heiskanen | DAL | D |
| 88 | Brock Faber | MIN | D |
| 89 | Brandon Bussi | CAR | G |
| 90 | Zach Hyman | EDM | RW |
| 91 | Roope Hintz | DAL | C |
| 92 | Josh Morrissey | WPG | D |
| 93 | Alex Ovechkin | WSH | LW |
| 94 | Karel Vejmelka | UTA | G |
| 95 | Roman Josi | NSH | D |
| 96 | Mathew Barzal | NYI | C |
| 97 | Timo Meier | N.J | LW |
| 98 | Jesper Wallstedt | MIN | G |
| 99 | Jackson LaCombe | ANA | D |
| 100 | Mikhail Sergachev | UTA | D |
| 101 | Andrei Svechnikov | CAR | LW |
| 102 | Steven Stamkos | NSH | LW |
| 103 | John Carlson | T.B | D |
| 104 | Gabriel Vilardi | WPG | RW |
| 105 | Matthew Knies | TOR | LW |
| 106 | Jacob Markstrom | FLA | G |
| 107 | Erik Karlsson | PIT | D |
| 108 | Ivan Demidov | MTL | RW |
| 109 | Brock Nelson | COL | C |
| 110 | Morgan Geekie | BOS | RW |
| 111 | Bryan Rust | PIT | RW |
| 112 | Sam Bennett | FLA | C |
| 113 | Joel Eriksson Ek | MIN | C |
| 114 | Quinton Byfield | L.A | C |
| 115 | J.T. Miller | NYR | C |
| 116 | Mackenzie Blackwood | COL | G |
| 117 | Travis Konecny | PHI | RW |
| 118 | Jet Greaves | CBJ | G |
| 119 | Rickard Rakell | PIT | LW |
| 120 | Anton Frondell | CHI | C |
| 121 | Brad Marchand | FLA | RW |
| 122 | Nazem Kadri | COL | C |
| 123 | Jordan Kyrou | WSH | RW |
| 124 | Trevor Zegras | PHI | C |
| 125 | Logan Stankoven | CAR | C |
| 126 | Jackson Blake | CAR | RW |
| 127 | Gavin McKenna | TOR | C |
| 128 | Josh Doan | BUF | RW |
| 129 | Dylan Strome | WSH | C |
| 130 | Alexis Lafreniere | NYR | RW |
| 131 | Charlie McAvoy | BOS | D |
| 132 | Ryan O'Reilly | NSH | C |
| 133 | Linus Ullmark | OTT | G |
| 134 | Vincent Trocheck | UTA | C |
| 135 | Dan Vladar | PHI | G |
| 136 | Brandt Clarke | L.A | D |
| 137 | Bowen Byram | CHI | D |
| 138 | Noah Dobson | MTL | D |
| 139 | Owen Tippett | PHI | LW |
| 140 | Kevin Fiala | L.A | LW |
| 141 | Pavel Zacha | BOS | C |
| 142 | Dylan Cozens | OTT | C |
| 143 | Evgeni Malkin | PIT | RW |
| 144 | Mason Marchment | S.J | LW |
| 145 | Elias Pettersson | VAN | C |
| 146 | Shayne Gostisbehere | CAR | D |
| 147 | JJ Peterka | BOS | LW |
| 148 | William Eklund | OTT | LW |
| 149 | Darcy Kuemper | L.A | G |
| 150 | John Gibson | DET | G |
| 151 | Valeri Nichushkin | CBJ | RW |
| 152 | Jared McCann | SEA | LW |
| 153 | Aliaksei Protas | WSH | LW |
| 154 | Carter Hart | VGK | G |
| 155 | Gabriel Landeskog | COL | LW |
| 156 | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | EDM | LW |
| 157 | Mackenzie Weegar | UTA | D |
| 158 | Ryan Leonard | WSH | RW |
| 159 | Thomas Harley | DAL | D |
| 160 | Victor Hedman | T.B | D |
| 161 | Carter Verhaeghe | FLA | LW |
| 162 | Mats Zuccarello | L.A | RW |
| 163 | Dougie Hamilton | N.J | D |
| 164 | Shea Theodore | VGK | D |
| 165 | Seth Jones | FLA | D |
| 166 | Patrick Kane | CHI | RW |
| 167 | Thomas Chabot | OTT | D |
| 168 | Anthony Cirelli | T.B | C |
| 169 | Matty Beniers | SEA | C |
| 170 | Rasmus Andersson | VGK | D |
| 171 | Juuse Saros | NSH | G |
| 172 | Philip Broberg | STL | D |
| 173 | Vince Dunn | SEA | D |
| 174 | Frank Nazar | CHI | C |
| 175 | Luke Hughes | N.J | D |
| 176 | Anthony Mantha | N.J | RW |
| 177 | Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | BUF | G |
| 178 | Viktor Arvidsson | DET | RW |
| 179 | Anders Lee | UTA | LW |
| 180 | Jake Allen | N.J | G |
| 181 | Tomas Hertl | VGK | C |
| 182 | Sergei Bobrovsky | TOR | G |
| 183 | Mason McTavish | STL | LW |
| 184 | Esa Lindell | DAL | D |
| 185 | Zach Benson | BUF | LW |
| 186 | Matt Duchene | DAL | C |
| 187 | Mikael Granlund | ANA | C |
| 188 | Alex Laferriere | L.A | RW |
| 189 | Mavrik Bourque | NSH | RW |
| 190 | Lukas Dostal | ANA | G |
| 191 | Matvei Michkov | PHI | RW |
| 192 | Mattias Samuelsson | BUF | D |
| 193 | Artturi Lehkonen | COL | LW |
| 194 | Joel Hofer | STL | G |
| 195 | Luke Evangelista | NSH | RW |
| 196 | Anton Lundell | FLA | C |
| 197 | Spencer Knight | CHI | G |
| 198 | Ivan Barbashev | VGK | LW |
| 199 | Ilya Protas | WSH | C |
| 200 | Blake Coleman | MIN | LW |
| 201 | Bobby McMann | SEA | LW |
| 202 | Jake DeBrusk | VAN | LW |
| 203 | Ryan Hartman | MIN | RW |
| 204 | Filip Hronek | VAN | D |
| 205 | Elias Lindholm | BOS | C |
| 206 | Shane Pinto | OTT | C |
| 207 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | WSH | C |
| 208 | Connor McMichael | STL | LW |
| 209 | Charlie Coyle | CBJ | C |
| 210 | Darnell Nurse | S.J | D |
| 211 | Marco Rossi | VAN | C |
| 212 | Troy Terry | ANA | RW |
| 213 | Cole Perfetti | WPG | LW |
| 214 | Michael Misa | S.J | C |
| 215 | Brock Boeser | VAN | RW |
| 216 | Colton Parayko | STL | D |
| 217 | Seth Jarvis | CAR | RW |
| 218 | Collin Graf | S.J | LW |
| 219 | Jacob Fowler | MTL | G |
| 220 | Tyson Foerster | PHI | LW |
| 221 | Jake McCabe | TOR | D |
| 222 | Jacob Trouba | S.J | D |
| 223 | Chris Kreider | ANA | LW |
| 224 | Mattias Ekholm | EDM | D |
| 225 | Noah Hanifin | VGK | D |
| 226 | Frederik Andersen | EDM | G |
| 227 | Tyler Bertuzzi | CHI | RW |
| 228 | Simon Nemec | CGY | D |
| 229 | Alexander Nikishin | CAR | D |
| 230 | Joey Daccord | SEA | G |
| 231 | Kiefer Sherwood | S.J | RW |
| 232 | Taylor Hall | CAR | LW |
| 233 | Dustin Wolf | CGY | G |
| 234 | Jack Quinn | BUF | RW |
| 235 | Sam Malinski | COL | D |
| 236 | Gabe Perreault | NYR | LW |
| 237 | Brett Howden | VGK | LW |
| 238 | Ivan Provorov | CBJ | D |
| 239 | Matt Coronato | CGY | RW |
| 240 | Justin Faulk | DET | D |
| 241 | K'Andre Miller | CAR | D |
| 242 | Brayden McNabb | VGK | D |
| 243 | Will Cuylle | NYR | LW |
| 244 | Cole Hutson | WSH | D |
| 245 | Josh Norris | BUF | C |
| 246 | Igor Chernyshov | S.J | LW |
| 247 | William Karlsson | VGK | C |
| 248 | Sam Rinzel | CHI | D |
| 249 | James Hagens | BOS | C |
| 250 | Mike Matheson | MTL | D |
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