With the regular season just days away, we take another crack at ranking the top 60 defensemen in the NHL.
Our rankings project the next 2 to 3 seasons, and takes into consideration each player's track record, upside, age, team and injury history.
| RANK | NAME | NOTES | PVS. | CHG. | AGE | DOB |
| TIER 1 |
| 1 | Erik Karlsson, SJ | | - | - |
| (coming soon) |
| 2 | Victor Hedman, TB | | - | - |
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| 3 | Brent Burns, SJ | No spring chicken any more, but still a stud. | - | - |
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| TIER 2 |
| 4 | John Klingberg, DAL | | - | - | | |
| 5 | Shayne Gostisbehere, PHI | | - | - | | |
| 6 | P.K. Subban, NAS | | - | - | | |
| 7 | John Carlson, WAS | Can he get near his 68 point breakout? | - | - | | |
| 8 | Roman Josi, NAS | | - | - | | |
| 9 | Tyson Barrie, COL | | - | - | | |
| TIER 3 |
| 10 | Drew Doughty, LA | | - | - | | |
| 11 | Alex Pietrangelo, STL | | - | - | | |
| 12 | Torey Krug, BOS | | - | - | | |
| 13 | Dustin Byfuglien, WPG | | - | - | | |
| 14 | Morgan Rielly, TOR | Will rack up points as long as he's on PP1. | - | - | | |
| 15 | Seth Jones, CBJ | | - | - | | |
| 16 | Dougie Hamilton, CAR | | - | - | | |
| 17 | Zach Werenski, CBJ | | - | - | | |
| 18 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson, AZ | Strong finish a sign of things to come. | - | - | | |
| 19 | Kris Letang, PIT | Relatively healthy last year, but still a risk. | - | - | | |
| 20 | Matt Dumba, MIN | | - | - | | |
| 21 | Keith Yandle, FLA | | - | - | | |
| 22 | Rasmus Ristolainen, BUF | | - | - | | |
| 23 | Ryan Suter, MIN | | - | - | | |
| 24 | Ivan Provorov, PHI | | - | - | | |
| 25 | Kevin Shattenkirk, NYR | A bit of an afterthought. Don't sleep on him. | - | - | | |
| TIER 4 |
| 26 | Jake Gardiner, TOR | | - | - | | |
| 27 | Charlie McAvoy, BOS | | - | - | | |
| 28 | Rasmus Dahlin, BUF | Calder contender could rise fast. | - | - | | |
| 29 | Aaron Ekblad, FLA | | - | - | | |
| 30 | Ryan Ellis, NAS | If he's healthy, he's extremely productive. | - | - | | |
| 31 | Mikhail Sergachev, TB | | - | - | | |
| 32 | Mark Giordano, CGY | | - | - | | |
| 33 | Shea Theodore, VGK | Ready for takeoff as Vegas' top blueliner. | - | - | | |
| 34 | Oscar Klefbom, EDM | | - | - | | |
| 35 | Shea Weber, MTL | Won't be back until 2019. | - | - | | |
| 36 | Jake Muzzin, LA | | - | - | | |
| 37 | Nick Leddy, NYI | | - | - | | |
| 38 | Justin Faulk, CAR | Hamilton's arrival could be troublesome. | - | - | | |
| 39 | Ryan Pulock, NYI | Shoots the puck like few other d-men. | - | - | | |
| 40 | Colton Parayko, STL | | - | - | | |
| 41 | Brandon Montour, ANH | | - | - | | |
| 42 | Will Butcher, NJ | | - | - | | |
| TIER 5 |
| 43 | Duncan Keith, CHI | Not the stud he once was, but worth a flier. | - | - | | |
| 44 | Jared Spurgeon, MIN | Could hit 50 if he showed more consistency. | - | - | | |
| 45 | Dmitry Orlov, WAS | | - | - | | |
| 46 | Cam Fowler, ANH | | - | - | | |
| 47 | Sami Vatanen, NJ | | - | - | | |
| 48 | Thomas Chabot, OTT | The new top dog on D. | - | - | | |
| 49 | Jacob Trouba, WPG | | - | - | | |
| 50 | TJ Brodie, CGY | | - | - | | |
| 51 | Justin Schultz, PIT | | - | - | | |
| 52 | Mike Green, DET | Still produces when healthy, which isn't often. | - | - | | |
| 53 | Colin Miller, VGK | | - | - | | |
| 54 | Matt Niskanen, WAS | | - | - | | |
| 55 | Matthias Ekholm, NAS | | - | - | | |
| 56 | Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJ | Won't get as many offensive opportunities. | - | - | | |
| 57 | Jeff Petry, MTL | Will play top minutes while Weber is out. | - | - | | |
| 58 | Alex Goligoski, AZ | | - | - | | |
| 59 | Jacob Slavin, CAR | | - | - | | |
| 60 | Tyler Myers, WPG | | - | - | | |
On the bubble:
Alex Edler, VAN; Ryan McDonagh, TB; Noah Hanifin, CAR; Josh Manson, ANH; Brent Seabrook, CHI; Nate Schmidt, VGK; Dion Phaneuf, LA; Hampus Lindholm, ANH; Mike Matheson, FLA; Alec Martinez, LA; Esa Lindell, DAL
